just go with it...

There are a ton of "just go with it" moments in China.  Things just take longer here.  Going to the grocery store, getting from one place to another, communicating, understanding, it all just takes longer.  A lot of things are inconvenient, or don't turn out the way I expect them to. 

Sometimes things happen... that aren't exactly normal.  Often, I am shocked, or surprised, or thrown off guard...  or repulsed, or just plain frustrated.  But instead of reacting based on my emotions...  I often find that the better response is to "just go with it".

And today, I had to "just go with it" a few too many times...  and now you get the privelege of me unbottling all my confusions and frustrations that I experienced today.  But I promise, in the moment, I "just went with it"...

10:00 TURNS INTO 2:00

So, to start with, our Chinese friends here are very helpful.  Sometimes...  a little too helpful and their thoughtfulness has been known to put me in some uncomfortable situations.

A few months ago, my Chinese teacher had a friend who just opened a photo shoot studio and wanted Emily to come take some pictures.  The deal was that we would get the pictures for free if they could hang Em's picture in their studio, which was fine with us.  So, they sent me the pictures through email.  I had heard that most studios will make a photo album for a very low price, so I asked if they would do this with Emily's pictures, but this studio didn't have the necessary means to do it.

So... my Chinese teacher was determined to make it happen for us.  She gave her husband's friend my phone number and he calls me and says he has a friend who can make an album with Emily's photos.  So, I put them on a USB and we had plans to meet at 10:00 this morning and (I thought) we had an appointment for 11:00 at the studio.

Well, you guessed it...  10:00 turned into 2:00.  We still met him at 10:00, but as we got in the car with him and his daughter (who is Emily's age), he told me that his friend was busy this morning and could "probably" meet with us at 1:00.  My every instinct was to jump out of the car and go home.  I knew right then it was going to be a long day.  But instead of coming off as rude and ungrateful...  I decided to "just go with it".

So, he suggested we go hang out at IKEA until 1:00....  which I thought was random and a little awkward since IKEA is nowhere close to our house.  But half-way to IKEA, he explained that the photo studio was "close" to IKEA.  So, we went to IKEA and stayed there for over 2 hours before making it to the studio at 2:00!

IKEA... AND JUST PLAIN AWKWARD

So...  picture this scenario in The States:  Single American woman and her 5 year old daughter hanging out at IKEA with a married Chinese man and his 5 year old daughter.  They walk around IKEA, looking at different living room settings and then dine together in the IKEA cafeteria.  And the 2 little girls insist on sitting by each other, so the married man sits right next to the single woman while the 2 adults sit across from their daughters.

They then proceed to look at the rest of the bedroom and kitchen models as he describes everything with flowers and hearts on it as "romantic" because that is the English word that makes sense to him when he sees flowery and hearty things...  Little does he know, married men don't really walk around with single women talking about "romantic" living room set-ups and "romantic" wall displays while the 2 daughters are running, laughing and holding hands.

And everyone, and I mean EVERYONE is staring.

Yep, that was me today.

And. It. Was. AwKwArD...

And all I could really do was... Just. Go. With. It.

THE PHOTO STUDIO AND MORE AWKWARDNESS...

So we showed up for our 11:00 "appointment" at 2:00, (because the studio that was "close" to IKEA was actually 20 minutes away). 

SKETCH...

VERY SKETCHY...

SHACK-LIKE...

BROKEN DOOR...

DARK STAIRWAY...

But, two very nice people and a decent photo studio at the top of the rustic stairs and musky smell.

So, I gave the photo guy my USB, and he immediately said the pictures were too small and in the wrong format.  Here we go...

They called my Chinese teacher, so she could call her other friend who took the photos in the first place.  We waited while he re-formated them and sent them through email.

(Insert Jeopardy song here...)

Then, the guy decided he wanted to do a photo shoot with Emily.  Right then, with her thrown-up ponytail and dirty feet from running all over the studio barefoot during the Jeopardy song.

My rule of thumb for this is if Emily wants to do it, we do it.  If she doesn't, we don't.  And she did.  So, the photo guy said that if we let him take pictures of Emily, he would give me the photo album for free.  Score!

So I thought...

Here's the "more awkwardness" part...

An hour later, after the photo shoot, we start talking photo albums, and pictures, and prices.  And I ask questions, and they laugh, and start speaking really fast, in Chinese, and I don't understand anything... at all... except for the fact that I misunderstood them.

And that's awkward, too.

But what do you do?

But, just go with it...

So, I think in 2 weeks we may be getting a photo album, I think I have to pay for it, but I think I am also getting free photos that were taken today... But I also think I have to pay to make those into an album.  I'm not really sure...

All I know is that what I thought would be similar to a 2 hour Walgreens Photo run....  turned into an all-day event.

And if I would have known that we weren't just going to "Walgreens", I may have worn something other than my pajamas...

Ah... JUST. GO. WITH. IT.

Oh, it wasn't a completely wasted day...  Emily did make a new friend. :)