Lost in Translation

Our neighbor invited us on a picnic a few weeks ago.  It sounded fun as the weather has been great these last few weeks.  We thought it would be a great opportunity to hang out with them and their family so we excitedly agreed.  We were supposed to go on Saturday but they changed it to Sunday.  This is important because we thought we were understanding correctly.

Well, in order to try to contribute to the picnic, I made apple bread, popcorn and bought plenty of water.  We piled into their car ready to spend the day outside.  While we were driving we noticed that we were headed to where their new home was being built.  Turns out I didn’t need to haul any of those things.  Our “picnic” was a party that their housing complex was putting on (when they first invited us, we thought we were going to their new house, but then they changed the date, so we thought “well, a large event wouldn’t just change dates at the last minute, so it must be a picnic with family”. Oh well…we still have much to learn.

We ended up having a great time none the less.   The complex had set up different “play areas” where we were able to see the different parts of the campus.  Each stop also included a prize, food and water.  While I ended up lugging all my goodies all over the place we really enjoyed being spoiled.

Josh got to hit a few golf balls at their driving range.  This drew a crowd since most of the Chinese there had no idea how to golf.  He ended up doing some lessons for awhile and everyone was very impressed.

We flew a kite, which Jaden loved but was sad when one of the kites literally flew away.   Jaden got to run all over the fields of grass (which was the driving range but no one was hitting far ;o) ).  He has no idea yet, but to be able to run through fields of grass is a huge treat here.  Usually if you do end up finding any grass here there are plenty of signs saying “stay off”.  I took advantage as well and laid my pashmina out in the grass AND sun (I got plenty of looks because BOTH of these actions are very strange to most everyone).  I ended up sneezing for the rest of the day, but it was totally worth it!

Jaden wanted to help

Jaden also got to play in a “sand” pit.    It had these small manufactured rocks that he could use dump trucks, shovels and water/sand wheels to do all the scooping and dumping he desired.  He had to have played in it for at least 45 minutes.

It was crazy to see so much nature in the middle of the city and really nice to “get away” but still have plenty of opportunity to practice our Chinese.  Once again it was a great time with friends but it was helpful in spurring us on to learn more of the language.  We look forward to the day we can understand the ENTIRE conversation.