Before I started writing this I checked the temp on-line--it's at 0 degrees Fahrenheit, but feels like -12 degrees! We have never felt cold like this before! For the most part, we are trying to stay indoors when possible to avoid the cold and melting snow outside. But on Sunday, we had what some of our friends call a "China Day", which is a day where chaos and the unexpected seem to rule!
We decided to try to catch a taxi to go to our international church. We knew that with the large group and many kids it may be difficult (
we have my sister, her husband, and their little boy in town with us), but really wanted to show how great our fellowship is. We bundled up and made the walk to taxi corner, only to stand there and wait in the falling (and hard-blowing!) snow for about half an hour while Kevin tried to convince a taxi to stop for us. When the weather is wet from rain or snow, the taxi drivers really get temperamental in who and where they will drive, especially when kids are involved. When kids sit with their backs against the seat back, their feet are just the right (or wrong!) length to have the bottoms of their feet hit the back of the front seats, often leaving dirty footprints on the clean, white seat covers that most drivers use. Taxi drivers take GREAT pride in their vehicles, usually keeping them very tidy and personalized, so the footprints are never received well! Our kids are pretty well-trained and constantly reminded to keep their feet down so that we don't leave our little "reminders" of our ride with the drivers, but it still makes actually catching a cab hard when they see what the odds are with our crew! (We have some friends here who have 4 older kids. They told us that they often have their kids hide behind some bushes or trash cans when they are trying to catch a cab and this helps with the drivers initial assessment of the situation. Then when the driver slows down enough for you to grab the handle, the kids pop out of the bushes and everyone rushes in at once! We're working on this tactical maneuver, but have yet to have it perfected!!)So Kevin fin
ally got one cab to stop, right as we were about to head back to the apartment for church at home, and he sent Sarah (my sister) and me zipping away with 3 of the 5 kids. It took us forever to reach church (about 25 minutes rather than the usual 10) because of the thick snow and ice on the road (it snowed 7 inches that day!). Kevin, Rob (my brother-in-law), and the remaining two boys were miraculously able to hail a second cab and follow shortly behind us. We were able to enjoy a neat service and message, and then started the trek back home.Our plan was to catch another 2 cabs to take us to E Mart to eat lunch and get some large grocery items we needed there. After walking about 15 or 20 minutes in the blizzard, with Kevin trying to catch a c
at the whole way, we realized that this just may not happen! Kevin was finally able to get one cab driver to stop for him, who then refused to take us once he saw our crew. Kevin got to practice both his linguistic and bargaining expertise, and convinced the cab driver to take Sarah, me, and all the kids back home for only about double what it should have cost! (Our friends who have lived here for years told us last night that we actually got off paying very little for our cab ride considering the weather conditions!) Rob and Kevin managed to walk the rest of the way to E Mart (probably about a 15 or 20 minute walk from there) WITH the two strollers in tow. The cab driver agreed to take us with all the kids, but refused to have the strollers in his trunk! Who knows? Kevin and Rob said they were quite the spectacle at E Mart rolling through the aisles with two strollers and no children but rather a large package of Canola Oil and diapers inside of them!Sarah and I waited at home for the guys to return, trying to warm up freezing children, and we all enjoyed the lunch they brought home with their groceries. The guys of course experienced one more small miracle getting home. They weren't sure they could make the probably 2-mile walk back to our place from E Mart with all the groceries and the strollers in the snow (they definitely aren't equipped with snow tires!), so they were determined to wait for another cab. They waited for quite some time, then finally had a cab stop and ask the person waiting right in front of them if they were going to our apartment complex! (This has literally never happened before. We always tell the cab drivers where to go, not have them ask us about a particular location!) The other person waiting was not going to our Sunny 100 apartment complex, but Kevin jumped in to let the driver know that he and Rob were, and presto! They had a cab!
We decided to stay in the rest of the day, ordering pizza from our favorite pizza place for dinner (and waiting for it to be delivered, which only took an hour and a half, which we thought wasn't too bad, considering!). We're picking and choosing our outings a little more carefully this week than we did on Sunday--although the adventure of it was a blast and our guests couldn't be better "troopers" in spite of the crazy conditions that become a part of daily life here!
The last several days we've spent largely indoors, having good quality family time. Rob and Sarah could not be more of a blessing to all of us! From helping with food and dishes to doing crafts and playing games with the kids, we're having a great time making lots of great memories. Sarah and I did get out one day and walked to the market to get a rotisserie chicken and some chocolate popcorn. We also found a baby specialty store that carried "normal" high chairs, which we purchased for Noah (and Ben to use while he is here, too!). We bundled eve
ryone up one afternoon to go out for a snowball fight, but Sarah and I only lasted a short time with the babies. We then left the guys with the older kids to endure the cold! I'm pretty sure that the time it took to bundle and strip down was double the amount of time that we actually spent outdoors! (And yet still worth every minute!)
