Because Sometimes Real Life's Funny, too.
Jul. 25th, 2005 12:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lls_mutantFirst off, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
marilla82, I got your package, and OMG, absolutely ADORABLE! Thank you!!! SO cute! (Although my husband certainly didn't get the puppy reference ;) ) But we're total dog people.
Entertaining story for you all about real life...
Okay. So, I get up this morning, it's a nice enough morning, take a shower and kiss hubby goodbye and all that. And I think, "I should water the plant on the step before I forget." So I fill the pitcher I use and step outside to quick do that, and then head back in.
Click.
Click.
Oh, shit.
Yup. I'd locked myself out. At 7:15 in the morning. Wearing NOTHING but a robe. (No underwear or bra, even.) Wet hair. Teeth unbrushed. No shoes. And no cell phone.
Well, shit. Whose door do you knock on at 7:15 AM? I'm kind of looking around, hoping that one of my neighbors will magically appear. And then... I see one! He's across the common ground, working in the garden in the back. I don't know him, but I'm desperate, right? Right. So I pad across the the common ground, clutching my robe around me (and for some reason, still clinging to my pitcher). I get over there and explain my problem, so grateful that there's someone there!
One problem. He doesn't speak a WORD of English.
Oh, shit. Again.
Well, fortunately, he speaks Mandarin Chinese. And so do I! But the problem is, I last spoke Chinese 10 years ago. I can't remember the word for house. I can't remember the word for phone call. I can't remember anything of any practical use at this point, and he doesn't seem to understand that I want to make a phone call. Finally, he points to the front of the house, and I catch the word "son", and I get that he wants me to go around to the front and he'll get his son.
So I do. And he does.
His son is a little bit older than me- nice guy. Speaks perfectly good English. Phew! I explain my dilemma (feeling incredibly foolish as I stand there in my robe), and ask if I can use his phone. My mother-in-law lives 5 miles away and has a spare key to our place (thank GOD!). He very graciously allows me to use his phone- which is really nice since he and I have never spoken before.
I can't remember my in-law's phone number. And they're unlisted.
I call hubby. His cell phone is off. I call my mother. She doesn't have the number written down. But for some reason, I can remember the phone number of my brother-in-law and his wife, and again, thank god, she works a lot from home. She's home and gives me the number. I call my mother-in-law, who says she'll be right over. (phew!)
It's one of those all's well that ends well stories. The neighbors are really nice people, and although I would have chosen to meet them in a more dignified manner, I'm glad I did meet them. (Especially since the son has a little boy who's less than a year old. Think we'll be seeing more of him in the future!) I think I will be baking them cookies and writing a nice note in Chinese to apologize for barging in on them so early, and to thank them for their kindness. My mother-in-law came over and let me in, and then asked "should I keep the key?" YES, oh wonderful mother-in-law!!!!!!!! What would I have done without you? And I was able to tell the story to my co-worker, who was depressed and needed a good laugh. So this isn't at all a complaint or anything... I just thought it was funny.
Thank God for nice neighbors and wonderful mother-in-laws!!!!
marilla82, I got your package, and OMG, absolutely ADORABLE! Thank you!!! SO cute! (Although my husband certainly didn't get the puppy reference ;) ) But we're total dog people. Entertaining story for you all about real life...
Okay. So, I get up this morning, it's a nice enough morning, take a shower and kiss hubby goodbye and all that. And I think, "I should water the plant on the step before I forget." So I fill the pitcher I use and step outside to quick do that, and then head back in.
Click.
Click.
Oh, shit.
Yup. I'd locked myself out. At 7:15 in the morning. Wearing NOTHING but a robe. (No underwear or bra, even.) Wet hair. Teeth unbrushed. No shoes. And no cell phone.
Well, shit. Whose door do you knock on at 7:15 AM? I'm kind of looking around, hoping that one of my neighbors will magically appear. And then... I see one! He's across the common ground, working in the garden in the back. I don't know him, but I'm desperate, right? Right. So I pad across the the common ground, clutching my robe around me (and for some reason, still clinging to my pitcher). I get over there and explain my problem, so grateful that there's someone there!
One problem. He doesn't speak a WORD of English.
Oh, shit. Again.
Well, fortunately, he speaks Mandarin Chinese. And so do I! But the problem is, I last spoke Chinese 10 years ago. I can't remember the word for house. I can't remember the word for phone call. I can't remember anything of any practical use at this point, and he doesn't seem to understand that I want to make a phone call. Finally, he points to the front of the house, and I catch the word "son", and I get that he wants me to go around to the front and he'll get his son.
So I do. And he does.
His son is a little bit older than me- nice guy. Speaks perfectly good English. Phew! I explain my dilemma (feeling incredibly foolish as I stand there in my robe), and ask if I can use his phone. My mother-in-law lives 5 miles away and has a spare key to our place (thank GOD!). He very graciously allows me to use his phone- which is really nice since he and I have never spoken before.
I can't remember my in-law's phone number. And they're unlisted.
I call hubby. His cell phone is off. I call my mother. She doesn't have the number written down. But for some reason, I can remember the phone number of my brother-in-law and his wife, and again, thank god, she works a lot from home. She's home and gives me the number. I call my mother-in-law, who says she'll be right over. (phew!)
It's one of those all's well that ends well stories. The neighbors are really nice people, and although I would have chosen to meet them in a more dignified manner, I'm glad I did meet them. (Especially since the son has a little boy who's less than a year old. Think we'll be seeing more of him in the future!) I think I will be baking them cookies and writing a nice note in Chinese to apologize for barging in on them so early, and to thank them for their kindness. My mother-in-law came over and let me in, and then asked "should I keep the key?" YES, oh wonderful mother-in-law!!!!!!!! What would I have done without you? And I was able to tell the story to my co-worker, who was depressed and needed a good laugh. So this isn't at all a complaint or anything... I just thought it was funny.
Thank God for nice neighbors and wonderful mother-in-laws!!!!
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no subject
Date: 2005-07-25 04:44 pm (UTC)(And we will so never again mention the incident of my son locking me out of the house in the middle of winter. No we will not.) LOL
no subject
Date: 2005-07-25 04:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-25 05:49 pm (UTC)BTW- not 100% sure I'll be on tonight, but I'll definitely be around the next few days.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-25 10:45 pm (UTC)Hahah! I met our new neighbors in a similar manner. I had on my bathrobe and flip flops....and nothing else, because I was trying to let the dog out of the house. It was a sad state of affairs, as the neighbors were NOT early risers. Heheh!
no subject
Date: 2005-07-26 02:21 pm (UTC)It's just such a lovely way to meet neighbors, isn't it?
no subject
Date: 2005-07-26 10:17 pm (UTC)Also, yeah....let me say that the neighbors still laugh at me about it. Plus, ya know, it was 6:30AM. They work evenings. So, they were just going to bed when I was knocking on their door. Heheh.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-26 01:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-26 02:21 pm (UTC)Mandarin's pretty hard to learn- I have a hard time with the tones of the words. But I minored in it in college. Unfortunately, college was almost 10 years ago!