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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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!