Ethan burned his hands on a scorching hot waffle iron this evening. He didn't realize it was still hot, and tried to pick it up. He pulled his hands away from it as soon as he felt the heat, but unfortunately, it was not soon enough to avoid some burns and blistering. We immediately put his hands in a bowl of icy water, and brought out the burn cream (so happy I remembered to bring this.) We also called our international health service, SOS, who advised us that we were doing everything right, and what pain medications we could give him. Unfortunately, even after Motrin and Benadryl, he is still in quite a bit of pain, and can't figure out how to deal with it. All I can do is give him hugs, and let him scream out in frustration. It breaks my heart.
While this was taking place, our Mandarin teacher was here. In the eyes of the Chinese, one should not show ones emotions, as this would be viewed as "losing face." As Ethan ran around the kitchen shouting out every forbidden word in the book, and screaming in pain, she advised him that he should "be a man." We like our teacher very much; her statement was a result of cultural differences. Apparently, in her eyes, he lost "face" somewhere in the kitchen this evening.
Now, back to the beginning. Last weekend, Bill, Brennan, Carleigh and I went to a place which was advertised as "indoor fishing." Brennan has wanted to go fishing for a long time. We don't have any of the equipment needed, so this seemed like an easy way to do it.
When we arrived at the fishing location, we learned that it was actually a restaurant. As I have said before, Chinese people love to have their food as fresh as possible, and I don't think it can get any fresher than caught, cooked, and eaten in less than an hour. Here you can catch your fish, send it to the kitchen, and move to the eating area to enjoy your meal, faster than some American restaurants can take your order. We chose not to cook, or eat, our fish as we just wanted to give Brennan the experience, although I am not sure how realistic it was since we caught 5 fish in about 15 minutes!
Finally, as I may have also mentioned before, Shanghai has a "street" for everything. I joined a few friends to take a stroll down "antique street" on Thursday. There you can find all sorts of trinkets and trash, but also some really neat Chinese artifacts and/or replicas. It was nestled into a cozy little shikumen enclave where there were plenty of locals playing MahJong and card games, in little alleys and doorways. I love this neighborly tradition. To me, it is one of the most endearing things about China. The people who live in these houses are among the very poor of this country. They have very little of life's modern conveniences. They do have what is most important in life though, friends and family.
Our love to all.
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