The Casper-people on the Bus

Q installed a bus app for me, so today we decided to see if it works. In the end, I'm not really sure. It certainly had issues. But it got us on a bus to Fort Santo Domingo and then when we were finished there we were able to find a return bus stop and ask the next bus that showed up if it was going where we wanted it to.

So our world is getting a bit bigger. Which is a good thing, because while we live in a very nice neighborhood of dalou's (big buildings), it's very bu fangbien (not convenient) to do shopping of any kind, including street eating, which was a bit shocking because I didn't know a place existed here that didn't have street food at SOME hour of the day.

So we bused to a fort built by the Spanish in the 1600's, then occupied by the Dutch before becoming (200 years later) the home of the British Consulate. This was a lovely place, but one of the two buildings was closed, and I was trying to keep an engaging pace with the kids and got just one picture.

Next to this fort is a large university which was opened by a Presbyterian missionary MacKay.



Here's his info:

Us Mormons used to be called on missions like this.... Why not anymore? (He married a Chinese woman after his first wife with whom he had 5 children and who was NOT Chinese passed away.) Anyway, I was VERY impressed with the university's mission, so pardon the blurry picture, (and the flash in the one to the left) but I just had to capture the thoughts below:

The kids at OXFORD! Oooh, ahhh.

The missionary's residence, called "Little White House" is behind Veeve.

Anyway, evidence of the great good he did is all around, and it was fun to get a tiny taste of it. Fun for me. The kids were sure gripey about every little thing.

Immediately after stepping off the bus, they wanted to eat, so because we didn't have Q with us, I chose an actual sit-down restaurant for it's quick convenience and ambiance. It cured me of needing to stop by any others.

I'm sure I said, "smile!" but Rachel's expression better captures the
reality of this restaurant experience.

The food was WAY overpriced, not especially good, and it took nearly 30 minutes to be served, during which time I got to wrestle MY hungry natives. I wish I could say behavior improved after they ate, but maybe they are just over seeing one more place.

Of course, they don't act that way when presented with the option of going or staying. Maybe I need to find better bribes or a way to increase cooperation. Without Rachel, we would have been done-for.

The whole day was extended by multiple stops to see street processions of traditional musicians and puppet Gods. I still haven't been able to understand what is going on today - something about Matsu, NOT related to Mid-Autumn Festival. Anyway, the volume has been LOUD and the worshipers many. The video below is the SMALLEST taste of all the firecrackers they literally lit at our feet!

Coming back from the fort we split up. Rachel took Stew home while the big 3 and I continued into the next city to see if we could find the temple where there was supposed to be a show. A very kind gentleman offered to walk us there. (Another very kind gentleman on the bus gave us a whole box of Italian chocolate which I was able to use for the rest of the day as bribery that got Stew up a flight of stairs and ended a string of pointless arguments and complaints the girls were launching....)

So we saw more performance that went completely over our heads. But I told the kids that we could find the stories later and to pay attention to the moves of the performers and we could do our own similar play for Culture Club. After that, they seemed quite engaged and would turn away briefly while watching to shout at me ideas for the costumes, music, or audience participation. It will be fun to post videos side by side. (The clip below is shortly after our surprise moment when this low-speaking-voice performer began to sing....)

Some of the performers seemed about as enthusiastic and rehearsed as friends might be, having been pulled into one of our elaborate basement productions. I'm always fascinated by performance attitude - what makes a good performance/performer (humility? an attitude of going through the motions? facial animation or the lack thereof?) because AS a performer, I want to see from a show what I enjoyed giving (my best, full effort, no mistakes, and 100% for the audience) but watching the show today, like watching Native Americans dance at a pow-wow, I wonder if MY sense of performance is more tuned to ballet, or western expectations, or some other set of standards, and if the standards aren't universal, I'm completely curious to learn about other sets!

Anyway, we left this show early (again, against my performance etiquette instinct, NO ONE seemed to have any special sense of paying attention) to grab more groceries while we were around the corner from our new favorite grocery store, and then took the train back home for the final hike. Tonight, I'm doing NOTHING and Q can take the kids for a swim! Ah, blessed rest!