My dad doesn't know it, but he is my 1st every guest blogger. I'm pasting in his last email from China. Pretty funny! My response- GET HOME RIGHT NOW BEFORE YOU MARRY ME OFF! Enjoy a good laugh...
Hi everyone,
Today was my last day in Shanghai and tomorrow I head on back. Today
I met with John and Sandy, two friends who live in Shanghai. I also
went to the central park and there is a pretty weird thing going on--
tons of old parents who want to get their kids married. They are
worried that they won't get married, so parents write down information
about their sons and daughters (age, height, schooling, job, etc) and
post them for public display, in hopes of finding a match. There are
literally hundreds of these postings and tons of these old people in
the parks. The first picture is of the postings
So, I go up to talk to them to see about the postings. The lady that
I talked to has a son who she wants to get married, so they asked if I
had a daughter, well sure enough I do. So, I got a picture of Tamara
and showed it to all of them. They are getting excited! Next thing I
know there are some TV reporters from Taiwan doing a story on this
thing, and they think that I am really trying to find a spouse for my
daughter, and they put a microphone on me to interview me. Imagine,
this american guy who is match making his american daughter!
So the second picture is of the Taiwanese reporters. When they found
out that I wasn't really looking to match my daughter, they soon lost
interest. Then a local Shanghai reporter come up to talk to me too.
I asked the reporter if the children wouldn't be embarrassed to know
that the parents were doing this, and indeed she confirmed that most
are horrified by the thought of it, but that others actually find
matches. The reporter herself was single and she told me that she
would be embarrassed.
The third picture is of the mother, with a picture of her son, a
description of him, and a picture of Tamara on my iTouch. They wanted
to know how tall Tamara was, what skills she had, etc. But the
hillarious part is when they asked how old Tamara was. Turns out that
they don't want to match any wife with a husband who is younger. This
guy was born in 1982 and Tamara was born in 1980. Immediately she
took the paper away from me and the deal was OFF! No matter, another
man gave me a sheet of paper with his son's information (who was born
in 1977). Anyway, I had a great time and what a fantastic way to have
to practice Chinese.
Heading home to see Tonia and Tamara,
