A little holiday fun

Imagine my surprise when I came across a full-fledged carousel at the department store the other day! In a land where there's not a lot for kids to "do," it was a major find.

I got an entire day of enticements out of it. For example, "do you want to ride the carousel tomorrow? Then you should eat your broccoli." Or, "do you want to stay awake and stay at home, or take a nap and then ride the carousel afterwards?" I have learned that discipline (effective or otherwise) is all about strategic use of threats, but that's another topic.

Of course, the ride wasn't free. But we didn't know the cost, either. When we went to buy tickets, the clerk held up six fingers, so I thought that meant six yuan (or about $.90). But no....nothing is ever simple for foreigners. Turns out, the finger combinations that mean "six" for Americans mean "fifteen" for Chinese (or, almost $2.50). A bargain, for all the mileage we got out of that ride.