True to her personality, Kristine opts to finish her homework immediately after school instead of leaving them to the weekends. She is the type who cannot goto sleep if she doesnt finish her homework, or figure out where she made a mistake in her work. Normally we will goto her Yamaha practice immediately after picking her from school bus, but today we leave the Yamaha practice to coincide with Kimberley's kinder pickup so they can goto KFC together after piano. The spicy chicken wings are Kristine's favourite, but Kimberley will claim the chips even after her scheduled dinner at the kinder.
I had an interesting walk today before Kristine arrived home. On way to Kristine's bus stop after my milk run to a local Japanese supermarket, 4 young women asked me for help. I stopped expecting questions on directions. Instead they asked for some money for food. They looked around 20 yrs old, decently dressed, claimed they came to look for jobs in Beijing but had not found any. They said they had not eaten anything the whole day. I scanned through their faces, and the dresses and shoes. Decent, probably genuine. So dipped into my pocket and pulled out an RMB20. Their faces brightened up and thanked me profusely. As I started to walk away, the eldest one asked me for another 20. 20 could get them 3 big bowls of Sichuan noodles at a restaurant nearby, or 33 baozi (steamed buns with fillings). I told them I helped them through today, they should get help from someone else for tomorrow. 2 men were watching us nearby in a busy roadside walk path. Parting with rmb20 was easy, but that raised more questions than answers of why and how they could venture into Beijing without much money to support themselves for more than a few days. Maybe they were genuinely desperate.
Also stopped at a local neighbourhood clinic to ask if Kimberley could receive her 4 yr old immunisation shots. Immunisation for 4 yr olds differs between Beijing and Melbourne. Three different injections in Melb but just a Polio lolly here. They could not administer the shots for Kimberley as she is a foreigner. We shall try another hospital over the weekend. Her injections are 2.5 months overdue, but we are 2.5 months away from Melb.
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3 comments:
ewwww why did you give them money. i would have told them to go and pawn their 'nice dresses' if they were so desperate.. stupid people.
Y20 could get them a good feed. If they were genuine, I would have helped them to stave off hunger for another day. If they were not, it was just Y20.
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