"Never Say Never"...

How many times did my beloved mother say to me..."never say never?"
 
Given my somewhat delayed  learning capabilities...it just didn't stick.  Now, living Here, I'm daily chuckling at how such a silly practice of using that phrase, as though I ACTUALLY control anything in my life, was.
 
It would seem that the Big Guy Upstairs absolutely delights in affording me opportunities to do things that were on my "Well, I'll NEVER do that" list.  For example:
 
1)  I dropped my Music Major in college, because I was "NEVER going to be a music teacher."  I did not want to be a Music teacher and therefore, as I reasoned my "control" over my destiny, I did NOT need the music major.  To perform, no one cared if I had a degree.  So last year, the first year of our little school Here, there was a shortage of teachers so I was asked to "Please take the responsibility of the TWO music classes per week."  I did, and I'm ashamed to say, struggled through teaching those two hours each week with a particularly bad attitude because, of course, my plan included "never being an Music Teacher."
 
Then last week, during our prep meetings, the schedules were handed out for the next school year.  It was explained that since I did "such good job" last year, that this year I was being scheduled to teach SIX music classes per week!
 
Apparently DAD is seeking ways to refine my stubbornness further.  Perhaps this year, I should really address my attitude while teaching the classes that I was "never going to do."
 
2)  This is a complicated example, because many of my readers who have lived only in the West will share my previously limited scope of what is "appropriate" regarding taking one's children to the bathroom.  However, with the full knowledge that many of you will be shocked and horrified at my next example of "never say never"... I will press on...
 
Here, the practice is to allow small children many freedoms when it comes to their need to empty their bladders.  Most babies still wear "split pants" (pants that are split from waistband to waistband to allow the babies "private parts" to be totally "public parts" thus permitting ease for stopping ANYWHERE to "make water.") 
 
So, its most common to see mothers squat down over a sewer drain, at grassy patches where trees break up the sidewalks, or ANYWHERE really to hold their children in such a way that when the whistle in the child's ear (this is a conditioned response)...the child "potties"  on the spot.
 
Having seen this many times over the years, we have laughed about it and scratched our heads at the significant cultural difference.  Our oldest daughter, Butterfly, at age 9, while on a camping trip in the deep woods back There and unable to find a bathroom, said to our suggestion that she just go shield herself behind a tree and squat down..."NO!  That is NOT NATURAL!" 
 
At any rate, this week, while attempting to purchase school supplies for the kids.  (Which was a real point of victory...we caught the right bus, remembered to take our own shopping bags and bottles of water into the 105 degree heat, while sweating from the 95% humidity we quickly selected the store with the best air-conditioning and the least crowd,  chose the side of the street to walk from the bus stop to the store ... some 6 city blocks...based on which side had the most shade, and UNDERSTOOD 95% of what the shop clerk said to us in the local dialect!)
 
So, mid-way through the shopping trip our little man, Bub, says..."I need to go potty Momma!"  One problem with our idyllic victory in the current cross-cultural scenario...Momma can't remember where a bathroom is.  And, the case most likely is, that the nearest public restroom is a LONG WAY from where I am shopping with 4 other precious children.
 
What is a Momma to do?
 
After wandering through the massive bookstore with no success and the plaintive wails of my son growing ever more urgent...
 
I asked another shop clerk.  I first told her that we needed a bathroom.  She told me of the location, and as I had suspected, it was a goodly distance from the store.  Then Bub tells her he has to go "niao niao"...local dialect for "pee pee."  She smiles and tells us to follow her.  A few rows over from the English section, next to the Chinese Medicine books...she points to a trash can.
 
What do I do?  I'm in the MIDDLE of a bookstore...the size of Barnes and Noble...and I've been directed to allow my boy to "go" in a TRASHCAN.
 
My mind quickly processes the situation...is there any alternative?....after all I said I would "never to that."
 
...NEVER SAY NEVER...

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