On day two of our roadtrip we woke up and our service lady came early to make us some noodles for breakfast to go along with the scones I had packed. At 7:45 a different knock sounded at the door. I opened it a little to find a young man, maybe 17, but bigger than David in build. He was asking where the big gate was and saying some other things that were confusing to me. I understood the words just not quite what he was saying, so I went back to the kitchen to get the helper.
When we walked back to the door he was practically in the house. I told him to wait outside, and they talked. She said he had called the day before and his dad wants to rent this house. Interesting, not the same thing he was telling me. This whole interaction caused me pause. I thought he was weird, not as a passing judgment but as a feeling in my gut. Especially when thirty minutes later he was walking by our front window, in the yard, not on the street. What was he doing?
As we discussed this, we decided to pack up our valuables (computer, etc.) and take them with us on our outing for the day....
And off we went to the WWII Museum which was phenomenal. This was incredibly well-done. Very detailed. Almost all WWII memorials in our part of China are called 'Anti Japanese War Memorial' and they really get this rhetoric at school too, from friends, etc. The hatred still runs deep.
Even so, we all enjoyed learning more about this area and all that happened during the war.
This memorial is to the 'Flying Tigers', the group of Americans that flew air support in this area protecting and helping the Chinese from Japanese invasion.
This was free for most people including us, because we are American passport holders.
And we got our pic taken with the workers.
The American Jeep. The stats on this thing were amazing.
Lots of great pics of everything
Sophia outside striking a pose.
Next we drove around town a bit and stumbled upon a McDonald's! Yeah.
Let's go...
A birthday party was going on and they offered the kids some mini-cones. Perfect.
David and CC needed to go back to the house real quick while the rest of us shopped a little.
David sat down on the couch waiting for CC, when he heard noises upstairs. At first he thought it was the cleaning lady, but then it got quiet. He walked upstairs and called out asking if anyone was there. No answer. This is where his heart started racing a little. He went to each room and got to the small 'play room', pushing open the door, it stopped on something. He looked down behind the door and saw feet and as he gaze moved up he saw a big dark jacket.
In this instant David did the absolute right thing. He hightailed it out of there and yelled for his mom to get out of the house. He had no idea who this was, what they were doing and if they had a knife or anything else. (weapon of choice here since guns are not allowed).
They both waited outside to see how this person would come out. David picked up a rock. CC yelled, 'Here he comes'. (when she retold me this story as calm as could be I laughed so hard at this point because it seemed so crazy...just sitting there...waiting for some crazy guy to come out of our house). And David chased him and yelled and chased him some more. David does not remember what he yelled, but somewhere down the street the guy stopped, put his hands up in the air (he's either been there before or watched too many movies, probably both) and knelt down on his knees.
David made him sit on the steps of another house. The owner of the house where he was sitting came out and asked what was up, David told him and both David and this neighbor started questioning the intruder. Before the chase ensued, David got on the phone with the manager and told him what was going on and to come right away! Two guards showed up and the house manager. The guy's story hardly made sense. And indeed it was the same guy who knocked on our door at 7:45 that morning. And seriously folks, David heard noises in the night. For all we know he was there then too. SCAR-Y.
The guards knew the 'boy' who said he was 15 or something, they said his brain was not right and that he had done this before and that he lived up the street in the same neighborhood (which makes his previous story about wanting to rent or know where the gate was absurd). He also had left a box outside the front door with his shoes (this was true David noticed it as they arrived that afternoon). He told David he left a notebook in the house and he was going back to get it. That could have been true. One of the guards alluded that this boy gets beat by his parents and left alone all the time. David felt sorry for him at that point, even though much of the story did not add up.
His mom came and got him, with a look of 'not again' on her face.
How did he get in? Almost everywhere in China bars are found on every window, especially first floor apartments/houses. Not in this neighborhood. He had climbed through the kitchen window. We figure he hangs out in this house when no one is renting it. Or when people are in this case. He may have something wrong with him, we are not sure, a lot of what he did in this situation was pretty dumb, but other reactions he had were pretty smart.
We were most thankful that our children were not there. David most certainly would have reacted differently had our kids stumbled upon a stranger in the house, and it would not have turned out the same.
We joke about this now but it was scary and we did not stay our second night in the house, we got our refund, finished a fun-filled day (next post), and drove straight back to our real house. Very thankful and blessed.
