[This is my Trail] @ The Zoo

[Rachelle]

After my last days of work in Kunming, I had the chance to go to the zoo with some of the group leaders of our handicraft project. It was great fun to see them all and hang out with them in Kunming. We saw monkeys, elephants, lions, tigers...oh my! Many of the women had never seen these kinds of animals, so they really enjoyed it. There were also raccoons in the zoo, which I found quite amusing, since I can find them in my backyard in Florida.

I love these women, so I was really happy to be able to see them one more time. And there was one moment that pretty much made my life. After the zoo, we were going to dinner. My coworker, Ai Fang, and I were leading the way to our reserved tables, on the second floor. The hostess led us up the escalator and Ai Fang and I jumped on without thinking twice. Then we heard a commotion. When we looked back, the women didn’t really know what to do and were scared of the escalator (we hadn't even thought about the fact that most of them hadn't used them before). One brave Miao lady hopped on, but didn’t know that she could hold on to the handrail. She started falling backwards and the others had to push her back up. It was so funny. They also didn’t get off in the most graceful fashion. Don’t worry, I’m laughing with them and not at them. They couldn’t stop laughing either, and I’m sure it’s an experience they won’t soon forget. Usually I’m the odd one out as the clumsy white girl in the village, so it was fun to turn the tables a little bit.

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Posted By Rachelle to This is my Trail at 8/20/2009 10:39:00 AM