Dinner and a Show

The weather has been really nice lately.  We had a bit of Spring fever and decided that we wanted some street food for supper.  We LOVE street food.  We especially Shao kao.  Shao kao is translated barbeque or grilled food.  Shao kao stalls have meat, vegetables, tofu and even some bread on skewers.  You just pick out what you want and they grill it over some hot coals .  Yum yum.

One problem with street food, is that the stalls are not always exactly legal and  many times they get run off by the city police.  The place we used to go to no longer has any vendors.  So we walked along some back streets until we found a few food vendors.  This street had several fruit stands and small vegetable markets and other various shops and small restaurants.  This is not an area we frequent, and there were several children around. They were very curious, and before we knew it, it had attracted a small crowd of kids that were asking us questions.   

While we were amusing the kids and waiting for our food to cook, a fight broke out at a nearby vegetable stall.  We heard some yelling and saw some scuffling.   There was lots of yelling and of course a crowd formed. 

Jon and I lived for a year in Changsha and we saw street scuffles several times, we were not worried or anything. 

Some guys broke up the fight and were leading a guy away, he was still yelling (but he was going away).  Everything seemed to calm down pretty well, and the crowd stared to disperse.  But then…

A different guy came up from the direction the last guy left.  He yelled something and he was carrying what looked like a big stick.  He smacked it on the side of a cart as he walked up and some people stared to act a little scared.  The kids and I backed further away. We did not want be run over if folks started running.  Then I looked up and noticed that the stick the guy had was not a stick, but a wicked looking knife/ sword thing!!!

There seemed to be some scuffling and yelling, so I turned to the kids (my kids) and said, “Kids, GO!”  They did not have to be told twice.! They left quickly.  After just a few seconds, Jon handed me the food and told me to go with the kids.  He was paying for our food.

I started down the street the opposite way from the fight, and there was hardly anyone around.  I did not see the kids.  I called their names, and a street food vendor pointed the way the kids went.  I found them pretty quickly, and Jon was just a few steps behind me. 

Jon said that before he left, a lady had taken the knife from that guy, so there was no real danger anymore. 

One of the kids that was hanging out around us, had followed my kids and was hanging around.  We asked if she wanted to go back, and she wisely said she thought she would wait a bit.  She did not want us to wait with her, so went on home.

I do want to say, that even though, it was a little scary, I do not think we were ever in any real danger.  Also, even though I sent the kids away, I knew they would stay together and that Hallie had a phone and I could call her if I needed to.  I am happy to know that if we are ever in a dangerous situation, and I have to tell the kids to go again, that they will .  They obeyed without hesitation.  Also, I won’t loose them because someone will always tell me where they are.  We do stand out.

We used this experience as a learning tool and talked with the kids about being aware of their surroundings and to make sure that when they get angry they do not loose control and do something stupid.

Of course this kind of situation does not only take place in China.  The news is full of stories where people loose their cool and do stupid things (road rage).  The hardest part for us, was not understanding exactly what was going on because of the language and cultural differences.

Well, it was not much of  a show, but it sure was some excitement! I hope our next dinner out is a little more peaceful.