Eric's Beijing Diary

I finally got another cleaning lady today. Lucky Bird called me last night. I said, "Lucky, you're lucky." My cleaning lady disappeared a month ago, and I needed someone to clean my apartment. So I hired Lucky. In China, someone who doesn't somehow manage to do well on the entrance exams and go to a good university, has a bit of an uphill battle to develop a trade or profession that can support at least a modest living. Lucky has some real challenges, but she does have one big advantage: She speaks pretty good English. So she is able to get work with foreigners once in awhile.

Lucky tried really hard, and she did a pretty good job. For some reason, she wanted to use my laundry detergent to wash the refrigerator, which was interesting. But my previous cleaning lady never even touched the refrigerator, so I wasn't going to complain. Lucky's problem, though, is that she just didn't know when to quit. My other lady charged me for two hours, and left after about an hour and fifteen minutes. But Lucky just couldn't bring herself to quite cleaning. After three hours, my apartment was so clean I couldn't stand it, and I finally had to tell her it was time to go home. I paid her for three hours, but she insisted on giving some of it back. Don't know if I am going to be able to help this young lady. A bit of a challenge, but we will see....Stay tuned.


This evening, Bulu and I went to Pizza and More to meet some other friends. We got caught in a rainstorm, which is probably why we were the only ones who showed up. Bulu wanted me to tell him something about my life in America, so I told him about the time I slept in the police station when I was hitchiking across the country. I had just graduated from highschool, and I was determined to go to "Explo 72," put on by Campus Crusade for Christ in Dallas, Texas. Mel drove me to the Market Street exit in Salem, Oregon, and I stuck out my thumb. The first day, I made it to Twin Falls, in south central Idaho. The second day, I managed to get to Cheyenne, Wyoming. One thousand miles in two days--I wasn't doing too badly. And I hadn't spent any money. The people who picked me up were generally friendly. There is one thing unique about hitchhiking: Nobody has to pick you up. Many people are afraid to pick up hitchhikers, and of course, this is undrestandable. But the ones who do are doing so because they either feel sorry for you, or because they are just very friendly, outgoing people. Whenever we stopped, they would usually buy me something to eat. Some rides lasted only a few miles. But some lasted a few hundred miles. But the third day, heading south through Colorado, I just couldn't seem to get a ride. It took me all day to get to Walsenburg--about 250 miles.

As I was standing there in Walsenburg with thumb out, I was becoming more and more frustrated. It was getting dark, and I knew that my chances for getting a ride after dark were pretty slim. Just then, a car pulled up, and a couple hitchhikers got out. With a dog. My hopes were dashed. Getting a ride after dark was hard enough. But three guys and a dog trying to get a ride after dark was pretty much out of the question. But these guys were Christians, who were heading to the same place I was, so it turned out that we struck up a conversation pretty quickly. Needless to say, we had no luck at all getting a ride. One of the guys spoted a patrol car parked nearby and decided to ask the officer if we could sleep in the police station. I thought he was nuts. Surprisingly, the officer said we could. I was more than a bit dubious about this arrangement, but my curiosity got the best of me, and I thought it might be nice to sleep inside for a night, instead of on the ground by the side of the road, as I had been doing. We walked two miles to the police station and rolled out our sleeping bags. Tired, it didn't take long for us to fall asleep. The next morning at 6 am, a rather loud, deep voice entered the room. I was wishing I could find a way to muzzle it, when I heard him ask the question:

"What are these guys doing here?"

The officer on duty told him.

"Get them out of here!"

It was the police chief. I wasn't tired anymore. We got up and headed out of town. When we got to the edge of town, the same guy who arranged our stay at the police station told me and the other guy to hide in the ditch. We took the dog with us, and ducked as low as we could. Pretty soon this guy in a new Oldsmobile pulls over. He had just graduated from the Air Force Academy, and was heading home. A new second lieutenant, with a new car, and he stops for a bum hitchhiker. Pretty nice guy. He really was a nice guy, but he didn't want a dog in his new car. I couldn't blame him, and his preference turned out good for me, because the other two guys told me to go with him, and they waited for another ride. This guy, who's name, coincidentally, was Eric, was from Austin, Texas. He took me all the way to Dallas and dropped me off in front of the convention center. Seven hundred miles.

Some days it doesn't go so well, and you don't seem to be accomplishing much, and then you get a break. That's the way life is.