Katherine's Baby

So, as many of you know, Katherine had her baby on June 6, 2009. He is a very healthy baby boy with a full head of jet-black hair. In case you don’t know, Katherine is one of the Chinese English Teachers at my school. She has been an amazing friend ever since we met almost three years ago. Everyone is excited and celebrating her transition into motherhood.

Last Wednesday, Katherine called me. She told me that one of her American Friends was coming to visit her and see her new baby. She asked me if I would pick her up at the train station and bring her to the hospital. It seemed like it would be easy. I had no idea what she looked like. However, finding a white girl at the train station is easy, because there aren’t too many of them in my town.

So, I went to the train station, and found her easily. It was about nine o’clock at night, and she had to leave the next morning at seven thirty. So, her visit would be very short. She introduced herself (Ellen). We exchanged pleasantries, and then went to find a taxi to go to the hospital.

The taxi driver dropped us of at the hospital, and we were both so excited about seeing the baby that neither of us remembered to take her suitcase out of the trunk. We realized it about two minutes after the taxi left. We called Katherine and told her what had happened, and she asked her husband to call the taxi company and the police.

In the meantime, we were able to see Katherine's baby and talk with Katherine. She was understandably exhausted. I wasn’t able to take pictures that night, because I didn’t want to wake the baby, but I visited Katherine and her family yesterday. Here are some pictures of her baby.


Waking up after a nap

The whole family


It took about two hours, but he found the suitcase (which is a miracle, because most of the time it would be taken by drivers or other passengers). The taxi driver had taken it to the police station soon after remembering that it was still in the trunk.

We had to go to the police station to get it. The policeman told us that we had to wait for a translator to come. He said that he wanted to make sure that all of her belongings were accounted for, and nothing had been taken. We waited for an hour and a half. No translator. He kept telling us ten more minutes. I finally told him that we had to leave. It was already one o’clock in the morning, and I was worried that Ellen wouldn’t get to spend much time with Katherine before her early train. The policeman agreed to let Katherine translate over the phone. Ellen went through her bag and found that everything was there.

After walking out of the police station it was one thirty in the morning. Ellen and I said goodbye and that it was nice to have met. Ellen and Katherine’s husband went back to the hospital, and I took a taxi back home. It was a strange way to bond with a new friend, but hey, is life ever normal?

“If you couldn't find any weirdness, maybe we'll just have to make some!”
-Calvin and Hobbes

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