Tai chi and other adventures

This morning I took Helen with me to the bus stop at 7:25, because I wanted to show her the people doing Tai chi at the basketball court on campus. Of course she wore her shirt with the panda bear doing tai chi which her Aunt Mary had given her. On the way back from the bus stop the people had switched to using swords, which was impressive. I overcame my embarrassment long enough to take a picture. As Helen and I watched, we were approached by an older man, who spoke very clear English and he asked us a little about ourselves and whether I am interested in joining their Tai chi exercises. He used the words "play at Tai chi" a lot to describe what they are doing. We walked back across campus and his office is in the building across the street from our apartment. He is very keen to meet Michael so I will have to introduce them somehow -- he studies Chinese philosophy as a hobby, although he is a law professor specializing in economics law. Anyway, I know my friend Mary from my choir back home will be so disappointed with me if I don't pursue this, so maybe I will try tomorrow if they meet on Saturday. I am rising quite early anyway because it gets light by 6 am.

The other adventure we had today was not a pleasant one. Sophia managed to lock herself in the bedroom after her nap. She pushed the button on the doorknob, but then didn't understand that she needed to turn the doorknob to pop it open. After 5 or 6 minutes of trying to explain it to her through the door, I ran downstairs to get the guard and he fetched the maids. Of course none of them spoke any English so I am using my basic Chinese that "mei mei bu mingbai" (little sister doesn't understand" to explain why she didn't just open it. They produced a huge quantity of keys, none of which fit the lock. By this point Sophia was beginning to cry and I was getting frustrated. We finally reached a Chinese friend on the phone who translated for the maids that the engineer was on his way. He had me tell Sophia to stand back and then he whacked at the doorknob until it broke and came off. This was really loud and scared the baby, but it was quick and then I had her back!! All this time Michael was having an afternoon walk and came in about 10 seconds before the door opened. Whew!!!! She seems to have recovered just fine, but I am still a little upset. I can't believe I didn't notice the potential for this problem, as there are a lot of doors in the apartment like this -- both bedrooms, the bathroom changing area and the balcony. Sophia could have locked me out on the balcony any time I went out to throw clothes in the washer. Usually Helen is with her, but this time she wasn't...I have now duct taped all the locking mechanisms so it can't happen again!