Started from the bottom
My good day turned sour when I dropped my iPhone 5 in the toilet on Wednesday. Although this situation was bad enough, the fact that I had to remove a layer of clothing, kneel down on the filthy restroom floor, and stick my entire arm into the toilet to rescue my phone from this poop-hole made the situation 10x worse. As I mentioned in a previous post, many public toilets in China aren't like the toilets we have in the United States. This particular toilet was more like a floor urinal with deep, narrow hole that, from a glance, appeared to have no end (pictured right). I could see a tip of my phone peaking out from the toilet water and that's when I thought to myself, "I'm going in!" I successfully recovered my phone from the toilet with toilet water dripping down my arm, but at the time my only concern was getting my phone to a dry place. I immediately sprinted back to my office, without stopping to wash my hands, and grabbed some tissues to dry my phone. Unfortunately, it was too late, and it was already shutting off. *moment of silence*
After going through such a traumatic event, the only thing I wanted to do was punch a wall or cry.. or both. But considering the fact that it was only 2:00 pm and I still had two 7th grade classes to teach, I couldn't let this situation affect my demeanor or my attitude. I was still in a semi-depressed mood when I stood in front of my class at 2:45 pm. All I could think about was how much I wanted classes to be over so I could run to the store and purchase a bag of rice (the supposed cure for water damaged phones). But once the bell rang and I saw all the bright faces gazing at me, eager to learn English, I realized it's not about me. My purpose here in China is to teach English to my students, and at that second I knew I could not let what happened with my phone affect my ability to take care of my responsibilities. I was definitely not happy about my phone problems, but being a firm believer in "you get what you put out" and knowing that positive energy breeds positive energy, I decided to put my own selfish problems to the side and have a fun and exciting class for my students. #DoItForTheRatchets.
- FBG