Finding the KEY to success

We needed a few new sets of house keys made for the front door this week. Since Ace Hardware (the home of the helpful hardware man) does not exist here in China, we had no idea where to begin. Therefore, on Wednesday, Scott tasked Mr. Chen to have a few house keys made.

When Mr. Chen came to pick up Annie later that day, he gave her the keys. Unfortunately they were about 1/8 inch too think to fit in any lock ever created by mankind.

So Thursday morning, Scott informed Mr. Chen the keys were “bu hao” (no good). By the time Mr. Chen picked Annie up in the afternoon he had a new set of keys. Unfortunately, these keys were “bu hao” as well which prompted him to get another set made on his way to pick Scott up from work. We guess at this point he determined there was a potential for operator error (because we’ve never used keys before in our lives) because when he and Scott arrived home, he leaped out of the van to try them himself. A few seconds later, Annie (from inside the house) heard a loud Chinese voice let out a big “bu hao” followed by what we can only guess was a couple of “f bombs” in Mandarin.

Friday morning arrived with Mr. Chen clinging to a refund from Carrefour as he decided to take a stab at another store. Tonight he was like a kid in a candy store as he tried the fourth set of keys - just sure this would be the set that would end his frustrating endeavor. A few seconds later the defeated man sighed a “bu hao” again as he went home for what we can only guess was a very, very stiff drink.