disturbed

So this isn't the lightest note I will ever write and it is definitely bothersome.

On Saturday I stopped a pick pocket. I yelled at him and almost put my hand on his shoulder before I realized physical contact may not be the BEST idea. I was already standing less than two feet away from him and who knows, maybe he would try to grab my bag and shove me down. Who knows right? Anyway, I yell "HEY HEY. What are you doing???!!!!" He turned and replied (in English no less), "oh I am sorry" and then walked off. The guy whose bag the thief had reached his hand into didn't even realize what was going on. He was too enthralled in his girlfriend to even realize I had just saved his goods from being swiped because the whole thing happened in English. Pick pocketing is quite common here in our town and I think all of the other foreign teachers have witnessed it. Some have been able to intervene while others were too far off to do anything. The amazing thing is that the Chinese will just watch the whole robbery occur and never say a word. They will watch the guy swipe a wallet and just shake their heads in silence. They no not get involved.

Today I was invited to a teachers house for lunch. She lives on the 8th floor and I live on the 5th floor. As we rounded the 6th floor there was a man hurriedly taking off his shoes standing in his doorway (you always take off your outside shoes and put on house slippers whenever you enter a home because your outside shoes and absolutely filthy and you would have to clean your floors 5 times a day to keep them clean). Normally I would smile and greet the person but he was in no mood to smile and nod. I then heard a girl whimpering in the background and kind of giggled to myself. The man then slammed the door and I heard crazy loud thrashing and banging about. By this time we were on the 8th floor and my friend was struggling to get her keys in the door. The whimpering below had turned into full fledged screams and there was a serious commotion. My heart dropped, my gut hurt and I could feel tears trying to well up in my eyes. This girl was obviously being beaten probably for something as trivial as a poor mark on a test or some other seemingly ridiculous matter by our standars. The beating went on for a few minutes. Mind you I could still hear this all and they were on the 6th floor while I was on the 8th. My friend fumbled to turn the TV. We didn't discuss the incident.