When I was young my dad fixed the stuff I broke. He made me cradles for my dolls out of empty oatmeal canisters. He made me cars out of empty push-up popsicle containers. He let me paint my toy cars with fingernail polish. He was a genius at "re-purposing" before that was even a thing. I think he may have even made me a pinwheel out of a soft drink can. I can't remember exactly because soft drink cans were used in the repair or many an item at our home. Depending on the nature/nurture argument one could say I either inherited some of this trait or was conditioned to think about non-standard ways to repair/create things. It was great.
Enter our life in China. This is a skill that is needed on an almost daily basis. Last week (I'm a but behind in posting) there was a day that I used my "Westberry skills" all day long.
I figured out how to fix Catherine's mosquito net with a chopstick and tape.
We had asked around about getting screens put on our windows but we didn't want to invest the 90 RMB per window for a house that's not ours when they're only needed a couple months of the year. I figures out a solution that cost us 12 RMB for every window in the house.
James kept referring to these and other solutions as my "Westberry skills" or "using my Westberry." I was riding home from an errand on my bike, thinking of my dad and composing this post in my head. Upon entering our complex I noticed something unusual near the door of the first building in our complex....two giant bags of American name brand men's clothes and shoes in and next to the trash can next to the building. I did it. I really did it. The bag on top of trash can was open and I really did take out two Calvin Klein, size medium, slim fit, long-sleeved button-up, not-a-thing-wrong-with-them shirts for James.
I came home smiling and the first words out of my mouth were, "I just REALLY used my Westberry, James!" I told him of my "find" and he agreed to let us keep the shirts. They are now washed and ready but we'll have to wait for cooler days for him to wear them.
You see, the other side of "being Westberry" is that my dad would pull the car over and pick up any tool (piece of junk) or other item he deemed of value that he saw. And sometimes the solutions to his "fixes" left things looking not exactly as beautiful as they did prior to the fix. However, his ingenuity is a trait I'm proud of and one that has saved us time, money, and the mafan of finding/calling repairmen.
And pulling the shirts out of the trash can reminded me that when a friend from another city was visiting here recently with plans to move here, she asked if I would show her the second hand furniture market. She likened the experience to "dumpster diving" but that is a post for another day.
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