Monday 14 January 2013

MADE IN CHINA

Here is a good story.  In 2010, Vancouver, Canada hosted the winter Olympics.  As with any sporting event there was a huge demand for souvenirs and memorabilia.  Some of the competitions took place just blocks away from where I work and so there were mobs of people purchasing "Canada This and Canada That' to eventually return back home with.  On a coffee break,as I headed to my 'go to' sushi place, I passed a group of tourists from Asia that were making a big fuss about a Canada T-shirt that they were holding onto like an old friend.  A member of their party was telling passers-by that they KNEW this shirt!  This same T-shirt was not only made in the factory where the women worked but was  personally made BY the woman who was holding it!! Perhaps the tag held information that she was intimately familiar with or maybe she just knew her own machines' stitches, however she identified it was not as important as watching the look of joy and pride in the reunion as she held up the shirt for pictures.  Here she was half way around the world, in a place she hadn't been before, at an unfamiliar store, re-discovering something which had travelled independent of her of which she didn't know the destination of, then "HELLO"??!!   Which got me to thinking, you never know where or when a circle will come around again, and how something that is as mundane as a souvenir T-Shirt will cause  great wonder and happiness and come with such a history and a story to share with the world, and that after 12 years, here I am again.   God is full of surprises! 

6 comments:

  1. Yes, I agree, it is a small world! What a surprise for that woman to find her work and to think that she purchased it also! Concerning your other article on blogging, in my book, anyone who has the persistence and patience to start a blog and keep it going is a hero. I would love to have a blog because I think that if I had one, I would tend to be more productive. There, I've said it. But, I don't think it's going to happen.

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  2. The T-shirt may be mundane but the story is a gem. Thank you for sharing it :)

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  3. Neat story! You just never know what's around the corner do you?

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  4. lol! This reminded me of two stories. One was an episode on the defunct tv series "Monk", where he knew something was wrong with the shirt inspector of his favorite shirts without ever meeting her, just by the stitches and faults in them, lol

    The other one is a real story. My aunt was in Argentina on holidays and she decided to buy some local T-shirts to bring home as souvenirs for family members. Only when she got home and gave them did she realize that on the label it was written "Made in Brazil"... she was so disappointed, lol!!!

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  5. That is funny! I never could figure out why Canada didn't find a Canadian manufacturer to make their souvenirs especially for the Olympics!!??? In retrospect it just seems so wrong, but it is always about the economics rather than the practical sense of it. All I know is that it was like a feeding frenzy back then. But for that one experience with the lady from Asia, I didn't pay very much attention to the clamor. However, that was probably HER Olympic highlight and I know that it certainly was mine!

    elizabeth

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