The boys’ annual sports day came to a lively close. The sun was blazing today, and performing and watching in that heat was no easy task. Both boys put a lot of effort into their performances and deserved some praise.

A Little Mishap Before Heading Home

There was a little mishap as we were heading home.

After lunch, we went back to the car to get some sports drinks. My daughter complained that the car was parked too far away, so I moved it closer to the school.

Then, just before getting into the car, my younger daughter accidentally stepped into an opening in the drain. Her shoe got stuck, and she cried out. We were still trying to work out what had happened, and her big brother was just about to get out to help when, in a panic, she slipped her foot out of the shoe and got into the car.

We stared in disbelief. The shoe had fallen into a very deep drain.

We switched on a phone flashlight and shone it down the drain. Once we had spotted the shoe, we started puzzling over how to get it back up.

I took two curtain rods from the car and tried to pinch the shoe between them. But the shoe was too heavy and the rods too flexible to get a good grip, so I gave up.

I thought to myself, “I’ve been telling her to wash those shoes. Now that one’s gone, does that mean she gets out of washing them and we buy a new pair?!”

Then I turned and saw the kids still gathered around the opening, trying their best. We decided to go home for tools.

Home for Tools, Then Back Again

The two boys found some sturdy poles, and I bound them together with rubber bands to make a giant pair of tongs. We also brought two ropes with metal hooks at both ends.

▲ The tools we put together to fish the shoe out.

And off we went again.

My older daughter tried the pole tongs first. After several attempts, she still couldn’t lift the shoe out.

I tried next, lowering a rope to hook the shoe, but it swung around so much that I couldn’t see where to aim the hook.

Then my younger son took over with the rope while I held the light for him.

He tried for a while, and his sisters thought it was hopeless and told him to let someone else have a turn. But just then, he slowly began pulling the rope up—

The shoe came up! Hooray 🙌

The Shoe We Got Back

To celebrate getting the shoe back, I let the kids buy the snacks and drinks they wanted.

The money we no longer needed to spend on shoes simply took another form we liked 😂

And once we got home, my younger daughter willingly washed the shoes, including the one rescued from the stinky drain—clean and pretty, like new again 🤭

▲ All washed, and a lovely pair of shoes again.

Chinese Vocabulary

Things You Can Say in Chinese

手機掉進沙發的縫隙裡了。

Shǒu jī diào jìn shā fā de fèng xì lǐ le.

My phone fell into a gap in the sofa.

拉鍊卡住了，拉不動。

Lā liàn kǎ zhù le, lā bu dòng.

The zipper is stuck and won’t move.

掉得太深了，手搆不到。

Diào de tài shēn le, shǒu gòu bu dào.

It fell too far down for me to reach.

我去找看看有沒有可以用的工具。

Wǒ qù zhǎo kàn kan yǒu méi yǒu kě yǐ yòng de gōng jù.

I’ll go and see if I can find any tools we can use.

用手電筒照一下裡面吧。

Yòng shǒu diàn tǒng zhào yí xià lǐ miàn ba.

Let’s shine a flashlight inside.

這個太重了，我一個人拿不起來。

Zhè ge tài zhòng le, wǒ yí ge rén ná bu qǐ lái.

This is too heavy for me to lift on my own.

試了好幾次，終於拿出來了。

Shì le hǎo jǐ cì, zhōng yú ná chū lái le.

After several tries, I finally got it out.

還好找回來了，不用再買新的。

Hái hǎo zhǎo huí lái le, bú yòng zài mǎi xīn de.

I’m glad we found it. We don’t need to buy a new one.