It was bound to happen… Danny told me it would… I dropped my phone and the screen cracked. I went 2 years pridefully thinking I didn’t need a case, but then pride does goeth before a fall (pun intended). I know there are at least 1,000 places to get screens repaired in Austin, but I wasn’t sure we’d be able to find one here.

Enter our first Chinese friend: Yu. He and his wife run a coffee shop near our university, and he told us that he knew of a place where we could get it fixed. Not only that, but he offered to take Danny there, AND take it to the counter himself so that we could get the local price instead of the foreigner price (at least 1/2 off… probably closer to 3/4 off).

He speaks as much English as we speak Chinese, so we mostly communicated through WeChat translate.

First order of business though: tea. Then more tea. Then more tea. It’s Yu’s hobby, plus they just drink a ton of it here anyway. We spent 2 1/2 hours just drinking tea with him and 2 of his friends before they even left to go to the iPhone repair place.

Eventually Yu, Danny, and the other 2 guys drove downtown to the repair place. This whole process took another 2 hours because the American thumb button thing is larger than the Chinese one, so the repair man had to try over and over until our Chinese friends were satisfied with the quality. Then, because it took longer than expected, our friends bargained the price down to just 260 kuai (about $43 USD). I was expecting to pay over $100.

When the guys got back, Yu’s mother-in-law came by the coffee shop with homemade dumplings and sautéed potatoes. She insisted that we have some… they were delicious!

After spending 6 hours of their day with us, we left with a fixed phone and a full stomach. We owe them big time. I plan to make some banana bread and take it by on Monday. Also, I found a case for my phone ASAP.