So first a report from yesterday... we had a day to ourselves and decided to take a taxi to the Confucius Temple Marketplace, a bustling hub of shops and people nestled along the river. At the center, a golden tree and pagoda. We just wanted a chance to haggle and have a little fun. I wanted to find Cate a silk outfit so I walked into the first silk shop I saw. Before my eyes could adjust to the light inside, the owner had thrust an outfit in front of my face. I hadn't looked at our touched a thing, and I will tell you now, that I now own that very outfit and I have absolutely no idea what else was in the shop! All I know is I can hold a lighter up to this outfit and it will not catch on fire. The shop owner did this to prove it is 100% silk, and as a girl who wears a lot of highly flammable fleece, I have to tell you, I am considering making the move toward silk. Anyway... I had a heavy, squirming baby on my hip, a tiny silk outfit in front of my face and a calculator with a number on it... 298... no, no... too much... what? you make offer... okay 120 I type into the calculator... you crazy... this silk... out comes the calculator.... higher.... okay, I say, 140, that's it.... can't do it, that crazy... okay I say and make for the door.... she follows me out.... okay 140. So 140 (divide that by 7) I have it and I am sure I probably paid to much, but how am I supposed to know? In any case, it was fun, Cate has a lovely outfit (although not one I poured over and agonized over... is this just the right shade? Do I like this design?) So, all in all, even if the woman made out, she saved me a lot of time, and honestly, this is probably the best way to shop with a squirmy two-year-old. 
Anyway, Steve did some haggling, we bought a couple of river rocks, and I took a deep breath and let Alex eat candied fruit on stick he has been eyeing since we got to Nanjing. I think delirium had set in. I don't even know what the fruit was... not an apple, maybe a plum, and certainly of the soft skinned variety the pediatrician had warned us against... I looked down at my happy, sticky son, who looked up and me and said, "Mom, you know you should never eat something if you don't know what it is." And then he took another bite. But more than 24 hours have passed, an luckily, all we have is the pleasant memory of eating something we had never seen before.
Back at the hotel, we ordered a pizza and noticed a strong smell of gasoline or something toxic. I closed the window, and the smell got worse. After about an hour, I went and knocked on the door of another family to see if they smelled it too. They did, and we decided we needed to get off the floor... so six families... just before bedtime found themselves in a busy Friday-night lobby waiting for a verdict. The hotel staff said they had painted on another floor and the smell had circulated through the central air. But it was hard to breathe and many of the babies are sick. So, to make a long story short, at about 7:00, our wonderful facilitator, Anna arrived and helped relocate us to another hotel. It was a crazy scene - everyone throwing everything into too full suitcases, piling into taxis, getting to a new hotel with overtired children. But it wasn't all bad. We had an awesome room and a king-sized bed with just the kind of crisp, cool sheets you need after a day or week like the one we have had... a crib for Cate that looked so cozy and plush I considered crawling in myself... and Steve tried chicken feet for breakfast. You just don't see that on every buffet.
Tonight, we are at the White Swan in Guangzhou, the last stop of our whirlwind experience in China. The hotel is actually located on a small island across from the city of Gaungzhou and it is just what we need. The streets are narrow - it looks like only one car can fit down them at a time. The trees are lush and green. Spanish moss drips from them. Palm trees line the streets. It is warm and wonderful and probably not at all authentic like Nanjing, but just what we need to quiet ourselves and begin to enjoy our new family. We walked across the street to dinner, Alex in explorer mode, drawing me into a seafood market... tomorrow I will take pictures... buckets of eels, turtles, big, fat sand worms, water beetles, crabs, basically anything that swims in the water. Alex and I loved seeing it.. and it has given me a new tool in addition to time out for Alex... the threat of having to eat a sand worm - live :)
Cate was great on her first flight. I buckled her into her seat, and she stayed there the whole time. The more comfortable she becomes, the more we see some of that typical baby behavior - constantly throwing something so you can pick it up... squirming every which way... Today she even pretended to cry while one of the other babies was crying. She plays little games, pretends to feed me and pretends to wash her hands and I wonder who taught her these things... what was it like for her? For now, we communicate, almost with sign language, she watches me and I watch her and there seems very little point to many words - the touch and the smiles and the eye contact mean more than language. She loves to move and Alex loves that she can run. This is the language that he understands. And she loves to play with Steve. He absolutely cannot pick her up, and that breaks his heart, but he knows it will come in time, and for now, she can see that he is the fun one, the one with the games and the treats and somehow, we are piecing it all together. Steve asked me tonight if I can believe yet that I have a daughter, and the answer is no. This all seems so surreal. The little girl. This place. This journey. I feel like I am just uncovering the mysteries of this girl and her country and it won't be until some mundane day back at home that it all sinks in. I will be standing in the kitchen. She will be running around and I will just burst into tears when I realize she is mine and everything we have waited for has come to pass.
Outside my window tonight, the Pearl River drifts by. A colorful tour boat is sailing, music playing. The city skyline is alive with color. My boys are out, exploring, because the little one cannot get enough of China at night. Cate sleeps in her crib. I am grateful to be here, we four, on this journey we will never forget.
Anyway, Steve did some haggling, we bought a couple of river rocks, and I took a deep breath and let Alex eat candied fruit on stick he has been eyeing since we got to Nanjing. I think delirium had set in. I don't even know what the fruit was... not an apple, maybe a plum, and certainly of the soft skinned variety the pediatrician had warned us against... I looked down at my happy, sticky son, who looked up and me and said, "Mom, you know you should never eat something if you don't know what it is." And then he took another bite. But more than 24 hours have passed, an luckily, all we have is the pleasant memory of eating something we had never seen before.
Back at the hotel, we ordered a pizza and noticed a strong smell of gasoline or something toxic. I closed the window, and the smell got worse. After about an hour, I went and knocked on the door of another family to see if they smelled it too. They did, and we decided we needed to get off the floor... so six families... just before bedtime found themselves in a busy Friday-night lobby waiting for a verdict. The hotel staff said they had painted on another floor and the smell had circulated through the central air. But it was hard to breathe and many of the babies are sick. So, to make a long story short, at about 7:00, our wonderful facilitator, Anna arrived and helped relocate us to another hotel. It was a crazy scene - everyone throwing everything into too full suitcases, piling into taxis, getting to a new hotel with overtired children. But it wasn't all bad. We had an awesome room and a king-sized bed with just the kind of crisp, cool sheets you need after a day or week like the one we have had... a crib for Cate that looked so cozy and plush I considered crawling in myself... and Steve tried chicken feet for breakfast. You just don't see that on every buffet.
Tonight, we are at the White Swan in Guangzhou, the last stop of our whirlwind experience in China. The hotel is actually located on a small island across from the city of Gaungzhou and it is just what we need. The streets are narrow - it looks like only one car can fit down them at a time. The trees are lush and green. Spanish moss drips from them. Palm trees line the streets. It is warm and wonderful and probably not at all authentic like Nanjing, but just what we need to quiet ourselves and begin to enjoy our new family. We walked across the street to dinner, Alex in explorer mode, drawing me into a seafood market... tomorrow I will take pictures... buckets of eels, turtles, big, fat sand worms, water beetles, crabs, basically anything that swims in the water. Alex and I loved seeing it.. and it has given me a new tool in addition to time out for Alex... the threat of having to eat a sand worm - live :)
Cate was great on her first flight. I buckled her into her seat, and she stayed there the whole time. The more comfortable she becomes, the more we see some of that typical baby behavior - constantly throwing something so you can pick it up... squirming every which way... Today she even pretended to cry while one of the other babies was crying. She plays little games, pretends to feed me and pretends to wash her hands and I wonder who taught her these things... what was it like for her? For now, we communicate, almost with sign language, she watches me and I watch her and there seems very little point to many words - the touch and the smiles and the eye contact mean more than language. She loves to move and Alex loves that she can run. This is the language that he understands. And she loves to play with Steve. He absolutely cannot pick her up, and that breaks his heart, but he knows it will come in time, and for now, she can see that he is the fun one, the one with the games and the treats and somehow, we are piecing it all together. Steve asked me tonight if I can believe yet that I have a daughter, and the answer is no. This all seems so surreal. The little girl. This place. This journey. I feel like I am just uncovering the mysteries of this girl and her country and it won't be until some mundane day back at home that it all sinks in. I will be standing in the kitchen. She will be running around and I will just burst into tears when I realize she is mine and everything we have waited for has come to pass.
Outside my window tonight, the Pearl River drifts by. A colorful tour boat is sailing, music playing. The city skyline is alive with color. My boys are out, exploring, because the little one cannot get enough of China at night. Cate sleeps in her crib. I am grateful to be here, we four, on this journey we will never forget.
3 comments:
Jeannine, I have been thinking a lot about this summer's ladybug picnic. When all of us get to meet in person, with our children.
Alex sounds like Adyson's kind of boy! Unafraid and full of adventure. He sounds like he is happy with his first mate.
I am sorry Steve is being kept at arm's length...When she's crying at home "I WANT DADDY!" this time will be a distant memory.
Enjoy your final days in China, Guangzhou sounds like a perfect place to end a tiring and awesome trip!
P.S. Thank you for the weather update! Does that mean no winter coat for Sabria?
Alex was eating Hawthorne fruit! Which I wish I had taken the time to try myself!
Lovely post. These girls unpeel their mysteries in layers - just when I think I know my daughter (and it's only been a month!) she does something new and surprising and I have to add it in to the equation and start all over again. A friend of mine told me today that all in all, the bonding process takes about three years. So there's that to consider - we might not really feel like we "know" our daughters for quite a while to come. But the journey - the slow accumulation of knowledge - is lovely.
Have fun on Shamian Island! There is something easy about it there. I had little fantasies about taking an apartment and just moving in!
Post a Comment