Click on the photo above to see the slideshow of our day. These are just the photos that Louanne took, we have not uploaded Mike’s yet.
I want to start by saying that Nadia was the real tourist attraction yesterday. We get noticed wherever we go, but she really got a lot of attention at the Summer Palace. All I have to say is that in adoption circles it “seems” like adoption from China is so common, but it’s just not. We are a totally bizarre anomaly here. I am so thankful that I made up the laminated cards with our photo on one side and a little information translated into Chinese on the other side (thanks Nancy – you rule!). Especially the Chinese who can speak a bit of English, they have lots of questions. 10- 15,000 girls being adopted out globally is just a spec of sand to a country with 1.3 billion people. It reminded me of the woman from Shanghai that I met last year in Nanchang that was just fascinated that we were there to adopt. She spoke great English, was obviously a very affluent business woman and she had no idea that China allowed their orphans to be adopted. She thought it was great and that Nadia was lucky to go to be an American.
In the photo below you can clearly see how we have Nadia dressed. The temperature outside is in the low 60’s. She is completely covered except her face and hands. Even so we continually had people coming up and grabbing her legs saying, “Lao bu lao”. Which basically translates to – Is she cold or not cold? Many, many people were concerned about this. Men and women and we know it’s a cultural thing, but it just cracked us up. Nadia was clearly fine and her hands were a little cold by the end, but she was toasty and not complaining all snuggled up in the carrier with Mike. It was even suggested to us that Mike take her out of the carrier and hold her and she would be warmer 🙂 She is in the photo with Mike’s language partner David. David learned English from the school we are attending last year, so he went with us to the Summer Palace to guide us and to talk with us. He just loved Nadia too!
Now see the photo below of the typical toddler visiting the Summer Palace at the same time as us. Don’t you think they are cold with their booty hanging out??? Holy cow, that would be far worse in my mind than my hands being chilly. I had to take a photo – notice how bundled the kid is, but with the wide split pants opening. While Mike and the other guys climbed to the very top of the temple to see the view, Nadia and I sat down at the bottom because my knee was starting to hurt from all the walking and climbing. I sat her next to me and this older woman came up and gave me a map of the summer palace and gestured that I should put Nadia on it. So I just put Nadia in my lap. Then the lady started in about her legs (which were totally covered) and her hands and her jacket and her hood. You get the idea. I fussed with Nadia until the lady thought it was okay and then the lady started playing peek a boo with Nadia and all was well with the world. All the while people are coming up and pointing and smiling at Nadia and making comments in Chinese.
These photos are from the Summer Palace as this was the day the school had set up for the field trip. Of course it was the first very overcast day since we got here. So the visibility wasn’t the greatest, but it was still a very neat place to see. There were tons and tons of Chinese tourists and quite a few Europeans. For dinner we went to a place called Tafi (table and fellow indispensable), I think it looses something in the translation. It’s a really nice Italian restaurant that reminded me of Italiani’s at home (you know it’s good if you have been there with me). I took a couple of photos of Nadia because we got there and they asked us where we wanted to sit, then did we want a baby-chair? Once we got settled they brought Nadia her own plate, bowl and silver ware set. It was SO CUTE! She had fun playing with it until the food came and thought it was fun to look through the plate. We got an appetizer, 2 entrees, 2 sodas and a dessert for $17 US. Crazy cheap for some awesome food in a fancy restaurant. I want to go back while we are here. Mike ordered their pizza special and it had parma ham, mushrooms, cheese and sliced hard-boiled eggs. It was yummy. Then I got the Spaghetti Carbonara and Nadia went absolutely NUTS for it. I mean gobble it up until we thought her tummy would explode. (Randy and Jess, think how she was at lunch in Colorado springs). This was after having garlic bread. I brought the leftovers home for her lunch today. Something we have noticed here is that in restaurants they bring the food when it’s ready. They don’t wait for a whole table’s food to finish. You get it fresh from the kitchen.
As we were waiting to cross the street on the way home from the restaurant there was a couple next to us and the man said, “Whose baby is that?” I said, “It’s our baby.” He said, “She’s cute, but she looks…..” He didn’t finish so I said, “She is Chinese, she’s from Jiangxi.” Then Mike said she was adopted and they guy said, “Fantastic. Where are you from?” I said, “Texas in the United States.” He thought it was great and we also told him that we were here to learn Chinese which you could tell he thought was really cool.
