DORM LIFE
12/3: I have not had a chance to really talk about the other families on the trip. There are a total of 8 families -- two are traveling with their children (who are a delight), some are first- time parents, and one has a daughter at home and are pregnant. Most are from the Chicago area. As you can imagine, sharing so much time together, especially time that is both stressful and joyful, creates a certain bond. Here in Changsha, most of the families are on our floor and when we are around, we all leave our doors open and find ourselves moving between each other's rooms to share the latest news of what our daughters ate or did!
And, like college life, we get a little slap-happy. For example, last night we sat at two tables for dinner. The guys at our table decided to order two delicacies for the other table -- specifically goose head (you eat the brains) and steamed pigeon. The giggly anticipation on the part of the dads at our table was almost scary! Of course, once it came, they all had to try the food. Rich had a bite of the brains -- he has also had pig intestine, pig ears, and pig stomach. I am happy to just hear his reports!
Not to be outdone, the women decided to indulge in a foot massage. What an experience that was! First they put your feet in scalding water, then while you get second degree burns, they rub your head, shoulders, face and the inside of your ears. Then they rub and blow on your arms. Next comes your feet. Once they are done rubbing your feet, they again pour scalding water on them (twice) and then rub your legs. Next (yes, there is more) you turn over and they do your back (all of this is with your clothes on). An hour and a half later, you are done and you pay the exorbitant amount of: $4.00. We had three of us to a room and we had a lot of giggling fits, especially over the construction that was going on below us and the jackhammer that would suddenly start. When we weren't trying to relax, we could watch the Chinese soap opera on the TV that was on in the room. The highlight of the massage (which was intermittently incredibly painful and good) -- was when we each realized that our massuese had climbed on top of our backs and was digging her knees into our backs. I think that the people working on us were very bemused by the loud laughing Americans -- it was not exactly a move forward in our attempts to dispel the loud American stereo-type!
Today is very rainy and so our plans for a day outside were scrapped. You will never believe what we did -- went shopping! We went to a Chinese department store and we were looked at as much as any looking we did! Lots of people coming up and wanting photos. My favorite sight -- a man buying a suit while smoking a cigarette - perhaps he wanted to make sure the suit was inflammable! Also interesting was the fact that they had ads all over the store and in almost every single one, the model was caucasian! Just so you do not think I was exaggerating about the "extra" noise everywhere -- every floor had a tv! Shopping is also different in that you pick what you want, they give you a receipt which you take to a cashier, you pay for your stuff, then you go back to the different departments and give them the receipts and pick up your items!
Next it was off to lunch which was an amazing treat. Most of the restaurants here are huge (they have a lot of people to feed). Rich estimates most of the restaurants we have eaten in can seat 500 to 600. Well, we walked into this restuarant and it was packed with Chinese (which is sometimes not true) and everyone (or so it seemed) turned and stared at us. I am not sure if it was everyone only because the cigarette smoke was so thick I could not see the whole place! We went upstairs and, again, everyone turned to look. The entire room was chaos -- tv (of course), cigarette smoke, about twenty tables of ten to fifteen people each, a dog (an escapee?), and food all over the floor (which was so slippery you could barely walk on it). Once we sat down it was time for the people to approach us for pictures. The experience was great and the food was awesome!
Tonight is packing as we leave for Guangzhou early tomorrow. We have Eleanor's Chinese passport and our formal Chinese adoption papers. Empress Eleanor continues to make her wishes known to us, we continue to do her bidding and her latest trick is she learned to clap. She is one active and interested little girl. We found that she has a ticklish spot and we heard her first real guffaw -- it had us on the floor laughing with her. Her first plane ride tomorrow is short, but will give us some insight into the one to come next week!
It has been quite a week -- a life changing experience to say the least: the place where we met our daughter and became parents. And as Rich says "ahh Changsha, we hardly knew ye, but we will never forget you." |
