China Day One!

So, so far I think that China is just like anywhere else! We walked
through the brand new wing of the airport, which looked like any other
airport I've been to. It was much more tropical in temperature,
though, as the government has recently decided that they should save
energy and not use air conditioning as much. Boy, was it tropical in
there!

The taxi cab ride was like any other taxi cab ride! The ride wasn't
too fast, and overall traffic wasn't fast at all, like I'd somehow
imagined it to be. It had some character to it, as one of our
American MCC co-workers, James, sat in the front seat and chatted it
up in Chinese with the cab driver. They made a bunch of jokes about
how lost we kept getting, trying to look for our Holiday Inn Express,
and they discussed Chinese dialects, in relation to the fact that the
rest of us in the cab are going on to Sichuan province in a few days,
where it's considered to be heavy on the local dialect.

People here stare at us! Okay, this is one thing that is different
than the U.S. So far, I really like it! I'd read about this
phenomenon before I came over. I mean EVERYBODY says that Chinese
will stare at us. Dave, indeed, got what he called "my first detour"
at the airport, when somebody crossed from way over on the other side
of an area to come up to him and Ysa, smile, then proceed back to his
original route.

What makes this staring nice is that I know that it's because we have
3 children. Yes, it's also that we don't look Chinese; in fact, 4 of
us have light-colored hair, and 2 have blue eyes. But it's that the
government policy of having only one child makes the presence of a
family of 5 very, very different. Yes, I do feel that we are a big
family. I've felt that in the U.S. too. But here, I feel like people
actually feel proud on our behalf, that they are so happy to see that
a "big" family does exist.

My kids' first pat on the head occurred in the airport elevator, when
a woman first patted Xander's head, then Zekey's, then looked and me
and said in Chinese what must have been, "You have TWO CHILDREN -
WOW!" She held up her two fingers. I smiled and replied, "No,
THREE!" and held up my three fingers, pointing towards Dave on the
other side of the large elevator. A ripple sort-of shook through that
elevator, as everybody looked over at Dave and Ysa in her backpack on
Dave's back. Neat! Wow! So many children! It was an enjoyable
sentiment.

At the restaurant tonight, it's not like the entire clientele stopped
dining or conversing in order to stare. The recognition of us
parading by and the approving nodes, however, were unmistakable. What
I realized then is that I can choose to look at everybody, or I can
walk by, as I often do, absorbed in which child is teasing which, or
who almost slammed their finger in a door, or which is announcing
their need to pee. The public noticing us doesn't need to be taken in
by me.

When I choose to, though, it is just like a real feel-good for me.
It's neat being able to make others happy. Women in the 20s and 30s
don't run away crying, jealous and distraught. People don't look
askance that we're using up more than our fair share of the earth's
resources. So far, based on a few experiences, we make people's
moment! Like I said, it's almost like they're proud on our behalf.
Imagine, a nation of 1.4 billion potential babysitters and feel-good
moments!

The counterbalance to all this goodness was at dusk when we were
crossing the street to the restaurant. There are many sections to the
street, the bicycle section, maybe the pedestrian section, the
vehicular sections (why many, I don't yet know), and separating them
are medians with knee-high or so bushes. It's very tropical feeling
here, hot and humid. People's criss-crossing at certain areas of the
medians have left these brambly, intense bushes with little dirt paths
cut through them. Very un-urban-plannerish, but very functional so
you don't have to cross the street half a mile down. Well, Zekey was
supposed to be holding Dave's hand to cross, but he/they let go, and
Zekey got side-swiped by a moped. We didn't even know he'd been hit;
he was just crying at the shock of something vehicular and fast going
so close to him. Dave had actually pulled him back in just the last
second, and then Zekey was up in Dave's arms, crying. I took him
after a few moments, realizing that he was favoring his left arm.
Sure enough, the inside of his left forearm has a skinny red mark on
it about 2 inches long. I don't know if his whole shoulder had been
partially jerked back upon the impact, but it definitely left him
feeling scared. Some amazing Chinese food seemed to restore the happy
Zekey we know and love. We, of course, can be none too carry and make
none too much a big deal to our children from here on out about the
hierarchy of who is bigger and faster on Beijing's roadways. And it's
not little Zekey.

I know there are lots of differences, and I'll be discovering them.
One thing I apparently didn't even see was the squat-toilet section in
the airport bathrooms. And that was the only thing offered in the
restaurant. From my stall in the airport bathroom, I did hear my
first gutteral coughing in the sink. Very healthy, they believe.

But anyhoow, battery's running and we don't have an adaptor yet!
Enjoy! More to come! Oh yeah, FB *is* blocked, but we'll figure out how to get
on via a proxy site. And we'll get our posts up on our blog soon, as soon as we
figure out technical glitches there.

Love you all!

Jane