China Day Three

Tonight's sleep was interrupted only once, by Xander making a weird
raspy breathing noise. He wasn't in his bed, nor anywhere else in the
room, and as I was about to panic, he peeked out from behind the drawn
curtains, sitting on the wide windowsill. It was thunderstorming out,
and he had been enjoying his view. Last night too he had enjoyed it,
and when he proclaimed he's see it every night at 1:00, since that was
the best time to see it, I didn't believe him, but yup, that's what
time it was. We enjoyed the rain, the thunder and Ritz crackers
together for about an hour - where does the time go? - and then back
to bed. Otherwise, uneventful sleep. Dave, apparently, had it worse
with multiple wake-ups by either Ysa (mostly) or Zekey.

Breakfast today differed only in the choice of juice being white
grapefruit instead of carrot, and the flavored kongee instead being
hot rice with milk - yummers! Instead of celery, they offered
oval-diced zucchini stir-fried lightly, still crisp. We sat at the
round booth right by the main two buffet spreads - easy access!

There is so much to soak in just on a ride through town. Today I was
impressed by the young woman riding a bike with a big oil drum
attached to the back of it, that was filled with sweet potatoes, and
two baskets of sweet potatoes on either side of the oil drum. Women
are often dressed in rather fancy dresses. While I don't quite get
the fashion of wearing such short skirts, or even white elbow-length
gloves while biking, I appreciate the efforts very much. Oh, we still
get the happy stares through our vehicle windows. I am just glad for
the opportunity to stare back at the cute babies and interesting
fashionably dressed people, in turn. I'm trying to teach the kids to
be polite and answer respectfully.

There are so many different types of bicycles. I have a burgeoning
theory about how the type of bike you ride defines what type of person
you are. Sometime I'll put it to words in a separate entry. On our
ride, we also saw tall red canna lillies - my fave - and tall blooming
rose bushes lining the highway. Willows are everywhere! "Willow!" we
shout out, as this happens to be our family's favorite tree, and it's
tradition to shout it out whenever we see it. Well, we had to stop
that upon seeing them lining the roads. Apparently, China has
undergone a massive tree-planting effort; to my mind, with success.
We even saw pine trees, evidence that there is a winter season in
Beijing. Kathi expertly handled the pedestrians and bicyclists who
seem to be approaching right into the path of our vehicle, but somehow
don't. "It's all about merging," she calmly explained.

We went to a park that was quite unlike any park I've ever been to.
Mass patriotic, enthusiastic singing by the 40+ crowd accompanied by
asian-toned brass band and proclamations between songs. Winding down
stone-walled corridors, lined with heavily-jasmine-smelling pine
bushes. Then to encounter a group waltzing lesson, again the 40+
crowd. A roller-skating rink with the glassiest surface I've ever
seen. I think that this park is one example of how healthy this
society can be, with activities of all types and for all ages.
Communal spaces. Escape from tiny apartments, to be sure. But fun,
enjoyable activities, indeed. Great outlets singing and dancing and
swimming are!

Our goal was to go swimming at the water park that was within this
park. The pool cost 25 yuen per person and was MCC-subsidized.
Sitting under the ample shade of a row of willow trees, at a table
with 5 chairs around it, with cabana-style vendors in a row behind the
row of tables and trees, I got first shift at the table watching our
stuff, and ended up never leaving! That was fine by me, as I sat back
and observed people, smelled the delicious smell of fried squid behind
me (we later bought some at James and Jessica's market to satiate the
craving this produced in me), and journaled a bit. I purchased 2
floaties for the kids for 45 yuen.

I had my first squat toilet experience at the water park! It was
white porcelain (I'm guessing), with ridges in rectangle shapes on
either side of an oval depression in the ground, with a hole towards
the front of it. You squat with your feet on the rectangles and go.
I couldn't find a pull chain or anything to flush, but it was just #1.
It was still clean, so the warnings by Jessica about how disgusting
it was didn't come to pass, thankfully.

Lunch: Peking duck, a generous answer to my request for this renowned
Beijing dish. It was delicious. We met the whole Suderman family
there and ate family-stye. The boys at this point said their goodbyes
to the Suderman children, and Rod drove us via the area built up with
Olympics 2008 buildings (about an hour seeing all of them and running
out to pee; the Marco Polo hotel had toilet paper folded to a point
hanging off the edge of the roll!), then to Tien 'an-men Square. I'm
running out of time here, but basically, all three children woke up
from their car-nap (Ysa 2 hours, Zekey 1, Xander 30 minutes) cranky as
can be. The delicious ice cream they enjoyed didn't take the edge
off, as intended. Instead, we had the built-in defense mechanism
against the wayward Chinese tourists who should dare stray into Ysa's
path. You know how no child looks cute when they cry? How about when
their face turns red, they open their mouth huge and just scream
"Noooooo!!!" at you? Chinese, American, whatever nationality, you
run. That's what these folks did. Ah, Tien-an-man Square to
ourselves! Now, if only our children had appreciated this experience.

The line was too long to queue up to see Mao's pickled body, as Rod
knew it would be. He's seen three of the four world's pickled
leaders! Mao, and the dudes from North Korean and Vietnam (IGNORANCE!
Can't recall their names, just recognize them - ack.). No Lenin
viewing - shucks.

We left the square shortly after my purchasing a pack of postcards for
7 yuen. Got driven to the Freys, where Jessica and I headed out to
market and purchased squid, fruit, veggies and pancakes for dinner.
Yum!! We met the children and Dave in the playground. Another
example of how healthy Chinese society is: the park had exercise
equipment for the grown-ups who would be watching over their children.
A simple bar with Nordic-type plates for your feet, and off you go,
able to work all parts of legs, buttocks, arms, and abs. Very cool.

Ate delicious dinner, enjoyed great company (really running out of
time to write here), got the kids back and to bed, and there ya go!

Love,

Jane/Jenniey