(One year ago this month, Pa and I made the trek to China to adopt our sweet Sister Susie. I am going to take the first seventeen TWENTY-THREE days of February 2008 to revisit that trip. Hop in for the ride!)
After our swearing party, our bus driver dropped us off lunch, fortunately no grubs this time.
Time for some Mall Food, at the very busy Banana Leaf Restaurant:
Which was some of theeee taste-ee-ist food (Thai) we had while traveling. I still think back with fondness of the spicy green beans. Perhaps I was just glad to see a green vegetable other than bok choy.
(Those Chinese?)
(They LOVE them some bok choy. Stems nice and crunchy; leaves good and slimy.)
(Never did figure out how to eat an 8" vegetable with a pair of chopsticks.)
But see that satay--glory!
After our swearing party, our bus driver dropped us off lunch, fortunately no grubs this time.
Time for some Mall Food, at the very busy Banana Leaf Restaurant:
Which was some of theeee taste-ee-ist food (Thai) we had while traveling. I still think back with fondness of the spicy green beans. Perhaps I was just glad to see a green vegetable other than bok choy.
(Those Chinese?)
(They LOVE them some bok choy. Stems nice and crunchy; leaves good and slimy.)
(Never did figure out how to eat an 8" vegetable with a pair of chopsticks.)
But see that satay--glory!
And even though Sister's shirt says "My Heart Belongs To Daddy," her dirty diapers belonged to me.
Right in the middle of my fantastic feast, Sister needed a change. Desperately.
Remember the little story about no changing tables??
Sigh...
Here's a snippet from my journal about what could have been a quick and easy change:
I headed off to the "Toilet" with the Squawker in tow. The restaurant was packed, so I knew I could not get through the diaper change unscathed.
First I did the Horrible Thing of placing my child on the bathroom floor (I laid something down first, but that didn't matter.) The Hens came out in full force--at least six ladies gathered around to see The Show.
"White Lady Changing Chinese Baby In Toilet."
I was quickly told (via dramatic sign language and Chinese chirping) that my child had too few clothes on. One lady started rubbing her hands together, and then placed her warm hands on Susie's tummy to calm her down. Then another rubbed her hands down Susie's arms to keep them warm.
The whole time there was also the Chinese Chatter to keep the baby from crying – an interesting mixture of sing-songing and yapping.
And then The Interview. “Whey you from?” “Your baby grill oh boy?” “China Baby?” “How old?” “First baby?” “Two boys!!! You ha' two boys already?!?! [Chatter chatter chatter] How old they??” And on it went.
Then the Crowd had to help me get Susie dressed, get everything all packed up. I did happen to notice that not a one of them grabbed the poo-poo diaper. Where's a Hen when you need one?
After that lengthy ordeal, we finished up our meal and walked back through the mall--only to see this:
"Marry Christmas and Happy News Year."
(Did I mention it was February?)
I love Chinglish.
And I especially love Thai food, in a mall in South China.
