Sunday, May 13 - Mother's Day

We’ve had a lot of skyping this weekend—with family members and also with the Nijims (it was so wonderful to talk with you all Saturday morning!)  It is curious how beautiful everyone’s faces are over the thousands of miles which separate us. I think it has something to do with the fact that we are carrying on a familiar activity—a face to face conversation.  Yet, we are not actually making eye contact.  After a bit, the speaker absorbs this information and then, if s/he wants to, can really look at the face of the other speaker.  I watched my children’s faces on Friday night, SB time, as they sat at the patio table for dinner; after a short while, I had to hang up because the experience overwhelmed my emotions. 

Not that I want to discontinue skyping!  Julia knows only foolish when she skypes—she likes to put the camera right up to her teeth, for instance!  Yet, she also colored with Abe on Skype, as well.  It works best one-on-one, and under those circumstances, it is much much better than an online chat; no tedious waiting for the words to come across.

There was a lot of Happy Mother’s Daying this morning—late Saturday for the kids, mid morning Sunday for us.  I wondered if the Chinese are celebrating Mother’s Day.  Later, when we went back downtown, I saw a sign which indicated that yes the Chinese are celebrating Mother’s Day—Hallmark is a very powerful entity!  Both yesterday and today I saw elaborate bouquets of flowers in a formally stylized wrapper—these must have been going home to Mother.  Of course, respect for one’s elders has long been a key part of Chinese culture.  And I can believe that there is an established ritual for marking this occasion.

Chinese Mother's Day flowers

To celebrate, Julia hurried me right back to one of the neighborhood bakeries for a treat.  We chose and then sat in the tiny eating-in section, in the front window of the shop.  Julia picked a miniature version of the cake she had liked so much yesterday, with whipped cream frosting.  It turns out that the cream is not particularly sweet, so less to her liking than she had anticipated.  We agreed that we’d try a number (a big number!) of the shop’s cakes between now and the  birthday, so as  to be sure to choose the most desirable cake.  She had, earlier today, made a birthday countdown sheet, so we know that her birthday is 26 days away!

Mother's Day cake

Julia wanted to go right back to the Kite Flying park today, so we hopped on the bus (so nonchalant!) and went right down.  To get across the big street today, we used the underground crosswalk, where, as in many European cities, there were innumerable tiny shops.  We were lured into a toy store—more birthday impulses!—where the clerk sized us right up and gave us a presentation on magic tricks.  Julia promptly purchased the two, and has been practicing all day to get the processes down pat.  It’s funny how easy it is to say yes to purchases when there is only one child. 

We sat in the Kite park practicing until we were interrupted by the sound of music; we wandered over to see what was going on—a humorous instinct, since the odds are in most situations that we will never have any idea what’s going on, due to that language barrier!  But there was a group of older adults in formation playing ‘marching’ music, very rhythmic and percussive.  There were three huge drums, some small ones, and cymbals.  The performers were all dressed in red—those Communists really knew what they were about when they chose red as the emblematic color! It’s so vivid and festive. 

The music and colors drawing our attention

It had such a festival feeling!

As we passed by the kite vendors, one offered us a small (5 inch square) kite with a butterfly painted on it.  5 yuan, about 80 cents.  What the heck; we purchased.  Then we realized that it was a string of small kites with simple tales; we had seen these flying yesterday from vendor hands, but I had thought that one purchased them one at a time.  Julia eagerly got the about 10 little kites lined up, and then she ran rapidly across the park, urging the string of kites up into the air.  She really wanted it to go high, and couldn’t quite wrap her mind around the idea that the length of the string dictates how high the kite will go.  It was much less windy today—interesting to note, since I had made the assumption that this spot had been chosen for a Kite Park because of the naturally occurring wind tunnel. 


Here are a few photos of Julia with the kites:

We walked up the boardwalk again, following yesterday’s route.  Julia really needed to recheck the amusement park.  We looked more closely at each of the rides, assessing their value.  We watched two harnessed kids on the trampolines; she was evaluating the experience carefully!  Most compelling, she needed to check out the inflated pond; for a nickel, she’d have hopped right into a boat raft!  But I am going to attempt to keep the amusement park for the birthday; maybe we’ll do it more afterward! 

Enjoying some water play

And a new balloon for today!

Yesterday, we needed to use the washroom, in the Marina City shopping mall, where H & M, Zara, etc are.  Much to our surprise, the toilets in this public bathroom designed to resemble an American public bathroom, was a ‘squat toilet.’  I couldn’t clearly explain its use to Julia; she preferred to wait!  Today, we crossed the road from Marina City to Hisense shopping mall, which is 3 notches more high-end.  Its public washroom had three different forms of toilets (one I couldn’t possibly explain!).  Very surprising that it would include a squat version! 

We ended our adventures at Jusco, another shopping mall which had been recommended to us as a great place for browsing and finding bargains.  There’s a grocery in there, but I confess I couldn’t have made it through the massive crowds to find it!  It was wall-to-wall people all pleasant but all eager to find something to buy at a good price!  Jusco itself turns out to be an actual store, and then there is a whole ‘mall’ full of small shops.  So we entered Jusco to look for a few necessities to make our apt a bit more both homey and functional.  I located a roll of kitchen trash bags (you wouldn’t believe how hard these have been to find!) which relieves my mind—the can is tiny, and we fill it very quickly.  Julia really wanted her own hand towel (connected in part with her fear of the water); the towel department was charming!  Wash clothes and hand towels in many designs, really pretty.  I could have bought a standard sized washcloth from $3.00 to 25.00.  She fingered any number of them and settled on a cute pink cloth, for $3.30.  We found a can opener (another impossible task) and checked out the tea sets (for gifts when we return?).  Then, we found the children’s department, with tons of toys, most unfamiliar.  Julia happily lingered there a long time, finding at least one item she needs for her birthday.  They also had scooters, for about $35.00—worth buying or not?

Heading back toward the bus, we stopped in Carrefoure’s to pick up the jumbo glass jar of Nutella I saw on Friday (and dropped, to break!).  Will it last us until return?!  I took a number of photos of the odd looking fruit.  One customer used his minimal English to let us know that one fruit was good, sweet.  So next time, we will try it—deep magenta inside with tiny black seeds.  Julia also chose to get a Subway sandwich for dinner—she needs some familiar home elements, right?! 

We failed the bus riding test today!  We waited a longish time for bus 314 to show up at the designated stop; when it did, we hopped right on, in a rush.  Only to discover that we were on 374.  None of the buses we have ridden on so far had a live token taker; this one did.  And she was so frustrated by the situation; but she showed us where to get off, so as not to end up in Timbuktu!    I believed I knew where I was (I would have been lost in another block or two!), and so we walked back a block, turned right, crossed a main road, and came up to a bus stop which, luckily, had a 314 stop—whew! 

And then, wonder of wonders, as we sat on the bus, downtown, waiting to get to our stop, schoolmates of Julia’s got on the bus!  Glancing toward her, I saw her make a hesitant wave—what the heck? I thought.  And then I realized that the two kids were familiar (one fears to be caught behaving as though everyone looks the same) and she had recognized them.  Eventually, I got into a chat with the dad, and it was revealed that he is the spouse of the teacher I have replaced!  The world works in weird ways! He was friendly and open; I got around to my perennial concern, finding interesting and reliable shopping.  Before we parted at our separate apartment buildings (yes, they live in the same apt community!), he offered to take us to the shops—hurrah!  I am the perfect Consumer Reports (or Cook’s Illustrated) customer—I like, even prefer to have my decisions pre-tested for me!  Particularly in this area of potential food borne germs.  Hamid, the dad, scared me to death by saying that, at restaurants, he is often most concerned about the utensils.  He said, bring your own, or, barring that, ask for a tub of boiling water into which you can dip the silverware!  Really!  Picture me doing that!  I guess we’ll eat at home. 

After enjoying every single bite of her Subway, Julia practiced magic tricks and worked on her scrapbook—thanks Elizabeth for that great idea (and the invaluable pink bag!).  We are listening to an old old story, Understood Betsy, which is one of my childhood favorites. It’s a weird cultural experience, as it is a story about early 20^th century Vermont!  Making butter and tapping maple trees, and a one room schoolhouse.  Alien enough for a 21^st century small city girl, but all the more alien in 21^st China.