Tuesday, March 31, 2009 – You can never go home…

 

Today, Xiao Wei was going to visit some friends in the medical business who have helped her with the CGNFS process.  Unfortunately, both had meetings scheduled today, and asked that she visit tomorrow.  This freed us up to do some aimless running around today.

 

We got off to a late start.  I was in the mood for something familiar, so we decided to have lunch at TGI Friday’s.  The one here in Tianjin is a lot like the ones back home.  It is located directly across the street from Nankai University, so there is usually a good contingent of foreigners there – except for today.  The food was fine, but a bit pricey.  The quesadillas were okay, but not as good as back home – and the guacamole was off.  It had too much lime, which made it a bit sour.  I’m not sure, but I think you can be jailed for doing that to guacamole in Texas.  I felt like going back to the kitchen and teaching them how to make righteous guacamole.

 

At least this was better than our last visit to Friday’s.  A few months before Angela was born, I flew to Shanghai to meet Xiao Wei.  And we rented a little apartment in the Xu Jia Hui neighborhood.  She was nauseated for the entire pregnancy, and had a hard time keeping food down.  When we went to Friday’s in Shanghai, the waitress came to our table to take our order.  Xiao Wei told the girl what we wanted and asked for a bag in case she had to vomit.  Ugh!  That couldn’t possibly inspire confidence in this employee.  They probably don’t hear this much… “I’ll have a half rack of ribs, a barbeque beef sandwich, and a vomit bag.”  The poor girl was probably thinking “… our food’s not that bad!”  No barf bag today!

 

You know, that was a really strange trip.  I bought a large, ugly red bag for my clothes, thinking that it would be easy to see on the luggage carousel, because nobody else would possibly have one like it.  Sure enough, some Brit had the exact same bag and ended up taking mine from the Pudong Airport.  I was furious!  We got to our apartment, and it was blazing hot in Shanghai.  I didn’t have any changes of clothes – just the clothes that I wore on the long flight over.  We went to a supermarket and they had “disposable underwear.”  I got the largest size they had and tried them on once we got to the apartment.  Holy cow!  They were so tight that they cut off the blood circulation in my legs.  Trying to get them off, I lost feeling in my legs (which I’m sure started to turn blue by then).  They were like gauze netting.  The harder you pulled, the smaller they tightened into.  Try to pull the suckers off, and they shrink into a death grip.  The pain!  Word to the wise who are living large and find themselves having to buy disposable underclothes in Shanghai… “Size XXXL” in China actually fits a GI Joe doll (or similar action figure) in America.  I also discovered that you can’t buy deodorant in Shanghai.  Not good.  A couple of days later, the Brit guy got in touch with us.  How?  By simply looking at the name tag on the luggage that he carried off!  He called the number in America, and was able to get in touch with my mother, who got in touch with me.  Anyway, we had a great time in Shanghai, but two things stand out from that trip:  ordering a barf bag with our lunch at Friday’s, and the tourniquet underpants. 

 

After lunch, we decided to go to Isetan and do some window shopping.  I love Isetan.  There is one in Singapore, also.  It’s a Japanese department store.  I wish they would open one in America.  Anyway, we stopped by the Exchange Mall, and found another bak kwa store in the basement.  I had to buy some.  Like I’ve said a million times before, this stuff is too good to be true.  In fact, we found two more bak kwa stores in Tianjin today.  Compared to Singaporean bak kwa, American jerky is like road kill that’s baked in the Texas sun for three weeks.  I used to love beef jerky, but I wouldn’t touch the stuff after I fell in love with bak kwa.  Now if I had a bottle of 100 Plus (a grapefruit soda that they sell in Singapore and Malaysia), I’d be in heaven!

 

We took a stroll down Bin Jiang Road and Golden Street, and enjoyed listening to people carry on about how beautiful Angela is.  I can’t get enough of this.  Bin Jiang Road is one of my favorite places in the whole world.  It’s not as busy as Wangfujing Road in Beijing, or Nanjing Lu in Shanghai, but is a much better place for people-watching.  The groovy kids come out in their strangest fashions, and it’s such fun.  Chinese guys with orange afros, and girls with goth make-up.  I love it!  I’d love to see some of these kids on Halloween.  We saw mondo strango girl again, and this time asked if she would pose for a picture with Angela and I – and she gladly obliged.  She hasn’t cut her hair in a while, so the five o’clock shadow on her head is now more like a noon shadow.  She’s too cool for school, with her tattoos and all.  At the intersection of Bin Jiang Road and Golden Street is a huge Chinese coin.  People walk on it for good luck (and the expectation of more money in the future).  We walked all over it.  I hope it works this time, because it’s failed me on my previous 15 trips to Tianjin!

 

We walked back up Golden Street and Bin Jiang Road again, and decided to have dinner at the Exchange.  Xiao Wei wanted huo guo (chaffy dish), because she was in the mood for lamb.  Angela and I went to Pappa John’s Pizza – just to give it a try.  I must admit, Pappa John’s is pretty darned good here in China.  Like Pizza Hut, it’s about 1,000 times better here than at home.  Angela was a real live wire this evening.  She and I played with a new toy of hers, had pizza and laughed like a couple of 3-year olds with a serious case of the giggles.  All in all, I enjoyed Fridays and Pappa John’s, but I’m really sick of American food now.  I want something Chinese – like squirrel fish!

 

On the way out, we saw a restaurant called “Real Gongfu” – with a picture of Bruce Lee on the sign.  In English, it simply says “Kungfu.”  I have to try this place.  How far do they take this schtick?  Do the waiters look like Bai Mei, from those old Shaw Brothers’ gongfu films?  What happens if I tell the waiter “wo de gongfu bi ni hao!”   Do they laugh it off, or have I challenged them to a battle royale?  This reminds me of the Beverly Hillbillies episode, where Jed and Jethro hire a bunch of geishas, and a Japanese chef.  Jethro asks for a karate chop for breakfast.  The geisha tells him not to ask for this, but he insists – so she throttled him.  Later, he asked the chef for “one of them judo rolls” for lunch.  The chef refuses, but Jethro insists.  The old man gives Jethro a judo toss, right out of the kitchen.  Jethro then tells Jed “Uncle Jed, these Japanese are nice people, but when you to go asking them for some of their fancy Japenese vittles, they turn downright nasty on you!”  I reckon I won’t be asking for karate chops or judo rolls at “Real Gongfu Restaurant.”

 

On the taxi ride back home, Xiao Wei again noted how different the city felt.  It didn’t feel like home, anymore.  The old saying is true – “you can never go home again.”  Places change, but more than that, people change.  Home is where the heart is, and I think that her heart now lives in Texas with her own family.  I really want Tianjin to feel more like home to her, though – because it’s an important part of the past.  Maybe part of her feels this way, because she returns here as a visitor in her parents’ home.  If we had our own apartment here (with our own furniture and possessions), I’m sure she would feel more at home.  Last night, we were looking at her old photo album and she said “it’s all in the past, and the past is gone.”  I tried to assure her that the past is very much alive inside of her.  Our past is what has helped shape us into the people we are today.  Life experiences don’t just vanish – they crystallize into experiential wisdom.  This wisdom is more than a decision-making tool, it is a part of self identity.  This is why I want Angela’s childhood filled with memorable times in China.  This will give her a clearer sense of cultural identity, from which she will ultimate draw a sense of self identity.  Yep, times are a changin’ – but our past is not gone, by any stretch of the imagination.  It’s alive and well deep down in our own psyche.

 

 

 

 

Monday, March 30, 2009 – Hunan RAWKS!

 

I’m finally starting to tire of the oil items for breakfast.  This is too bad, because I really loved those things.  Too much of any good thing will burn a person out.  I remember when Angela was born.  I was here for a month, and every morning, I looked forward to breakfast on the street.  I always visited the same street hawkers for a traditional Tianjin breakfast.  It’s a thin crepe-like pancake with an egg spread over it.  It is then folded up and topped off with a couple of sauces.  I typically get it without the sauces.  It was really sad to feel myself burning out on these.  Now I can only have one on each visit to Tianjin.  Anymore is too much.  Now I’ll have to find something else to burn myself out on.

 

We started our day off by taking Angela back to the indoor playground outside of E-Mart.  She really had a great time.  While she played, I went to the store and cleaned them out of the small bottles of Tibetan glacial water.

 

After playing, Angela decided to run next door to the photography studio and have her pictures taken again.  We actually thought it would be a good idea, since we didn’t get her picture in the most beautiful traditional costume, nor did we get her picture taken playing the gu zheng.  The girl who usually meets and greets visitors gave us a good price on the extra photo shoots, plus a small photo album (which would make a nice gift for Xiao Wei’s parents).  Unfortunately, this place didn’t have it together today.  The photographer was out to lunch, and this guy takes longer lunches than I did when I worked for the DCCCD (usually 2 hours).  When this guy finally showed up, his assistants started to prepare Angela for the photo shoot.  Unfortunately, these weren’t the same two girls that were there the other day.  Those girls (the other day) were great.  They were able to fix Angela’s hair and costumes with amazing efficiency, and had such a great rapport with Angela.  Too bad the “B” team was there today.  It took this girl forever to fix Angela’s hair, and by the time she did, the photographer disappeared again.  He handed the camera over to some unknown quantity who stood there, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.  Xiao Wei became furious and read those chicks like the Sunday paper!  I was so proud of her!  Tell ‘em what’s what!

 

We stormed out of the photography studio and consoled ourselves with a really good lunch at a Hunan restaurant.  I love spicy Hunan food.  It is deliciously spicy, but not Sichuan spicy.  Sichuan spicy isn’t just spicy… it’s downright painful.  I like hot, but am not crazy about HAWT!  Anyway, we had tang ou (or candied lotus root), pork in five spice and chiles, string beans in garlic and chiles, skewered shrimp in chiles, and some fried pumpkin things.  As far as dining is concerned, this has been an up-and-down trip.  Some of the food has been magnificent, but some has been pretty bad.  This was magnificent.  Truly magnificent!  Maybe tomorrow I’ll step up the heat a notch (or two… or more) and try some serious Sichuan dishes.

 

After lunch, we decided to go bowling.  We stopped and had a look at another bowling alley the other day.  It looked like it had newer balls and shoes.  Unfortunately, we discovered today that it has uneven lanes.  The only way to hit the pins was to throw the ball down the lane with incredible force.  Xiao Wei bowls with good touch on the ball – but most of her balls went right down the middle and then veered off at the last ¼ of the lane.  This was the most ridiculous bowling lane I’ve ever seen!  After one game, we asked for another lane but the kid working there said that they were all about the same.  They really should close this place up.  It reminds me of playing miniature golf – where you have to putt through a windmill and along a warped green.  Oh yeah, on the way to the bowling alley, we saw some drunken clown do a number on his motor-scooter.  Nobody else was involved.  He just hit the curb and bit the concrete.  Drunk at 2:00 in the afternoon?  Wow!  This booze-hound must really have some issues!  I sure hope he made it home alright – but I have the feeling he was in for more bumps and bruises.

 

We then took Angela to McDonalds for some chicken nuggets (since she slept all the way through Hunan lunch), and I had a little taro pie.  What is taro, anyway – and why don’t we have it in America.  I really dig this stuff!  We spend $10 per half gallon of taro ice cream at the Chinese supermarket in Dallas, and it’s really worth it.  Too bad it’s so expensive.  I should take our land in New Mexico and start growing taro on it.

 

After McDonalds, we walked a couple of blocks to Old Culture Street and bought some peasant paintings.  I really love those paintings.  They show the simplistic elegance of rural Chinese life.  The artistic style is very neat, clean and simple.  The subject matter is equally neat, clean and simple.  The style and subject matter parallel each other beautifully in their simplicity.  After some bargaining, Xiao Wei got a good price on four of them.  Most of Old Culture Street was closing up as we were passing through.  One place with a stunning little stone sculpture of Guanyin was still open.  Two days ago, their price was 1,300 yuan.  Today it was 1,500 yuan.  The difference?  Xiao Wei asked them the other day, and I asked them today.  I really want it, but that kid working there today was a little punk.  We didn’t even try to bargain with him, because he didn’t deserve to make the sale.  I’ll get this sculpture before I leave, but I’ll get it on my own terms.  We also looked at these beautiful Mongolian violins.  They have a horse’s head carved on the end.  I saw these in the film “The Story of the Weeping Camel” which was a truly magnificent film.  I’ve always wanted one.  We found one place that had one for 450 yuan, but they didn’t have a case for it.  I won’t get one without a hard case, because I’m afraid the same gorillas who tore the handle off of my suitcase at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport will rip the horse’s head right off of this stunning violin.  I still remember the bad idea of buying a gu zheng and then not being able to get it from Beijing to Dallas.  Poor Xiao Wei ended up getting it from Beijing to Tianjin, where it sat in a closet for 3 years, until I finally got a hard case for it and transported it home.  That sucker cost me $135 in over-size fees on United Airlines!  No way I’m buying another musical instrument unless I can get a good, hard case to check at the airport!

 

On the way home, Xiao Wei noted how much the city has changed and how crowded it is.  She said that she wasn’t exactly sure where we were at one point.  Too many cars on the road, and half the people have no clue how to drive.  One young hammer-head almost plowed right into our taxi.  His little stunt drew the ire of our old taxi driver.  In America, a stunt like this would have drew gunfire.  The driving here is beyond weird.  In the old days (in America) a red light meant “stop.”  Now it means, only the next 3 drivers can go through (unless there is a red-light camera, in which case it means “you just bought yourself a $75 fine, sucka!”).  Here in China, it means “Just keep going.  They’ll get out of your way.”  One thing I’ve noticed is that in America, there are brake shops everywhere.  Meineke does brakes.  Just Brakes does brakes.  Here, I haven’t seen a break shop yet.  It seems the attitude is “who needs brakes when you have a perfectly good horn?”  No joke – I really don’t know how most of these people got a driver’s license to begin with. 

 

It’s about time to plan our little “vacation.”  I’m guessing we’ll go to Beijing for a couple of days.  We’ve already ruled out just about every other place.  Personally, I’m holding out a glimmer of hope that some travel agency will start dumping tickets to Singapore.  In the likely event that this doesn’t happen, I’m guessing we’ll just go to Beijing.  It will be nice to let Angela see the Great Wall. I was looking at the weather forecasts for the coming week around China and it seems that a few places have some really lovely weather in store.  Maybe Xiamen?  Maybe Guangzhou?  Maybe Chengdu?  We’ll see…

 

 

生活里需要的兴致和激情，宝妈非常缺乏，干脆这次旅行就让宝爸汇报，他的特点--- 说的比唱的好听 ：

 

Sunday, March 29, 2009 – A day of family and friends for Xiao Wei

 

Today was a day of family and friends for Xiao Wei.  I really enjoyed dinner with the family.  Everyone was there, and everyone seemed to have a great time.  I didn’t understand what they were talking about, but it didn’t matter.  This was their time together.  I expect it was particularly nice for the parents – to have all three of their kids together, as well as all three of their grandkids.  I’m sure one day I will fully appreciate the way they must feel at times like this.  I can sense how her parents treasure this time.  On the way to lunch, Xiao Wei told me how her mother hopes that we can soon buy a home in Tianjin.  I really am looking forward to this.  I want Angela to have a life here and in America.  To me, China still feels something like a vacation destination, but I want it to feel like home to Angela.  I have to admit, China has felt different to me since the time I spent a month here for Angela’s birth.   Being here for the birth of my daughter really changed this place to me.  In a way, it feels as if a part of me has roots here.  I want Angela to feel this way, only in a much stronger sense.  She truly does have roots here.  She has history and heritage here.

 

The lunch was quite nice itself.  We went to one of my favorite roast duck restaurants.  We had roast duck, my favorite hot fish, corn with pine nuts, lamb in five spice, and a variety of other dishes.  I ate too much.

 

My youngest nephew had a piano recital this afternoon, but I was just to sleepy to go.  Part of this was the fact that I took an afternoon nap, and part of it was the fact that I ate too much at lunch.  Xiao Wei and her mother went, while Angela and I continued our naps.  Upon returning from the recital, Xiao Wei told me that it was time to go to dinner with her friends.  I like this couple.  We usually go out to dinner with them when we come to Tianjin.  We’ve also gone out bowling with them in the past.  They are really good people.  Both are doctors and have visited America before.  They have a lovely daughter who is really likes Angela.  Angela can tell when people like her, and it makes her that much more comfortable in their presence.  I wish I could have gone to dinner, but was just too tired.  I continued my nap, while Xiao Wei and Angela spent time with friends.

 

This is what this trip is really about.  It’s not about me shopping or sightseeing.  It’s about Xiao Wei (and Angela) spending time with their family and friends.  This is important to me.  Although Xiao Wei has grown quite accustomed to life in America, I want her to continue to have a life here in China.  I want her to have all the time with family and friends that she wants.  Time to laugh and tell stories with family and friends is truly valuable time.  I want her to be able fit as much of this into our trip as possible.  As long as this is the case, I will have had a great trip.

 

This morning, Angela opened up a cabinet beneath a bookcase and found some old photo albums.  I’ve seen the albums a couple of years ago, and forgot about them.  While Xiao Wei and Angela were out to dinner with friends, I looked through these books.  One of the books has all pictures of Xiao Wei in her younger years.  I am guessing the earliest of the pictures was 1989.  It amazes me how incredibly young she looks.  When my mother first came to Tianjin to visit (in 2004) she told me that my new wife looked like a young teenager.  She still looks much younger than her age, even after years of marriage to a guy like me.  The pictures of her in her early twenties are downright adorable.  How lucky I am to have found such a beautiful lady.  How life has changed for her.  I see this 19-20 year old Chinese girl in group pictures, and wonder if she ever could have imagined that her life would take her to America.  Just going through the photo albums and looking at Xiao Wei’s life was quite a vacation for me!

 

 

咦？ 裹脚布第二集呢？ 被那个气鼓鼓的laowai 给删了

 

今天宝妈说，既然你这么讨厌这里，干脆提前回美国吧，他说不

 

然后就出去逛街买东西，宝妈淡着他.........

 

回来后，写了第三集，先谢谢您耐着性子读

 

Saturday, March 28, 2009

 

Curious thing today.  We went to Drum Tower Street, which has a wonderful collection of antique stores.  Chairman Mao is everywhere in these stores – on posters, on platters, in paintings, and all over various ephemera.  One of the more interesting items I saw today was an original poster from the 1960s that showed various people who had been declared enemies of the state – a top scientists, a former military general, the former mayor of Beijing and his wife, and several others.  The poster had small pictures of each, with a large signs hanging around their necks (obviously with messages of disgrace).  This was all part of the cultural revolution, which was a massive social engineering project.  This really intrigues me.  Mao and his comrades spent decades engineering the future of Chinese, but his vision of the future and the vision of today’s young Chinese are so radically different.  I can’t help but love the creativity of today’s young Chinese (the twentysomethings).  These are young people with a vision that far exceeds that of previous generations.  These are people who will have to solve problems that don’t even exist yet.  The challenges they will help the world overcome will be far more complex than those we face today – but I have all the confidence in the world in these young people.  Nobody is going to engineer their future for them… that’s their job.  Beyond the twenty-somethings, there are some remarkable kids who will one day have their chance.  Every once in a while, I think about my sister-in-law’s son, who is still in elementary school, but spends his weekends fixing people’s computers.  Or my wife’s cousin, who is a small genius.  There’s no telling what these kids (and others like them) are going to accomplish.  Then of course, there’s Angela.

 

We spent a lot of time out shopping today, and it was fun.  As optimistic as I am for China’s future, I really hope that pop culture doesn’t diminish the importance of traditional culture in the coming decades.  Today?  No.  Tomorrow?  No.  But twenty years from now?  I sure hope not.  I hope that when these twentysomethings are on the cutting edge of technology, medicine, education and so many areas, they still appreciate things like Chinese opera.  I hope they all still enjoy the magical prose of “Journey to the West” like their parents and grandparents.  I think that China’s greatest gift to its young people is its traditional culture.  Years ago, I was riding in a taxi in Singapore when the taxi driver asked me why I kept coming back to Singapore.  I told him that I loved Singapore, and still had a lot to see and do there.  He told me that he just got back from China, and that I should go to China.  He said “China has five thousand years of culture, but Singapore only dates back to 1965.”  He assured me “You will see things in China that you can’t find anywhere else.  Beijing is the only city in the world with the Forbidden City in the heart of the city, and something as splendid as the Temple of Heaven in the south of the city.  Just a short drive from Beijing is the Summer Palace and the Great Wall.  You won’t find anything like these places anywhere else.”  True enough, but these are monuments.  It’s an appreciation for traditional culture (the visual, literary, musical and culinary arts) that breathes life into this place.  This is one of the greatest things about China, and I really hope that the young people continue to treasure it the way their parents and grandparents have.  Times change.  People change.  Watching these changes is exciting – but watching that which survives change is truly elegant, because it defines a timeless character of the people.  This is traditional culture, and is one of China’s greatest gifts to the world.

 

We stopped back by the photography studio to review Angela’s pictures today.  I was so proud!  My daughter is beautiful beyond words.  She was particularly adorable in the traditional Chinese costumes.  She seemed to enjoy seeing the pictures as well.  I can’t wait to get the two photo albums.  Yeah, they were $200, but they’re worth it.  I couldn’t believe how busy that little studio was today.  Those people must be making some serious money!  I hope everyone there today is as excited with their children’s pictures as I am with mine.

 

After that, we went to a supermarket and I found some of the Tibetan glacial water in small bottles.  It’s about 2 yuan per bottle cheaper than I paid last time.  I love this stuff.  It makes the BEST gift for people back home.  I’m not sure why, but everyone at home has this strange fascination with Tibet, and treats this water almost with a ridiculous respect.  To many back at home, Tibet’s an uber-spiritual place, and this is uber-spiritual water.  It’s as if drinking a bottle of this will make you a more spiritually enlightened person.  Okay…  In reality, Xuan Zang, Sun Wu Kang, Zhu Ba Jie and Sha Wu Jing didn’t need to make that 16 year journey to the west – they could have just downed a few bottles of Tibetan glacial water and achieved meaningful enlightenment.  Anyway…at less than 6 yuan per bottle, it’s an uber-cheap gift.  I bought a couple of bigger bottles for myself.  It really is good water – right up there with Evian.

 

The other highlight of the day for me was taking Angela to Carrefour.  Before we went into Carrefour, we stopped at a playground and I took her in to play on the slide, in the bounce house, and in the enclosure full of colorful balls.  She had a great time.  While she was playing, two little girls (probably about 4-5 years old) followed me around.  They gave me that traditional Chinese children’s salute (hand over the head) and shouted “hello, grandpa!”  Grandpa?  They knew a little English, but mostly rattled at me in Chinese.  I tried to explain a few things to them – “wo de zhong wen bu hao” and “wo jiao He Bao Ma.”  One of them told me “My name is Mary” in very good English.  The other continued to rattle at me in Mandarin, in spite of the fact that I didn’t understand any of it.  They followed me all over the play area, no doubt hoping that I would mysteriously start to understand everything they were saying.  Eventually, I told them “wo shi mei guo ren.”  They staggered around in circles and wailed “AHHH!!!!  Mei guo ren!  Mei guo ren!”  I’m not sure if that was a sign of respect or disgust.  If they were disgusted, it wasn’t too bad, because they wouldn’t leave me alone.  Cute little girls, but I was so relieved to escape.

 

Wandering around Carrefour with Angela was particularly fun.  I love the expression on people’s faces when they see her.  I guess mixed-blood children are truly rare here.  She draws the most wonderful smiles from complete strangers.  With each one, I’m thinking “That’s right, she’s MY daughter!”  I’m going to have to go back to Carrefour more often.

 

Today’s shopping haul was pretty good.  Angela got some small gifts, and I got a pair of nunchakus.  I used to be really good with those things, way back in the day.  I saw some stunning jade and stone carvings, but they were a bit pricey.  I saw a stunning sculpture of Guanyin that I really liked, until I noticed that she had the feet of Andre the Giant.  Guanyin should look elegant through and through – and shouldn’t have feet bigger than Yao Ming’s. Oh well… at least the owner of that sculpture doesn’t have to worry about it tipping over.

 

Tonight’s dinner was quite nice.  Xiao Wei’s mother prepared fried bao zi.  Angela really loved them.  We ate while Xiao Wei dashed down a nearby bakery to buy some cakes. While we were eating, Angela held up a bao zi and told me “This is China.”  I told her “Yes, baby.  This is as Chinese as China gets.  This is perfectly China.”

 

Tomorrow, Xiao Wei’s brother and sister are coming over for lunch.  This will be nice.  This is such a happy family, and I can tell that they are truly thrilled to have their daughter/sister back in the midst.  As much as I hate the long flights, it all feels well worth it to see the family enjoying their time back together.  I’ve told Xiao Wei before that we are doing these trips first and foremost for her parents.  The reality is, these trips are for her entire family (herself included).  These trips are up and down events for me.  Some things on every trip absolutely delight me, and other things really annoy me.  But watching her whole family enjoy time together is a pure joy.  They are good people, and good people deserve to be happy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

感觉在衰老...........很累很累，身心的.........难道真的老了？

 

黄脸婆，一定要化妆，一定要讲究衣着，可不会鼓弄，见不得人

 

几乎没有和朋友们联系， too tired  to talk, too tired to face them

 

离不开身的手机，没有使用

 

自然要带宝贝去动物园，票价涨了，园子却败落的令人吃惊，那么多钱，只为了看一眼熊猫，没有熊猫，只有几只野猫，猴子，孔雀....倒是和真老虎零距离接触并照相，人生第一次

 

带宝贝去“淘气堡”：玩沙子，蹦床，滑梯.....顺便走进旁边的儿童摄影，不能免俗的来一套，1388 元 + 100元 （多要一张照片）

 

宝贝看着那些花花绿绿的衣服，很眼馋，要照相，两个姐姐一个叔叔伺候着，边玩边拍，她非常的合作，换六套衣服头型外加拍摄，差不多用两个小时， 荣获“最合作小孩儿”称号....嗯，比她娘大方太多

 

生活的重心变了，以前她小，揣在兜里，随着大人的喜好走..............现在变成独立的人儿，要玩要吃要买，大人围着她转，挖空心思，讨她开心

 

宝爸连着几天不开心，把自己写的“裹脚布续集”删掉，因为越来越多的抱怨，饭馆里菜的口味和以前的不同质量下降；交通堵塞，夹塞，生活不方便，等等等等，那些在宝妈看来是小事甚至没事，都会惹他不高兴，然后他把全家的一天毁掉

 

宝妈很快适应了老环境，虽然对飞涨的物价小有微词，依旧享受熟悉的点点滴滴，唯一的不满，是这个气鼓鼓的lao wai  缠在身边

 

国人真的资本雄厚，从美国农村回到中国大城市，眼晕眼馋

 

去邮局，看中年轻小伙儿两位，不俊不丑，不胖不瘦，和蔼周到.....可爱可爱

 

记得在泰国的时候，也喜欢邮局的小伙儿，很俊美，低头默默干活儿

 

让人心里舒服

 

宝妈这次没有“购物狂”见啥买啥，因为财力明显缩水，更不想做搬运工............小同学继承了“购物狂”，还好，都是几十块打发的玩意儿

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

带着宝贝坐上商业街的小车，两块钱一位，车夫说：你们是三个人，要交三个人的钱

 

宝妈理直气壮：我们每次坐，都收两个人的钱，怎么到你这儿，小孩儿也要收费？ 她坐在我的腿上，又不占座位

 

车夫只好收了两个人的钱

 

到了街那头，去WALMART参观，真是不一样，和 pizza hut　一样，这些东西到了中国，改良很多

 

出了超市，打算过两条马路，溜达到另外一个商场，一个电动三轮车夫Ｓ缠烂打：５块钱，５块钱，我送你们过去吧

 

宝爸说：我太沉，会把你的车压坏

 

车夫：不会，不会

 

走到他的三轮车旁，他扭过头对宝妈：１０块啊

 

宝妈气他不守信用，转身过马路，要走过去

 

车夫急了：５块，５块，我还以为你是翻译呢，不知道你们是一家子

 

一眨眼，到了，他帮着把童车拿下来，对宝妈耳语：他们外国人有的是钱，你替他省啥？　

 

宝妈说：这个外国人比中国人穷

 

车夫：那你还嫁给他！　

 

 

 

 

 

 

漫长的转机，飞行.....宝贝荣获“最佳乘客“奖，乘务员把头等舱的水果和巧克力拿过来作为奖励

 

下了飞机，进入北京机场，一下子热泪盈盈，泪水还没干，就被不断加塞的同胞和死盯俺们的同胞气个半S

 

路还是堵的，空气还是污浊的，家人还是一如既往的热情

 

这就是我出生成长，过了半生的地方

 

竟然许多不适

 

留在中国留在美国留在这世上，都需要勇气