Monday addendum & other thoughts

I forgot to mention several things in Monday’s post, and I can’t see or edit my posts from here, so I just have to add on.  First of all, Monday was my mother’s birthday!  Happy Birthday, mom!  Seven years ago, we left Ben with some friends of ours in Florida (Hi Heide & Dan!) and we took  both of our mothers on a trip with us to Las Vegas for their 60th birthdays when Adam had a business conference out there.  Our mothers were both born in February 1943.  So mom spent birthday number 60 with me out west – we were the only English speakers on a bus full of Japanese tourists leaving Las Vegas to visit to the Grand Canyon in the freezing cold weather – snowflakes were falling on the southern rim of the Canyon and the northern rim was closed.  On the way back we opted to pay the $50 each to upgrade to the low flying site-seeing plane over the Canyon – AWESOME! And then we saw the show Mama Mia at Mandalay Bay, which was so much fun. Now birthday number 67 my mother spent with me visiting my youngest daughter’s foster home in Dongguan and then eating  Italian food on Shamian Island and having cake and drinks in the lounge of the Marriott in Guangzhou, China! Once again, we were some of the only English speakers around in a sea of Asian faces. :o)  We had no idea seven years ago that we would be adopting two daughters from China.   I feel fortunate to have these special memories with my mother.  (Though right now she might not feel so fortunate to have a few of the memories we will all share from this trip)!!!! 

 

Maya gave Adam a really hard time while I snuck away to the lounge with my mother for a few private moments on the night of her birthday.  It was a tantrum over not being allowed to have a Pepsi from the mini-bar (we have been allowing her to have 7-Up, but don’t want her to have any caffeine). He handled some very challenging behaviors with a cool head.  I don’t want to go into too much detail about what has been going on with Maya Mei on a public blog, but suffice it to say that she knows that when, where, and how she chooses to exercise control over her bodily functions is something that is within her control alone and that she is using that as a new tactic to get control over us and her environment.  Fortunately, she has enough pride that she has only chosen to actually follow through with her threats in our hotel room.  I don’t think she got the shock value she was hoping for with Adam’s calm reaction.  She also showed remorse and cleaned up after herself shortly after the incident(s) without any prompting.  I was glad that we had taken some laundry to get done, or Maya would have had to have “gone commando” for the rest of our time in Guangzhou.  Like I said – this is hard stuff!

 

I also forgot to mention (I think) that while we visited True Children’s Home, we were able to participate in birthday party for two of the babies.  A little boy turning one and a little girl turning two.  Birthdays are a common occurrence at TCH, but they make an extra effort to make it a special day for each child.  The children and caretakers all sang Happy Birthday, first in Chinese and then in English and blew out the candles on their cakes.  They got to cut their own cake (with a plastic knife and a little assistance) and enjoy the first piece.  Then they were presented with a new toy and a new outfit.  I am so glad we were there for that!

 

I also have been intending to discuss eating China.  We have had some great meals! Highlights included the authentic Chinese meals we had at the restaurant near Yuyuan gardens above the embroidery gallery in Shanghai, the vegetarian restaurant next to the Buddhist temple in Wuhan, and the hot pot restaurant in Wuhan – all served family style on a huge lazy susan in the middle of the table. We had the memorable visit to the Korean restaurant in the mall in Wuhan, not our favorite, but not bad either. Because we don’t eat pork or shellfish and try to eat mostly kosher-style, eating meals in Guangzhou is very challenging for us.  They eat EVERYTHING here  in old Canton – including pigeon, reptiles, amphibians, scorpions and anything they can pull out of the local rivers and the China Sea.  Guangzhou is the hub of import/export in China and there is a lot of international and western influence here.  So, our favorite meals in Guangzhou have not been Chinese at all!  They were the buffet at the middle eastern Halal restaurant a few doors down from our hotel, and our meal at Dolce Vita Italian restaurant on Shamian Island for my mother’s birthday.  They were both quite good, and Maya Mei seemed to enjoy them at well.  A light breakfast buffet has been included with all of our hotel rooms, so we sort of load up at breakfast time, as we have no idea what we will be able to find for our meals for the remainder of the day.  We have had one visit to KFC at the mall in Wuhan (very different from US KFC and we did not enjoy it) and we have had several visits to McDonald’s (called something like mi dong long in Chinese) , both in Wuhan and in Guangzhou.  In Wuhan it was because of the rainy cool weather and the need to get the girls to a play area.  In Guangzhou it has been mostly convenience as it is right next door to our hotel, but unfortunately, no play place.  The French fries have kept Ben happy (alas, no Taco Bells to be found in China - yet)!

 

Okay, moving on to post about Tuesday!

 

Hugs, LB