The cousins depart

Happy late Independence Day to you all and late Anniversary to us! The day passed without event for us, and every day like that is a blessing! The cousins left a few days ago and I feel bad for them – the father is basically gone year round working and Hong Ting couldn’t even remember (or be bothered to try) when was the last time she saw him. So anyway, he travels between Inner Mongolia and Changsha in the south. They were planning to meet him in Inner Mongolia, to which Beijing would have been on the way, but he told them to go to Changsha back in the south. So the day after they arrived there he told him he was going to Inner Mongolia so they dragged the kids off again with only standing tickets on a very long journey. I really feel bad for the kids, but I hope they still manage to think it’s a good adventure.

We spent our last full day with them on Tiananmen, where I went to see pickled Mao for the first time. Kind of interesting, especially all these people, even young guys, buying flowers to put by his statue. I find it strange in this day and age that he still inspires so much of a cult following, but that’s just my outsider’s perspective! I kind of think his body must be wax or something but Jack says it’s definitely “real”, even if real means so many preservatives of various kinds over the years that it’s not really real anymore.

The boys also became their own tourist attraction. They plopped down in the middle of the square with their cousin Ming Ming to eat chocolate muffins. He finished and got up and shortly after I looked over and saw a lady squatting down and asking if she could take a picture. We agreed and when she was done two more ladies had appeared to take their picture. This wasn’t the first time that had happened – they were also photographed eating lamb kebabs on Wangfuging.

Poor Ming Ming was sickly most of the time and had a fever added to his cough by the time they left. Jack spent a few hours and some money with them at the hospital – wasn’t much help, he wasn’t really that sickly and they just gave him the same medicine I had already offered, but I guess his mama felt better.

Besides that we’ve just been saying goodbyes (Fred, Dawn & Daniel and Michael) and in some cases (Rob) hellos and goodbyes together. We took the boys for one last romp at the so-called amusement park at the park down the road. They happily jumped on the trampoline and cavorted in the balls and went up and down slides for a couple hours. Even though we don’t have anything quite like that back home, I will still be happy to get back to the land of free and plentiful playgrounds – such thing just barely exists for kids here.

So tomorrow is the big day we head for Chongqing. Fortunately I realized a couple nights ago that our ticket was for the 6^th which was in fact Sunday rather than Saturday. Was nice to have an extra day to prepare but of course we are still behind in that department and will no doubt be frantic in the morning! After checking out and getting back whatever we can of our deposit, we will head to Vincent’s to drop off a couple suitcases of things we don’t need now for safekeeping. We’ll eat lunch there then head to the station. Am very curious to see how this soft sleeper will be and praying we may get enormously lucky and not have a full compartment, but kind of doubtful on that department.

Hold the mei you!

Well, the boys language skills are improving, but mostly in English! Isaac says more sentences like “I like ice cream” and “Where is car?” and grasps concepts like if we ask him if he wants to see Grandma, or Nora, says “nooooo, way way, go airplane”, meaning too far away. However, he does seem to understand more Chinese, and last night after trying to poo poo he was saying “mei you”, meaning their isn’t any. I asked him, “mei you what?” and he said “mei you poo poo”. Ethan, less concerned about these things, will only attempt to repeat Chinese if it serves some purpose, like getting him ice cream. If something is too difficult, he will just say “grandma”. Though he does come out with some funnies. The other day I told him to say ice cream in Chinese and he said “ni hao, ice cream”. Also, after days of watching the same little Einsteins DVD, I tell them if they want to watch TV, it has to be Chinese. So TV is now called “chinese”. And if I dare change the channel from something they like, Ethan will throw himself on the bed, shrieking, “Chinese!” Another funny thing, though, is he also insists on watching the horrible screeching Chinese opera on TV. I certainly hope that won’t be his career interest!

We had a big lunch party with Jack’s classmates on Saturday. It took us about an hour to get to his cop friend’s apartment, with a taxi driver that didn’t know even a major famous spot. Jack commented when he saw he had a GPS (which he wasn’t using) that it’s not a good idea to take drivers with GPS’s since it means they don’t know their way around. We told him on arrival that we weren’t paying the full fare and he didn’t even argue. I wanted to pay a little more than what Jack offered but he refused. Later, other people and taxi drivers Jack talked to said you shouldn’t pay anything or threaten to call the cops. Of course, coming back home later with yeye and the boys another driver also took us a long and expensive way. I thought maybe it just should be like that but Jack was upset that maybe I got cheated again. Oh well, live and learn! The party itself was interesting. His classmates were all friendly (one girl is a twin herself), though they seemed to find it hysterical every time they said a word in English. And I wasn’t amused when, posing for picks, one of the ladies picked up one of the boys and as she was about to sit down, one of the men who’d been drinking too much, moved it back to adjust it for the pic and she barely caught herself. I just bit my tongue since everyone was fine. They all fawned all over the boys of course and they tolerated it pretty well. They wanted to go back to the cop’s house later, since they enjoyed sitting there drinking coke and eating candies.

We also discovered an “amusement park” in a park not too far we like to go to. It’s a bit overpriced, but to do once a week or so will be good. They boys loved the trampoline, ball pit and blow-up castle. We were happy to find something they could really play with. There just isn’t that much for kids here. Jack was telling some old ladies in our compound that and they tried to suggest a few things, but ultimately sighed and said there wasn’t that much for them to do here either. Of course, the park featuring the amusement park is free and always full of old people playing games or dancing or singing. Most of these exercise equipment that springs up every few yards or so was likely built to keep the older generation fit and happy. Jack says it keeps them occupied and thus from complaining about the government. I said that must be similar to giving my prisoner student cable television, to keep their minds occupied and out of trouble!

I can’t think of a lot more excitement going on around here. Just more destruction and painting everywhere. They are now tearing up the one playground we really liked in our old hotel. “so it meets Olympic standards”, the manager there told me… We generally have a similar schedule/patterns here as back home. As soon as the boys get up, they want a PB and honey sandwich and hot chocolate, and then Jack or his dad will go out to get Baozi steamed buns and eggs and egg bread, all of which the boys like. Mornings are our bigger outings, to a big park or some such. After nap, we generally stay around home, going out to play in the big square where everyone hangs out. A few days ago, an old lady in our building gave the boys a bag of cars and planes and toy soldiers and such, so they were quickly the most popular guys in the neighborhood. Along with their scooter, which is also popular, they interact a bit more with the other kids, though it varies. Yesterday, Isaac was on his scooter following a little girl around on hers for a while. Would have made a cute pic if I had the camera! Later they were throwing balls with her too and I had visions of them as teenagers fighting over girls… yikes.

But that’s a ways away… I hope! For now, we are getting ready to celebrate the big three. They are very excited and I just hope we can live up to their expectations! We will have a small do with old friends in the garden where they are tearing up the playground.