China Day 600 The grands are here!

Friday, April 29th, is always a weird day for me...it is my father's birthday.  He died when I was 19 years old, when I was on spring break from college. Given our unsettled relationship, it still is an unsettling day for me.  When he died unexpectedly, I was staying at my grandparents (his parents) in Texas at the time.  These are the grandparents I have always been especially close to, and last year marked the end of an era.  I wrote a post about how grandma's death, on 3/18/15, was sandwiched between the death anniversaries of her two favorite men, my dad (her only child) and my grandpa who died on 3/17 & 3/19 many, many years ago. I blogged about the irony of her death date, and took a much needed trip down memory lane in the blog called Sad day.  It couldn't have ended any other way for Grandma, at nearly 102 years old. 

I will forever be grateful for Betty here at BNDS for granting me the leave to go attend to her graveside service in Texas last year, in Coming full circle. I needed to be there for so many reasons. The one thing the Chinese do understand and value, and that is 'family first'.   

As I reflected on this date, and I wrapped up my work at my desk, in a moment's notice I went from somber and reflective to chuckling out loud when I stepped out onto the sidewalk and saw the bumper sticker below- because that's just what China will do to a person :)  

Sometimes I feel so bipolar living here on planet China.

Check out the Chinglish bumper sticker:
"Baby on Road."  I saw this as I was
leaving school today to head to the airport
to get my grandbabies- who are no longer
babies anymore.  They grow up quickly,
and soon there is no need to worry about
leaving them on the road anywhere!
Oh, China, you still slay me sometimes ;-)

Their flight was delayed over an hour,
and it was another hour before they got
through customs and immigration-
but as soon as I saw my grandbabies'
 smiling faces, this Mimi burst in to tears!
Happy tears, of course :')
(To which Ava girl hugged me and 
said, "I told you guys she'd cry!")

We caught the airport shuttle bus, and
this sweet girl held her Mimi's hand all
the way home <3.

And so the jet lag begins for Eli
little man...and if Stephanie stopped
talking, she too, was fast asleep! 

The long slog from the bus stop to my apartment, with all the
luggage in tow, just about had them worn out for good.  ("Mimi
how many more miles?!")  It was only four blocks- but four 
very large, Beijing blocks. The promise of a subway ride and
pizza for a late dinner renewed their spirits, but it was another
three block walk back to the subway station!  Ava was
excited and raring to go- Eli, not so much, lol.  Pizza was a 
big hit, but even between bites, Stephanie was nodding off.
The kids were cracking up, "There she goes again!"

There was no argument to brush teeth and head straight to bed when we got home. It is a long hard journey flying halfway across the world.  We all were in bed soon after 9pm. I don't think I had a decent night's sleep the three days before they got here; I was too excited.  Sadly though, the kids were up, bouncing on the bed, and playing cards at 3am.  They were starving and wide awake.  I gave them a pbj and ordered them to be quiet and rest, at least until the sun came up!

The next morning, it was a long walk to the police station to get them all registered with the authorities.  "How many more miles, Mimi?" asked Eli.  "It's blocks, Eli, just really big blocks, buddy", replied Ava.  And again, she held my hand the whole way.  After the police station, I sent the kids and Stephanie to a little market while I made a quick run to China Unicom to recharge my cell phone.

I found them, twenty minutes later, not in the market, but next door at

BURGER KING!!!

lolllllzzzzz

I get it.

It's ok.

No judgment here ;-)

To get the salty fries taste from their mouths, we stopped at
the little shop across the street for some shuijiao (dumplings).
The first attempt at a meal with chopsticks was an epic
fail, but at least the kids were willing to give traditional
Chinese food a try- it is nothing like the China buffets in Indiana.
  Look at the expression on the woman's face in the background- 
we provided she and her husband with their noon meal entertainment!

We ate fried pumpkin strips, too :)

It's only Day One, and these are the experiences
that I prayed the kids would have...masked up,
(ok, I wasn't praying for bad air days!)
interacting with the locals, and petting baby
chicks and ducklings for sale on the street.
I just appreciate their willingness to be
open to this strange new world around them :)

After lunch, we met up with the Engler's (fellow 
FL Keys friends!) on the subway platform for a 
day trip to the Beijing Zoo and Aquarium.
Zach is Eli's age, but taller than Ava. The
kids become fast friends in a matter of minutes!
This is true of friendships formed when living abroad.
 When you are a minority in living in the East, friendships form
very quickly and very authentically, as it is imperative to
your survival abroad to quickly develop a social network.
You tend to cut through the BS pretty quickly.

Like all of Beijing, the zoo is enormous, and filled with Chinese
humanity at every turn.  We decided to divide and conquer, and
not attempt the entire landscape.  Pandas, tigers, aquarium-
in that order.  Even at that, we had a full afternoon ahead of us.

Our first stop was at the Panda House to see
the Giant Pandas...the first one looked like
Giant Panda roadkill!

Then we found a live one snacking on some bamboo!

Nom! Nom!

This guy was adorable playing with his red rubber ball on
a giant Panda jungle gym.  Hard to believe he'd rip you
to shreds- he just looked pretty cute and cuddly to me.

We passed the lemurs, which crack me up!
I can't help but think of Madagascar :D

OMG! It was a momma, a daddy,
and a baby lemur on momma's back!!!
So adorable...God love 'em <3

Next we passed this GIANT tiger statue on the way to
see the tigers.  I swear, everything is bigger in Beijing!

Here kitty, kitty! 

What a gorgeous animal; I just wanted to
pet him like I did in Thailand.

The weather was gorgeous that day; the very best kind of
day to kick off their stay in China- at the zoo with new friends.
Too bad the pollution was on the rise as the afternoon wore on.
 Deanna had a headache from it before the day was out :(

The Beijing Zoo does have some beautiful grounds...

...and the perfect rocks for mountain goats!

Our next stop was the Aquarium, where we wanted
to spend a large portion of the afternoon.  All of us
love the ocean, and all the creatures in it.  We took
our time there.  I discovered you can scuba dive in
the main tank! I plan to add that to 'the list'
before I leave the 'jing next year.  Until then, at
the first tank I found a Tyson, for my Ellie bug :)

For about five minutes, I thought I was hearing an only
child screeching and pitching a fit in the aquarium
(Chinese only's have been known to throw hellacious
fits for all their grandparent's and parent's attention)
I was mistaken....it was the belugas! They are so LOUD!!!

Ava and I marveled at the jellyfish.

I'll bet she snapped 20 pics of them on her phone.

They were like art in motion.  Ava and I decided
to the heck with a lava lamp for a nightlight...
we want jelly fish in our bedrooms!

I saw the most beautiful corals, too.  It was
awesome having Scott along, naming all of
them for me. He built and maintained salt
water tanks for folks in the Key Largo area...
but now he's land-locked in the 'jing, too.
We commiserate together at times :/

What's not to love about a sea horse?!
 Eli decided that while he may try to eat a
scorpion at the night market, he could
never bring himself to eat a sea horse.
I agree, little buddy.

 

Duuuuuude....  I miss Florida. :(

Tiger shark?! That's a bad boy...I'd be like the yellow tang...oooooh!

Spotted or green moray eels always give me a startle, too.

The first day was a 20k + steps, and 21+
flights of stairs kind of day- China normal.
Needless to say, after dinner, the kids
and Stephanie were ready for bed!

This time the kids were awake an hour later at 4am... but after a snack they soon were back to sleep.

Unfortunately, I had been chilling and fevering for several hours, then it all cut loose, head down in the loo at about 5:30am.  It took me out for the whole next day, which was Sunday, May 1st.

Thankfully, no one else got sick, and after their long day of travel and a long first day in Beijing, nobody complained about a day of rest on Sunday.  Even the kids welcomed lounging around the apartment, and an occasional game of badminton in the courtyard.  As it turned out, it ended up being the worst pollution day of the whole trip, so it was just as well we all stayed indoors for the most part. Even if I hadn't been sick, the days' events I had planned would have been scrapped anyhow, given the 267 AQI.

Yes, the kids were not allowed out of the house without a mask on, and they only went out for about 15 minutes at a time....otherwise they were satisfied playing cards and reading.  We are all voracious readers, Stephanie too, so it worked out just as well.  They needed a day to get better acclimated to the time change, and I needed the day to get my legs back under me...

...because the next day we were all hiking the Great Wall :)

Stay tuned!

G'nite, y'all