Things I Liked About China

It has come to my attention that I perhaps over-emphasized the difficulties of our trip without sharing much about what I liked. Now that I've been home a couple days, in the comfort of my home (and language), I can already say it was well worth it and I'd do it again. My feelings on the trip were absolutely colored by two major emotional pushes/pulls: being sick for almost a week and missing Casey terribly. You probably could have taken bets on either of these things happening, and though I was relatively prepared for the fomer, the latter caught me completely off-guard. I love Casey, but I've never been weepy when I've been away from him-- at least not before this trip. I can't say we were wrong to leave him behind. The trip would have been really hard on him, particularly because he is such a picky eater and he is a little ball of energy. It would have necessarily divided our attention between Casey and his sister, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it was nice to give Marcie some relatively undivided attention, which she certainly craved after 9 months in an orphanage. I also can't say we were right to leave him behind. The families who brought their children-- even the 3 and half year old-- absolutely made sacrifices when it came to tour schedules and what-not. But they had the tremendous joy and pleasure of experiencing the addition to their family as in-tact families, and there is definitely something to be said for that, at least emotionally speaking.

Anyway, to dispell the sense that I didn't enjoy the trip, you should know that I'm the kind of person who experiences something once and, as a general rule, likes to move on to try something new. But I'd still consider going back to China and doing it all again. (I'd just be sure to order the money and have someone else check to make sure I hadn't forgotten any documents before we left!) Here are some reasons why I would do it again in China:

1. The people were generally warm. They tried hard to communicate with us in English, even though we were visitors in their country and really made little attempt to speak Mandarin (except to say we didn't want something or we didn't want something to be spicy).

2. The food service was impeccable. At first, I was a little freaked out that they (literally) stood over us at restaurants and waited for us to order. Then I realized it was because they wanted to put in our food orders immediately.

3. Nobody rushes anywhere, really. Sometimes in the U.S. I feel like I will never be on time to anything again. Even if I get going really early, that will be the day Casey (our 3-year-old) will pitch a fit and refuse to do anything, making me at least 15 minutes late to wherever I am supposed to be. In China, no one ever rushed us. Even in the restaurants, where it would be considered "camping" to sit around and talk for a long time after dinner, the servers left us alone. For a long time, we couldn't figure out why it took so long to get the bill. Then we realized we just needed to ask for one and they'd bring it right away.

4. The food was actually pretty good. My favorite was the peking duck (in Peking, of course). But I thought the Canotense food I had everywhere was pretty good. I know I complained about not having breakfast options, but really it's because I'm not big on breakfast foods and didn't feel like eating eggs (which they prepared to your liking, at your request, on the spot). Once I discovered the cereal, I was good to go.

5. There are lots of opportunities to shop. Enough said.

6. People don't care if you cut in line. Okay-- not sure that's a good thing, but I definitely didn't find the behavior to be rude. When you've got 12 billion people in a city (like Chongqing), how can you avoid a little pushing and shoving? And I admit I was irritated when I was standing at the front of the line and handing the clerk my credit card when the woman literally ignored the line (of Americans, of course) behind me and stuck her room key over the top of my credit card, saying something in Mandarin, which resulted in the clerk providing her immediate service. But you know the saying- When in Rome-- so once we figured out that it's not rude to shove to the front, we just joined in the fun (particularly on airplanes).

7. Bottled water is very inexpensive. Good thing, too, because the water is "not potable." I think that means you aren't supposed to drink it. I never did.

8. Being an American with a small child in China is like being a rock star or celebrity. Everyone wants to touch the baby, touch you, tell you how beautiful your child is, tell you how lucky the baby is (when I know it's really me who is the lucky one). Walking down the street in a group of Americans-- even a group of, say, 3 people-- means having people pay attention. Another nice thing about this happening in China is that it only lasts while you are there and you get to return to your anonymous life back in the U.S.

9. In the department stores, people actually help you. In every department there is someone to help you find the size or the color or whatever you want! You just have to remember to get them to fill out a receipt and then go pay for it-- you can't take it with you. But after you pay, when you go back to retrieve it, it's all wrapped up and ready for you.

10. People remember your face. Seriously. They are so gracious and helpful, they remember you individually. They remember what clothes or items you were looking at or what you ate or whatever. At Starbucks, they'd even say, "see you tomorrow," or "It's nice to see you again today!" I am particularly impressed by this because I thought for certain that to Chinese people, all white people would look alike. That may not be politically correct, but who knows the difference between Italian and Greek and Irish and whatever anymore-- but the people in China really did remember us as individuals. Quite impressive.

11. I felt very safe in China. I remember traveling in Italy and even living in Spain for a while when I was in college or just out of school. I remember carrying my passport on my body at all times. Wearing a money belt around my waist to avoid pick-pockets. Feeling concerned at all times someone was trying to rip me off. China was not at all like that. That's not to say you should flaunt your wallet or anything, but I didn't feel quite so paranoid about having money on me, and I felt safe leaving my passport in the safe, along with my computer and our video camera, throughout our stay in the various cities. Perhaps it was a false sense of security-- I did get sort-of scammed, and one of our friends was given fake money in Guangzhou. But there are people like that everywhere in the world, and for the most part China seems to be a safe place to go. I wouldn't hesitate to walk the streets of Guanzhou or Chongqing after dark on my own (not that I did-- but my lack of exercise had more to do with laziness than security concerns).

12. The domestic airline service was amazing. Food on every flight. Beverages (even if Pepsi and Coke Light weren't available). Seats were basically the same size as in the U.S., too. What more can a girl ask for?

So there you have it-- 12 good things about traveling to China.
We definitely plan to go back, if not to adopt our third child then at least to visit Marcie's home land when she gets older. It's the least we can do for her- don't you think?

Sorry about the lack of photos on such a long post. But not sorry enough to locate any to put here. The beauty of my words will just have to suffice. Ha ha.