(no subject)
Aug. 5th, 2006 08:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizzybennetI'm so utterly exhausted. We went to Pizza Hutt for dinner tonight (and we had McDonalds for lunch. We're really going for the whole authentic Chinese experience, aren't we?) I learned today that Sai-Ling's name is Sailing as in sailing a boat. That is her English name. Pretty cool, hmm? Chris had told me that Chinese people often picked very unique English names for themselves and now I've seen it for myself. Anyway, Jesse and Sailing took us to Pizza Hutt. It is a very upscale place, not at all like the buffet dumps I've seen back home. We ordered from the American menu. However, there were many Chinese options, including a seafood pizza topped with octopus. Speaking of "weird" food, today when we were at Wal-Mart we saw that they had live bullfrogs and soft-shell turtle for sale in the meat department.
The boys all fell asleep during dinner, but we were able to get them to eat first. This is the first night they've eaten dinner because they keep falling asleep. The jet lag seems to be affecting them the worst. They all woke up before 4 a.m. this morning and would not go back to sleep. I finally got up with them which explains why I'm so dead right now. Chris mentioned to Sailing and Jesse that we need to buy a DVD player. He also mentioned that we wanted to look for some specific DVD's tonight. We had a misunderstanding and they thought we wanted to buy the dvd player tonight. Long story short, we ended up dragging three sleepy boys through what seemed like miles of underground shopping mall. Sailing knows her way around Nanjing so well. I didn't want to parade the boys around in public again today, as we'd already done that to them once when we went to Walmart this afternoon. It was frustrating and Chris didn't even buy a dvd player because the place they took us to was too pricey. I know none of this is making sense because I'm feeling delirious.
I have so much I want to write about, but I never seem to have the time to sit down at the computer. I also forget to take the camera with us every time we go out. Frustrating. So, when we were out this morning, the boys got mobbed by people. I had the mistaken idea that since we were coming to a major city, the fact that we are foreigners wouldn't be such a big deal. I figured a city of 6 million was used to seeing foreign people. I was very, very wrong. Everywhere we go people stare and point at us. The boys have their heads petted several times a day and some people even try to hold their hands or pet their cheeks. Petey does not like it and he's usually the center of attention because his face is so cherubic. He asked Chris to teach him how to say "Don't touch me." in Chinese. Petey practiced it until he had it down, so now he feels more prepared to defend himself. I wondered if it was rude of him to say it, but then again it is somewhat rude of people to take such liberties with him. Of course, I realize this is a completely different culture. Jesse has tried to explain that no harm is meant and that the kids are like celebrities, lol. I understand all that, I just don't like to see my kids in uncomfortable positions. Today the boys and I were sitting waiting for Chris as he talked to a salesman. Suddenly we had a crowd of Chinese people all around us. They were talking, petting, pointing. Petey's got teary-eyed which made the crowd laugh (but not in a mean way.) One of the ladies asked me a question, which I guessed was "How old are they?" I just held up my fingers in front of each kid to indicate their age. It's amazing how often I'm resorting to rudimentary sign language since we've been here.
I'm not complaining. My dad told me it would be like this (he saw it when he lived in Korea.) It's just hard to be the center of so much attention. I'm used to blending into the background and people not really noticing me. Here EVERYONE notices me. I can always tell when people are talking about us and I've even noticed people following us around stores from floor to floor. I sometimes wonder if they are listening, trying to practice their english and figure out what we are saying. Speaking of English, it is an odd sensation when your own language sounds out of place. When I speak, it sounds so blatantly different. I can almost hear how weird I must sound.
Ok, enough for now. I need sleep very badly. I'll post pictures tomorrow, I promise. If you have any requests of something particular you'd like to see, feel free to request it.
The boys all fell asleep during dinner, but we were able to get them to eat first. This is the first night they've eaten dinner because they keep falling asleep. The jet lag seems to be affecting them the worst. They all woke up before 4 a.m. this morning and would not go back to sleep. I finally got up with them which explains why I'm so dead right now. Chris mentioned to Sailing and Jesse that we need to buy a DVD player. He also mentioned that we wanted to look for some specific DVD's tonight. We had a misunderstanding and they thought we wanted to buy the dvd player tonight. Long story short, we ended up dragging three sleepy boys through what seemed like miles of underground shopping mall. Sailing knows her way around Nanjing so well. I didn't want to parade the boys around in public again today, as we'd already done that to them once when we went to Walmart this afternoon. It was frustrating and Chris didn't even buy a dvd player because the place they took us to was too pricey. I know none of this is making sense because I'm feeling delirious.
I have so much I want to write about, but I never seem to have the time to sit down at the computer. I also forget to take the camera with us every time we go out. Frustrating. So, when we were out this morning, the boys got mobbed by people. I had the mistaken idea that since we were coming to a major city, the fact that we are foreigners wouldn't be such a big deal. I figured a city of 6 million was used to seeing foreign people. I was very, very wrong. Everywhere we go people stare and point at us. The boys have their heads petted several times a day and some people even try to hold their hands or pet their cheeks. Petey does not like it and he's usually the center of attention because his face is so cherubic. He asked Chris to teach him how to say "Don't touch me." in Chinese. Petey practiced it until he had it down, so now he feels more prepared to defend himself. I wondered if it was rude of him to say it, but then again it is somewhat rude of people to take such liberties with him. Of course, I realize this is a completely different culture. Jesse has tried to explain that no harm is meant and that the kids are like celebrities, lol. I understand all that, I just don't like to see my kids in uncomfortable positions. Today the boys and I were sitting waiting for Chris as he talked to a salesman. Suddenly we had a crowd of Chinese people all around us. They were talking, petting, pointing. Petey's got teary-eyed which made the crowd laugh (but not in a mean way.) One of the ladies asked me a question, which I guessed was "How old are they?" I just held up my fingers in front of each kid to indicate their age. It's amazing how often I'm resorting to rudimentary sign language since we've been here.
I'm not complaining. My dad told me it would be like this (he saw it when he lived in Korea.) It's just hard to be the center of so much attention. I'm used to blending into the background and people not really noticing me. Here EVERYONE notices me. I can always tell when people are talking about us and I've even noticed people following us around stores from floor to floor. I sometimes wonder if they are listening, trying to practice their english and figure out what we are saying. Speaking of English, it is an odd sensation when your own language sounds out of place. When I speak, it sounds so blatantly different. I can almost hear how weird I must sound.
Ok, enough for now. I need sleep very badly. I'll post pictures tomorrow, I promise. If you have any requests of something particular you'd like to see, feel free to request it.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-08-06 01:18 pm (UTC)I'd be freaked out too. Hopefully you'll get used to this soon so that when you return to the states and no one follows you around you'll say, "HEY! Where are my public?!!!"
Life of celebrity. Wow. Who'da thunk it? Did Chris get this kind of attention when he would go to China alone?