Shaiyan took us to the Guangzhou folk art museum and then the toy market. The museum is known for its architecture, and it has been around since the late 1800s. I find this place reminds me of Europe to a certain extent. Like the Coliseum in Rome - built in 70AD and cars are just driving by. Such an interesting blend of old and new. I took a few pictures inside the museum of the beautiful architecture along with cranes working on high rise buildings in the background.
So for breakfast this morning Claire ate peanut butter on brioche, oatmeal, yogurt, fruit and her bottle. Trying to get her on to all real foods and chewing. Then on the bus she ate three pancakes. (The homemade breads here are so so good.) Can’t wait to get home and make Graham’s new brioche recipe. (That is my favorite bread by a mile. I buy it in loaf, roll, and sub roll form every week at Whole Foods. Can’t wait to go wander those Whole Foods aisles and eat everything I love.)
I put her in the ergo while we walked around the folk art museum (the whole museum was open air). I’m intentionally not using a stroller. I want to take every single second I can to bond with her. The faster, the better. Have I mentioned how HOT it is? Crazy hot. This is literally like Florida. With the humidity it felt like 100 today. And let’s remember we were outside the entire time at the museum. My shirts are dripping. But Claire doesn’t seem to mind, and I can always take a shower.
So - this morning. She was so so content snuggling into me in the ergo and then playing peek-a-boo with Kyle. So content. And when she was ready for her nap, she contentedly snuggled in without even a whimper and took her nap. It was pretty perfect. I think it helped that she had a really full tummy. I mean really full. And I really hope she is getting comfortable with us.
So Kyle and I shopped around in all the museum shops while Claire napped. I bought a beautiful drawing of bamboo. Will have to take it to Frame N Art and have it framed. Perhaps for my bathroom? And I bought a tea set. So gorgeous. I haven’t been drawn to the typical asian style tea sets but have felt like I should get one for our house. And one that I can pass down to Claire. It is perfectly my style and will go so nicely in our glass cabinets. We also bought a couple things for the boys. Hope to do some more shopping tomorrow on Shamian Island.
On to the Toy Market - but brief commercial break - the smart phone thing is officially an addiction. And I don’t know of any addiction that is good. I find myself so turned off by it. And I see it at home, too. More so here for sure. It makes me want to leave my phone at home all the time.
Toy Market - this place was sensory overload. Kyle pegged it right immediately. Oriental Trading in store form. Others in our group called it a gigantic flea market. My immediately thought was that I didn’t want to buy anything there. It felt like all the toys that have had a problem with them. I did find a super cute pair of black rain boots with polka dots for Claire. And I tried on some sunglasses. But all of them were a little too trendy. Saw a Chinese couple with dreadlocks, and I took a picture.
Then we headed back to the hotel for the usual afternoon thunderstorm. (Crazy thunderstorm.)
Thoughts on Adoption - I tend to compartmentalize a bit. I am able to focus on the task at hand or the day in front of me and not much more at times. In stressful situations, I’m unable to think ahead. At all. And the past few days have been that. I’ve just thought about how to make the best out of each day. And make the best for Claire. And now I’m able to begin to think a bit about adoption and the plight of the orphan. Particularly knowing what we know now about orphanages here in China. The good, the bad, and the really really terrible. And how many hundred million kids around the world living as orphans? And add to that kids who are just living in situations that no kid should live in. My mind has a hard time connecting the really good of adoption and the really terrible of the life of an orphan. Through no fault of their own. Before we adopted, it was easier to think graciously of Claire’s mom. And most of the time I still do. She must not have had enough money to feed her. She must not have known what to do with her ear issues. But there are also times when I want to punch her. How could she?! And then I want her to hurt - she missed out. And she missed out big time. I imagine this will always be a struggle. And more so for Claire since it is hers.
Also - it is so easy to complain about America. Our dysfunctional government, our incompetent leaders. But wow. America is a crazy special place. Kyle told Claire today that he thinks she will really like living in America. It is quite different here. There is a reason extended family members are still immigrating to America. It is a much better standard of living. When for some people here in China - there is no standard of living. None.
Commercial Break - Adoption
This is a pretty unusual place. At least from my standpoint and life experience. This is the city in all of China that every adoption is finalized. First - we don’t really have orphanages in America. So this process is foreign to us. Our country’s system is the foster care system. So mass adoptions aren’t the norm. And we certainly don’t see white families adopting asian children every day in America (naturally, we wouldn’t for obvious reasons). We’ve been here for a few days now, and it still catches me by surprise to see so many families at breakfast/ lunch/ dinner that look like us. And I’m operating on assumptions, I have a feeling this next thought is mostly correct. It is also unusual to walk into a room and without speaking to anyone know that some of the most important values and our faith are likely exactly the same. Or at least similar enough. Each of the children I see at the breakfast buffet who has just joined their family has some sort of issue. Some of those issues will turn out to be nonexistent but not all. That takes a family that likely has similarities to ours. At least on the stuff that matters.
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