7/18/08 - Day 2 Beijing

Well, I'm finally writing in the evening, I've made it to 8 pm! DS1 and DH are asleep. They both went down just moments ago, so I think tomorrow will be our best day yest as far as finally being on China time! Not bad, takes at least 3 days.

Basics - Got up this morning at 4 am, so not as bad as yesterday's 2am. Hit the gym, then breakfast. I wanted to hit an old part of town, so we went out by a "Bell Tower" (sorry, I don't have my map infront of me to give you the proper name). This was in a very old and poor part of town. The popel live in tiny littley side streets that twist and turn where cars can not pass and there are communal bathrooms. There were a couple tour groups passing by in fancy pedi-cabs, but we were on foot. Frankly, people seemed surprised to see us. It was totally cool to walk around. Of course ds was asleep for this portion of the morning, which meant I could leave the stroller open and enjoy interacting with the people that enjoyed looking at him.

We went into a local market, where there were many venders selleing vegggies, and meats, but the dry goods was a propper store with carts. It was an interesting combination. In one of the stalls, I was flirting with a gorgous little girl about 12 months old, and we found out how the split pants worked! Right there she peed on her grandma's leg. YUCK! Ok, I understand that pee is sterile, and yes, as a mother I have been peed on, but come on, split pants is just not cool in a market.

It started to get very dark and as we felt a few rain drops. We dove into what I thought was a tiny dress shop to wait out the passing cloud burst. Well three surprises, it wasn't a "tiny" shop, it wasn't a "dress" shop, and it wasn't a cloud burst. In a matter of minutes the street was 6 inches deep in water. So I thought we'll just look around. But as I approached the back of each room, the shop owners would turn on another light that lead into another room. Besides avoiding the rain, I now have a tea set, a fish kite and black jade earnings (not sure they are real, but I like them!). The shop owners even ran out and got a taxi to the edge of the street for us so we could jump in without getting too wet. I guess they figured with the rain we were going to be their only customers for a while.

Back at the hotel, we went swimming before lunch. Swimming with ds is fun. Each day I ssee him becoming more confident in the water. At the hotel there are little floating kicking boards which he can now handle by himself. Although he is really kicking, the speed of forward motion is still impressively nonexistent!

After lunch, the rain had stopped and we headed out again, this time to the "Pearl Market". The top floor (out of six floors) had "fine-end" jewlrey and pearls, the lower floors became progressivly trashy. Amazingly, I'm a very selective shopper and these type of places don't work well for me anymore. However, ds is becoming a fine budding consumer! He left with a spiderman watch, two chinese hats (one for him and one for his brother), a dolphin shaped back massager (which he thinks is a riot when in vibrates), and a folding fan. I gave him money and let him try to negotiate, but he really doesn't have a hang for numbers. So I just told him to say "less" and hold up his twenty (Which converts to ~$3 US). This basically worked. On the messager he did try to offer just 2, not the 20, and the ladies really laughed. DS alos started asking question; "why are they trying to sell us things we don't want?" I tried to explain that they are making a living and we can just smile and say no. However, with his rock star status, the vendors do get a bit aggressive, and ds responds in kind; "I don't want to buy!" My favorite was by the long line of resturants outside when he shouted back, "I'm not hungry!"

While in the market we ran into a lovely couple from Minnasota who were also adopting. They had a 3 year old biological son with them and were adopting a 14 month old baby. The baby was from a Beijing orphanage. They are returning to the States next week. It was cool to say hello. Ds1 showed their son his watch, their son had bought a wood snake.

On the Emotion Philisophical - Years ago we went to Tanzania with a group of friends and everyone claimed an animal as their brethern. Dh got the donkeys. I claimed "things with wings". I have always felt a kindred spirit there. This summer in NYC, it has been rather wet and there have been more fireflies then I ever remember. They make me happy, flashing their butts. At lunch we saw dragonflies. I don't know its kind of wierd, but I feel like these winged creatures are helping us all stay connected. They know I'm here for ds2 and they seem to tell me all is good, he is ready. Ok, maybe its just sleep deprevation.

Tommorrow off to the Great Wall with one of our guides from the adoption agency. Not sure which, but will meet her tomorrow at 9:30 am, which is an incredibly late start for us!

P.S. Sorry can't get spell check to work tonigh. Also I have photos of the split pants, the spider watch purchase and ds driving boat. I will try to get these up tomorrow.