Irish Stew

Already, we have been in Shenyang for four days and have had Jia for three. So far, his transition has been pretty seamless, although I’m sure there will be grief and adjustment coming after the initial shock wears off. Still, it does make these days of trooping around the big city and living out of a suitcase a little bit easier.

Our children have done incredibly well on this trip. To think that we almost considered not bringing them! Originally, Russ was going to travel alone, but at some point early on, I had the feeling that we should try to bring everyone, as crazy as that seemed. I wasn’t sure if that was the right thing at first…but it kept being confirmed throughout the time that we were waiting…that we should bring all of our children along. I’m so glad we did. They have done wonderfully on this trip and are great travelers. Plus, I’m so happy that they could be there right at the beginning to meet Jia.

This week, after signing the “official” paperwork, we have had a couple of days to wait and hang out in the city. We leave on Saturday for Guangzhou, where the consulate is, but until then, we are waiting for the government here in Shenyang to process the last of Jia’s paperwork so that he can go with us. We have had fun exploring this city, although we’ve only seen a fraction of the neighborhood where we are. Our hotel is downtown, so we can walk to most places. Today or tomorrow, we might try riding the subway.

Yesterday, we walked over to a park a few blocks away. In my mind, a park consists of a playground and some green space, but this place was so much more than that. I think we

may have seen about 1/3 of it during the two hours that we were there. There were beautiful walkways and pagodas, and of course, people everywhere. 

We stopped by a little shop that was a tent sitting out on the grounds that was selling a bunch of books and a few toys. We bought some knock-off Lego’s of the Incredible Hulk for the boys and a tracing book for Ellie. Most of the books were in Chinese, but it was so interesting to look at the titles. They were a range of cookbooks, travel books, and various subjects from herbal medicine to parenting. I even found this book, which I could incorporate into my own work, if I could read Chinese.

There was a large area that held a fountain, but there was no water. There were also several large groups of people dancing to loud hip hop music in the square. They were mostly older folks who looked like they were performing ballroom dance moves, but the music totally didn’t fit. Doesn’t matter.

There were no playgrounds, but China has various exercise areas throughout their cities and in their parks. These are basically pieces of gym equipment made out of the same material as that used in children’s playgrounds and set up in an area for people to work out. I’ve seen them on street corners in large cities and in park areas, such as this one. They are typically intended for adults, but the kids had fun playing on them.

We drew a crowd. It’s not unusual because people are curious as to why two white people are walking around with four Chinese kids. At first, it was only one or two men standing there, watching, but then the crowd grew to about ten people, all standing there, staring at us and discussing our kids. This happens a lot. The Chinese do not think this is rude in any way and they will talk about us, point, and make gestures while we are standing there, even though we cannot understand what they are saying. They are simply curious and that is their way of figuring out what is going on. Yesterday, one gentleman spoke English to us and asked where we were from, as well as various questions about the kids, such as when the boys had surgery for their cleft lips and why Ellie was wearing a hearing aid. Jia spoke with them for a while as well, although I’m not sure that he really wanted to. We finally walked away and the group followed us for a bit, giving us thumbs up as we went.

We had found Wal-Mart a couple of days ago, so we walked over there again. In some ways, it is very much the same as in America, but it is also vastly different. They have clothes, food, gifts, and toys, which is familiar. They also sell live animals for purchase, such as turtles and bull frogs, to take home and cook for dinner. Not so familiar. We had fun walking through the three levels of the store and we bought more snacks and food. Jia is an eater. We knew this, and are not surprised, so we made sure we had plenty of snacks so he can get enough. I don’t know where he puts it; he is as skinny as a rail! Actually, all of our children are that way, but they do not eat as much, except maybe Asher. They could eat everything in front of them and their clothes are still baggy.

We also had lunch as this little place called Dico’s, which I’m pretty sure is a chain restaurant, but we just hadn’t heard of it. Again, the curiosity from people, but still, they are so kind. We enjoy talking to people who come up and try to ask questions about us, even if they do not speak English. I have found that there are so many Chinese people who are just very kind and accommodating. We enjoy meeting them so much and that has been the case on every trip here. At Dico’s we ordered the family chicken meal. It is something like KFC. Either they felt sorry for us or they just liked us because they brought out some toys from their kids meals, even though we hadn’t ordered any. Then, they brought us two large orders of fries. Also, not previously ordered. Then, they brought us four chicken sandwiches. We were sensing a pattern. We tried to say thank you before going and hopefully got that point across when we left.

Today, we are planning to go to an indoor play place so the kids can use up more of their energy. If only I had such energy! They are never ending…well, maybe when they finally crash at night and go to sleep, which is usually really fast. We have two more days in this city and then we are off again to the next adventure. Actually, every day now is an adventure with this group! We wouldn’t have it any other way.