Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Tuesday Evening

It has been an eventful day, and we enjoyed it very much. MinMin had a pretty good day, though there were times that she didn't really want to cooperate. Of course, when you end up with these crazy, American parents who want to take pictures every few minutes, I can see why you might not want to cooperate. If I motion for her to stand by me for Richard to take a picture I often get a scowl, but eventually she will do it. If Richard is the one asking, she usually moves a bit faster.

We met Nancy this morning at 10:00, boarded our van and headed out to Long Ji to see the famous rice terraces. It was almost two hours drive to get there, but well worth the trip. MinMin is a city girl, from a huge, industrial city. It dawned on me as we were driving that she probably didn't really know what we were seeing. I had Nancy explain that the crop we saw most was something she really enjoyed eating--rice. She was surprised--she had never seen it growing before. We also saw a lot of watermelon, oranges and tea. Another first for her was seeing water buffalo.

We arrived at the rice terrace area, and had to walk to the top of the mountain to get the best view. It was about 45 minutes of walking up steps to get there. We saw hundreds of tourists, and tried to guess where they were from. There are many from Japan, Singapore, and all over Europe. The views as we went up were amazing. The houses of the minority people living there were very interesting. MinMin was so quiet as we climbed up, and I would like to have been able to read her little brain. So many new things to see. I hope the pictures will give you some idea of what we saw today.

Coming back down again we stopped for lunch. Nancy says she likes being with us because we are willing to eat at the Chinese peoples restaurants, rather than the tourist places. We had bowls of rice noodles, plates of fried rice noodles, and a plate of bamboo shoots. It was all quite good.

Coming out of the restaurant we paid a minority woman 10 yuan, or about $1.30 to show us her hair. The ladies in this minority only cut their hair once in their lives, when they are 18. They save that hair, and then later use it to add to their hair to wrap it all up on put it up on their heads. Her hair was down to her feet. Again, I'll post pictures and hope you can get an idea.

Hope that MinMin got an idea about letting hair grow when she saw those ladies. lol Everywhere we go people think that she is a boy, and make comments about our son. They are always surprised to hear she is a girl. Of course, she understands all that they say, even though we don't. I feel somewhat sorry that she hears all of the comments, but at least they are from here own people, not from foreigners.

One more stop on the way home was at a tea plantation. We walked around the growing tea plants, then later had a tea ceremony inside. It was all quite fun. We learned the proper way for men and for women to hold their tea cups, the way to prepare tea, and the proper water temperature for each type of tea. Another fun experience. MinMin was pretty funny. She wasn't really into the whole tea experience, and probably thought we were nuts.

Last stop of the day was McDonalds. After two or three days of rice and noodles we were ready for a hamburger. Yum! I also had an iced coffee, which I very much enjoyed. I like the tea, but I am ready to get home to the coffee pot.

MinMin still very much prefers Richard, but at least she no longer gets up and moves away if I get too close. I am fine with that for now. Once she gets home and settled will be soon enough for her to learn that she can't scowl at me, and has to learn to respect me. For now I'm just giving her room and figure that soon she'll find out that I'm not that bad! She is communicating a bit with us, but seems quite reluctant to try any English yet. That's fine. A week from now she will be surrounded by it and have to start trying it out.

Thanks again for your comments. We read each one and are encouraged by them, but just can't reply to them all for now.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Can't wait to see the photos. It's great that she gets to see all these things in her country before she comes to America and thinks we're all crazy (ok, she'll find out we really are). After being in the city all her life MO and MX would really be a huge culture shock. Are you sure you don't want to come spend some time with me before you take her to MO? I hear Disneyland calling....Aunt Robin loves to spoil the kids you know!

Chelley said...

I am so looking forward to the photos I hope that when you are home and settled that you will have a chance to share them with us.....

You have taken so much time to share your journey with us...

I cant even begin to think the vast emotions that you have been though since you arrived in China....

But know that some of us including me have some what felt those emotions and have cried both tears of saddness and oh hope....

hugs

Unknown said...

Looks like she got to wear her blue jacket after all. One week from today she will get see how rural we are here in Missouri. Can't wait. Love from Kendall and Mel

Handwoven Dreams said...

Oh Starla,

I am in awe of your patience! My husband and I are hoping to travel in early December to adopt our little girl who is 6 years old. She is in Kunming. We have three bio children who are 8, 5, and 3. We are not taking our other children with us on the trip. If I could have one quarter of your wisdom and sweet patience I would feel so blessed! I know my husband, I and our new daughter will be bathed in the prayers of our friends. I KNOW that our faithful God will enable me to be the best mom that I can be to our new daughter. I just want to say that you are truly a testament of a mother after God's own heart to us all.

If you would, would you please remember us in your prayers for our adoption journey.

Best Wishes,
Betsy

Anonymous said...

I am so glad to see MinMin coming out of her shell. It seems being a Kull might not be so bad after all...
:-)
See you in November,
Michelle Parsley