Owen Family Journey

Day 2 – Sights and smells of China

It’s 3am on Monday morning, and neither John nor I can
sleep. We’re on the 9pm-3am sleep plan right now. Hope to start getting
that more regulated at some point. We’re at the Dolton Hotel in
Changsha, Hunan Province. The bed here is slightly more comfortable than the
one in Beijing. It at least has a small mattress pad. I read descriptions of
the beds as a box springs w/ a cover over it, and I’d have to say
that’s pretty close to accurate. No pillow top mattresses here!

Interesting observations on the sights and smells thus far.
We were told China smells differently. I didn’t notice it too much in
Beijing, but I can definitely tell it in Changsha. We went for a walk last
night around the “block” and by the time we were back, I was
getting very over whelmed by the scents from the streets. Not sure if it is
something they cook with – a spice of some sort or just different
sanitary issues, but my eyes were starting to burn by the time we made it to
the hotel.

The “block” was interesting because we stayed on
the busy streets and continued to take right turns so we wouldn’t get
lost. Inside the “block” appeared to be a residential community of
alley’s, courtyards, and apartments. We saw 4 dog and 2 cats on our
walk. Two of the dogs were Yorkies laying at the entrance of a shop with
little pink bows in their hair. Victoria thought it looked like they were
twins to Tasha’s dog, Disney. Most of the shops were VERY small which
reminded us of storage shed facilities that we have at home with garage doors.
At least half of them were food places, but they looked like they could only
serve about 3 or 4 people at a time. Saw a couple of children’s clothing
stores that we may go back to later this week.

We were in search of a McDonalds or KFC that we saw when we
drove to the hotel, but we didn’t find it. John says they’ve got
to be relatively close to the hotel because he found a McD’s cup laying
on the ground. So far, we enjoyed two “Western” meals at the
hotel. They have menus for both Chinese and Western food. John had a
garnishment on his plate last night that he actually couldn’t bring
himself to eat. He tried it, and said ick. It was some sort of bleached
pickle. All of the restaurants do a very good job of serving no ice and
bottled water which makes ordering beverages a lot easier. They also had Coke
and Pepsi at the same place. The Pepsi cans had the old peal back tabs that we
haven’t seen since we were kids. We were wondering if Pepsi sent their
old canning equipment over for use here or if they just haven’t upgraded.

Changsha clearly doesn’t get as many Western visitors
as Beijing. We got a lot more stares and points when we were out walking
around. The bellboy, Roy, was very excited to be able to practice his English
with us. While waiting in the lobby for our room, a little girl around 6 or 7
approached another adoptive couple, Kara and Rob, and their bellboy who
translated for her. She was SUPER excited to meet Westerners. Her mom
explained that she has foreign teachers at her school. She talked to them for
a good 10 minutes and rode up on the elevator with us.

Other adoptive families – on our flight to Beijing, I
believe I counted 5 families who were coming for adoptions. All of us with
different agencies. In Beijing, we met up with 4 other families who are all
with Great Wall China Adoption. Jill and Tom are from Orlando and have 4 other
children at home from age 20-10. Dave and Jill have 3 children at home, but I
don’t remember where they are from. Holt and Shirley are also from
Orlando, but this is their first child. Ron and Shirley are from Goshen,
Indiana, and are also adopting their first child. We all split up at the
airport yesterday, and will meet up again in Guangzhou. While waiting at the
airport yesterday, we met Kara and Rob who are from St. Charles, MO. This is
their second Chinese adoption, and they’re staying just down the hall.
Last night at dinner, we met a couple from Ontario who have two boys at home
and are adopting a little girl, but we didn’t get a chance to ask them
their names. I’m sure we’ll see them today as they’re also
staying on our same floor. Also while at dinner, we met a couple and their two
adoptive children who are here on a heritage tour. They said they started at
the top of China and are working their way down – visiting both
orphanages and eventually Guangzhou.

Interesting thoughts of Beijing: Smog was something
we’ve read about but didn’t fully comprehend. While touring the
Forbidden City, it just seemed slightly overcast or a layer of humidity. The
intensity of the smog hit us when we were driving to the Great Wall and
suddenly realized they have mountains. You couldn’t see the mountains,
even an outline of them, until you were in them. Unbelievable considering when
you go to Colorado, I remember seeing the mountains for many miles before
actually getting to them. From the air yesterday, we got a better view of the
mountains, and it appeared to be a very good size mountain range. Disney
– apparently Disney started to build the 1^st Disneyland in
China in Beijing. The contractor apparently backed out and locked the gates
mid-construction. When you drive by the “park”, you can see the
parking area, entrance gates, and a steel structure of what was supposed to be
Cinderella’s castle. And it’s pretty obvious from looking at the
area from the highway that it was supposed to be a Disney like facility.
Unbelievable to me that it’s just been left in this state for the last
several years. We believe Disney still probably owns the land, so
un-Disney-like that it either hasn’t been finished or hasn’t been
torn down.

Street vendors in Beijing were EVERYWHERE. They were
constantly in your face even while the guide was trying to talk, they’d
be trying to sell you Chairman Mao watches, fans, umbrellas, hats, or
postcards. You had to firmly say no and keep moving.

Walking and driving – It is AMAZING that we
haven’t been an accident yet. The center lines – white or yellow
– really have no significance here. People ride scooters and bicycles on
the “interstate”. Pedestrians do not have the right of way, but
they certainly don’t watch where they’re going either. We were
driving to the hotel yesterday, and multiple times, people would be walking
down the side of the street 3 or 4 wide in our lane of traffic and just ignored
the beeping horns. Weaving in and out of traffic is an art form. Parking on
the “sidewalks” is common place. The sidewalk technically is a
bike/scooter/walking lane, but cars can go on it to park. At first I thought
it was random parking, but on our walk, I started to think it might not be so
random. I just couldn’t figure out how they determined where it was
acceptable to park. We think they have cross walk signals, but they appear to
be completely ignored by both pedestrians and cars. That’s one reason
our walk consisted completely of right turns last night. Not brave enough to
try and cross the busy streets.

Dialects – Our guide, Amy, was telling us yesterday
about all of the regional dialects. We had heard that they have several
dialects but didn’t understand the full extent. The written language is
consistent throughout China, but how they pronounce the words varies greatly. Amy
said that even going 1 hour out of Changsha in any direction can have
completely different dialects, and she unfortunately doesn’t know all of
them. She’s said that in the past, she has had children from
“local” provincial orphanages where she doesn’t know the
dialect and can’t help translate as much for the parents. Fortunately,
she said she knows the Yi Yang dialect.

Bathrooms – well, you never know what you’re
going to get. All of the restrooms thus far have both Western toilets and the
holes in the floor. Some have toilet paper, some don’t. As with the US,
some are old and run down and some are new. I already had my bag packed with
extra tissue and toilet paper. Forgot the hand sanitizer and wipes the first
day, but they’re packed now. Some restrooms don’t have soap. I
find that very disturbing.

Marriage customs – our Beijing guide explained to us
the marriage traditions in China. They no longer have arranged marriages, but
the young people are so busy trying to work and make money that they
don’t have time to meet and date people. Thus, the parents have started
doing their own social networking like Match.com but at the temples or at
exercise classes, etc… and are setting their children up on blind dates.
In China, if the children are not married by age 30, then it brings great
disgrace upon the family. People start asking the parents “what is wrong
with your child”. The boy’s parents pay for the weddings because
the daughter is going and serving their family. The boy’s family often
pays for their first home while the girl’s parents pay for the
furnishings and appliances. When the couple is ready to have a child, they
often do not keep the child unless a grandparent moves in with them. Because
the parents are so busy working, the child goes and lives with the grandparent
and often has a stronger bond with the grandparent. The child usually comes
back home around primary school. The single child rule is apparently more
complex than I understood. Because Michelle and her husband both come from
single child homes, they are allowed two children.

Beijing housing is awful expensive. They only make about
4,000 RMB per month for a medium job, but the apartments to buy are about
30,000 RMB per 1 square meter. I think she translated it to around $500,000
for a 100 square meter apartment on about $7,000/year salary. The Olympic
village apartments are mostly vacant because no one can afford to buy the
apartments. The soccer fields, basketball courts, and cycling arena were
vacant and completely unused.

Well, it’s about 4:30am, and we’re going to work
on loading this to the blog and upload some pictures. Our appointment time is
set for 10am at the Civil Affairs office. The final countdown is on. Soon,
we’ll no longer be able to fit at a standard size restaurant table or
booth – or hotel room.