Day of Rest...

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Today is my parents 43rd Wedding Anniversary. Happy Anniversary, Maw & Pop!

And...a day of rest for us. We had a lazy morning in the room and after breakfast, Daddy & Lea played with toys on the bed. She has really come out of her shell today. She's smiling and laughing and playing with everything. She loves the "uh-oh" game. You know, the one where she drops something and you say, "uh-oh", pick it up and give it back to her, only for her to throw it down again. Yes, she loves that one.

Daddy decided to go to the gym for a little stress relief today and then for a relaxing massage (it actually was this time). While daddy did that, mommy and Lea went out for a stroller ride. We stayed mostly inside the hotel, which is huge I might add, but went outside only on the sidewalk in front of the hotel. There was a wedding inside the hotel this weekend so there were plenty of beautiful decorations to look at with lots and lots of fresh flowers everywhere. Every so often they would light the extremely large fire-cracker snake right outside the lobby doors. Talk about loud! It didn't seem to phase Lea, but I always went in the opposite direction just in case. It was almost dinner time so we went back to the room to see what Daddy wanted to do.

Daddy's McNuggets story.............

"We were trying to think of something innocuous for dinner on our last night in Nanchang.  While the hotel restaurant was okay, we had  eaten dinner there 3 of the last  4 nights.  We were, however,  a little too intimidated to strike out on our own for some authentic local cuisine.  I had been passing a McDonalds next to the RT Mart each time we went for supplies, so I decided some french fries like home would be a comfort and I could order Chicken McNuggets without having to modify anything - like a "plain" cheeseburger, fish sandwich with no tarter, etc.

Renee stayed with Lea while I made the six-block run to Mickey D's.  On the way, the streets and sidewalks were crowded as  usual and that ever-present gray hue to everything that is found in all big cities dominated the mood.  One of the stores, as a promotion I guess, had  a band of sorts playing out front to attract attention.  By "band" I mean about 12 people, all dressed in formal red and gold silk outfits, beating drums and cymbals in concert not unlike a marching band in the states.  The way it was presented was something uniquely Chinese and I stopped for a few minutes to take it in from across the street.

When I got to McDonald's there were mostly teenagers in front of and behind the counter.  In the middle of a string of Mandarin speech I was able to glean the words for hello, Ni Hao. I was proud of this as Mandarin is next to impossible for me to unravel when it's casually spoken.  While waiting in line, a young man asked me if I was here for business or vacation.  I explained that I was here to adopt our daughter and he smiled.  About that time it was my turn to order.  I had to jump right in or someone else would  step in front if I showed any sign of hesitation.   As soon as the person behind the counter saw me, she handed me a laminated menu that they give to the tourists so we can pick out what we want without having to talk - a good idea.  I pointed to the french fries first and held up 2 fingers - low hanging fruit.  Whatever I got was okay: large, small, medium.  Whatever. Then came the McNuggets. There were 3 choices: 4-pack, 10-pack and 20-pack.  I pointed to the 10 pack and the employee pointed to the 20-pack.  I pointed again to the 10-pack on the picture and she seemed to acknowledge this.

I started to get amused when the wait for my food began to drag on.  "Just like home", I thought.  At home I would get impatient, but here I just laughed to myself and watched as all the customers were moving in and out.  Finally, a woman dressed like one of the managers said, "Sorry", (for taking so long) in a heavy accent and handed me what looked like a small shopping bag.  I looked inside and noticed the fries on top and a box of  McNuggets, so I was good and left.  If something was wrong with the order I would just have to eat it anyway, the language barrier being what it is.
 

After walking back to the room and opening the bag for the last time I noticed not 10 but 30 McNuggets.  Guess we're eating good tonight.  I even talked Renee (the vegetarian) into eating a couple dunked in heavy sweet & sour sauce just to get rid of them.  They weren't great, but they weren't bad either.  We ended up with about 15 left.  Oh yea, the fries were excellent.  Just like home."

Well, I should get packing as we leave for Guangzhou tomorrow at noon and Lea is sleeping like an angel.