china: the people

Tai Chi in Guilin, Guangxi Province

As with any international travel, there's always a mental adjustment required when embracing a culture different than our own. I so often read about or see folks who, when traveling, expect to find the people/food/practices similar to what they are familiar with at home. The sooner we can accept that it's us that need to fit in with the country we're visiting, travel becomes so much more enjoyable.

Some of the highlights of our trip directly related to the people. There was the woman who in halting yet beautifully accented English asked where I was from and when I told her, clasped my hands and simply said "Welcome". (right outside some of the squat toilets we became VERY familiar with over the course of the trip)

There were the children at a primary school in Hefei where we were fortunate to watch the students' morning exercise...

...and then sit in on a Grade 5 classroom lesson (50:1 student/teacher ratio). The students were studying Helen Keller that day. They read in perfect unison from their texts with admirable attention on their work.

When we were able to interact with them they were just as giggly and exuberant and curious as any fifth grader in the U.S. or Canada. They posed for pictures (V for peace!), wanted to talk about our cameras and ask about how old our kids were, and wanted us to sign autographs. I would have loved to stay longer and sit down with my brown-jacketed friend below whose grin I couldn't resist.

There were the toddlers we visited at an orphanage in Dingyuan who looked at the foreigners suspiciously at first, especially the tall ones with blonde hair, and then slowly started responding to our kids reaching out to them. My niece found one little boy lying in bed who didn't seem responsive until she touched his hand and then he laughed with a smile as big as the sky. We were later told he was blind and may have Down Syndrome. My niece stayed very close to him during almost our entire visit. Even though we couldn't speak each other's languages, our smiles and touches were universal, and they blew us kisses as we left.

Then there were our guides. Ma Rui was with us for almost the entire two weeks and she is like family. She was our guide in 2000 when my older niece joined our family and on a subsequent trip that my sister took. Our regional guides were not only knowledgeable but compassionate and helpful (with only one exception). And patient, given the age range of the kids we were travelling with - Sweetpea being the youngest.

Ma Rui with Sweetpea, Shanghai.

Ma Rui and Becky, Li River

Erin and Sweetpea, teary-eyed goodbye at the airport in Hefei.

The only slightly less than positive aspect of our interactions, and it's only a matter of perspective and a very few instances, was the sometimes almost aggressive desire to photograph Sweetpea by some Chinese tourists because of her fair skin and honey hair. After one episode where she was peacefully enjoying an ice cream cone and was touched and gripped by the arm to be in a photo with a woman's children, Sweetpea became upset and rightly so.

Piled Silk Hill, Guilin

My only desire was to protect her and I often felt stressed on her behalf and I'm sure that this translated to her. English hubby was much more able to be gracious than I - he established that if people asked nicely, and also didn't touch her, then if Sweetpea felt comfortable we would allow a picture. And he would laugh and turn the camera back on them or insert himself into their photo, which often defused the situation.

Elephant Trunk Hill, Guilin

On the whole, people were respectful and lovely to us, and I hope in the future when we're travelling, I'll be able to react in a more relaxed way (although I will always be a mumma bear) and help Sweetpea be at ease as well. In the end, she was a trooper and she helped me try to be one too.