OK…I realize this is a family blog and everything…but I gotta tell you…last night Lisa and I decided to venture back into the alleyways of Fuzhou to find our Lil’Dumpling Restaurant…for a nice dinner…and I gotta tell you Lisa was HOT…I mean she was H – O – T, HOT…and when we got to the restaurant…it was crowded, with little air conditioning and then she was SMOKIN’ HOT…yup…it was like 94 degrees last night and we decided to push a stroller through the streets of Fuzhou to find the little spot we had lunch at (we obviously liked the place). Well we found it all right…but we are not built for this weather…Lisa almost melted on the way there and then we sat down in a restaurant where the food is all steamed…so the heat from the kitchen is pretty strong. But the food was excellent again…we had noodles, soup, dumplings, and a large beer for about $6…I’m cheap so this was the perfect evening…no taxi fares (we walked), cheap food…perfect. Getting home after dark did not go so perfectly however…now I usually have a pretty good sense of direction and retracing our footsteps would have been easy…but we decided to take a quick detour by HagenDaz to get some ice cream…so this may have thrown my gyro-scope, compass, whatever off a tad…after ice cream started back to the hotel…somewhere along the way we missed a turn…you can imagine the old cliché of the husband and wife, lost, needing directions…
Lisa: “Pete, I don’t recognize this area, are you sure we’re going the right way?”
Pete: (testy voice) Yes, I’m sure this is the right direction, I’ve gotten this far haven’t I?”
(A little later)
Lisa: “Pete, really I think we’re lost…”
Pete: “We are not…I remember this area…there were a bunch of Chinese people here…see they’re all still here…”
(A little later)
Lisa: “Ok, this is crazy we’ve been walking too long this direction…”
Pete: “I remember there was a corner up with a sign in Chinese…see there is a Chinese sign…”
Lisa: “All the signs are in Chinese…we’re lost…”
Pete: “OK…were lost…”
Anyway we reversed direction and found the corner we missed and we made it back…
It’s the next day now, and we are finally packing to leave for Guangzhou…and the final leg of our Journey. Both Lisa and I ready to go…not that we don’t like China (we do) but we really like the United States and we miss the rest of the family. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have made it to this point without the Diet Coke…yup, the Diet Coke…its so hot here and the craving for an icy cold diet coke started to build from the day I landed in Fuzhou…well I couldn’t find it in any of the stores or beverage stands in the city (unlike Beijing which even had Coke Zero!)…anyway…I finally discovered a day ago that they do have it here at the hotel…ahhhhhhhh…I’m now on my 5th or 6th DC and all is right in the world…oh yeah, and Charlie is doing even better…He is actually showing much more of his little personality…actually I’ve identified four distinct little personalities. For starters there is the Charlie we first met…lets call him “Robot Charlie”…he is super calm, almost mechanical…he sits still, eyes the world slowly but won’t make eye contact, moves on command but engages little with Lisa or me, his programming seems to be all about order and possession…he has his space, his toys, and they all have to be lined up precisely in the right order on his spot on the couch…then there is “Happy Go Lucky Charlie,” we’re seeing more and more of this guy. As we told you earlier this guy emerged without warning after our trip to the orphanage…this Charlie will run around babbling in Chinese, slap his Dad’s legs playfully, give double thumbs up signs, and will repeat English words he has heard randomly. This guy is a lot of fun…but this personality is not yet dominant…and easily gives way to the third Charlie…that would be “Little Chairman Naughty Charlie”…this Charlie likes it his way or no way and Lisa and I are clearly here to serve his every whim…he yells at us in Chinese, points at things he wants delivered over to his little “throne” on the couch or worse yet yells at his parents/servants when we are out at restaurants or in public generally…this Charlie will refuse to eat or demand more food all within milli-seconds…occasionally he will slip into his final personality “Mean Ultimate Fighting Champ” Charlie…this guy emerges only at nap time and bed time…the lights are turned low, he sees me closing the drapes or moving him toward the crib…then the eyes narrow (I swear they glow a little red back there…) and you can hear the theme from Kung Fu somewhere in the background…first the wailing starts then the crying and then its all kung fu kicks and flaying arms until sleep finally overtakes him…as he fades into sleep, I’m pretty sure that “Happy Go Lucky Charlie” is in there somewhere, because his final word before a long sigh is… “Ma Ma.”
Anyway today we took a final tour of the park with a combination of “Happy Charlie” and “Chairman Naughty Charlie.” If I have not said this before…its hot here…oh, yeah it’s the underlying theme of all my posts…but anyway we walked around the island parks (in the lake)…it was a lot of fun…and again we were subject to a lot staring…this time a couple of people even braved taking pictures of us…one elderly gentleman pulled us aside and in broken English said: “…he is Chinese…?” We said: “yes”…He said: “And you are…?” We said: “Americans”…He said: “…But he is Chinese???” and then we said: “We are Mama and Baba…” Then he seemed to get it, he smiled, and shook our hands…he walked away… After the park we decided to walk around the neighboring city streets (we had gotten lost in this area the night before, and thought we might fair better in the day light…). About a block in we ran into Katherine (our #1 guide in Fuzhou!!!)…this is kind of funny…to run into your guide on the streets in Fuzhou, I mean really what are the odds…they gotta be pretty astronomical. We chatted a bit then parted ways as we hunted down a little bakery we saw the night before….we found it, ordered some bakery items that looked tasty…they were except for the dried “fish products” in the middle of the rolls…not to our taste, but luckily they were to Charlie’s taste…boy…dinners at the Schmidt house are going to be interesting…some weird kind of fusion of California Organic meets MidWest Meat and Potato meets Chinese.
Well we have to pack for the final run out to the Airport…only an hour left before our ride arrives…we’ll update you all from Guangzhou…see ya.
Lisa: “Pete, I don’t recognize this area, are you sure we’re going the right way?”
Pete: (testy voice) Yes, I’m sure this is the right direction, I’ve gotten this far haven’t I?”
(A little later)
Lisa: “Pete, really I think we’re lost…”
Pete: “We are not…I remember this area…there were a bunch of Chinese people here…see they’re all still here…”
(A little later)
Lisa: “Ok, this is crazy we’ve been walking too long this direction…”
Pete: “I remember there was a corner up with a sign in Chinese…see there is a Chinese sign…”
Lisa: “All the signs are in Chinese…we’re lost…”
Pete: “OK…were lost…”
Anyway we reversed direction and found the corner we missed and we made it back…
It’s the next day now, and we are finally packing to leave for Guangzhou…and the final leg of our Journey. Both Lisa and I ready to go…not that we don’t like China (we do) but we really like the United States and we miss the rest of the family. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have made it to this point without the Diet Coke…yup, the Diet Coke…its so hot here and the craving for an icy cold diet coke started to build from the day I landed in Fuzhou…well I couldn’t find it in any of the stores or beverage stands in the city (unlike Beijing which even had Coke Zero!)…anyway…I finally discovered a day ago that they do have it here at the hotel…ahhhhhhhh…I’m now on my 5th or 6th DC and all is right in the world…oh yeah, and Charlie is doing even better…He is actually showing much more of his little personality…actually I’ve identified four distinct little personalities. For starters there is the Charlie we first met…lets call him “Robot Charlie”…he is super calm, almost mechanical…he sits still, eyes the world slowly but won’t make eye contact, moves on command but engages little with Lisa or me, his programming seems to be all about order and possession…he has his space, his toys, and they all have to be lined up precisely in the right order on his spot on the couch…then there is “Happy Go Lucky Charlie,” we’re seeing more and more of this guy. As we told you earlier this guy emerged without warning after our trip to the orphanage…this Charlie will run around babbling in Chinese, slap his Dad’s legs playfully, give double thumbs up signs, and will repeat English words he has heard randomly. This guy is a lot of fun…but this personality is not yet dominant…and easily gives way to the third Charlie…that would be “Little Chairman Naughty Charlie”…this Charlie likes it his way or no way and Lisa and I are clearly here to serve his every whim…he yells at us in Chinese, points at things he wants delivered over to his little “throne” on the couch or worse yet yells at his parents/servants when we are out at restaurants or in public generally…this Charlie will refuse to eat or demand more food all within milli-seconds…occasionally he will slip into his final personality “Mean Ultimate Fighting Champ” Charlie…this guy emerges only at nap time and bed time…the lights are turned low, he sees me closing the drapes or moving him toward the crib…then the eyes narrow (I swear they glow a little red back there…) and you can hear the theme from Kung Fu somewhere in the background…first the wailing starts then the crying and then its all kung fu kicks and flaying arms until sleep finally overtakes him…as he fades into sleep, I’m pretty sure that “Happy Go Lucky Charlie” is in there somewhere, because his final word before a long sigh is… “Ma Ma.”Anyway today we took a final tour of the park with a combination of “Happy Charlie” and “Chairman Naughty Charlie.” If I have not said this before…its hot here…oh, yeah it’s the underlying theme of all my posts…but anyway we walked around the island parks (in the lake)…it was a lot of fun…and again we were subject to a lot staring…this time a couple of people even braved taking pictures of us…one elderly gentleman pulled us aside and in broken English said: “…he is Chinese…?” We said: “yes”…He said: “And you are…?” We said: “Americans”…He said: “…But he is Chinese???” and then we said: “We are Mama and Baba…” Then he seemed to get it, he smiled, and shook our hands…he walked away… After the park we decided to walk around the neighboring city streets (we had gotten lost in this area the night before, and thought we might fair better in the day light…). About a block in we ran into Katherine (our #1 guide in Fuzhou!!!)…this is kind of funny…to run into your guide on the streets in Fuzhou, I mean really what are the odds…they gotta be pretty astronomical. We chatted a bit then parted ways as we hunted down a little bakery we saw the night before….we found it, ordered some bakery items that looked tasty…they were except for the dried “fish products” in the middle of the rolls…not to our taste, but luckily they were to Charlie’s taste…boy…dinners at the Schmidt house are going to be interesting…some weird kind of fusion of California Organic meets MidWest Meat and Potato meets Chinese.
Well we have to pack for the final run out to the Airport…only an hour left before our ride arrives…we’ll update you all from Guangzhou…see ya.
2 comments:
Yea!!! You are on the last leg of you journey. Charlie sounds like a fun little boy. Enjoy Guanzhou. Unfortunately, it will be just as hot as Fuzhou:-)
Woo-hoo the last leg. You will be home soon. Charlie is so cute. Glad things are going well.
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