Not everyone just stares

I thought I'd better balance some of what I've said about the Chinese locals just staring at us without saying anything by also telling you the good side of the people here. Not everyone stares without saying anything. About 1/4 of the people that we see actually come up and say something about Gracie and smile. They usually either touch her arm, wave at her, or touch her under the chin. Since I don't understand Chinese, I can only guess that they are saying how cute she is. And of course they are right in saying so!

There are some younger people that come up and speak to us in English. The other night when we were out with Grace in the stroller, DH was inside a small shop looking for some bargain Nike shorts. So I was standing outside the shop kind of rolling the stroller back and forth while Gracie slept. A young man, oh about 17 or 18, walked by, looked at me, and then looked in the stroller at a sleeping Gracie. He stopped and did a double take. I was fully expecting him to walk on without a word, but instead he got a quizzical look on his face and asked if she was an adopted Chinese baby. I told him yes, and he smiled and asked how old she was. I told him 10 months, and he said "Wow, she's big. Are you sure she's only 10 months?" I reassured him that she was only 10 months, and he just said again that she was big for her age. I told him that in America, she would be considered small at that age. He kind of laughed, and said what a lucky baby she was. Then he walked on. So like I said, not all Chinese people are rude and just stare.

We also have been stopped by younger school aged children who say "hi!", and then just giggle. It's very cute. I'm sure they are practicing their English. Our guide, Michael, told us that all the school children learn English, but more for reading and recognizing the alphabet. They don't really get to speak it much. So I'm sure these kids are totally excited when they get to try out what they've learned in school.

One last story about a very nice Chinese man. We had gone to lunch at the Best Western Hotel one day this past week, and DH had taken a restless Gracie out to the lobby to walk around. He was standing by the doorway, when a very nice young Chinese man, who was in his 30's, stopped and asked if he could practice his English with DH. DH said sure, and they had a very nice conversation. I guess the man had learned English at university, and didn't get much chance to practice with people that actually spoke English as their first language. He told DH a little bit about himself, and said that he was very happy that we were in China. DH thanked him and told him his English was very good.

So, just so you don't get the wrong impression. Not everyone is so rude. There are some people that have been very friendly and nice.