Our Journey to Jillian: Homecoming

Sister here: Jillian has officially set foot on American soil! I just checked their flight status and as I type, they are sitting in the plane on the runway in Detroit waiting to take off for Jackson. Their family will be reunited in two short hours!

Below is Leslie's last post from China. I had intended to post it first thing this morning, but the day got away from me...I apologize.

I thought I would post a few final tidbits about China before I leave this country. It really is a fascinating country, with a fascinating culture. Roy and I came to this country for the sole purpose of adopting our daughter. Nothing more. We looked forward to going to the Great Wall, but really just from a historical perspective. I didn’t appreciate China for what it is. Don’t get me wrong. There are still some policies and traditions in China that I find horrific. But I have a much better appreciation for what the average China citizen has to go through. And for the most part….their life is unbelievably hard. These are a few things I have learned. Some are interesting, and some are just funny facts…..

There really seems to be no middle class here. I’m sure there is, but it is certainly NOT our middle class. The apartment buildings here are either shack like, or high rises. And even the nice apartments aren’t very nice. One of our guides told us that the average apartment in China is about 900 square feet. That holds 4 adults and 1 baby. The mom, dad, dad’s parents, and the one baby. I really can’t even imagine!!
Only the RICH people have dryers to dry their clothes. We noticed that EVERYWHERE you look, there are clothes hanging to dry outside of the apartment windows. We had sent our clothes out to be laundered a couple of times, and realized we had the little puffs in our shirt shoulders where they were hung to dry. So, even the launders don’t have dryers. What a convenience that we take for granted!!!
Funny fact: There is NO Dr. Pepper in China. The Chinese think it tastes like medicine, and don’t want it here. But, they think fried ostrich intestine with a side of fried chicken feet is just fine.
This country is where so many of the high tech products are born, but the everyday advances here are so backwards. We passed several buildings that had bamboo scaffolding. Literally. And then in several shops, they pulled out bamboo ladders to get up into the loft of the store. I may have mentioned before the brooms that they ladies sweep the streets with. A bamboo stick, with limbs of dead leaves duct taped to the bottom. There is their broom. There are older ladies sweeping everywhere!! Why not just get a street sweeper?? Backbreaking labor!!
I have only seen 2 wild animals since I’ve been here. They were 2 birds at the park today. The first two I’ve seen. I heard them at the Great Wall, but haven’t seen any. Our guide laughed when I asked about it, and he said that there were no wild animals in China. If anyone found them, they would catch them, and eat them. I’m not sure how much of that was a joke.
The poverty in this country is overwhelming. Poor, poor people…working for pennies to the dollar. Women riding bicycles stacked HIGH with boxes….or people walking the streets with so much fruit hanging around their shoulders to sell. Men walking the street pulling a primitive wheel barrow filled with hand carved buddha’s. Such hard work.
I haven’t seen the lack of girl’s that everyone predicted I would. I see girl’s everywhere. Clearly, there is a gap….but I’ve been thankful to see lots of girl’s Chandler’s age, and younger around. I look at them and imagine Jillian in a few years. Honestly though, I look at Madison, and think of Jillian in a few years.
Funny fact – Karate Kid has come on HBO about a million times. Is tv here regulated?? We think so, but we can’t guarantee it. We think that the Asian influence in Karate Kid is positive, so they play it constantly. Interestingly enough though…while we have been here, the National Geographic Channel, and the Discovery Channel have both had many, many specials, several times a day on China. I mean lots. I don’t even know if it’s possible to regulate that…but it is a funny coincidence if not. On the opposite note of that…the first few days we were in Beijing…we saw specials on Katrina victims. And then a special on the Great Wall. I thought that was a funny coincidence too.
Strange fact – when I walked down to Starbucks this morning to send this to my sister in law…there was a Chinese Santa greeting me. The whole place is totally decorated for Christmas. I didn’t think the Chinese celebrated Christmas….clearly I am wrong. There is even a “countdown to Christmas”!!