Thursday, September
9, 2010
This morning we awoke to an even more somber little
Bella. Her eyes have been so down cast and her little spirit so
broken. Her whole system has been affected and she just looks
miserable. She readily accepts my affection and snuggles as
closely as she can in my arms. However, I fed her the regularly
scheduled bottle of formula that she is used to and it came
right back up all over the two of us. After bathing her and then
showering myself, our whole crew headed to breakfast. The
breakfast here at the hotel is hearty and full of healthy
variety. From omelets and fruit to soup noodles and vegetables,
it is all quite yummy. But in light of our little ones current
issues, I tried to feed her a bland, basic breakfast. Much like
yesterday’s meals, she also refused to eat at breakfast and
fussed unless she was in my lap. I feel so bad for her and know
that she is just really stressed.
Starbucks Adventure
After breakfast, we decided to go for a walk to the Star Bucks
nearby and get a familiar treat. We walked and walked and
walked. Pretty soon we began to wonder about the whereabouts of
the Star Bucks that one of our travel mates had allegedly
spotted. Our travel buddy Dave began to walk about randomly
saying, “Star Bucks? Star Bucks?” It was quite comical. Finally
I decided to just approach a few locals and simply ask. The only
challenge is that I speak just a few phrases in Mandarin and
none of those phrases includes, “Where is Star Bucks?” However,
the local people are so sweet and in my attempt to ask them
where Star Bucks is located, each time the person questioned
sent us in the westward direction with some confidence. After
4.5 miles of walking (in flip flops), we decided that the locals
were:
a) Just trying to be nice by providing me with an answer;
b) Trying to save face and act like they understood what I was
asking; or
c) The question “where is Starbucks” translates in Mandarin as
“I am looking for a small village far outside of the city
limits”
Come to find out, there is no Starbucks in this province. Go
figure!
After our “walk to Starbucks”, we went on a quick diaper run to
Wal-Mart and headed back to the safety of our hotel. You see,
while walking in the city, it feels like you are in a virtual
game of Frogger. Crossing streets, walking on the side walk and
even shopping in Wal-Mart all involve offensive walking skills
in order to avoid getting run over by bikes, mopeds, and cars
(yes, even on the side walk you can get hit by bikes, mopeds and
small cars). Once while crossing a street, I suggested that we
get behind a few local girls and follow them. I figured that
they are likely more experienced in the China Frogger game of
crossing streets than are we. As we rushed across the street,
something came over me and my motherly instincts kicked in. The
next thing I knew, I grabbed the arm of the young, local lady to
pull her across with our family. She quickly looked at me
baffled as to why I grabbed her arm and pulled her in our
direction. All of a sudden I realized that I was mothering a
complete stranger that I had initially set out to just follow. I
just smiled and laughed and told her to hurry along before she
got hurt. It is really quite interesting to be in a city with
literally millions of people all around.
Once back at the hotel, the men and boys took to a
game/tournament of Ping Pong. It is very popular here in China
and we enjoy playing at the hotel in the afternoons. Bella
continued to struggle with her digestive system, her urinary
tract system, and her sadness. I borrowed some Pedialyte from a
travel mate as I was becoming concerned that she would get
dehydrated with her constant refusal of food and spitting up of
fluid. After a few hours of offering very small portions of the
beverage, she took a long nap. When she awoke, she appeared to
be feeling slightly better. By the evening, we saw our first
glimpses of partial smiles and she crawled across the floor for
the first time since Gotcha Day. Before too long, she took some
steps with assistance and started to engage a little more. She
seems to be struggling with her stressed out system as well as
her emotional loyalty to those she has loved over the past 18
months in her foster home. You can see that just under the
surface is a little girl that wants to smile and delight in her
new family; and yet every time she begins to show positive
emotion, she hides her face or turns her head and slips back to
her loyal stoicism. We are patient and we will wait for her to
begin to trust us. We know that grief will last for a season and
joy will last for a lifetime. We believe that she will
eventually risk being happy and she will realize that her
loyalty does not require her to remain sad. |
The Long Walk to Starbucks
Views of the City
Bella- Somber
Bella- Beautiful
Bella- Fragile |
