John's Deep Thoughts

Dianne's headed off to bed, so I'm going to hijack the blog for a bit here... This is just going to be a bit of aimless observation, so only read if you have nothing at all better to do like fold socks or watch grass grow. We'll return to your regularly scheduled updates another day.

Hong Kong Disneyland is odd. It's both standard Disney and also something very different. From the moment you get on property, it feels just like a trip to Disneyworld. The grounds are beautiful, the hotels inviting, the lighting is Disney, but then there's the eclectic mix of foods, the homicidal bus drivers, and the sea of all black-haired people. For whatever reason, I somehow envisioned that no one local came here and it was just there for the occasional tourist passing by, but it was pretty busy and it was obviously (and pleasantly) geared toward the local crowd. People love getting their pictures taken with the characters no matter where you are, but take the stateside kid/adult ratio of people waiting in line for their turn with Mickey and flip it the other way around. Strangest of all was the complete lack of anything to do at night. I guess they haven't quite made it to the same all-encompassing wallet-draining level that is a stay on property at Disneyworld, but the parks close at 7pm and other than the two restaurants at the hotel staying open later, and one bar with a bunch of people nursing drinks while watching Lilo & Stitch in Mandarin, there really wasn't a thing to do. Epcot closes at 9pm and you can get a reservation up till 9:45pm, but here the last reservation at any restaurant in the park was 6pm. Even the counter service and popcorn places were closed down 2o minutes before park closing. I'd really like to give you folks some of my money, I just can't figure out where to do it.

Renting an internet terminal in a high-end hotel is a good way to plow through money though. About $25/hour in 15 minute increments. Granted, I could probably step outside the hotel, throw a rock, and hit 4 internet cafes, but convenience has its price. Just didn't expect it to be quite that steep.

The falling price of the US dollar sucks. Last time we were here it was about 8 RMB to the dollar and now it's 6.7 and in addition to that Chinese prosperity has tacked on a wee bit of inflation so definitely noticing a difference this time around. That's not to say that things aren't still very much on the affordable side, just not so much the "oh my good lord" level that we remember from before.

Having an upset stomach and being surrounded by excellent food really really really sucks. I managed to make it through breakfast on arrival day before cratering. And man did I really like that breakfast. At that point I could have just hung out in the buffet all day long and been very happy. Later in the day, just walking by made my stomach lurch. Nothing bad and not like I'm trapped in the middle of the Amazon with a bout of dysentery or anything, but not exactly fun. Thankfully as of Tuesday evening that seems to be getting better, so should be all set for the biblical-level illnesses to come.

Adopting a 3 year old is a pretty dicey endeavor. I don't know that I've ever seen such a high followed so soon by such a low. Dianne touched on it in her post, but let's look at this one in detail: You're sitting in The Room waiting for The Moment (with a 4 year old who is completely crazed out of her and your mind) and you just happen to glance out the door and see a small face being led by the hand. Your brain freezes for a split second and then someone says "I think that's him" and then as you look closer, he turns and points at you and says "ba ba" and points at Dianne and says "ma ma" and then says it again in that incredibly satisfying "mama-baba" one-word way and then blows you kisses. Oh my goodness. It just takes your breath away. In one of the most nervous moments, life has just given you a gift. Wow, he knows us! Dianne's crazy idea of putting together a picture book of us and sending it over actually worked (we don't think Allie ever saw hers) and someone's actually taken the time to show him those pictures enough, that *he recognized us on sight*! So this is going to go wonderfully! We're not going to have the catatonic kid. Nor the screaming one. Nor the indifferent one.

And then the screaming starts. Man, you just can't prepare yourself for that. I've seen it with several of the kids last time around, including one poor family where the girl couldn't be in the same room as the dad without screaming. For a week. But it's a whole different ballgame when you're the one who needs to comfort that screaming kid. And it just can't be done. Not yet anyway. And your daughter has her hands over her ears and can't understand why he won't stop. Then you're finally ready to get out of the building (which those of you who have been here know how much you want to do that) and you go down to the lobby and he sees his nanny/teacher. And she's leaving. And she's not taking him with her. Oh wow. So let's take the screaming up about 10 levels and add some flailing and escape artist moves to it. Thankfully he screamed himself to sleep on the bus ride back over to the hotel, but that was rough.

As everyone knows, it of course works out. We've already seen him smile, act silly, let us take him to the potty (Daddy was brave and took first crack at that), eat, and scream some more. But whether he knows who Mama is yet or not, he absolutely knows she's his person. He reaches for her, he puts his arms around her neck and holds tight, and what used to cause screaming now just causes a little heavy breathing and he quiets down quickly. Needs are being met, emotions are being soothed, and bonding is underway. And I'll get my turn too, I'm not in a rush and I'm not going anywhere. We'll be a family and this will eventually be just memories and things to be discussed in everyone's therapy sessions, but man what a first couple of days. But what a tease that first moment was.