I had one of those "china moments" the other day when an old lady chased me down in a store to tell me that Ryan shouldn't be sitting up. He was sitting in his car seat/stroller and apparently this was doing permanent damage to his neck as babies need to lay flat. At least this is what I think she was saying, my Mandarin is bad enough she could have been saying just about anything. The other day when I took Ryan to pick up Conor at school we were mobbed by a bunch of Chinese Ayis (nannys) who thought Ryan was near to catching some horrible illness because I had forgotten to put socks on him. It was 90 degrees and humid, and I was sweating buckets, but he really needed socks! Maybe its a good thing I can't understand everything they say... makes it easier to just smile and say thanks and good day.
Every time we go out we seem to attract attention. This is not only because we are obviously American, but because we have an infant with us. Most Chinese and expats in our economic group have an ayi and they leave their children at home. Given how crazy some of the markets are I can totally understand this, as there are definitely places I wouldn't venture with Ryan in tow. I did think the grocery store and Conor's school would be ok though!
No comments:
Post a Comment