Guangzhou day 3

From Pete and a day late.

The day started with the Seahawks playing on TV.  A friend we have met here rang the doorbell at our hotel room letting us know we needed to turn the TV on.  Afterwards, we hit the breakfast buffet (Zach says the best of the three hotels) and for a switch went with more of a western themed breakfast.   Guangzhou is quite a bit different from Beijing or Hefei in many ways.  There is so much vegetation here.  It is quite exquisitely green and lush which was sadly missed in the last two places.   Previously, the sky was always gray no matter the weather and everything had a brownish dust on everything it at all times.  We Seattleites are used to grey, but this is a whole different extreme with the extraordinary pollution.  It is an in-your-face reality to pollution that so many MILLIONS of people live with at all times… I am not a super green type person, but this experience has certainly altered my understanding of what can happen without social awareness or regulation.  Anyhow, regardless of the green trees which were greatly missed in the north (all the trees were deciduous that we saw up north)  Guangzhou also has quite a different feel as it is much more laid back and cosmopolitan.  The traffic is much less and also not as aggressive as Beijing or Hefei.  It does not require the use of your horn 3 or 4 times per block nor bike/motorcycle lane or on-coming traffic lanes and the sidewalk to drive on.  It is a city that seems so comfortable to live in that it really surprises me.   It has shoe stores, malls, parks, restaurants, bars, banks and such that I easily forget that I am in China.  It dispels some of the preconceived notions of factory after factory with sad, underwhelmed peoples.  To the contrary, they mostly seem very fashion savvy capitalists, cell phones tuned-in,  multi-lingual peoples that have an unusual appetite for new vehicles and things.   Quite a bit different than what I had expected.   Not one bit of it seems communist.   The government appears nowhere, but is everywhere.  There are cameras literally everywhere.  I think government people could easily follow me anywhere in all of the cities we have travelled by virtual camera.  It makes things very safe in one way as we really witnessed no crimes or aggressive behavior by others, but also very worrisome in another way as it appears if one does “misbehave” you may be quickly be picked up(I guess?)

DJ had a few episodes of shutting down today but overall, she really made some serious changes in how she interacted with everyone.  She readily would hug Nathaniel when asked, she often asked for Mommy or I, and would say Naomi or Zach when she wanted to interact with them.   She really wanted to be held by Amy and I, which in turn was difficult for Naomi.  It is a bit of a balancing act for attention.   I think that we are fortunate in Evelyn’s behavior as she is already fitting in to our family easier than many others.  We are happy to have her smile and laugh nearby.  More to come…