TB free! …and a day at the zoo

Today was rather uneventful, and for that we’re grateful. We learned just after breakfast that the results from Ca’s blood test show that she is TB-free. This was the next major hurdle to cross (jump over? oh wait, don’t you hurdle a hurdle? so confusing). That meant we had the day completely free. We went to the zoo with another adoptive family from the Fresno, CA area. Their daughter is also six and while the two girls didn’t exactly hit it off immediately, I think it was nice for them to have someone else their size around. It certainly was nice for the adults to share some conversation. 

The zoo itself was a bit of a strange affair. In addition to the animal exhibits there is an amusement park which looked to have a carnival-type feel to it. We chose the zoo-only tickets and paid 50 yuan for all 4 of us (less than $10). The zoo property reminded me of the home of someone who’s lived in the same place for decades - the wallpaper’s 20 years out of fashion, everything could use a new coat of paint, and all the proportions reflect the sensibilities of an earlier age. This lent a charming, homey air to the whole environment. It was by no means state-of-the-art and, therefore, lacked the sterility of newer establishments. The place seemed very at home with itself, content to be just as it was, and like many content people it was eccentric.

It was interesting to see the animals - many familiar; several very different. There were flamingos, hippos, and a variety of monkeys. Birds came in all shapes, sizes and colors.

Perhaps most alarming to us westerners was the near compulsion that seemed to grip the populace, in every instance where it was even remotely practicable, to feed the animals. People tossed bits of fruit and biscuits to the bear swimming below them, they lobbed hunks of bread into the lake to watch the fish swarm, and even climbed atop curbing to reach above the 8-foot glass wall in order to hand potato chips to a monkey through chainlink fencing. All this was done guilelessly, artlessly even, in plain sight of anyone who cared to notice. Indeed, crowds often gathered to see the results. Either the zookeepers were off-duty or they’ve come to accept this behavior as normal.

After about 3 hours of walking around, B, E, and I had had about enough sweating, so we called it quits, although we hadn’t seen the whole zoo. Came home and as we were entering the hotel, Ca asked a question I love: “yo-yo ma” We think this means “Swimming?” but it makes me laugh to think of cellos. We were astonished to be able to show her an analog watch and a digital clock, and demonstrate that right now it was 1:55, and we’d go swimming at 2:30. She seemed to understand completely and was completely content. We were floored, not only that she accepted delayed gratification so easily, but that she had such a clear understanding of the passage of time! Somebody’s been teaching our little girl very well.

I (E) should mention here that we feel completely blessed and humbled by the health, intelligence, verbal skills, and bonding ability our girl has demonstrated in the last 8 days. Every Chinese person that we speak with who has experience with adopted kids has commented on how well she is adjusting, what an engaging and intelligent child she is, and how well she speaks for a child her age. We know that there may - and likely will - be bumps ahead on our road together, but we are inexpressibly grateful for how easy our time with Ca in China has been.  

On a sad note, we lost more than a day’s worth of photos that I took. We all, and he especially, were sad they’re gone. 

We were really sad to lose the photos that I took at the zoo. 

He's a great photographer.

Ca certainly has a unique sense of composition