The Day I Was Mistaken For A Chair

After our grueling one-hour-that-felt-like-ten-hours-flight-with-a-tantrumy-toddler, it was refreshing to easily claim our luggage and start on our way to our hotel. We took an early flight so we had plenty of time before my family arrived in Shanghai. Jeremy suggested we take the subway. He probably wouldn’t have made this suggestion had he realized it was about 12 stops away, but that was fine. We both love subways. They are building one in Qingdao and we can’t wait until it’s finished. Riding the subway in Korea was one of my favorite things. I loved being able to get around so easily. Plus, we thought Raelynn would enjoy the ride too. She is too small to remember the first time we took her on the subway when she was 1 month old.

While Shanghai people are far more polite than those up in Beijing, they aren’t as friendly as Qingdao people can be. In Qingdao, get on any bus with your kids and watch everyone jump up to offer you their seat. In Shanghai, get on a subway with a baby and people will pretend not to notice you as you struggle not to wobble over while simultaneously holding your child. As the train prepared to make a stop, one of the seats opened up and Jeremy told me to take Raelynn and sit while he kept the luggage from rolling away.

I sat down with my kid, who, for whatever reason, decided she did not want to sit. So while in my seat, I have a squirmy kid trying to escape, screaming all the while, and then, I am not joking when I tell you some horrid cow sat on me. Yes, that’s right. She fucking sat on me. I was sitting in a chair on the subway and she sat right on my lap. Being the loud, bitchy American that I am, I of course yell at her. My husband gets involved as I jump from my seat, absolutely astonished that someone would sit on me and then not even notice. She settles into the seat and people have now actually gotten up to let her husband and grandchild sit down. The grandchild is apparently sick and they are taking her to the doctor. Oh good! Bring a sick person onto a train. Why don’t you take a taxi?!? There are tons of taxis in Shanghai. They are quite easy to get. She tells my husband she didn’t see me there. HOW DO YOU NOT SEE ME, YOU OLD BAT?!? She starts apologizing and as Jeremy is relaying what she’s saying, I’m offering my own very snide commentary on the matter. I notice some of the passengers understand English quite well because they are chuckling at my caustic remarks. Another seat opens on the bench next to these people and she’s telling me to please come sit down. I don’t want your sympathy seat, asshat. I don’t care if I never fucking sit again. Cow. And I certainly don’t want to sit next to your grandchild who is ill so that my daughter and I might come down with whatever it is that is ailing that poor child. So yeah, shove it.

I know I’ve lost a bit of weight recently but I had absolutely no idea I was beginning to resemble a chair of all things. Now this situation is a bit amusing to me of course, but I have to ask you all – would you be able to sit on a subway (or even a bus) and not notice there was someone already seated in the seat you were attempting to sit in? And suppose you really truly from the depths of your soul did not notice them, would you continue to sit on them as though they were just a chair, without offering an apology until their spouse demanded one of you? Yeesh. My grandpa was truly right on when he used to say, "it takes all kinds."

Toddlers, Tantrums And Tarmacs

Raelynn at age 2 1/2 on the flight to Shanghai. This photo was taken after she chilled out from throwing an epic tantrum and agreed to read with me. Hooray!

For a year, we’d been planning a trip down to Shanghai to visit with my family. We’d planned it last year when they’d come to visit us here in Qingdao for our vow renewal ceremony. It made saying goodbye a little easier, knowing that we had a date set to see each other again. This time though, my parents wanted us to meet them in Shanghai. I love Shanghai. It’s an amazing city, though I still love Seoul like no other place on earth. Still, there are worse places to be. Far worse. And one of the best is indeed Shanghai.

The first time we went, it was before Raelynn had been born. I was about 6 months pregnant and Jeremy and I went there for a mini-honeymoon. We returned once more after Raelynn was born to get her US citizenship at the consulate there. Despite being an infant, she was very good on the plane. We also took a trip up to Beijing when Raelynn was a bit bigger but she still wasn’t walking yet. And again, she was good on the plane rides.

Shanghai and Beijing are both about an hour flight from Qingdao. Still, for this trip, I prepared and armed myself heavily with things to keep Raelynn occupied. When she was smaller, she slept and breastfed. Now she’s 2 ½. It takes more to entertain her. I also spent weeks preparing her for the trip. I told her about airplanes, staying in a hotel, how we were going to see Papa, Mimi and Uncle Phillip and all kinds of things. We packed her a bag of her own filled with toys, cards and books. We also packed our iPad. And don’t get me started on the snacks – my bag was loaded with goodies of all kinds. Yet, despite all this artillery in my arsenal, we still failed miserably.

For one, Raelynn completely flipped out when I buckled her seatbelt. Put her in the seat and she was fine. Fasten her seatbelt? You’d think I’d just ripped her arm off and clubbed her in the head with it. Fortunately, people in China are far kinder about screaming children than my fellow Americans. We apologized profusely to those around us and were only met with offers of assistance and smiles. Somehow, I finally talked Raelynn into reading a book with me (pictured above). When she calmed down further, we gave her a snack. Jeremy and I smiled at each other. We’d won the battle!

Or so she led us to believe.

Soon after, she pitched a fit about sitting in her own seat. She wanted to sit on me. The flight crew thankfully had no problems with this so I distracted her by showing her the things we could see out the window. By the time we’d landed, we both felt like that one hour was 10 hours.

The return flight to Qingdao was not much better. We had even more things to busy her with but problems arose when she wouldn’t sit in her seat. I held her and off into sleepyland she went. I could actually read! So part of this hour flight was actually lovely. And peaceful. Until she woke up. She wanted water. Easy enough. One of the flight attendants brought us some. Only he poured it right into her Hello Kitty cup. But nooooooooooooooooooooooo! She wanted it from the plastic cup which was now long gone as he retreated to buckle up for landing. She screamed, kicked, cried and totally freaked over a cup. Oh man. It was deeply embarrassing but we teamed up and tried our best to calm her down and distract her. And again, we were met with much sympathy from the surrounding passengers. A Chinese businessman in front of us, in perfect English, told us he has 2 children and that flying with them is very stressful at times. Another foreigner a few rows up told us it happens to him all the time when he travels abroad with his wife and 2 kids. Their encouragement helped us feel better about the deafening shrieks she unleashed upon us all.

At least we don’t have to fly every day. But we’re already worried about how we’ll endure any of the flights we’ll take in our near future. We’d like to go to the states soon and we wonder if we can’t keep her calm for one actual hour how we’ll actually make it through 16 hours of tantrums. We can only hope the other passengers we encounter then will be as gracious as the ones we met on this trip. And for those of you with flights coming up, when you see a family with a small child, please have a heart. No parent wants for their kid to throw tantrums anywhere, especially not on an airplane. We all have places to go and we’re sorry we can’t just get off the plane and leave you in peace. I hope you’ll all bear that in mind if we’re on your next flight.

There's Something About Shanghai

Pictured above, the incredible Shanghai skyline.

Shhh...don't tell Seoul, but I think I've got a bit of a crush on Shanghai. Seoul is still my number one, but with my second trip to Shanghai, my heart swooned and I found myself wishing that our 3-week stay would become a permanent move. 

The purpose of our trip was to get Raelynn her US citizenship. We brought all the required paperwork (after checking about 100 times to make sure we had every possible item) to our bright and early morning appointment at 8:15 on May 24th. Chinese nationals were piled into a massive line, eyeing my husband jealously as we were let right in to take care of our business. I was absolutely amazed at just how many people wanted to go to America, though not at all surprised. After our interview there, we were told that Raelynn's passport would take up to 10 business days to come out. We'd have to wait for an email from the consulate. The consulate is closed on weekends and on holidays for both America and China. Just our luck that there was one American holiday and one Chinese holiday during our wait.

But we made the most of it while trying to be helpful to our very generous host who spoiled little Raelynn rotten with incredibly lovely gifts (thanks again, Cherie!). Our first trip to Shanghai several months ago was like a mini-honeymoon. We still have yet to have a wedding ceremony and a real honeymoon but nevermind that. It was our last trip for the 2 of us before our beautiful Raelynn came into our lives. During that trip, Xiaolong took me to the Shanghai Zoo because, for one thing, he knows how much I love animals, and for another, I’d never seen pandas before. That trip was during the Chinese New Year so everyone had off work. And EVERYONE had the same idea as us to go to the zoo. There were so many people there (and everywhere else too for that matter), making it much more difficult for us to enjoy. But not this time. We went on a weekday and we practically had the place to ourselves. It was the perfect day. 

Raelynn and I stand in front of the Shanghai Zoo entrance.

Shanghai is an incredible city. I feel quite lucky to have visited there twice when so many people around the world might never have a chance to go even just once. It is quite the metropolis, filled with stunning architectural feats. And tucked in between massive skyscrapers, you find little Chinese temples and side streets full of vendors selling little trinkets or tasty treats. It’s an intricate blend of sophistication and tradition. If only Qingdao could be this modern and tantalizing! It’s not like Qingdao is a total dump. They call it “The Sailing City” because during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the sailing sports took place here. There are parts of Qingdao that are quite lovely, but it still has a lot of growing to do. I get hopeful when I see new buildings going up, flowers being planted, subway stations being constructed and clean malls filled with Western-style bathrooms, elegant dining and pricey stores like Prada, Cartier and Gucci. But if you know me at all, you know I can be a bit impatient at times. Like now, obviously. And right now, I want to wave a magic wand and turn this place into everything it could and should be.

Below, a couple shots I took of Shanghai on our first visit...

Back to reality, as I sit here and type this, alternating between watching my adorable daughter sleep peacefully and looking out the window at the city of huge potential below me (all the while counting to 10 while MIL putters around my kitchen). We created wonderful memories on this trip with so many firsts for Raelynn besides the plane ride and the zoo. We rode the subway. We went to the Shanghai Museum. We ate Xiaolong Bao (yes, spelled like my husband's name but his name means 'morning dragon'), the kind of dumplings Shanghai is known for, filled with soup and a flavorful meat mixture:

 And we walked around taking in as much of Shanghai as we could so we could always have a piece of it in our hearts. 

Our little family, posing in the hot Shanghai summer sun with the famous skyscape behind us.

For me, it was also a much-needed break from certain stressors (coughMILcough) which will hopefully enable me to attempt to be nice for my husband’s sake. But most importantly of all, we got what we came for. Our little Raelynn got her US passport and is now an official US citizen. Congratulations, my precious baby. Daddy and I always want you to have the best of everything in this world and that starts with having the best choices available to you. This is the best gift we can possibly ever give you, though when you’re 16, I bet you’ll think the best gift we could give you would be a new car. Hell, maybe she deserves it for us posting her passport photo:

Have you ever seen anything so adorable and hilarious all at once? This photo will always make me smile and warm my heart.