Adapting to Western Society

We met our wonderful FCC friends today for lunch. They presented Annabel with a Nintendo! She was so excited. I forgot to tell them that was about the happiest I had seen her over anything! Several of our great families went together and got her the Nintendo and a cute carrying case. (I had to run to GameStop to get Grace a carrying case so everything was even. Oh my!)



They were asking questions about how she was adapting to Western living. Their daughter was a baby when she was adopted. We decided it would be great to be able to interpret her impressions of some things as she discovers more about life in her new home.



One of the first things that she made any comment about was our washer and dryer. I'm not sure if they had one in the group home. I know Grace and her foster mother went to the river to wash clothes. When Annabel saw ours she said "wow!". Nothing like impressing your new child with a good w/d set!



The next thing was our giant refrigerator, which is normal size, but bigger than other countries generally have in their kitchens. Plus ours dispenses ice and water. She learned how to do that quickly and makes good use at our house and her grandparents.



I had commented that she is hungry at least every 2 hours, sometimes more often than that. Their daughter had a similar experience, even as a baby. They felt like once their daughter realized that food would be a regular part of the day, she slowed down again. I'm not sure about Annabel and wonder how she will make it in school. I'm not known for preparing big breakfasts but guess we will!

When we get into the car and drive, even in our neighborhood, it is SO different than in China. Our streets are not packed with pedestrians. We drive everywhere! Our streets are not packed with stalls where people are selling their wares, we go into big stores, like Target and Wal Mart and Costco. Every meal there we went in and sat down to eat. Here we can drive through and eat in the car.

I hope she is old enough to retain some of her initial reactions to the differences. I know that Grace saw so many upon her return to China, but has not really talked about it. She is very proud of China and would say nothing that sounds unflattering. I wish I was fluent in Chinese so I could urge Annabel to write these memories in Chinese so she can look back on these first memories.