Last week the girls and I had a field trip day that took us to a pretty cool sculpture park on the other side of Shanghai. We are used to being in the minority as Westerners in Shanghai, but there are usually a few other foreigners around. Not at this park! We were the ONLY ones, in the midst of numerous school groups of kids of all ages. While climbing on these fun bouncy nets, Madelyn was suddenly surrounded by this group of friendly young teens, all peppering her with questions. She knows enough Chinese to know they were asking her name, which she answered, but they wouldn't leave her alone even after she did. She said they laughed at the sound of her name, which was perhaps why they asked it again and again. None of them seemed mean spirited, they were just curious about her.
Do you see Gwen, in the upper right of the picture? They didn't notice her. Huh.
7 comments:
I'm laughing because until you mention it I didn't notice Gwen.
What another wonderful experience for Madelyn,
Nannie
what an amazing picture! We had to just stare at it. Was Madelyn unnerved by it? She will probably not forget the incident. Mom
It seems Madelyn was handling it with a smile! By the way, I LOVE your black and white blog picture! That is a great idea. I am always wanting to steal your ideas!
Lisa
love the new blog photo!
What an incredible experience with life affecting qualities for her. I have no doubt that living there is helping her to become more aware of so many things that even adults take for granted. I hope she took it in stride.
What a great picture! Love the new family picture too!
I saw the picture but I did notice Gwen (because I specifically looked for her).
As I read what you wrote and looked more at the photo, I couldn't help but wonder if the Chinese girls felt any "Chinese guilt" that they were in the majority.
Donna
Our Blog: Double Happiness!
My dad has a picture of his (then) blond daughters at a playground in Kyoto, surrounded by a bus-load of Japanese children in uniforms. His girls are in tears because of the overwhelming attention. Madelyn seems to be handling this much better than (ahem) they did. Good for you, Miss Madelyn!
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