Adjusting to Beijing time, customs and food - Part 3 of 4

Although I chronologically date this log, it is not intended to be strictly a daily log. After all, it is too easy to get bogged down in all the details of what happened on each day at what time. Instead, I’ll describe some things in more general terms, for example, what our hotel stays were like, what it was like to eat Chinese food every day, what it was like to attend professional meetings with Rodney, and such things. I will cover in more detail some highlights of the trip. For me, some highlights were helping Rodney to make this trip, learning a bit about law in the US and China, and taking in the sights, sounds, tastes and cultures of the Chinese cities that I visited. For others, highlights of the trip were different, for example some attorneys came to network, attend meetings and learn more about law in the US and China. Others in our group are planning to make logs of their own, and hopefully these logs will be available to provide other details and points of view for those who are interested. This log, however, is my point of view and the overview of what the trip highlights were for me, as a simple, but complicated person, a caregiver, a traveler, a photographer, a videographer and writer, a person who is interested in the world around us.

Today would be quite typical of how days would go throughout the rest of our stay in China. After Rodney and I got what sleep we could, I would assist him through his set morning routines. This would normally consist of assisting him to the toilet and bathtub as needed. I would then make sure he had what he needed to wash up, shave, brush his teeth, comb his hair and such things, then there was a little breathing time for me while he did these things independently. Then I would assist him with dressing and making sure that we would have everything that we needed for the day. We quickly learned to come prepared with a travel bag for Rodney, fortunately, Wayne had a travel bag that could double as a briefcase of sorts and in this we kept a change of clothes, bibs, vitamins and other personal items that Rodney might need throughout the day. (This was necessary because we would be gone all day and sometimes in to the evening.) After this, I would take care of my personal morning needs, and then we would have breakfast at the hotel. This generally consisted of a buffet type breakfast, such as you might expect from a five star hotel. Available food items included all the usual favorites that we might come to expect from our American way of life. There were also many Chinese food items, including my favorite pastries, many of which I have not come to know by name, but that I became familiar with when I lived in Hawaii for 10 years. I appreciated the variety that included the Chinese items, but Rodney and Wayne preferred the old fashioned American breakfast items. Fortunately, there was something for everyone at these daily breakfast buffets. Then we would go to whatever meetings were scheduled for the day, unless the day was designated as a cultural day during which we would do some touring and sightseeing. There was generally one cultural day scheduled for each city that we were in. Lunch and dinner were scheduled in a wide variety of fine Chinese restaurants. Then sometimes after dinner, we would attend some show or other cultural event. Other evenings, we were left on our own.

On this day, we visited the US Embassy for a meeting with senior representatives and legal staff to discuss legal issues in China, government structure, trade and finance issues, human rights and freedom of the press. Discussion of these and other issues would dominate conversations at many locations in the 3 cities that we would be visiting. In the afternoon, the delegation met with the American Chamber of Commerce, People’s Republic of China for discussion regarding challenges facing US firms doing business in China. Topics were interesting, but my focus on this day would be learning how to help Rodney get the most of these meetings. And if all that were not enough, we ended our professional meeting day at the United Nations Development Program office.

Before I write a bit about the nature of a good meal experience in China, I would like to tell you about a remarkable occurrence at our first restaurant meal in China. When preparing for this trip, Rodney’s caregivers and family were concerned if we might have difficulties because the nature of handicapped accessibility in China is different from the USA. A friend of mine had also told me about the many fine restaurants in China, but that many of the restaurants are located on the second floor. This restaurant where we ate lunch was no exception. While there are elevators in many buildings and restaurants in China, there was not an elevator at this restaurant. As Rodney, Wayne and I were pondering that issue, we found ourselves being accompanied by a young restaurant worker to the front door. There we saw that the only way up was a large flight of stairs. Before we had time to ask if it might be necessary to eat on the first floor (being that this was a restaurant of at least two floors), the young man had gathered 3 more workers, and we saw Rodney being lifted up by a human elevator. This was quite a sight and one example of many showing how the Chinese show great admiration, respect and care to the elderly, such as this young acting man, Rodney. Such scenes would continue throughout our stay in China.

Our itinerary was filled with lunch and dinner stops at one fine Chinese restaurant after another. The food at each place was excellent, Rodney would especially agree to that, although he would turn down chicken dishes. Meals typically started with drinks, tea, beer, choice of cola or Sprite/7-Up. That would be followed by soup followed by a variety of Chinese dishes, ranging from dishes familiar to those of us that love to eat at Chinese restaurants in the U.S.A. to other dishes that are not so familiar to us. Meals typically ended with rice, then dessert or a bowl of fruit. As we traveled from location to location and restaurant to restaurant, our national guides told us about some cultural aspects of Chinese dining. Unlike the USA where many of us have the tradition of cleaning our plates to show that we like the food, in China it is considered good manners to leave some food, otherwise we would be indicating to our hosts that we had not had enough. Fortunately, lots of food was served at these meals, so it was easy to leave part of some dishes behind, on the other hand. But other dishes were so tasty they did not last at all. Other little things to keep in mind include making sure that the spout of a teapot is not facing anyone and that chopsticks are not stuck upright in the rice bowl. Traditional etiquette at Chinese meals indicates that it is best to keep conversations to a lighter nature, but that did not keep these American attorneys from talking about a wide range of subjects at meal time.

And the action did not stop with the professional meetings. After dinner, we were treated to a show, “Chun Yi: The Legend of Kung Fu” at the Red Theater in Beijing. This is a show that runs daily and is a highlight for many visitors to Beijing. It claims to be the longest running theatrical production in China. The story is about a young boy found by an ancient temple somewhere in China. The boy has dreams of becoming a Kung Fu master. However, things don’t go according to plan. As the young boy, called Chun Yi (the pure one) grows up, overcomes much and through hard work and perseverance he finally reaches his goal of sacred enlightenment. The compelling story is told through dance, acrobatics and martial arts. I heard much praise for this show after it mesmerized the audience for about an hour and a half. I was also impressed.

Chun Yi: The Legend of Kung Fu

“The lotus blossoms silently
The sunshine weaves a rainbow
A drop of water feeds an ocean
A split second becomes eternal.”

At the end of a day like this, full of meetings during the day and cultural activities extending to later in the evening, Rodney and I were both quite tired, but energized by being able to take part in these new Chinese experiences. Rodney insisted on participating to the end of each day’s activities. But when we got back to the hotel room, he was ready to use the bathroom and go through his usual bedtime routines. By the end of the evening on some nights, though, it took all the remaining energy he had just to brush his teeth and such things and then to plop in to bed. After I would assist him with his bedtime routines, that would be my time to do some writing and some Internet surfing. After some deep sleep, Rodney was up to his usual early morning antics of getting up and down to the bathroom every couple hours or so until it was finally time to get up and enjoy the next day’s activities. And it seemed that at about 6:00 a.m. or so every morning, Rodney was refreshed and rearing to go, while I was lagging behind him just a bit, but assisting him yet again with his morning routines.