Making new friends

When we were in Shanghai, Tovina and I would walk past a park where people were doing their morning t'ai chi. Since we were usually walking past at 8am, it was just as one group was finishing. So here is what would happen: Tovina and I would be waiting at the crosswalk to cross to the park and at the other side would be a group of energized older ladieswho couldn’t help but notice this little person staring over at them. While I was waiting for the light to change, these lovely women who make their way across the street and congregate around Tovina – who was strapped into the front carrier. Every day the size of the group increased. On Saturday there were over 10 and they kept calling more friends over.

Unfortunately I understood practically nothing they say. After much repetition, there have been a few things that came through, mostly questions. Here is what they wanted to know:

She is 4 months old
She is a girl
She is mine
I am 32
We are Americans
She will be coming by tomorrow
She looks like Michael
I feed her breast milk

I learned to keep Tovina’s hands trapped with the little fold over flaps on her outdoor jumper, otherwise they admonished me about how cold her hands are. One day I had her in a little sweater under her outerwear. The top of the sweater was visible where the blue outdoor jumper was not quite zipped up all the way. The ladies were concerned that I had not buttoned the sweater up all the way so I woman took off her gloves so she could do up the very top button of the sweater which was right under Tovina’s little chin. I had left it undone because I could not convince Tovina to lift her chin enough for me to get it. Clearly these ladies had more skill, or at least determination, that I did.

They held us up through at least 3 turns of the cross walk light.