Travel Day

Finally got the internet in our hotel room working, so this update is a little delayed…

Sunday was a travel day from Beijing to Nanning, so that occupied most of the day. Pretty uneventful, so there are no new pictures to share. Nanning is a beautiful, tropical city with “only” 8 million people. Bigger than Chicago, but small by China’s standards.

All of us expectant parents are becoming quite anxious about getting our babies tomorrow. There is just so many unknowns that we don’t even know what to worry about, so we just worry about everything. I guess that’s part of being a parent.

So, in the meantime, thought I would share just a few observations of China I found interesting:

• Customer service is at a whole different level. We just went to a grocery store, and there were more workers than customers. There were at least 15 uniformed young workers in the candy section alone!
• At our hotel breakfast buffet, I set the bacon tongs back on the plate sideways, and they started to slide off, and one of the uniformed waiters dove to stop the tongs from falling on the floor.
• The hot pot (to boil water) in our room was broken, so we called the front desk to get another one. We then left the room to go to dinner only to see a hotel worker running down the hall with a new one (when have you ever seen that in the States?)
• When you sit down in a restaurant, a waitress (I have never seen a male waiter, nor a waitress older than age 20) will come to your table and stand by it until you are ready to order. It feels like you are being rushed, but I think she would stand there for 20 minutes if she had to. When you do order, they zip off to get things started. If you are a dawdler, you shouldn't work in China.
• In spite of the focus on service, tipping is not common in restaurants, and we had one incident where I tried to tip and the waitress flatly refused the money. I think I embarrassed her so I backed off. However, we learned later that there is a certain protocol with Chinese etiquette, and sometimes things must be offered and refused more than once before they are ultimately accepted.
• Staring is not uncommon and is not considered rude. The locals here are very curious about us foreigners, and we haven’t even gotten our babies yet. We expect the staring to go up considerably after that!
• The beds are firm. Think boxspring with a yoga mat on top. Sleeping is not great, but my back has never felt better.
  
  Well, I am going to sign off, now. We are exhausted from jet lag and lack of sleep and have a lot to do to prepare for our big day tomorrow!