San Fran Day 2: Chinatown

What a day! After our 3:45 wake up call in the form of a bed-bouncing toddler, I really thought the day was shot. But I don't give Ned nearly enough credit for being such an adventure-loving little being. She powered through the day like a champ. (And only took two 25 minute naps--she'd hate to miss anything, after all.)

We walked over to Chinatown at around 8:00 this morning and spent a long while at the square playing on the playground, watching (and in Ned's case, imitating) the ladies perform tai chi, and making pals with a little guy and his grandmother. Ned decided this playground met all of her vacation dreams and protested about our eventual decision to move on and see the rest of Chinatown.

I wondered how she'd react to Chinatown, what with its many sounds, smells and sights of China. Interestingly, she wasn't the least bit phased--even when ladies (lots of ladies, at that) clucked at her and goo-gooed in her direction what seemed every couple feet. She smiled sometimes, acted shy others, but really just seemed her natural, confident self. She kept commenting to us about who and what she was seeing with the usual interest and detail she approaches most everything. One of the funniest lines of the morning, delivered with a very serious face and over-the-top enunciation, "Mama, China...town. China, no. China...town." (Just in case I was getting confused, I guess.)

At 11:30 we headed over to Gold Mountain Restaurant for their huge dim sum lunch. This is the place frequented by workers in the area and we found it stuffed to the gills with folks making selections off the never-ending cart parade. Pork buns, rice balls, prawn-stuffed mushroom caps, and a couple other rounds of unidentifiable stuff later, our table was full. As we ate, we could feel eyeballs on us from all directions and, looking around, I found that we were the apparent hit of the dining room. People kept smiling and waving at Ned and then seemed to discuss us amongst each other. (Guess that's what happens when you're the only white people in the place and you happen to have a Chinese kid.) One of the ladies working there came by and asked Ned a few questions, then felt her head and told us that she was "very smart." Ned thought this place was pretty cool, most likely because she got her own tea cup. She slammed 2 cups of tea in 5 minutes, followed by a highly animated "goooooooood tea" announcement.

I decided I wanted to get Ned a jade turtle pendant for our one year familyversary, being that her ever-present stuffed turtle is her self-declared "best buddy" and that the Chinese consider the turtle a symbol for longevity. We went from shop to shop until we found just the right one, only there were two--one true green and one a whitish green. I asked Ned which one she preferred and she really thought about it. "Hmmmm... [eyes darting back and forth between the two options] Hmmmmm....I know! Green turtle, baby. White turtle, Mama! Match!" So, at Ned's urging, she and I now have jade turtle necklaces. She's such a little problem solver. :)

After roaming Chinatown a couple more hours, Ned began repeatedly asking for sea lions. And I do mean repeatedly. "Sea lions? Mama, sea lions?" (30 seconds pass) "Ummm, Mama? Baba? Sea lions? NOW?! Cabe-oh car?" Ohhhhhh, now we get it--sea lions are an excuse to get back on her new found joy in life, the cable car. This kid loves the cable cars. After a quick hotel stop, we hopped the cable car to the tourist trap once again. The sea lions? Oh, they were fine. But nothing compared to getting there. (Hmmmm, such a metaphor for life...)

(My favorite photo of the day--tai chi mimicry. Just look at her appendages.)