A new phenomenon has started as we venture out to places throughout Shanghai this week. When the we go out with the children, we are now the center of attention. We are approached and asked in amazement if all three children are ours. When we answer yes, the women all make a big deal about it and sometimes let out little squeals of delight. The men give a thumbs up and all just stare. Everywhere we go, we are watched and talked about.
At lunch yesterday with an Aussie couple living in Beijing, we were told stories of how they are regularly approached by the Chinese to have their picture taken. Many give them their children to hold for the photos or whole families squeeze tight next to them for a photo. We had not noticed this until we all went for a walk on the Bund yesterday. The Bund is a famous area on the river that runs straight through Shanghai and attracts visitors from around the world. President Nixon stayed at the Peace Hotel on the Bund in the 1970s when he visited China and started "ping-pong" diplomacy.
As we walked, cameras came out and our picture was taken numerous times. Couples posing to have their pictures taken suddenly had the cameraman change the angle to fit us in the background of their photos as we walked by. Some just shot us alone. Many were fascinated when I carried one of the kids on my shoulders, which meant his head was eight feet in the air, 3+ feet higher than any of the Chinese around.
Today at the Super Brand Mall (a seven-story department store on the river opposite the Bund with two Starbucks, McDonald's, cinema showing King Kong, and a Kenny Rogers Roasters made famous in a Seinfeld episode) the cameras really came out. As the children waited outside with their mother, hip Chinese teens (with yellow dyed hair) and other people came up to take their pictures. The teens sat down right next to them and smiled for pictures. Others just photographed them alone. We're told that many take pictures of Westerners to show their relatives in more rural parts of China.
It's very weird to suddenly find out you're a "celebrity." People want to touch you or the children and even hold them. It makes you want to not make eye contact in public because it's less "inviting." You also quickly understand how frustrating being a Hollywood celeb would be, especially if people chase you in cars, etc. to get your photo.
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The women that clean the apartment each day are desparate to hold the childen and communicate with them. Every morning they get down on their level and try and play with them or hold them. Yesterday, they tried to play cards with the boys. It was funny because they couldn't say much but they did know the word "ace." They watched us play go-fish on the floor while they cleaned. Today, they watched them play golf on the computer.
They are also insistent that the children wear slippers in the house. It's a custom and they desperately try to explain the need to us. The kids don't like them because their feet get hot. When we communicate this, the women tell us to keep the apartment colder.
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Observation -- Taxi drivers are not afraid to pull their cabs over in traffic beside a row of bushes. They will immediately hop out of the car, walk to the pushes and relieve themselves in the middle of town. It's discreet but still odd to a Westerner who is only used to doing this if a child can't make it to the next highway exit.
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