What was it like?

MK with cousin Aleigh

Last weekend we traveled to NC to spend some time with my brother, Chris, his wife, Amanda and their two girls, Aleigh and Mary-Kate. The boys were so thrilled to see their cousins! We had a great time catching up and introducing them to Mason-Kate for the first time ever. An hour or so before we left, Aleigh (5) came over to me and said, "she is really cute". I, of course, said thank you. Then she said, "What was it (China) like?" Honestly, I was stumped. I am so used to having people ask us questions about our adoption. Everyone asks if it was hard (yes and no), a lot of people ask us why we chose China or did we consider another country (I give a lot of different reasons for why we chose China because, to be honest, I don't know exactly why - what I do know is that we never considered another country, the US included, and China always felt good), people will ask about the one child policy, the ever growing and excrutiating wait and most children are only interested in knowing if she can speak Chinese (no)....all of these questions I can answer, and yet I could not tell my five year old niece what China was like. I remember my first thought was that it was very dirty and I didn't want to tell her that because it was so negative. I think I rattled off something to the effect of it being large and then went on to tell her how sad I was that we had to leave, she seemed satisfied with this so all was well. Then, on the way home, I thought about what I will tell Mason-Kate one day when she asks me what China was like. I asked the boys what they thought China was like. Pryce yelled "awesome" and Colin said "it was full of a bunch of strangers." Ryan then said that, to him, it was a country in the midst of a huge economic change. Me, I am still pondering. The cities were so busy and incredibly full of people, busy people. Yet, the countryside seemed so quiet and peaceful. The cities were layered in smog and wreaked of cigarette smoke inside every building. The countryside allowed for a breath of fresh air and was lined with different shades of green. I remember thinking while we were there just how different China is, not bad or good, just different. Our cultures are both so unique. I am thankful to Aleigh for asking what it was like. Until then, I hadn't really thought about how to describe China to a child.