August 25th was our 2nd full day in China, and a day I will never forget. We woke up early and headed out to find some breakfast, and on our way we discovered how rare it was for people to see blonde children. People gasped and followed us down the road as we walked. One woman took special interest in our family and walked with for at least a mile in search of breakfast. She touched the kids faces and hair, and tried to make conversation with us even though we didn't know a word of Chinese.
We think she had just come from the market, because she had a small bag of groceries. When she saw the kids, she emptied her bag of groceries and gave the contents to the kids. She was so happy to see the smile on Grants face as she handed him a bottle of juice.
During our exchange she stood really close to me and tried her hardest to express something that seemed very important to her. I had NO CLUE what she was saying, but then out of nowhere she started to rub my stomach and then started gouging her fingers in to my diaphragm and pulsing them. Maybe some kind of foreign breathing exerscise? I had no idea what was going on., but she wasn't gentle!
She took us to a street vendor and ordered our breakfast for us and then went on her way.
It was our first real experience with a native Chinese person, and all though very out of our comfort zone, it made us very excited about the memories we knew we would create.