I will come back to the exchange student thing, but I am going to try to whip out a few questions while L is napping.
NaechsteHaltestelle asks:
Do you have any tips for taking a young child to China? We’re thinking of going and taking my 2.5 year old. I’ve been before, but never with a kid, so I’m sure there are things I’ve never even considered.
The biggest thing that comes to mind is that you can not depend on a stroller for dragging the kid around. In some places sidewalks (where they actually have them) are terrible, don’t have ramps and are very crowded. I would advise an ergo or other sturdy backpack for the kiddo, unless you have a kid with unusually high stamina for walking. If the kid is walking, beware of the crap laying on the ground. There is a lot of spitting and peeing (hopefully by babies with split pants), not to mention litter all over the ground in China. Once M tried to pick a shiny something off the ground in China and my admonishment about the dirtyness was where M first learned the word “Hepatitis”. Bring a lot of hand sanitizer and wet wipes to keep the grime to a bearable level. (And let me assure you, I am not a germ freak at home.)
If your kids is potty-trained, there is the issue of Chinese toilets. Before we left for China, I had M practice squatting to pee in the back yard. In China, she also once peed with each foot on opposite sides of a crap-filled trench filled with mosquitos. Practice making your kid pee/poop while you hold him/her in the air over the potty. Also, always carry your own toilet paper because most Chinese toilets do not have any for you.
Also, getting food that is acceptible to your kid in a timely manner can be a huge hassle. Not to mention the issue of food-safety in China right now. We ended up packing a ton of snacks for M and it was well worth the luggage space. Another thing is that old ladies in China love white-looking babies. Plan to be stopped, oogled, stared at, touched and generally bothered no matter where you go. The same goes for white adults who have anything except brown hair. If you are blonde or redheaded, maybe you should bring a hat!
I know it doesn’t sound like a glowing recommendation, but I love China and M had a great trip while we were there. These were just the most notable hassles.
LawyerChick asks:
Totally interested in what your neighbors (the people, not the foreign countries) are thinking as we enter the final sprint in the election. Also – do you talk about politics with family members, esp Mr A’s family, and if so, how do you keep it civil?
Because we live in the midwest, in public, most people are pretty polite. I don’t talk politics with my neighbors unless I know where they stand. I almost didn’t put up a sign in my yard because I heard that the old-guy next door was hassling our next door neighbor about voting for “those Liberals”. We are generally a polite private people here, I think. (I have my own theory about why all those Ohio people are so over-the-top racist at the Palin rallys: They suppress those real racist feelings during their daily lives, then they finally find somewhere where it is socially acceptable to spout them so they do. I like it better when we all keep our worst selves private.) The politeness and desire not to offend makes me particularly proud of the canvassers. It is a hard job.
Mr. A’s family mostly votes for Democrats. His dad sat Mr. A down when he was young and told him that he should always vote for Democrats because Chinese people were not allowed to immigrate until the Democrats reformed the US immigration laws. We had a close call with Mr. A’s Dr.-sister this year. She was undecided for a while, but eventually voted Obama. My own parents are Republicans, though, and we try not to talk politics. Mostly because I get upset, not because it bothers them.
Thank you thank you so much for the advice. We’re still on diapers, so this might prove to be a boon because I remember the holes in the ground *shiver*. Anyway, he’s not really a white baby, but a half-Asian half-white one, so he might still get ogled, I’m not sure. We went to Turkey, though, and he seemed to love the attention he got there.
Delurking to comment on the taking infants/toddlers to China question. It makes a HUGE difference whether the planned trip is for the more cosmopolitan cities or for the provincial towns. We took our then- 7 month old from NYC to Shanghai for Chinese New Year and, except for the jetlag, the trip was very smooth and easy. We did bring his own food and used bottled water (including for his baths) but used a stroller just fine and his carseat whenever we took a car. He was a blond haired blue eyed cherub at the time and he did get a TON of attention – most was appropriate and friendly but there were a few times when we had to intervene when people tried to touch him. We had a great, though exhausting, trip.
As I write this though, I wonder if the contrast between your midwestern suburb and China accounts for the extreme measures you note, AmFam — the difference between NYC and any major city is most likely a great deal less jarring.
Mar,
I don’t really think it is an issue of where we live. We actually lived in some really gritty parts of San Francisco for about 5 years. Including my first apartment there which was located on “pee alley” and my job in the Tenderloin where we often saw the effects of a rogue pooper who left his marks of explosive diarrhea dripping down many buildings.
I think my biggest concern was making sure the kids didn’t get sick when we were traveling. In our most recent trip, we had to move/fly every 3-4 days and a sick kid would have been really miserable and not able to recover well. Also, Al lived in China for a year and had to be hospitalized at one point, so we are familiar with the Chinese medical system and did not want to have to subject the kids to that.
When it is just the two of us adults traveling, we don’t mind filthiness. We lived in cambodia for about 3 months and it was much much dirtier and less developed than China, but we weren’t really bothered. We have also both traveled quite a bit in underdeveloped countries prior to having kids. We didn’t worry about eating street food and often got food poisoning etc. but just took that as par for the course. As adults, we take responsibility for our choices, but the kids have to depend on us to keep them healthy. I think there is something different about worrying that my kids will get food poisoning, get dehydrated and need medical attention.
AmFam
Not quite as sheltered in suburbia as one might think.
That was also my concern. When I lived in China, I didn’t worry all that much about stuff like food poisoning and getting sick, but I did get ill often, often requiring hospitalization. I figured, with my rather hardy immune system, if I got sick that often, my kid (who gets sick at the drop of a hat) might be worse off. We’re still going, though.
Thanks for the bit about the bath, too. I had forgotten about the water.