Thinking that we had left in plenty of time, we were surprised to then be caught up in traffic on the block surrounding the art museum. As there was no parking and cars everywhere, we soon realized that this was a bigger event than we thought! After finding parking two blocks away, we ended up being late for the early performance. But we saw plenty and had a nice time.
The boys were very interested in the lion dance, the calligraphy painting, and the musical group (which played stringed instruments somewhat like what you would see musicians playing in a tea house). They weren't as interested in the Chinese art, but Jason and I were---several scrolls, stone carvings, etc. The food from Bo Ling's looked and smelled great; but we knew the boys wouldn't try it, so we passed it up.
I was interested to see the variety of people that came out for this event; some Asians, some adoptive families, and those that just love to experience the arts and the Chinese culture.
However, what interested me the most was Lydia's response (or lack of) to the Chinese language she heard. As we watched a Chinese artist doing silk painting, another woman struck up conversation with her directly beside us (either in Mandarin or Cantonese, I can't tell!). Lydia didn't make any indication that she even noticed the Chinese language---she has only been immersed in English for 5 weeks. I thought she would make some kind of response, like watching them or staring at them as if she recognized it---but, nothing. Could it be that she has forgotten the language already? Maybe they weren't speaking Mandarin or possibly a dialect that she didn't understand? Or perhaps because being with us indicates English-only to her and she wasn't expecting to hear Chinese. Not sure, but it was interesting to watch and good for pondering later on.
