Day Two, getting to know Yue Li

It's the end of day two and these images come to mind:

Yue Li carrying baby Star Star around downtown Chongquin showing me where she used to live, where she met Sky (an outside cafe/bar/tea house) He was reading, then visiting with his ex-patriot friends. She was drinking her afternoon tea.

Yue Li fending off dozens of people with their would-be-helpful advice on NOT taking an infant out before one month. All of them curious too to see this mixed race child. (I'm the only foreigner I see today - everyone jumps to the correct conclusion I am the mother-in-law.)

Comments are on her light skin, her round eyes, her blond eye-brows, her reddish brown hair. Yue Li smiles at their praises, endures their advice gracefully. She is something of a rebel, our Yue Li. She nurses in public, unconcerned at the stares. She plans on bringing Star with her when she starts working again next month. Skyler says she follows tradition only when it suits her. She is cheerful and optimistic, speaks mostly of Skyler, the baby, and her work.

When we arrive home, the dogs (a bichon and a poodle) have gotten into the trash. When I bend down to pick it up, she brushes me aside, laughing at my concern over her bending, getting up and down after her recent cesarean. "None of this bothers me," she insists. "I'm an acrobat, remember?"