BACKBLIP: Welcome to China!

BACKBLIP: I was unable to blip while I was away in China for over two weeks (blipfoto is not accessible there). I'm attempting to catch up!

Today, 13th November was a free day for us in our adoption visit and so our adoption guide took us and our new baby for a walk in the People's Park in Nanchang. We were intrigued to see many, many elderly people recreating in the park, walking, singing and, in the case of one man we encountered in a paved square, painting large Chinese characters in water on grey flagstones with a long tube with a large calligraphy brush at the bottom and an old mineral water bottle as a reservoir at the other end. He was painting one character on each flagstone and our guide explained that he was writing poetry. It was extremely ephemeral and would all have gone 15 minutes or so after being painted. It was a wonderfully serene activity to watch. What happened next was very moving for us. When the gentleman heard us speaking in English, he came over, said hello and then, smiling, painted 'Welcome to China' in water on a red flagstone for us. What could we say other than thank you?