I arrived at Dulles at about 7:20 this morning, and after having breakfast and reviewing the Op Smile pediatric medical guidelines and going over the team list again (there are still only two docs and one nurse from the US plus a nurse from the UAE and a Bio Med technician from the US. The pediatric intensivist isn't listed, so we'll see where he or she is from) I settled down in the gate area for my flight with a handful of other people and pulled out my knitting. Often when I'm knitting something sort of easy like my current project, I relax and my mind wanders - it's sort of meditative. On the other hand, if it's a difficult project, I need relative quiet in order to not make a mess of it. After 20 minutes or so, a Chinese family of five, Mom, Dad, two pre-teens and a grandfather (I assume) came and sat down. The kids were soon lost in their video games, the two men began a very loud and passionate discussion about something, and the mother called someone on her cell phone and started one of those "yelling across the airwaves" conversations. Soon the kids were yelling too, egging each other on in some virtual competition. At that point, ten more members of the traveling group/extended family arrived. Three kids joined the two and whipped out their games and soon the five kids were gleefully shouting directions to each other at full volume.
Three of the men joined what had become an arm waving and occasional stomp the foot or slap the seat discourse between the first two men. As there was also a lot of laughter, I can only assume it wasn't a disagreement but rather a Chinese version of stereotypic Italians. One of the women pulled out her phone and soon there were two shouted cell conversations competing with the kids and the men. Two other women began unwrapping packages of food for the group, and soon the odors of garlic, onions and oil were added to the sensory assault. It was at this point that I noticed that the other people in the gate area began gathering their things drifting away. I also became aware that I hadn't done any knitting since the second wave had arrived. I had been (rudely) people watching, listening, smelling. It's not the kind of scene you'd get at Bradley in Hartford, but here in DC, there are likely gatherings like this all over the airport, and this one took me right back to the Beijing airport from my last trip to China. I expected to be experiencing the noise and the smells of unfamiliar foods about 16 hours from now, but this family, waiting to board their flight home, brought it all right here to the gate. Of course the next thought I had was to wonder how an individual Chinese person sitting at JFK perceives the antics of a large American family at the gate. Although I'm a bit nervous about this mission with so few of us who are not Chinese, I'm beginning to be excited at the prospect of getting a much richer cultural experience as I'll be forced to "immerse" completely. Stay tuned.
Three of the men joined what had become an arm waving and occasional stomp the foot or slap the seat discourse between the first two men. As there was also a lot of laughter, I can only assume it wasn't a disagreement but rather a Chinese version of stereotypic Italians. One of the women pulled out her phone and soon there were two shouted cell conversations competing with the kids and the men. Two other women began unwrapping packages of food for the group, and soon the odors of garlic, onions and oil were added to the sensory assault. It was at this point that I noticed that the other people in the gate area began gathering their things drifting away. I also became aware that I hadn't done any knitting since the second wave had arrived. I had been (rudely) people watching, listening, smelling. It's not the kind of scene you'd get at Bradley in Hartford, but here in DC, there are likely gatherings like this all over the airport, and this one took me right back to the Beijing airport from my last trip to China. I expected to be experiencing the noise and the smells of unfamiliar foods about 16 hours from now, but this family, waiting to board their flight home, brought it all right here to the gate. Of course the next thought I had was to wonder how an individual Chinese person sitting at JFK perceives the antics of a large American family at the gate. Although I'm a bit nervous about this mission with so few of us who are not Chinese, I'm beginning to be excited at the prospect of getting a much richer cultural experience as I'll be forced to "immerse" completely. Stay tuned.
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