Nick needed a break today so I took Millie out to an indoor play center. She ended up loving it so much that we spent ALL day there.

We left at about 10:30 this morning after a lot of lazing around and a long FaceTime with my parents. I asked if she’d rather take the train or a taxi and she chose train, so we took the subway. I will always be grateful for my time in NYC because it gave me the lifelong gift of feeling very comfortable navigating public transit, even in a new place where no one speaks English.

We arrived at Neobio. I wasn’t sure what to expect other than it had good ratings online. I was shocked by the high price as I was checking us in but by this point it was too late to turn back. We were already there and she was excited. They only sold tickets in bundles of three so we might need to go back again to get our money’s worth.

When we got in I saw what all the money was for. This place was huge. She darted from one area to the next.

It was fascinating to see what different activities they had and how the kids acted. We’ve been to a few of these places now in different countries, and comparing them all would be a great subject of a PhD thesis. Title: Children’s play centers as a reflection of a societal values and cultural norms.

Today’s was noticeably quieter and cleaner than any others. We had to disinfect our hands and leave shoes behind before entering. Kids cleaned up after themselves.

There were typical play areas—ball pits, slides, climbing, and a fake grocery store—but also some “only in China” sections. Millie stopped to quietly practice her calligraphy.

There was a whole “doctor’s office” set up, but instead of a western doctor it was a Chinese medicine doctor. Complete with a bunch of drawers of plastic versions of various medicinal items, like animal horns, oyster shells, yams, mushrooms, and more.

She spent almost an hour milking fake cow and feeding a baby cow with a bottle.

She spent a while being a vet.

The kitchen area was set up with woks and hotpots and steamers. She dressed up as a chef and served me dumplings.

She noticed they were offering face painting and I couldn’t say no. She sat so still and serious while it was being painted. It made me laugh and also want to cry with how much I love her.

When it was done she yelled “I LOOK BEAUTIFUL!!” She kept running back and forth to the bathroom to admire herself in the mirror.

We got hungry and had lunch in their cafe. She made a friend and they chased each other around for over an hour, until all the jewels had fallen off her face.

She stopped to say hi to every baby and to help them with whatever they were trying to do.

And after 5 hours of non stop fun we finally left. We were in such good moods that I got her a candy strawberry stick thing.

We took the subway back to Nick who, like me on my days off, did absolutely nothing. We walked to the Mexican restaurant near our apartment. I know, Mexican food in China, risky. But it scratched an itch we didn’t even know we had. Nick got a margarita (that I sipped from) and we had tacos on corn tortillas. We had chips and guacamole. We haven’t had any of these things for 6 months now and it made us so homesick. We talked about how much we’ll appreciate this stuff at home, and where our first stops should be.

Unfortunately as we were paying we realized that this place was so authentic that they were charging Austin boutique Mexican prices. That brought us back to being grateful for the cheap food we’ve been having here until the last couple of days.