Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Midnight Photoshoot


Our hotel room was hot, and we both sleep cold. But more importantly, the baby sleeps cold. Her mom had brought along a warm blanket, and the child sleeps swaddled. In the warm room, the baby couldn't sleep. I called the front desk and asked for help - they blew me off. The baby's mother called the front desk, and spoke sternly in Chinese. A cute little maid knocked on the door 5 minutes later, and she carried a fan.
She set the fan up over the baby bed. She plugged it in, she made sure it worked, and she arranged it in the corner. And then she came over to talk to the baby.
It was 11:30 at night. The baby was nursing - literally, attached to her mother's breast. And the maid came over to talk to her. She leaned right in, and the mother quickly removed her baby from her breast. Once mom made that move, the maid dived right in. She tickled her chin and brushed her face. And then she pulled out her camera.
A photo? she asked sweetly. We figured we owed her so much - she had brought the fan that would allow the baby to sleep through the night. The baby posed, and the maid snapped a picture.
Nope, not so good. She snapped a few more.
Well, the problem is the poor lighting. This young maid moved the baby to the other side of the bed, where she would have more light. She snapped more photos.
Hmm, that light is still poor. She turned on every light in the room. She snapped more photos. Apparently, the light had improved sufficiently. We thought she was done, until she picked up the child and began posing with her.
After 15 minutes of the photo shoot, she left with a cute little bye-bye.
We tucked that baby away to bed, and began to wind down ourselves.
Ten minutes later, and a knock at the door.
Our maid had returned, with an English language newspaper and a handful of chocolate bars as bribery to allow her into the room again. We showed her the sleeping child, half afraid that she would lift her right out of her bed. She just gazed happily at this cute little baby, and then left contentedly.

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