Su Hua

N: Hi.
Mom: Hi.
N: I'm going to pretend to be someone else. (runs away)
Mom: Where are you going?
N: (from other room) I'm at my home in China!
(Nat runs back into the kitchen) Hi! I thought I'd come over for a visit and see your town.
Mom: Welcome to our home, you can stay as long as you like, what's your name?
N: Su Hua. I'm from China. I've never seen this kitchen before.
Mom: Wow. You traveled a long way.
N: I went on a plane. It was longer than planes to Michigan.
Mom: Would you like a snack, Su Hua?
N: Yeah. I like snacks at my house in China what snacks do you have at your house?
Mom: Well, my daughter, Natasha, likes to eat yogurt with blueberries in it, does that sound good to you?
N: I've never had that before. Sounds great!
(Mom starts yogurt prep)
Mom: So tell me about where you live. Do you live in a city?
N: No. I live in the desert.
Mom: Do you have any animals?
N: Just camels. Three of them. I know a lot about camels so you can ask me any question about camels and I can tell you about them.
Dad joins in: Do camels really spit?
N: Noooo! That's not real. Most camels are really friendly.
Mom: Wow, camels in China, who knew. Do you have any brothers or sisters?
N: Nope. No Mom or Dad either.
Mom: No mom or dad? Are you a grown up or a kid.
N: I'm all grown up. I'm eight.

The tale continued and N made up an entire biography of this eight year old camel-riding Chinese orphan raised by good friends in a desert in China. She remained in character for almost three hours including going to the grocery store and commenting that everything was different "in your town" that it was in China and asking which aisle had "camel food" so that she could take it back with her. She also invited us to visit her in China which involved a "plane flight" to the back of the house and introducing her to her camels and helping her name them.