Monday, April 7th
Another day in China. (Can you tell we are really wanting to come home? Three weeks is a long time!) Our big adventure today was a trip to the pearl market. It was actually like a six story mall, but all of the stores sold pearls.
Once we got there by taxi, which in China is always an adventure, we were told to make sure we had all of our valuables hidden. (Try to hide your valuables in a very large mall, with a lot of people watching you, and three kids!) We got a couple of really good deals at a little shop on some fresh water pearls.
We then got our “red couch” pictures. I don’t know why they are so popular, but they have a couch on the 2nd floor of the hotel which happens to be red. It somehow became a tradition for all of the adopted children to get their pictures on that couch. Now they actually scheduled a specific time in your tour to meet on the second floor and take that special picture.
We took the kids to the playground by the local elementary school. They seemed to have fun, but it is about 75 degrees here with 250 percent humidity. Poor little K.T. broke out in a heat rash all over his face while we were there.
Our food story of the day: After we finished at the playground, we stopped and let the girls get some Popsicles. Mikaela picked a wrapper that looked like it had cherries on it. When we opened it up, it seemed to look like strawberry ice-cream. We’re walking along and she’s eating it with no problem. Bobo asks for a bite, and gives me a look saying ‘that stuff is pretty nasty’. So, I asked Mikaela for a bite as well. Turns out, it was a kidney bean Popsicle. No joking!!! A couple nights ago, we ordered ice-cream at a restaurant, and there were kidney beans at the bottom of the glass, but we just thought that was a cheap way to hold the ice-cream up so they didn’t have to fill the entire glass with the good stuff. Turns out, they think kidney beans are here to be made into ice-cream! Needless to say, I told Mikaela she didn’t need to eat that anymore, so she ate my chocolate truffle ice-cream instead.
We finally learned how to Skype with dad at home. He was very happy. He got to see all the kids as well as our hotel room. We talked for nearly an hour. We’re planning to keep doing it until we get home – how I wish we’d been able to figure it out before our last week here!
Bobo stopped on the way home (from dinner of course) to tell the laundry lady that she’d lost a pair of his pants and one of my shirts. He came back, and said the cops were there, and they were shutting her down. Also a couple of other businesses on that street. (So much for our missing clothes!)
Tomorrow our big event is to be in our rooms from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in case we have any problems when our guide drops off our consulate paperwork. Wow! What excitement!
Speaking of guides, we got into the elevator today and saw the lady who was our guide for our entire trip with Alyssa. Imagine, us knowing one person in all of china, and actually running into her on an elevator! We were so excited to see her! She has been the best guide we’ve ever had, by far.
Another day in China. (Can you tell we are really wanting to come home? Three weeks is a long time!) Our big adventure today was a trip to the pearl market. It was actually like a six story mall, but all of the stores sold pearls.
Once we got there by taxi, which in China is always an adventure, we were told to make sure we had all of our valuables hidden. (Try to hide your valuables in a very large mall, with a lot of people watching you, and three kids!) We got a couple of really good deals at a little shop on some fresh water pearls.
We then got our “red couch” pictures. I don’t know why they are so popular, but they have a couch on the 2nd floor of the hotel which happens to be red. It somehow became a tradition for all of the adopted children to get their pictures on that couch. Now they actually scheduled a specific time in your tour to meet on the second floor and take that special picture.
We took the kids to the playground by the local elementary school. They seemed to have fun, but it is about 75 degrees here with 250 percent humidity. Poor little K.T. broke out in a heat rash all over his face while we were there.
Our food story of the day: After we finished at the playground, we stopped and let the girls get some Popsicles. Mikaela picked a wrapper that looked like it had cherries on it. When we opened it up, it seemed to look like strawberry ice-cream. We’re walking along and she’s eating it with no problem. Bobo asks for a bite, and gives me a look saying ‘that stuff is pretty nasty’. So, I asked Mikaela for a bite as well. Turns out, it was a kidney bean Popsicle. No joking!!! A couple nights ago, we ordered ice-cream at a restaurant, and there were kidney beans at the bottom of the glass, but we just thought that was a cheap way to hold the ice-cream up so they didn’t have to fill the entire glass with the good stuff. Turns out, they think kidney beans are here to be made into ice-cream! Needless to say, I told Mikaela she didn’t need to eat that anymore, so she ate my chocolate truffle ice-cream instead.
We finally learned how to Skype with dad at home. He was very happy. He got to see all the kids as well as our hotel room. We talked for nearly an hour. We’re planning to keep doing it until we get home – how I wish we’d been able to figure it out before our last week here!
Bobo stopped on the way home (from dinner of course) to tell the laundry lady that she’d lost a pair of his pants and one of my shirts. He came back, and said the cops were there, and they were shutting her down. Also a couple of other businesses on that street. (So much for our missing clothes!)
Tomorrow our big event is to be in our rooms from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in case we have any problems when our guide drops off our consulate paperwork. Wow! What excitement!
Speaking of guides, we got into the elevator today and saw the lady who was our guide for our entire trip with Alyssa. Imagine, us knowing one person in all of china, and actually running into her on an elevator! We were so excited to see her! She has been the best guide we’ve ever had, by far.
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