Chinese Generosity and another Long Post

Last night, I met this foster mother, who came to our hotel to ask if we could take some gifts back to her foster child who was adopted by an American Family. She knew we were here because Qing Ge (Ching Geh)'s teacher told them about us all. She was a lovely, kind woman who has children of her own, and therefore cannot adopt, but who has fostered four children who have been adopted by others. Her husband is a very high official in the army, so they have many resources. They brought some beautiful gifts to me, in appreciation of my transporting the gifts back to the adoptive family in Virginia. One gift was this 5 foot Chinese scroll painting. I think it is so lovely. She said it was painted by a famous Chinese artist. The slipper inserts are hand embroidered and the little ornaments are handmade, both by the woman. there is a big thing of candy, a silk scarf and a sheet of jade pendants for necklaces. Everything is lovely. I was speechless (not an easy state to achieve for me!) We have been invited to their home tomorrow for a visit! This is a real honor.

This is Ling's first Oreo. Mary Alice took this picture. Ling really liked it.

Yesterday afternoon we went to Wal-Mart. It was on two floors and like the Carrefour store we went to the other day, it had ramps, like moving walkways to carry the people and carts to the upper levels. It was really interesting. It was a little more organized than the Carrefour, but we still could not find any Crackers!!! It's very frustrating. We are often hungry between meals, and we brought lots of snacks like oreos, poptarts, tuna, mashed potatoes, and we are eating everything we brought. I am SOOO glad to have it all. I wish I would have packed 3 boxes of crackers though! I did find some instant oatmeal and that is a life saver.

Going Up!

And Down!

I don't know what this is. Apparently, neither does Matthew!


This is Dragon Fruit. It is a very desirable item in Webkinz World! I think you are supposed to peel it first, Mary Alice!


And of course, no one could pass by the Chinese Oreos. If you notice in the picture, they are chocolate covered in China!


Here we are waiting for our bus to pick us up. Every day we have a driver that takes us in a small bus to the places we need to go. I will try to remember to take a picture of that tomorrow. The prices you see are all in RMB or Yuan. There are currently about 7 yuan to the US dollar.

I love this picture.


I am glad I brought the sling. She loves to be in it. If I have it adjusted correctly it is easy to carry her. If it's wrong, it really kills my shoulder. I think she weighs a third of me!



Here is a picture of us at breakfast, today. There is a buffet every morning with many choices of foods. Cereal, toast, fresh fruit, noodles, fried rice, fried eggs, lots of traditional Chinese foods and lots of salad!! Matthew still complained that he misses his bagels!! Mary Alice likes the Croissants that have a chocolate bar in the center. I like those too.

Flat Brittany approves of the buffet! For a terrible moment we thought we might have left her all day at the breakfast buffet, but then I found her in the backpack.


I thought this was a cute picture.


We went to the Art Museum today and enjoyed looking at the paintings on the scrolls that are 1500 years old. We were quite interesting to all the Chinese here as they are not very familiar with foreigners, let alone holding a Chinese child. I have a little card in my pocket written in Chinese, to explain to them that we have come to adopt a Chinese little girl. They smile and they say lots of things that I don't understand after that. I just nod and say "She Sheh" which is "thank you". This picture is from Wal-mart, not the museum, but if you notice the crowd, Ling and I are in the center of it! It's hard for me not being able to understand or talk to these admirers.


This girl works at Wal-Mart. She was the "Greeter". She was so thrilled to talk to me in English. She said she was trying to learn and wanted to make friends with me so she could get better at it. She asked me for my phone number in China so she could call me. I told her that I would love to help her but that I was really busy right now and did not think I would have time to help her with her English. I think she is doing quite well with it! She was very friendly and I told her I thought she would be very successful.


Marty and Cindy (my brother and sister-in-law) joined us today. We are so happy to have them with us! We don't have many pictures of Marty yet, but we will get some tomorrow. They had a long (30 hour) travel time, but it went very smoothly. They are feeling very well and happy to be part of the celebration.

Cindy couldn't wait to paint her finger and toenails. Ling loved it! Then Cindy and Mary Alice spent some "girl time" together while Ling napped.

We had dinner at the Chinese restuarant in the hotel tonight. Grace ordered us a wide variety of dishes and they were placed on an enormous turntable (about 10 ft wide) on top of an even wider table that we sat around (group now totals 16!) Matthew tried some duck skin and Ling loved the spicy tofu. Mary Alice enjoyed the meal, too, although I can't remember what she ate. It was a tasty meal. Now we are all very tired again. Tomorrow, we will go to see the Forbidden City in the morning, then visit Qing Ge's foster family, have lunch, then go see the other foster family and return home early in the afternoon.

Everything is all set with our passports. The papers that were needed from the police station arrived safely and all is in order for the next steps in the process. We will pick them up in Shenyang on Monday afternoon, then go to Guangzhou Monday night. We are about halfway through our trip right now. I thought we were going to be able to do some laundry, so I packed really light, expecting to be able to have it done. We could do it at the hotel, but because this is a business area, there are not any less expensive options. So today, I spent a while washing out some basics and underwear and socks. Makes me really appreciate my washer and dryer!

We are all very saddened by the situation of the earthquake and the Chinese affected by it. It is a horrible tragedy to have so many injured and killed, especially the children. I am very glad that we are not near it and that Ling is safe.

I am falling asleep sitting up again, so I had better sign off. Zay jen, Good bye!

PS, thanks for the comments! Keep them coming.