Thursday,
December 25, 2008
CHRISTMAS DAY
Lauren is not feeling well again. She started with diarrhea (TMI
? Sorry! ) this afternoon and now she has a fever. I’m giving
her Tylenol every 4 hours but she’s still burning up, so I’m
keeping a close eye on her. We are flying to Guangzhou tomorrow
so I need my peanut to be ok. Prayers needed!
Mike is feeling much better; it appears the Z-pack has already
kicked in, thank the Lord! He & Pat are out tonight with the
rest of the group attending a minority cultural dance /
acrobatic show. We’ve heard that it’s very good, so I hope he’s
enjoying it. He’s a big Cirque fan, so if they do a couple fancy
moves, he should come home happy.
Today we took a trip to view Camel Mountain, aptly named because
well….the mountain looks like a camel. There you have it! It was
cool and again, I was struck by the number of people just out
and about enjoying the outdoors. I think I mentioned before that
the parks have these great paths thru them and it’s all so clean
and lovely. Really, everywhere is really clean. A couple people
in our travel group have noticed that there is no litter in the
streets, whether it’s a tourist trap or just a side street we
cut down when out and about. The people here take great pride in
keeping themselves and their homes/business’s very tidy. If it
weren’t for the foggy air it would be spotless here! Anyway, the
Li River runs thru Guilin and there are exercise stations
scattered along the riverfront. It’s amazing to see 40 or so
people just working out on elliptical type equipment gazing out
to the water. Most are in suits or regular street clothes
because they just took a break and wanted some “fresh air”. It
really is interesting to see.
We also took a trip to a gallery today where a third generation
well-known local artist gave us a demonstration on water
painting. It was really amazing to watch his effortless strokes
turn out a beautiful picture in a matter of minutes. The curator
explained that the Chinese often use bamboo in art not only
because it’s a symbol of good luck, but also because it
signifies being “upright” as the Chinese people are very
resilient with integrity (like the bamboo plant). Maybe it’s
just me, but I love knowing the “how’s” and “why’s” to this kind
of stuff! This artist’s specialty is traditional Chinese
calligraphy so we had him paint Lauren’s Chinese name on rice
paper, which we will frame once home.
After the gallery we took a trip to see some of China’s cutest
natives – the pandas! They were so adorable. One of them was a
dirty big guy and he was having a ball rolling down a hill,
eating corn on the cob and scratching his butt against the
ground. I wanted to take one home but I don’t think I could
afford to feed him.
We had our last group dinner here in Guilin tonight. We went to
another hotel for this dinner and let me just tell you that it
was not at all like our Christmas dinners at home! Mike’s main
staples were rice and some pineapple dish. I stuck with rice and
roasted eggplant. It’s a safe bet that this Christmas is one
that we will never forget & we will never fail to appreciate
turkey again, even if it’s as dry as paper.
Later on XiXi brought Mike and some of the others in our group a
little present – Kentucky Fried Chicken! He was very happy to
have some yummy fries and “real” chicken again.
We received the kid’s passports today, so now we are clear to
fly. We’ll spend the next 5 days in Guangzhou completing
paperwork, getting medical exams for the babies and finalizing
everything so that Lauren is a U.S. citizen when she crosses
customs in Newark next week.
Well, we hope Santa treated you all well. Again, sorry to hear
you are having such stinky weather at home, that is never fun
for the holidays, but at least you have each other and that’s
really all that matters! As for us, we are thrilled to finally
have this little angel that we have dreamt of for the past 3
years. Stinky food & illness’s aside, we are truly blessed!
圣诞快乐
Loosely translated means – holy ones birth, get happy now – our
equivalent of MERRY CHRISTMAS! |
Our whole group in front of Camel Mountain
Check out this big guy!
Afternoon "naked baby" play date with Tess
Tess & Lauren are so cute in their matching outfits that Ellie
bought them.
Christmas dinner
Nobody works a santa hat like this kid! |
