Thursday,
November 6, 2008
Yesterday’s text didn’t go through but it's posted now. Our internet has been off an on for
the last couple of days and for some reason e-mail won’t
come through on the phone either. I feel as though we’ve
been cut off from the rest of the world today; we’ve been
accustomed to getting e-mails and guestbook messaged
instantly and suddenly we’re not anymore. But keep them
coming, we will surely get them eventually.
Holt was feeling much better today so we walked down to
Ancient Culture Street to do some shopping. We found some
really neat stuff but we had to be very selective about
what we purchased due to weight limitations on in-country
flights. Hopefully we’ll be able to buy more in Guangzhou
since international flight requirements aren’t as strict.
Our guide Michelle took us to a restaurant in the city,
which cost less for 6 people than Meme and Pa paid for
their dinner for two last night at the hotel. We will
definitely be searching out local restaurants from now on.
The problem is that the menus are not written in English
and unless our guide is with us we have no idea what we’re
ordering. We’ve been trying to get up the nerve to just go
into one of those restaurants on our own and take our
chances by just pointing to random menu items but we
haven’t gotten that brave yet. It might be an interesting
experience, though.
Maili MeiMei, as we are now calling her, is still doing
well, although she is testing the limits a little more now
that she is more comfortable with us. She will touch
things she has been told not to touch while looking at us
to see what we will do. She can be very stubborn at times
and we’re pretty sure she’s never been told no up to this
point. She is learning what she can and can’t get away
with, that’s for sure. She has continued to make progress
with understanding directions we give her in English, and
of course her first new word today was “NO”, which she
told Jamie when he tried to close the bathroom door with
her outside. She loves to take a bath and asks for one
whenever anyone else goes into the bathroom.
Tomorrow is a paperwork day so we will mostly stay in the
room and wait for our guide to tell us if everything is in
order.
|
In Maili's home city of Tianjin
Teaching dad how to use chopsticks
Another adoring fan
Trying on mom's glasses and Holt's hat |
