Wednesday, January 20, 2010
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHAWN!

Ok , let’s see… what happened today. Tia woke up very sad this morning. She didn’t seem like she was interested in playing or interacting with us. We think that she starting to realize that she’s staying with us. This is only normal for her to feel sad because everything she has ever known has changed.

After breakfast at the always “interesting” breakfast buffet the four of us walked to the grocery store. We bought a few needed supplies, water and a chocolate bar. For some reason everything tastes just a bit different here, even if it is a brand name such as Pringles, Oreos or 7UP. On the other hand Shawn thinks the Coke tastes even better than at home.

Tia started to perk up and she really enjoyed being carried in the baby carrier. We started to hear some babbling and we enjoyed seeing her smiling. Tia took a great nap in the afternoon and then we walked to a local bookstore. After attempting to communicate with the bookstore staff we found the children’s section (on the 3rd floor). We bought a few books that have English words and Chinese characters. It was fun to be out on our own today for awhile. Changsha is a very busy city but we have felt very safe here.

We decided to go bowling for Shawn’s birthday. There is a bowling alley in our hotel. When we got there they told us that the bowling alley was not operating today. They offered us a state of the art table tennis room with professional table. This turned out to be great because we were in an enclosed room and Tia could wonder around where ever she wished. She loved playing with the extra ping pong balls. At this point she was having more fun and smiles.

This year Shawn did not have chocolate cake for his birthday. Instead, our guide, Vicky took us to a local Hunan restaurant. Fortunately Vicky ordered for us so we knew what we were eating. It was extremely good and we had a nice time with the other families and babies in our group. At dinner Tia showed us the spicey side of her personality. She was the life of the party, laughing and having a good old time. We have seen the two extremes from her today and we are enjoying getting to know her more.

It has been so nice to hear from you all. We really enjoy reading your comments. A big Thank you to Mrs. Andersen’s class for writing letters to Kassidy. She’s trying to write back as we have time.

Until tomorrow,

The Hollingers