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Monday, March 13, 2006
SHOPPING AND FIRSTS
I awoke today around 7:15 AM and
checked email and the website then made me a cup of tea.
Around 7:30 AM both Zoe and Amy awoke and boy was Zoe cranky!
She wanted nothing to do with me this morning – she returned
to normal later in the day as you’ll see in some of the
pictures. Amy took her to the bathroom and Zoe proceeded to
drop her turtle in the toilet after she had used it for a #1.
Daddy fished the turtle out of the bowl, washed it (and his
hands) in hot water, then boiled it and set it in a cup of hot
water. We then went to the buffet breakfast and closed down
the buffet around 10:15 AM. When we got back to our room, the
maid had put the cover that is used to keep the drink hot on
the cup; our very own version of Turtle Soup!
Amy, Zoe and I went out and proceeded to Shop Until We (well,
actually just Steve) Dropped. Everything appears to be so
inexpensive that it’s easy to get a little carried away. Every
shop claims to give you “good price,” especially if you buy
now and a lot! One example from early on in the day was the
purchase of an additional piece of luggage, a North Face
Rolling Duffle Bag that we’ll use to take back a lot of what
we bought. When I asked the shop keeper how much, she said 110
Yuan or about $13.60; I said will you take 100 Yuan because I
simply didn’t want her to have to go away and make change so
early in the day. She smiled and laughed and said okay, which
meant to me that she’d probably have gone as low as 80 or 90
Yuan. Remember, each 10 Yuan is about $1.25 so bargaining is
really “just for fun” until you get into the 100s. In fact,
some of us have compared what we got similar items for; one
member of our travel group bought the same piece of luggage
for 120 Yuan, a full $2.50 more than I. I think she got a
better deal on purses than Amy though having bought in bulk.
Between shopping runs, Zoe had some time to practice her
walking. We’ve been putting various toys at opposite ends of
the bed and Zoe holds on to the bedding while she walks to the
toy. She got brave and held on with one hand instead of two.
In the evening, she decided it was time to just walk and did
so with a little help from Mommy and Daddy holding onto her
hands to keep her steady and prevent her from falling. At one
point, Daddy picked Zoe up in front of him and Zoe kept on
walking in the air!
The weather turned worse in the afternoon and this postponed
our final shopping trip to a market until tomorrow morning.
There was time for a coffee run and Zoe to sleep an hour
before heading down to the 2nd floor restaurant of the White
Swan and the famous red couch pictures. Needless to say that
Zoe does not like to be woken up. When Amy woke her at 5:10 or
thereabouts she cried for quite some time and we were a little
late for the photo op. Zoe really didn’t settle down until
dinner.
After dinner Zoe experienced several firsts – first dance with
Daddy to “Colors of the Wind” played by the pianist in the
restaurant, first ice cream cone with Mommy, and first real
steps albeit with a little help from Mommy and Daddy. Zoe
practiced walking quite a bit today which frankly terrifies me
a little bit as she is quite mobile and fast. She also appears
to like to climb although she hasn’t really the strength to
even sit up from lying on her back. She has tried to climb the
drawer handles of the chest in our room and later this evening
attempted to climb some fake rocks.
On the adoption front, today Jack ran the completed paperwork
to the U.S. Consulate and we have an appointment for 4 p.m.
tomorrow to get the IR-3 Visa for Zoe to travel to the U.S.
Tomorrow will be our last full day in China and it’s packed
with more shopping, lunch, the Consulate appointment, and
hopefully a dinner cruise on the Pearl River.
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I’m going to just walk over there and get that turtle!
Mommy, you bought all this for me?
Mothers and Daughters on the famous Red Couch
Zoe’s first dance with Daddy
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