Friday, April 22, 2011
GOOD FRIDAY

Sign the Guestbook -I know there are alot of you following along have not signed the guestbook, so today is sign the guestbook day. Let's see how many entries we can get in one day ! Have fun signing our guestbook.

Xi'an City wall- is an amazing 600 year old wall that is 8.5 miles long, Elliott and I rode the 8 passenger golf cart with a tour guide. The only seat left was next to the driver so we sat up front on the golf cart. Elliott kept reaching over and grabbing the steering wheel. Daddy get the golf carts ready when Elliott get home is wants a ride on the golf cart. I have verbally told Dean when we are out in the city Elliott is always checking out the cars, trucks, and scooters and I think he has a little motorhead in him. After today I definitely think he will fit right in at our house with the boys ! I had alot of fun looking down on the people from the city wall. I spotted a open air produce market and asked my guide she told me it is held daily early in the morning farmers come from the country side and sell their produce to the city people.

Next was lunch, my guide was hungry for local noodles so we had the most amazing lunch adventure. We went to a local neighborhood Chinese restaurant and had very wide homemade noodle soup. It was amazing. It was at one of those shops in China I would never go to alone. I told the guide our lunch is very special to me because I know a big tour group to China would never have this experience. I told the guide we can do some more small neighborhood lunches while I am in Xi'an. The guide told me she loves one on one tours to be able to give them more local chinese life experience. I told the guide the next time I come to China I want to stay with Chinese family in there home. She told me I can stay at her home and usually only students have this opportunity. Certainly staying with a Chinese family in there home would be the ultimate trip/ real life experience to China.

Next was the local art museum, the tour was given to me in English. Elliott fell asleep during the tour.

The disposable camera that I mailed to China was ready to be picked up at the photo shop. We received the photos, negatives and the pictures on disc. There were not very many photos on the cameras from the orphanage.

Elliott is working on getting a molar tooth and he is sort of fussy today and drooling alot. He wants to put everything in his mouth. I certainly do not remember that tooth through the skin on Monday when I meet him. It is late afternoon and we are going back to our hotel for Elliott to rest.

Get ready the Easter Bunny comes in 2 days Ethan, Emily & Evelyn !!

Love ya
Mama Lisa and Elliott

Please sign the Guestbook !!
 

Elliott is having fun checking out all the sightseeing spots in Xi'an.


Here it is all the loot I picked up at the children's clothing shopping spree at the wholesale market. After asking 4 different guides to take me to a children's clothing wholesale market it final happened today and I am very happy Mama. At the market the vendor tells you the price and then one negotiates the price down. I have experience in this on all the other trips to China and knew I could hold my own all I needed was to get to the market. So my guide thought she would help me by negotiating the price and then translating for me., The process became very slow so I decided I wanted to use the same process I used on the other trips to China. We would use the vendors calculator they would put the price in the calculator in Chinese Money Yuan and I enter the lower price in Chinese Money and we would go back and forth a few times and finally we reach the price. I would payin Chinese Money and we would move on to the next vendor. My guide watched a few times and said to me, "you are getting really good prices, better than I can negotiate for you." My guide told me one vendor told her I gave her a great price because she is doing the negotiating and we do not often see foreigners that are willing to barter on the price. The next stop was a local Xi'an Art Museum. At the end of the tour, there were many art students works of art available for purchase. They told me I could negotiate the price. I usually start by cutting the price in half and then barter from there, so I bartered for a students art picture and got it for half the price. The guide told me the art museum staff told her it was interesting to watch me barter the price because most foreigners willl not barter the price. My guide told me she told the museum staff we were at the children's wholesale market and they should have seen me in action then. My guide asked why do I feel comfortable with this style. I told the guide my Dad has been teaching me the skill of bartering/negotaitng the price since I was a little girl and we like to go to Flea Market and Yard Sales in USA and use this style, My guide said after watching you today you have Chinese blood in your body.