Tuesday 1/26/16

This morning Phillip and Elijah enjoyed some time at the outdoor playground while I visited the Pearl Market with the other moms. Holy cow, I've never seen anything like it. Imagine a 5 story mall with tons of side hallways, except every single store is all jewelry. It was quite overwhelming and I actually got lost for a few minutes roaming around. Once I finally made it back to the middle and found our group, I stayed put. It was fun looking at all the pearls, jewels, and stones though. This afternoon we roamed around a little local "mall" (aka flea market). They had clothing, luggage, and toys. The sales lady at one booth kept trying to get me to buy squeaky shoes for Elijah. I've heard several other mothers speak of the squeaky shoes but I'm not sure why they're famous here. Sure they are a novelty, but have you seen the episode of SpongeBob with his squeaky boots? Unless I go blind, I'll pass. This evening we enjoyed a nice dinner with most of the families in our group. I love group dinners because we order a bunch of entrees and eat family style, so I get to try lots of different foods. This usually works out well as I love Chinese food (and refuse to eat McDonalds or KFC here). I've read and heard not to eat Western food here in the East, as the Chinese are not great at replicating American food. That was obvious tonight as the one dish I didn't like was "beef and cheese," which sounded good except I think it was mixed with french fries, ketchup, and mayonnaise. Now that I think about it, nothing here is served with cheese. That should have been my first clue. 

I'm not as impressed with this hotel. The water temperature fluctuates, the water pressure is poor, the hair dryer isn't great, they don't have "creme brûléggs" at breakfast, and the street is very noisy from our room (even though "honking" is supposedly illegal here). As I made this list in my head at breakfast, I glanced past the gigantic decorative tree made of macaroons and realized how many people would love to take my place. We've stayed in (discounted) very nice hotels in China. There are so many orphans that would love to eat any of the food I've eaten or taken any of the hot showers I've taken. We all know money can't buy happiness, and the happiest moments of this trip have been just the two of us enjoying the sweet smiles and giggles of our new son. If only we could find them all a forever family. If only every orphan had parents to feed and love and care for him. Unfortunately CCAI's annual adoption stats have dropped from 1000 to 400 matched/adopted children each year. Please prayerfully consider whether adoption is the right choice for your family. If not, find another way to support an orphan until his parents can take him home. 

I'll end with some of our favorite Chenglish. 

A waterproof bib we bought. 

Snow globe spotted at the "mall."

It's called yogurt people. 

So close. 

There are just no words. We really don't know. 

And this picture is just in case you've never experienced an "Eastern toilet" (aka squatty potty). I wait in line for the one Western toilet everywhere we go. Don't forget to grab TP on the way in (or bring your own) because you won't find any in the stall!