Notes from Kerri

Eric has been the one doing the writing, and I had a quiet moment, so I thought that I would write something too! We are doing very well. Sophie had a few good days. Yesterday evening proved more difficult. She had her afternoon nap pretty late because of all of our touring which filtered into her being kind of a mess during the evening. It ended up that she fell asleep about 10:45 pm. I followed her shortly after that! Today, her Mom and Dad are doing a much better job getting her naps in. She is sleeping as we speak. I have to say though, that I have had a glimpse into how she will handle the time change and I don't think it will be easy. She is beautiful, wonderful and very cheerful most of the time.

My initial impression of Nangchang was that it was very grey and depressing. However, our representatives have done a wonderful job of getting our group out each day for little excursions and it has showed us some wonderful sides of the city. /We are staying in the JinFeng Hotel. It has been very nice. Our room is one of the newer rooms and is very spacious. They have us on all different floors so that we can each have the larger rooms it also helps not to have all of the crying babies so near to each other. :) On Tuesday the 11th we went to the Shengjin Tower. It was built in the Tang dynasty and so is very very old. I thought they said in the 7th century but I will have to check on that. It was very steep so the kids were not allowed to go up. So, Foster, one of the dads and I climbed a ladder/stairway to the top. I really had no idea it was so tall! We got some great photos from the top. We also walked through the gardens there and looked at some of the other temples that were surrounding the building. Located in the middle o f the stairs on the way into several of these temples were reliefs of elaborate dragons. In China the dragon is the symbol for royalty and the emperor. Our representative said that if the Emperor were to ask for a self portrait to be drawn, indeed they would paint some sort of dragon. So, these reliefs were located in the midst of the staircase. The Emperor would be carried in a palate on the shoulders of men and would cross over the dragons. So, in essence the only one allowed to ever pass over was royalty. Of course we found this out after Ethan had crawled over one. So now we are enlightened and politically correct and not in danger or hurting a relic of China!!

Ethan was sick that night so the following day we laid low in our hotel room. Yesterday the 13th we went a huge fountain display along the riverbank. It was pretty fantastic and I am sure is a site to see at 8pm when the lights are on. Then we went to the Wan Tan temple which was a fabulous temple that was used for large gatherings of poets and scholars and of course royalty. (I am sure that my history of these places is not 100% accurate so don't quote me!) After this we had a huge dinner with the group. Our representatives are fabulous and have been ordering for us ahead of time. All of the food has been good. The region is known for very spicy food and the appropriately tame it down for us Westerners. In Hong Kong when we were on our own we were eating like true locals which included having chicken just cut into chunks that included all parts (forget about asking just for white meat) and fish tanks in the restaraunts where you could pick out your dinner swimming around. I consider myself adventurous but that was difficult even for me and they couldn't persuade me to have a nice meal of fish. After that Ethan, Eric and I decided to walk the streets of this busy town of 4 million peo ple and "check it out". WE CROSSED THE STREET AND DID NOT DIE!!!! There were 4 lanes of traffic and we had to stand on the white/yellow lines whiles buses and all sorts of cars zoomed by. What an adventure. All of the rules we have taught Ethan were out the door. It was survival man! :) There were a few folks watching us maneuver our way across who looked at us in a puzzled way when we cheered after getting across.

We went to August 1 square which commemorates the first gun shot of August 1st, 1921 in China's civil war which resulted in the communist government of today. There are many political dioramams and a huge statue of the communist flag on the end of a rifle with a bayonette. I wonder often when I am here if the people are very happy with the government? Do they like communism? Are they proud of this history. China as we all know is starting to become a bit more capitalistic in some regards and I wonder if they will move away from this form of socialism. It was interesting to see the youth surrounding this park in this town which is often thought of as the birthplace of Communism. They seem punked and rebellious more so than what I have observed in other towns. I could just be imagining. Today we took a trip into the country side close by where we are staying to see a more rural side of China. Night and Day. There were many houses being built. The families do the construction themselves out there. The rice patties were pretty but the edges were littered with garbage. The homes various from very nice looking to very run down. All sorts of animals were in the street. It felt like a very dirty and hard way to live. Although several of the families that we saw seemed to look rather nice. I suppose that we feel like most of China, that it would be easier to live in the city. However, the families in the country can have more than one child evidently and several of those families are considered very wealthy because of they own their homes (although, really China owns the land) and size of dwellings. So some of the city women are anxious to head to the country to marry wealthy husbands, per report. After that we headed to one of the markets where we shopped. This area is known for its tea, rice and Porcelin. So, what did I buy? Nothing that will be very easy to cary back I am afraid...Porcelin. Sophie is my porcelin girl so we going to attempt to come home with some beautiful rice bowls and plates. I will probably regret this decision later.

Tomorrow we will leave Nangchang. I have to say I have enjoyed this town. Our representatives were very good to get us out for excursions so we wouldn't be stir crazy in the rooms. We have enjoyed this wonderful place to finally meet our daughter.& nbsp; Their hospitality will be well remembered. I am anxious to head to Guangzhou however, our last leg before heading back home! Just 5 more days and we will be back in your midst! Can't wait, although this is a wonderful adventure! We love you guys! Thank you for your prayers and thoughts!!

Kerri