September 12th

Ethan was still feeling under the weather, and spent the majority of the day sleeping in bed and eating nothing. Eventually he took in some Sprite and a small piece of roll. Noting several bug bites on his arm and recalling we had visited the relatively rural island of Lantao in Hong Kong, we spent some time reading up on the symptoms of malaria. We concluded probably not, but were anxious to see how he felt the next day. Several members of the group were sick and skipped the day’s activities.

I took Sophie with me and the group to visit People’s Park. The first actual green space we’ve seen here, it had lots of rudimentary exercise equipment outside for folks to use, which they did. There were several 50 year olds who were pretty impressive on the gymnastics-style equipment. There were also people singing and playing musical instruments. One section of the park had a dock with inflatable balls to climb into and try to "walk on water." Several of the older siblings present gave it a go with little success – it was tough to stay on your feet.

People continue to stare at our group, but in unrestrained curiosity, not in disrespect. We were each given tags to wear around our necks that have one side that says our name, and "Take me back to the Jin Feng Hotel." The other side says, "We are here to adopt this child. She is a girl. She is an orphan from the orphanage. We will love her forever." We’ve shown it several times to folks who have approached us, and they typically give us a thumbs up. Folks almost universally approve of the idea, as they know they’ll have a loving family and better life in America. The sole exception we’ve encountered so far was some guy who approached us as we were getting on our bus outside the hotel. He said something and gave us a ‘go away’ gesture. Hotel staff quickly sent him off, and Evelyn said he thought we were Russians, and that the guy was crazy.

After the Park we ate at a restaurant next door, which featured an interesting dance review. The dinner music was 1980s Musak- Richard Marx, Celine Dion, etc. – don’t laugh too hard – you had the tapes too. Anyway, this group, consisting of 3 girls and one guy, would come out, dance to some uptempo song, and then leave again. More Musak. One wardrobe change later, and they’re back for another song. More Musak. Yet another song, performed in yet another outfit. All on a lighted dance floor straight out of Saturday Night Fever, in the middle of the restaurant.

Kerri went with Sophie and the group to a bookstore in the afternoon, where she picked up two children’s books written in both English and Mandarin, as well as several CDs of Chinese music.


September 13th

Ethan felt much better this morning, and so joined us in our tour of a large Taoist temple. There was a small Chinese orchestra on the top level that performed. Afterward we went to lunch and then back to the hotel. In the afternoon we all took a walk to August 1 Square, the location of the first gunshots in the battle for Communist rule, August 1, 1927. Kerri wouldn’t let me wear my red star T-shirt. We continued on to another park, and caught a cab home. The cab ride was an adventure. We narrowly avoided striking countless pedestrians, bicyclists, cars, and busses. Hard to beat the value though, at 1.9 Yuan per kilometer, or about $.40 a mile.

Random Notes: All of these restaurants have tanks to display their seafood. I think people appreciate we’re nowhere near the ocean, and would be doubtful of ordering seafood if you couldn’t see it live before you. When you order a fish (or shrimp, octopus, turtle, or whatever) you pick it out, and then they prepare it. We’ve all passed anyway, probably because we don’t like the idea of the fish giving us the evil eye as we eat it.

Sophie sucks her thumb, but only if it’s covered with something – her sleeve, a blanket, or our shirts if we holding her. She never sucks on her bare thumb.


-Eric