Free Day- Nov.12th

A rough night! Faith woke up crying, so she got to sleep with mommy, followed by Alissa'a awakening with a high fever.(102) Tuesday she woke up with cold symptoms and a sore throat. Loud music and someones computer kept us up all night, so we watched movies in our room all day and were just lazy. Dad took a long walk around the the island with the Newsome family and went to a food market where they saw the slaughtering of animals, the skinning process, and then saw them being hung.Then we all met at Lucy's for lunch. We rested a little and then headed back to the motel to see the night lights. We had dinner at Pizza Hut and it tasted just like home, but they didn't use enough sauce.

Zoo Safari- Nov. 11th

9:00 am and we aboard the bus for a 50 min. ride to an awesome Zoo Safari.First we took The Safari. We saw bears, lions, cheetahs, white tigers, elephants, giraffes, and ostriches wandering around in the wild. And the only thing separating us from the dangerous animals was a small wire and a nearby guard who was placed at each location to guard us if anything were to go wrong. Pretty scary, but cool. The remainder of the zoo was walked and was much like home, but much larger! No reptiles because they eat them.The best parts were seeing the pandas and watching Alissa feed a baby white tiger a bottle! Yes I said she fed a tiger!!! Their were 10 pandas very close up and personal. We watched them be fed and two were fighting over the food. We also saw a school girl almost get knocked to the ground as a giraffe pushed her with it's strong neck as she was feeding it. Our zoo would never allow you to get this close and personal with the animals. Elephants stood with mouths open waiting for you to throw them bananas. We also got to see the baby nursery where many cute babys were either in small pins or in little incubators. It was a pretty exciting day! Sense we didn't really snack to much at the zoo because of the food. We ate an early dinner at at an new Italian restaurant a couple of blocks away from the hotel. We had Cesar Salad, pizza, and spinach filled ravioli, which faith pretty much inhaled. Its amazing how much this little girl eats. I think it's because they didn't have much to eat at the orphanage. This was definitely the closest we've come to ''real food'' sense we've been here. We can't wait to go home!!!

Medical Exam and Visa- Nov.10th

After our typical Chinese breakfast on Congee (like cream of wheat), toast, fruit, bacon, rice, and noodles. The group of 6 families now, headed off for the girls medical exams. Everyone cried, but not Faith. She was extremely when Quin, her orphanage bed mate, was crying. She wanted to go in and comfort her. How Sweet!!

Next we were off for visa photos, again a breeze for us. Free time entailed visiting all the shops on the island. We walked allot to find the best deals. A Chinese blanket for Faith, Chinese dresses for the girls, and other gifts that were part of our list. In the afternoon, Faith and Alissa watched a movie while Richard and I did very meticulous paper work for Faith's visa. After she awoke from her nap, it was time for a group dinner and a local Chinese restaurant very close to our motel. The rice and noodles were excellent, but the rest was questionable, one in particular containing the foot of a black chicken, Yeah!!! It was 7:45 p.m. when we left and school was still in session as we heard the children learning the American alphabet. Their Schooling if from 8a.m.-8p.m. No wonder they are so smart!

GuangZhou City Tour/shopping-Nov.9th

We began our morning with a stop at the jade store and enjoyed observing this artistic culture. A man painted pictures using only his hands(fingers,palms,nails) and a lady painting on pottery. It was fascinating! Too bad Alissa forgot her camera at the hotel, therefore we have no pictures today. We will take some tomorrow. We went to another temple where you could have your child blessed. We chose not to,but it was interesting watching the Newsome's. Lunch followed in a beautiful park along side a garden. We thought we were in Florida with the palm trees and flowers which this province is known for. The climate is warmer here and luckily for Richard's sake it's cooler than usual do to the hurricane south of us. We ate lunch on the 3rd floor overlooking the gardens. Morgan reserved this table 2 months ago. It was gorgeous!!!! We also attended a pearl wholesale market. Six floors with pearls of every color. It was a bit overwhelming esspecially when we stepped outside and had our first experience with the population of the 3rd largest city in China,23,000,000!!!!! On the way out we purchased several movies for 2 dollars each! What a deal, and they were all new releases. The highlight of the day was Quin and Faith (remember her bed mate in the orphanage) They had a blast! Laughing, smiling, and teasing each other all day. We sure wish we knew what they were saying? We asked Morgan, but he couldn't tell due to their cleft palates. It's like their own little language. The evening came to a close after a trip to Mc Donalds, our first American food. Everything was great until we couldn't get a taxi back to the motel! Weve learned in China to look after yourself and throw politeness out the window. After one hour of watching taxis go by without success we finally just jumped in one and later gave directions.What an adventure. The Victory Hotel is as good as home after that! Good Night and God Bless!!!

Leaving for GuangZhou- Nov.8th

The morning begins at breakfast with Alissa's stalker. Actually he is a waiter who is very creepy but nice guy who has an apparent crush on Alissa. He finally cornered her and asked for her email address. We gathered our bags as Faith had a bewildered look about her. Im not sure if she thought we were leaving her or if she actually sinced that she was leaving her hometown. After using sign language, as the orphanage did, to explain flying she settled down. She enjoyed the flight as we played with playdough (she liked dad's animals the best)and ate snacks. I believe she thinks we are going home.WE WISH WE WERE GOING HOME!!WE MISS YOU ALL!! Little does she know, we have one week left of this squatty potty pilgrimage! Oh, I forgot to mention our potential foreign exchange student. Actually, Michael, our tour guide wants to attend college in the U.S. and also has a crush on Alissa. (he timidly requested a picture with her before leaving) There is no lack of male attention on this trip. Much different than the U.S. I think shes enjoying this or at least it's good for the self-esteem. We arrived at the Victory Hotel at 5:00p.m. and enjoyed a delicious western style meal at Lucy's. It feels much more like home here except all of the Mandarin we have learned does us no good, as they speak onlyCantanese here.