The Last Few Days.....

Wednesday after completing the last of the paperwork (in Chengdu, anyway), Susie took us to a brocade/embroidery shop. There were 3 huge looms where men were making brocade items, 2 men per loom. The one on the bottom controlled the colors, and the one on the top controlled the pattern. Some of the items in that store were amazing. The lady said these men start learning this art at a very young age. Some of the most beautiful pieces took the men 2+ years to complete (and they wanted a pretty penny for them, too). We purchased a couple of souvenirs there. It was worth the trip.

Thursday morning our guide, Susie, took us to the Panda Reserve. It was really neat, but we could hardly keep up with Susie. Why she was walking so fast, I don't know. Anyway, we took lots of photos. It was a very nice park. On the way back, we drove by Chloe's "finding place", the place where she was found when she was abandoned. It looked like a little cement drive, with apartments on either side. She was only 2 years old at the time. If she had decided to turn around and walk the other way, she could've ended up in traffic, and the way they drive here, she could've been hurt badly, or worse. It was a sad experience, but one I'm glad we had. I know she may have questions one day, and I intend to tell her all I can.

Thursday evening we flew from Chengdu to Guangzhou. Chloe did not like the plane ride at all. She cried and threw a tantrum (one of many that day) and wanted Kevin to hold her, which he couldn't do. It was a long flight (2 1/2 hrs). Makes me dread the flight home in a few days.

Here in Guangzhou we are staying at the White Swan hotel. It is a beautiful building with a 3 story waterfall in the lobby and a man-made pond full of fish. It is located on Shamian Island and there are many shops to explore. For lunch we walked next door to Lucy's and I had a hamburger and french fries. Felt like home...


Here's a few things I already know about Chloe:
1) She can out-eat Kevin AND me, but everything "western" we've tried, she has not cared for
2) She does not like bath time, which makes me believe they were probably scarce at the orphanage
3) She can be very sweet when she wants to be and already gives kisses, mostly to Kevin
4) She likes to be clean and when you give her a wet wipe, she wipes her face and hands and hair, and when she's done, she starts all over
5) She has no interest in dolls-YUCK!


Will post more in a few days...



Note to Norah:
Norah, I'm not able to access my blog from here, but my dear friend, Lesa, is posting for me. Right now, Chloe is wearing 24 months, but since I brought some 2T, she's been wearing them, too. They fit okay, but just long in the legs. We had her medical exam today and she was 11 kg. (@ 24 lbs.). The diapers we bought here are Pampers Large for 9-14 kg. and they fit pretty good.

Beijing was very cold, in the high 30s, I believe. Chengdu was much warmer, in the 50s, but still required a jacket. Here in Guangzhou, where we arrived last night, it is very pleasant, probably in the 60s. But it is very, very humid here.

We did venture out some on our own in Chengdu, but to tell the truth, it's a very scary place to be after dark...or even light for that matter. Plus you have to cross a street in every direction and, doing that is taking your life into your own hands! I have never seen such crazy driving in my life!

The bed in Chengdu was the most comfortable bed! Now here in Guangzhou they are back to being hard. Oh, well, guess you can't have everything! I'm about to send another post to Lesa that will answer the finding place question.

Thanks for the comments and for the prayers, especially. I can see this is going to be a lengthy process.

Mary