Shopping

We ventured out into the crazy world resulting from the vast Chinese manufacturing empire.  We found out that pens that cost $2-3 in the US can be had for 15 cents.  Pearl necklaces are about 1/3 the price they are at Zales.  Beads, toys, and even training chopsticks are a deal if you go to the right places so we hired a shopping guide for our adventure.  She of course took us to the places where she would also earn a commission on top of the $10 per hour we paid her, but we went to the "wholesale markets" where we would not have had the courage to go on our own.  We still felt she was worth the money.  The only thing we didn't realize is that she kind of has an emotional time limit or maximum patience level.  She started getting pretty impatient and more hurried as we went past the 2 hour mark.  We had to hustle through the last couple of stores and didn't get to really look around or think about what else we needed.  We kept her out almost 4 hours and she sent us on our way in a taxi by ourselves to come back to the hotel.  She obviously hasn't spent much time with adoptive couples who have 14 other children to shop for.   We are going to the Safari Park tomorrow morning with our regular guide who has been very attentive to our needs, and she offered to take us shopping after the safari park, so that will give us a chance to finish things up.

Tonight we went to a local family's home for dinner.  We are here with another adoptive family this week, Rob Fleenor is here picking up two girls.  Unfortunately his wife, Shawnee, couldn't make it with him.  They know some friends who run a Christian school here in Guangzhou so they invited us to dinner.  It was a great time - they were very gracious hosts and we enjoyed the best food we've had in China so far.  Brian is from Tennessee and Maria is from China. 

Bria got a little more emotional today - we take that as a good sign.  She has been pretty much a rock with not much crying.  But today she had quite a few tears and looked to us for comfort.  Her bonding process is taking a little longer than Hyrum's so far, but we think she is took a big step today.  Hyrum is pretty attached to Deanne.  Even though we are excited about that, I am a little jealous since he attached to me first.  I guess she needs her turn and eventually things will even out.  One thing that prooves that he still needs us both is when Deanne and I got separated in the subway the day before yesterday.  She had Hyrum in her front pack and I had Bria.  She made it into train car just as the doors were closing and I had visions of my backpack getting stuck in the door as I squished in after her, so I stepped back and let the doors close and waited for the next train.  Hyrum saw me stay there and he screamed the whole time until I showed up at the next station.  Fortunately there are only about 3 minutes between trains.  He seems to have a good attachment to both of us for different reasons right now.  Bria seems to favor me a little, but that's just because Hyrum is more attached to Deanne and he takes more of her attention.  This week has been really good for bonding and the next week will give us more insight as to what is needed after we bring them home.  This will definitely be a family effort.

Deanne being fitting for a pearl necklace.  Yes - those bags on the shelves are full of pearls.  We have never seen so many pearls in one place and there are many stores just like this one in that market.

The indoor shopping area.

An outdoor shopping area - not quite as nice as the first.

We had to wait for a couple of items to be delivered to one of the shops.  This was the delivery truck.

This cute little girl said hello in English when she walked by.  I tried to get her to stop for a picture but she kept walking.

Hyrum and Bri watching the window washing action from our hotel window.

I don't know what these guys get paid to hang a few hundred feet in the air, but it's probably not enough.

A Rolls Royce showed up at the hotel entrance as we were leaving today.  We think it was a bride and groom - the bride is in the colorful dress.

This would qualify for the HOV lane.

Cutie!

Another funny translation.  "Troublemakers" beware!

These are 2 one-car garages.  They are actually about 1/2 car garages - there is no way to get in both sides of the car.

Maria and her cook making us dinner at Maria's home.

Hyrum and Bria seeing Grandma and Grandpa for the first time!