So, Chinese Wine Isn’t Half Bad

The last trip of the day was back to the supermarket.  We picked up some wine.  We paid 99.40 yuan for two bottles of red and one bottle of white.

After a fun afternoon of playing with Gracie, we settled into the nighttime activities.  Angela took care of feeding and bathing Gracie, and I cleaned up and got dinner.

The hotel has a buffet and a sit-down restaurant.  The room service menu is pretty limited so I went to the restaurant to see if I could get real food.  We are pretty spoiled by the fact that most people around the world speak at least some English.  I was able to order food with the hostess (with the help of the “please don’t feed me pork” translation), but I had trouble communicating the fact that I wanted to take the food to the room.  The hostess got the manager, and she was able to help me out.

Our laundry showed up while Gracie was getting her bath, and dinner arrived a few minutes later.  As new parents, we are still working on the bedtime timing.  Angela gave Gracie a bottle, and I opened a bottle of the Great Wall Cabernet and ate some dinner.  Gracie didn’t really nap today, and was totally wound up by play.  We were a little worried that she would be over tired and not sleep, but she zonked right out after the bottle and was sound asleep by 7:45pm.

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So, Adventures in Nanchang

Today was a good day. We’re official, and now we just need to wait for the remainder of the official paperwork to take to Guangzhou, so we’re basically killing time until Friday, when go in the am to fill out the paperwork to receive the girls’ passports. The weather has been less than stellar (to use a Mattism… “craptacular”) would be the most accurate description. We’ve been experiencing weather in the 30’s with rain, snow and general yuckiness. Needless to say, between dodging the motorcycles on the sidewalk, and trying to manuever around cars parked up the to the entrance steps of various offices, businesses and hotels, it’s been a little challenging and less than appealing to be out and about.

Yesterday, I left Matt and lady Gracie for about an hour and a half (longer than I anticipated) to venture out with Joe, father of Lucy, Simon and as of this week, Maxine, and Rob and his 17 year old son, Chip- dad and brother of BayLi. We were venturing 3-1/2 blocks away to the Wal-mart. Now, those of you who I see and talk with often know that I had known of the Wal-mart, and figured this would be a helpful resource. Okay, it was bizarre. First off, let me describe our four block walk:

Exit hotel, make right, dodge cars, oh, watch out for the Vespa… Walk past a second hotel next door also named Jiangxi Hotel. (okay, none of us get this either…) Now, as you walk past the second Jiangxi Hotel, they like to park the cars basically on the steps at the entrance. I’m pretty sure if they could drive them through the turnstile door, they would… Anyway, once you make it through this maze, go past the beggar with the spider monkey… (okay, those of you that know me, know my feelings about spider monkeys… enough said!) Another block to the underground walkway, which dumps you out at the Wal-mart Superstore. Oh, did I mention that the underground walkway is shared with motorcycles. Yeah, wasn’t ready for that one either, but the cycles are only on the right hand side, so we’re okay.

The Wal-mart doesn’t really have doors, everything has this heavy plastic, like you find in walk in freezers at restaurant supply stores. Wal-mart does have glass doors behind the plastic, which they basically keep locked with the exception of one household size door to the left. I think this is brilliant in the most populated country in the world!

We finally made it into the Wal-mart, our Western Mecca! It’s a big teen hang out, and of course, our little entourage stands out, so we get a lot of attention. The babies get tons of attention. It’s a very Western experience, but in a “bizarro world” kind of way. Anyway, I was looking for a ring stacker. No luck. We then wound up downstairs in the foodstore portion, now, that’s quite the experience. I’m going to have to get Joe’s pictures (since I went with Matt today and he refused to embibe in photos at the walmart?!) There is some cool stuff, they have sugarcane, that they make pure sugarcane juice to order… They had dried ducks and pigs, that were skinned, split and on display. There were many cuts and types of meat that were not identifiable. Matt was offered dried bull penis the other day. Now, I’m not sure why they thought he may need it, we smiled, pointed, nodded and mosied on our way… I may have to go back and bring some home as a souvinier.

On a seperate note, but related to Wal-mart and the Chinese shopping experience in general. you need to be aware that there really isn’t “shopping etiquette”. You may say, Ang, “what are you talking about, have you ever been to a white sale at Macy’s”. Honey, this makes that look like a day in the park. Today, another one of our travel companions, Joe, innocently picked up a hat for his wife Pam, who was back at our Jiangxi Hotel (not the other one, closer to our shopping mecca…). Anyway, Joe found this $1 hat that worked with Pam’s coat… All of a sudden this old Chinese lady did a major shopping Ninja move, and grabbed the hat from him. (Now, he’s from Philly, he can take care of himself…) This lady wrestled the hat from him, and he attempted to get it back… unsuccessfully. Enough said. Matt was wearing the hip harness this afternoon, so I had to block and run interference, since there is little regard for personal space…

Okay, my rant is over, Gracie just dropped another poopie bomb (we’re now up to #5). Some families have yet to experience this joy… I’ve been mixing prunes in with her oatmeal.

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So, Gracie Is Doing Great

Gracie is doing great. She was pretty mellow, and not very animated when we first got her. The was probably do to the shock of us and being in a new environment. We started to see a change in her yesterday. Today, we have a different child.

She smiles a lot, and plays with her toys more. She reacts to the crazy things that adults do around their kids. She is starting to get vocal and giggles on occasion. She like being outside, and isn’t afraid of other people. When we put her coat on today, she automatically put her arms up in the air. We can also walk away from her without her crying. She feeds herself and bodily functions are going well, too.

We did a little sightseeing today. De and Anita took us to Tengwang Pavilion, which is the largest pavilion in Jiangxi. Photos will go up later. Of course, I packed the video camera, and the proceeded to leave it in the room. It was pretty cold, but at least it wasn’t raining or snowing. We are probably going to make another trip to Walmart today, and maybe walk around some. Tomorrow we are going to visit a temple that is within walking distance of the hotel.

At this point we are done with the Chinese portion of the adoption, and are just waiting for the notary papers and Gracie’s passport. I just updated the itinerary page with some more details about what we are doing.

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