April 3, 2006 Well we finished our first full day in Guangzhou, and it was good. Becky, you were right, the breakfast buffet here is MUCH better than in Nanchang. Man, they had everything. We ate until we were stuffed. Leah seemed to enjoy it too. There is a much larger variety on the buffet, and the quality is significantly higher than before. Shamian Island is an unusual place. It is somewhat like Gatlinburg or Panama City dropped into China with the little souvenir shops and restaurants. Of course the shops are all run by Chinese, and the prices are extremely low. Leah is still changing every day. She has become even more animated. She has quite a personality. She laughs hysterically if you toss her around, and she loves to be talked to in baby babble. She will giggle and get teased. She is sitting on the bed right now just a talking away and playing with her toys all by herself. She still is prone to pitch a fit if we don't pay her any mind. She definitely likes to be the center of attention. The girls that work in all of the shops love to play with the babies, and of course, Leah eats this up. The strange thing is, when it is bed time we can put her into her crib, and she will thrash around while destroying her crib and play until she goes to sleep. I hope that this is the Leah that we bring home, and not the grumpy baby that she was a few days ago. Yesterday we had to complete all of the paperwork for the U.S. Consulate. This took almost 3 hours. It should have taken about 1 hour, but between the fact that our guide spoke broken English at best, and there was a bunch of people in the room all talking at once, it was a long process. It was a challenging meeting. They should have filled out an example for us to use, and the whole thing would have gone a lot faster, but I muddled through anyway. Heidi stayed back at the hotel room with Leah. She doesn't like to deal with trying to figure out what the Chinese people are saying when they only speak minimal English. Plus she doesn't like how the Chinese guides talk really loud at you when trying to explain something when they only have a limited vocabulary. So I've become the translator for the Wall family. It's kind of funny that one of our guides said I talked differently than the others in our group. Li Ping said my voice was like a song, and that it goes up and down while everyone else is flat. I guess it is that good old Mississippi accent. I thought this was very funny, because I'm an absolutely horrible singer. We did a good bit of shopping yesterday. We had Heidi measured for custom made set of pajamas, dress, and a jacket along with an outfit for Leah and a tie for me at about $90 total. I have been trying to buy Heidi some silk PJ's since we got married, but could find none long enough. We also bought some other stuff. Heidi says Leah needs more clothes, so I guess that is what we will be doing today. We had lunch at Lucy's. Heidi had fish and chips, and I had an enchilada. It was good. We had heard that some people in the past got sick there, so we let our fellow group members try it out first, and they came out ok, so we figured it was safe for us too. We ate at the Noodle Shop for dinner. I must say it will be nice to come back to the U.S. and eat some of the old favorites. I have found it a lot of fun to bargain with the vendors. Lynn, have used your line about my Chinese sister, and it works like a charm. I have noticed that many people do not barter at all, and I have to say you almost feel bad talking someone down when you are paying $3 for some squeaky shoes. It is ridiculous how cheap it is. I am sure that the quality is also not that great, but hey, they are souvenirs. Tim bought a Polo suitcase, but the Polo logo has the man riding the horse and instead of a polo mallet he is carrying a scimitar. We had a good laugh over that. I may buy myself a Rolex today for probably about $15 ;-). We were laughing this morning that everyone said that the beds in Nanchang were hard as a rock, but they are not a lot better here at the White Swan. They are still mighty hard. I like a hard bed, but this is ridiculous. We are enjoying Guangzhou much more than Nanchang, but are still looking forward to coming home in a few days. It has been a long trip, and we are beginning to count down the days until we leave. We appreciate you guys all keeping us in your prayers and look forward to seeing y'all soon. Today we are headed for Leah's medical examination. Love, Rich and Heidi   Eden and Leah Visiting     Family at Park   Heidi and Leah Under a Tree     Heidi Kissing Leah     I can walk with my squeaky shoes!     This page hosted by