July 13, 2010 I forgot to tell you one more thing about the restaurants here. Your food never comes out at the same time. They just bring whatever is ready out and other people at the table may have to wait 10-15 more minutes before their food comes to the table. I guess it is nice of them to bring it out while it is hot, but it really messes up the whole “waiting until everyone is served before eating” etiquette thing. Speaking of etiquette, I’m thinking that Emily Post has not been translated into Chinese or that anyone takes Perfectly Polished here. It’s a dog eat dog society. Men will push you to get ahead of you, and we’ve only had one man, other than bellboys, hold the door for us, and I thought we were going to kiss him! People break in line continuously and don’t think a thing in the world about it. Today we were outside our hotel waiting in an obvious line for a taxi, and this family just walked right to the front of the line, got in the first cab that pulled up, but thankfully the man that was next in line fussed at them, and they acted like they didn’t know there was line…there were at least 10-12 people waiting…whatever! We went to the Guangzhou Zoo today with our group, and it was extremely hot. I told Caryn that we don’t go to the Atlanta Zoo in July, and this is why! However, we are very grateful that our guides here are trying to get us out and about instead of just leaving us stranded at the hotel all day every day. The Chinese people that were at the zoo today apparently got a two for one deal on their tickets. We felt like we were the animals that everyone came to see. Today was the first day that I really just wanted to scream and say, “Please STOP staring at me and my daughter!!!!”. I’m trying to understand that they are curious and don’t understand why I have a little Chinese girl with me, but it is so frustrating when they are pointing, staring, taking pictures and talking about us right in front of our faces. I am very thankful that Ruthie is young and that she doesn’t understand what is going on; however, there are a couple of older children in our group, and they see it and understand. That makes me mad and so sad for them! The zoo itself was large and nice. They had many animals and Ruthie enjoyed looking at them. When we were looking at the brown bears, she growled. It was too cute! Speaking of the brown bears, people were feeding them all sorts of snacks that they had purchased for themselves right in front of signs that said don’t feed the animals. Now, the signs were in Chinese but they also had a picture with the Chinese words that showed a person feeding the bears with an “x” through it. I’m not Chinese, and I understood what it meant…I guess I was the only one. They were throwing water bottles and all sorts of stuff in the bear habitat area, but no one said anything to them, so we are assuming this is normal behavior. Ruthie has had a wonderful day today. I think it is because today was the first day that I could try and stick to the schedule that the orphanage gave me for her. She went down for her nap today without any problems, and there were only a few whimpers at bedtime! Let me just tell you how smart she is! She learns so quickly, and you can tell she is soaking up everything we do and say to her. I have been teaching her some baby sign language so that she can better communicate with me. The screaming “DA” and pointing was getting old very fast! So, she has “please” and “more” down pretty good, and we are working on “thank you”. Today, when we were on the bus leaving the zoo, Caryn opened a piece of candy and was trying to be discreet, but Ruthie saw her and immediately started doing the “please” sign! It was so cute. I think she is the smartest little girl ever! After nap time today, we went back to Shamian Island to shop and eat dinner at Lucy’s again. We had heard that this one store had Passport Dolls, and my aunt Sharon had told me that I had to get Ruthie one of those. It is a mommy doll with a baby on her back, and she is holding a passport. They are both in traditional Chinese clothing so of course I thought Ruthie needed one, even though so far she is not a fan of baby dolls. In her referral paperwork, it said that her favorite toy was a baby doll, so I brought one with me. She can’t stand it! She has thrown that doll across the room and stomped on it. She almost acts like she is scared of it, so I find it humorous that they said dolls were her favorite. Maybe I just don’t have the right doll??! Tomorrow is pretty much a free day because our guides will be taking all of our paperwork to the US consulate and submitting it for Ruthie’s visa. We have to stay in our room so that they can call us if the consulate has any questions or needs any extra information. Please pray that they won’t need anything else from me and that it will all go smoothly so that we can get her visa on Friday and come home! The guides do this almost every week, so they know what the consulate wants and in what order, so hopefully everything is in order. Tomorrow evening we are going on a riverboat cruise on the Pearl River for dinner. I am very excited about this and will certainly have pictures to post once we get back to our hotel. It is hard to believe that I only have 4 more sleeps in China! On one hand it seems like I have been here 3 years and 7 months, but on the other hand it has really flown by. I look back on last week and am very thankful for this week. I was looking at pictures today of Ruthie on the day that I got her, I thought she did great, but looking back now I can see that she was sad, but I can also see the progress she has made. She is an amazing little girl, and I can’t wait to introduce her to all of you! It won’t be long now! Good night from China! Angie   Splashing with my big brother!     I LOVED swimming!   Chasing Jon Milledge down the hall     Ruthie has a serious aversion to statues...     Panda!   The zoo is really, really hot!     Brown bear that is probably sick tonight from all the food being fed to him today.     Very common looking apartment building in China   Lions and tigers and bears...OH MY!         This page hosted by