A Christmas To Remember

Well, it's done. The paperwork is finished, and Hannah is officially a Fowlkes. We had a round of paperwork this morning and two interviews this afternoon, culminating in a celebration dinner in a restaurant across the street from the Tang Weng Pavilion (we're going there Wednesday). It has been a good day, but all are tired.

One of the things that I have always enjoyed when I have been in other countries is to explore and do things on my own. I like to go out and do things myself. This proves to be frustrating at best in a country where the writing is in symbols and there is no common basis for language. I went to the front desk today to ask about a place within walking distance where we could go for lunch. They offered to write down the name of the restaurant, but when they handed me the card they had written it in Chinese. I assume that this is the only way it is written on the door, but the thought of walking down the street trying to match the symbols on my card with the characters on the various doors was laughable.

We finally ended up at the supermarket. No problem, right. We'll just pop in and get something to eat. Well, good luck finding anything that you can eat without cooking in China. We did find a deli in the back, but I couldn't tell what they were selling. One thing looked like a corndog, but it was fried and looked like fried chicken. Several things looked like burritos, but you can't pay me enough to put that in my mouth. I at least want to see what I am eating. We ended up getting some Cup of Noodles that we cooked using the quick water boiler in our room. Yum.

Okay, here is my hilarious yet totally embarassing story of the week (so far). After signing all of our papers we made a stop to drop some people off at the Wal-mart (four stories high - no way). Ashley wanted to go, so I took Jaycie and Hannah back to the hotel. Hannah was sleeping, and only woke up when we got there. We came in and I intended to feed her first thing. However, I realized that Ashley had the key to our room, and I couldn't get in. Dennis, our trip coordinator, called to the front desk and asked them to deliver a new key. A few minutes later, and we were in our room.

I fixed a bottle and let Jaycie start feeding her while I got ready to change her diaper. Hannah became very unhappy, and even after changing her diaper she wouldn't stop crying. She loves to walk down the hall and be on the move, so we decided to go for a walk. I told Jaycie to make sure to get the key, which she did. By the way, at this point Hannah has no clothes on -only her diaper - because she was throwing an absolute fit. I figured we would calm her down and then deal with pulling something over her head. I did grab a blanket, and off we went. We got halfway down the hall and I decided that we needed to go ahead and put some clothes on her and possibly go downstairs. However, when we got to the room, the key didn't work. We tried and tried, but to no avail. So we walked and walked, hoping that Ashley would get back soon. After a while, we bucked up and went downstairs to ask for a new key - again - naked baby and all. Fortunately we had already signed all the paperwork, so there is nothing they can do but shake their heads.

Anyway, tonight we went to eat dinner with the whole group (15 families, 16 babies) and came back to crash. A little laundry in the sink, washing some bottles, and this blog, and I'm done. Tomorrow is a free day, so Ashley may blog more tomorrow. We can't wait for you all to get to meet Hannah. Thanks for thinking about us even during your own Christmas holiday.