Today is a relaxing day!
We ate breakfast at the buffet, and again I will say our hotel has a lot of food. There is everything from fruit, cereal, custom omelets, custom fish/meat and noodles, tons of rice options, tons of meat options, pastries, bread, juices, yogurt, sushi, veggies, and so much more.
We were going shopping with Denise today, but her schedule was changed. So we walked around the downtown street area. We went to Confucius temple where there are a ton of tourists. We purchased beautiful silk and brocade table runners and chop sticks for gifts. We got a hand made fan from a local artist that we will hang in Melanie's room. It has cherry blossom flowers on it. Melanie's Chinese name means little flower. So we thought it would be perfect for her room. As we walked around, the local smells started making us very sick, so headed back to the hotel.
There are some things about China's culture that are different from ours. The parents have the babies and toddlers wear these pants that are split at the crotch area, with the private area exposed, so that they can squat in the streets to use the restroom. We actually witnessed children "taking care of their restroom needs" in the streets. The people around thought nothing of it like it was a normal part of daily activities. We also noticed that all the girls hold hands or link arms - whether they are friends, partners, or mother/daughter. Some also dress alike.
We have learned a lot about the evil dispeller - dragon. Chinese people believe that they are descendants of the dragon. Many businesses and people will put two evil dispellers at the entrance of their business or home, or with a tassel in their car. They believe in wards off the evil spirits.
At 3:00 Denise met me in the lobby to give us all our important papers for Guangzhou. She also emailed Jason all the photos from Tuesday and worked it out for us to check-out at 4pm on Friday. Denise is awesome!!!
Melanie still cries when it is time to go to bed...but she sleeps the entire night.
As of right now, we are officially Melanie's guardians. We become her adoptive parents once we finish our US consulate meeting.
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