Hours before Sarah

(Bloggerers Note.....The pictures posted here are some that Steve got before we were officially introduced to Sarah. Some how he was able to get in the room where they were keeping the girls. We posted them long after this entry was made so they don't follow the text but thought they should be posted anyway)


Emily really likes to hear from her classmates. She gets a big smile on her face when we tell her that some one from her class has written. She wants Ava to know she misses her class too and she will be back in one week. She wants everyone to know that we found one store (the size of a closet on the street) that sells popcorn. She also found a McDonalds and ate Chicekn Nuggets and french fries and liked it. The sweet and sour sauce tastes the same as in Lakeville. And she played at the Playland with other kids; it was fun. We also met three other families from the U.S. that were there with their new Chinese daughters; they have been in Wuhan for a week already and were ready to leave for Guangzhou for the last part of their trip. It was nice to have others to talk with in English.

Our hotel room looks out over what appears to be a middle school and a chime plays when school starts, ends and when the classes change. The children started school around 8am and we were surprised that the school day wasn't done until 6pm! At lunch, they all leave the schoool area and go out into the street to buy their lunches and walk with their friends. We were out walking in the area when the lunch break started and it was like walking at the State Fair...just a solid throng of people. We watched them push their way into what appeared to be a favorite shop, a place that sold magazines, and the favorite lunchtime foods were cups of noodles, sausages on a stick and ice cream.

Lastly, our friends, the Alexanders, arrived yesterday and we met up at the hotel. Their daugher, Anne, who is five, is from the same orphanage that Emily was at in Yangzhou. We've stayed very close with the families we traveled with when we brought Emily home to the U.S. and we synced up our paperwork this time with the Alexanders so that we could again travel together. I think both Emily and Anne were very excited to see a familiar face.

I would normally have downloaded pictures of these momentous events but I have no way of getting our pictures from the camera into Ann’s computer. I am going to make a run to a store this morning to try and buy what I need, should be interesting. I will insert those pictures when I am able.