Trip To Museum

Friday, 2/17/06
Today has been a fun day. Emily continues to be a great little travelor and big sister, Sarah finally had her first BM (after four days we were starting to worry and resorted to prunes at breakfast), and she is becoming more interactive, and we got out of the hotel to do a little touring.

We got the pictures of crying Sarah right after breakfast this morning as we were preparing to leave for our tour. Those were the only tears we saw today; we thought it would be fun to have some pictures like that to show her as she gets older.

We visited a museum that displayed what was found in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng from around 433 BC. Amazing artifacts, but the best part was seeing the huge set of bells that were found, 65 in all, made out of bronze. Each bell is shaped in a way that it can provide two different tones, depending on how it is struck. It was found fully set up in one of the four chambers of the tomb...it was an amazing site to see. There was a reproduction set made and we were lucky enough to enjoy four songs played in the concert hall using the bells, as well as other asian instruments. It was truly fascinating to watch.

Secondly we visited a carpet factory, however, we didn't get to see any production. It was only a display room. Carpets were all from silk, handmade, and the smallest size, about 12"x12" was $250US and went up from there. Beautiful to look at! One of the only things Wuhan is really known for is its carpets, which is why our guide, Shirley, took us to see it. (By the way, Emily's hometown, Yangzhou is known for its embroidery.)

One of our pictures today shows us with our two guides, Molly, in pink on the left, and Shirley in the plaid coat. Molly just graduated from college and has been working for Children's Home Society (our adoption agency) for only 7 months. She lives in Guangzhou and will be with us all of next week as well. She is quite a joy and loves to talk about her boyfriend, whom she met in college...she is often text messaging him and yesterday, she showed a few of us a picture of him. We all agreed he is very cute.

Shirley was with us four years ago when we adopted Emily...very wonderful lady. She is married and lives near Shanghai and travels quite a bit with her job, usually for 10-12 days at a time. She is so good to work with, very thorough and does anything she can to make our trip enjoyable and easy. It was very good to see her again.

Lastly, you'll see the pictures of the Wal*Mart Supercenter that I took for my friends and colleagues at ConAgra...after all the fun we have working with Wal*Mart, and all the trips to Bentonville, I figured it was worth getting some shots of the first Wal*Mart I've seen in China. You'll notice how big it is, how upscale it looks, especially compared to everything else I've seen here, and that there is a Pizza Hut, and McDonalds and a KFC all located on the lower level. I would have loved to stop and shop for a bit, but that wasn't an option as the bus was only rented for a set period of time.

Tonight, my husband Steve and Mark Alexander are planning to walk down to Pizza Hut and bring back pizzas to the room. We also thought some card games or Scrabble might be in order. It certainly is nice to have our friends here with us. Emily spent the afternoon watching a movie with Anne in the Alexander's room. Yesterday, Anne spent the afternoon with us and she and Emily played with 'Disney girls' and Barbies.

Sarah is laughing more today and we found her to be ticklish, especially on her thighs and the bottom of her feet. She actually came to me today, once, but it is a start. She doesn't mind me holding her, but she usually turns away when I get close. Steve reminds me that Emily did the same at first, though Emily seemed much more resigned to us being around her and just tolerated us at first. She likes to share whatever she is eating - she passes a piece to us, and then we give it back to her and it goes back and forth continuously. It is always held and given to us between her thumb and first finger. She has the tiniest little rosebud mouth I've ever seen...overall she is quite petite looking, but she surely is heavy when we carry her. Both Steve and I are glad we have a stroller with us, and yes, we've gotten her used to that as well (the first day it caused a screaming fit).

Time to post.

love,
the lloyds