Sunday Day 4

Everyday we see a little more of our little girl. Today she increased her plate at breakfast, I thought she would burst. Four slices bacon(large), 2 slices ham, 2 sausage links, an egg and rice noodles with a glass of OJ. We are going to have to work on the veggies and fruits. After breakfast was a game of UNO, Tara yelled DRAW & UNO to Tia & Curt right before she won the game. It was funny! That was maybe her 3rd game.
Gene and I ran the laundry down to the corner. It was noon when we got it there and it is suppose to be done after 5. We replenished the bottled water and hit alot of the little shops scoping out the souvinours. I am trying to wait to buy until we return from Fuzhou. Tia is suppose to buy Michael in her class a fan, we may have to use it in the meanwhile. Humidity is 99.9% Have you ever had a soggy peanut M&M, we have them(or soggy gum??).
We were stopped by a young lady on the sidewalk with 5 little 5 yr olds. She ask for our time, it was so cute. She had them repeat a question in English, they ask our names and had us write it on a piece of paper. It was clearly an English lesson. Even Gene said it was hard not to scoop them up and give them hugs. They were so adorable and polite.
We walked North of the hotel across off the Shamian Island. There is a street that both sides are open shops full of (wow how to describe) dried items such as; sea horses, mushrooms, squid, soybeans(check back I will add as I figure out what some of the stuff was)It would be interesting to see what is done with some of this stuff. We also passed fruit vendors; bananas not like ours, mangos, maybe black currents, something like a coconut. Everyone is so friendly :) Curt is out now scoping the Island. I am allowed 5 pics per entry, I may go back and stick some in other places.

A few thoughts

Tara's foster mom gave her a lunch bag with some goodies for her. That was Thursday, Sat morning I looked to see what she had and noticed a boiled egg. Not knowing how or if it was prepared I mentioned it to Cordelia. She laughed and told me to throw it away. I went to do it and noticed it was gone. Maybe Cordelia told Tara to (let's hope so) :)
I love diet coke. For those of us who are older, the top of the can is like it was 20 yrs ago. The tab comes completely off.

hey from tia

Hi everyone!China is very different.There are some small stores on the streets with there doors open.The owners or workers stand outside to make you come in. Some say hi and some say come in and look at my store or shop. When you go and walk outside it is so humid out the it's kind of hard to breath We have an interpeter who is very nice her name is Cordelia. On Friday in China we went to the zoo and i got 11 mosquito bites on my legs.[2 of the were on my foot] Cordelia gave me some mint in a bottle that stopped the bug bites from itching,but she said if you put it on when you are outside it will draw them to you. Over here its hard to get used to the time change so over here my bed time is 6:00pm-4:00am.My brother Curt is with us and he can sleep 12 hours or more just fine.

hey team hope you dont mind if i dont use punct. or caps.how did we do on tuesday and thursday.hope we won and if no one tells me i'll find out sooner or later.My email address is tia.snyder@yahoo.com Who's playing my spot.who ever it is rock at it

My sister is about where my muscles are on my arms. She is very short.Tera doesnt know that much english so that is why we have an interpeter.She is on the computer a lot so Im thinking she might be a computer hog just like Patty(or mom to you-Tia).She mainly plays spider solitare or sonic on the internet.Tera likes to watch T.V.I'll watch the T.V.and set the remote down and she'll take it just like i'll take it from dad.

Saturday

After breakfast this morning, Gene and I ventured to the East Victory hotel. There is an East and West. We are staying in the west. I believe the East is the main hotel, it has a larger dining area and the pool and exercise room. The pool is on the 9th floor and on the edge of the building. Wow! We walked over to the White Swan and met Ann and her family. I spotted her little Em with her blonde hair. They have a nice family and will have a lot of fun seeing Lizzie blossom.
Today was a boat regada, Cordelia called it a campaign. She meant competition, she is such a sweet girl. We guessed her to be 25, we asked her today she is 33. There is large boats, small boats and alot of the type that do rowing competions at large colleges. This took place on the Pearl River inland more. Very big affair with lots of fans to cheer.
We headed to the market, it was closed to cars. You didn't have to worry about crossing traffic. We started at a book store and bought the books Tara used in school, so her teachers can see what she was working on. Tara also picked out 2 videos for the computer.(total 84 RMB or $12.28) I don't think she has had a chance to play them yet. Here they charge you for a sack to carry your goods and we forgot to take our bag that Lucy gave us. Yesterday Cordelia put a lotion on Tia's mosquito bites, so we picked up a couple of bottles of it to take home. It helps to stop the need to itch. (they love Tia)We also purchased sore throat losenges and a powder for canker sores.(total 36 RMB or $5.26)It will be interesting to give new remedies a try. We stopped in a clothing store to buy Tara clothes, she picked out a frilly dress. It would have been $8 but I couldn't think of anywhere for her to where it. We will keep looking. When we returned home Gene was chasing the girls down the hotel hall and we got Tara's first hearty laugh. I needed to yell at them for running, but it was a good moment!
Curt likes to run the air cold. Tara is laying in bed reading her book with a jacket and blanket from Grma Chandler.
We took a few minutes to plan lunch. I rubbed my tummy and ask Tara if she was hungry and she shook her head yes. We headed to the White Swan deli, where the girls ordered. Tia had pork and noodles, Tara ordered for herself, hmmm not sure, but rice and fish and yes it still had the eye balls...oooh(at least she didn't eat it). When I went to pay for lunch Gene told me Tia was asking what Gene and Curt was talking about. Tara put her thumb and finger up to he eye in a circle and started laughing. If you look closely at Tara's plate(between the green spinach & fork is the eye) She was hungry, she made no bones about chowing down. We carried it to Lucy's...Yes the sign says to not bring your own food in, but Curt, Gene and I ordered there. There was another family at Lucy's with their 2 little ones, they were from Littleton CO. We were hoping to see some of the boats, but it was just too far from the edge of the river. While we were eating some models were being photographed, so I took a picture of it all.
MinJun called again this evening. She chatted with Tara, if only I could understand. We are excited to meet after 5+ years of emails.
Gene never spends time on the computer, but we are having major flooding at home and are trying to keep up with it all. Jeff has been helping sandbag Cedar Falls.
I forgot my camera on our outing today, so no new pictures. Gene wanted one of the bicycles carrying lots of goods from place to place. Hopefully later.

Package Returns

I had sent several care packages to Li Xiao Xue over the past year. And she brought a few things to go home with her. In a gift bag was a small cabbage patch doll I mailed her for her 10th birthday unopened. She couldn't wait to open it. Also a small photo album of about 10 pics, 3 were referal pics. Her foster momma sent her a lunch bag with some snacks. I had sent her a book bag for school, in it was her New Years outfit, underwear, her b-day card from me and her photo album from us, also a disposable camera (I sent 2 or 3). I had kind of hoped her fall jacket would come home. It will be easily replaced. She is missing a stuffed cat (made in Dongguan bought in West Des Moines Target the day I started searching for Tia a sister)a watch, necklace, chapstick and a couple other small toys. I am guessing she never ever saw. :(

AM/PM

Keep in mind there is 9 months between my angels.

Our bodies are not sure what time it is. We had a nap at 4pm and here it is 10pm and I am ready to start another day. Just crazy. Tara probably thinks we are wierd.

We went to Lucy's for lunch/supper. Tia had a stirfry black pepper chicken noodle she thought it was too spicy, I traded her my chicken tomato lettuce rollup. Both were very good. Gene had sweet sour chicken and Curt a beef stirfry. We will spend alot of time at Lucy's :) Oh Yeah! Tara only wanted french fries, I hope the picture turns out. Too funny--she almost ate them all. At home she would have to try something else also. Here anything goes! It rained on us the way there, Curt grabbed the umberella (comes with the room). Someone was alittle put out he wouldn't share with her (Tia) bad moment. First time her brother pushed her aside--ouch!:( He was the charmer for the new sister.:) We watched it pour while we ate. When it let up we tried to hurry, but it took sometime paying ($252 yuan for 5)and we got soaked on the way to the hotel. After we got changed and warm with full tummies we were in trouble. TV on lights low. I should mention Tara knows exactly what the remote does. Curt puts it down, Tara picks it up. Competition will be fierce at our house. Good thing I don't watch alot of TV. Curt runs the air cold, I hope none of us end up with the summer sniffles. There is so much humidity in the air even with the airconditioner running. Time to read for a couple of hours (Kay Hooper)

The Zoo

It was a quick visit to the zoo, but good to do something. It was raining when we got up and Tia wanted to cancel. My thought was, if it is cloudy it won't be disgusting hot. I was right, but some of the animals were in hybernation of the rain. It is a fairly lrge zoo and we probably spent 2 hours walking. Tara would say the animal in Mandarin and then in English, she was doing pretty good. Me on the other hand was doing lousy trying to say the animal in Mandarin. But it was good for a laugh. We enjoyed our outing. Tara is very quiet, so opposite of Tia. We will have to check this comparison out in a month. Tia was getting eaten alive by mosquitos so we made our way back to our van. Just in time for a down pour.

We stopped on the way back to the hotel at a small store. Tara wanted Doritos, none like we have at home. They taste Chinese (if you can imagine). Tia is happy she has Sprite. Gene picked up a Coors light and I have my Coca Cola light(not the same, but it will work). Everyone is ready now to go for a walk and find lunch. I woke up at 3 am, so will need a nap shortly.
Wish you all were here :)