June 7, 2007

By this day (Thursday) last year I was very disoriented. I had no idea what day it was. It was a combination of exhaustion, trying to figure out the whole Mommy thing, and being sick. I just followed the crowd and let everyone else worry about the schedule. Here is what I had to say in my journal as I wrote that afternoon:

Hope is taking a later nap today. It is now 3:30 so she is about an hour later than the past two days. She slept great last night (about 11 hrs.). The last couple mornings, Hope has been waking up around 5:00 for a bottle and then sleeping for a couple more hours. Not today. She slept until 7:00 so we all just got up and went right to breakfast. We also have a fun new after breakfast activity - POOPING. :) It is so funny! We take her into the bathroom and she just sits right on the floor and takes care of business. ***This was a very big deal. :) ***

Yesterday was so HOT! Liz said it was only about 91 degrees, but with the humidity it felt like 113! Everything is so sticky! Today was also hot, but it was cloudy so it didn't feel as blistering. Also, it seems to rain every afternoon. You might think that would cool things off, but most of the time when it stops you can see the steam in the air.

One little tidbit our guide shared with us as we were walking today: China is made up of 56 different nationalities. 91% of the people are Han, and the other 9% consist of the remaining ethnic minorities. Interesting. Tu thinks that Hope looks Han.

We had a very special activity today. We went to a beautiful park (Green Mountain Park, I think) where we also visited a Buddhist temple. Hope was given a blessing by one of the monks. She seemed very curious about the whole thing and even let the monk hold her for a bit. It was a really neat place to visit.
Entrance - Tu (with Hannah in the background), Negotiating Our Admission

She studies us, but smiles are hard to come by.

Blessing





Mommy and Daughter



Family

After the temple, we went to a different area of the park to see the fish pond FULL of yellow carp on their usual feeding frenzy. We spent some time walking around the pavilion here. Down the road a bit was a zip line and a chance for some of our group members to walk on water (in a huge inflated ball).


Here we are again! ~ FAMILY ~


On the way down the hill we were accosted/swarmed by this group of ladies full of questions. They wanted to know why our little girl looks like one of them. Interesting. I got the feeling that all of these women weren't entirely happy with the whole idea of adoption. Either way, Hope had had enough.

When we left the park we were taken to another wonderful lunch. Tu and Hannah have chosen some fantastic restaurants for us these past couple of days. The food has so much flavor!


Daddy Time


Now we're back and Hope is asleep. We played for about an hour before nap time this afternoon because Hope had a late morning nap on the bus and during a good portion of the lunch today.

Finally, on the Daddy front...Hope is like a different baby today. She still doesn't want me to leave her sight, but she'll play with Ron and will sometimes even touch him. Maybe tomorrow is a day for holding. I'll keep fingers crossed.