Yesterday, Thursday 5/8/08 was a pretty low-key day. We had breakfast at the hotel's buffet and met our guide Monica in the lobby at 10 am. She hailed a cab for the five of us and it took us to the local Wal Mart. I needed to get new pants as I ruined several pairs. I tried hand washing some of my clothes and one of my pairs of capris (which was blue) had dye that bled all over my khaki pants and capris....grrr.... So I went to Walmart and got my "big fat American" pants...heeehheee. That's what I call them, because I am an American size 8 in pants, which is considered XLhere. Anything size 10 and up is "plus-sized". Not too good for the ego, but that's ok. We also picked up a couple of bibs for Abby. Anyway, the Walmart is fun and HUGE....3 floors....with some merchandise unique to here (i.e. plastic training "squatty potties" for toddlers, as opposed to western-style, different foods, a huge rice steamer/ wok section, etc, and an entire grocery floor. I know little things excite us, but they had an escalator that, instead of being like stairs, was more like a hill/ arch that you could take your cart on with you....with merchandise displays on either side of the escalator handrails, so you could add items to your cart on your descent.
After the Walmart, Monica led us (by foot) to a porcelain shop. Jiangxi province is famous world-wide for its porcelain. We bought two teasets (one for Abby and one for Emily). They were both handcrafted and BEAUTIFUL. Emily has expensive/ upper crust taste and chose the pattern which was a personal favorite of Chairman Mao. For Abby, we bought a teaset which is blue and white with all of this intricate detail which is made using a technique only found here. It was important to us that, since she is from this province, she should have a momento from here which can't be found anywhere else in the world.
After shopping, we took a cab back to the hotel, dropped our stuff off in the room and went out to lunch with Monica. She has been such a great guide, so we told her we would take her out to eat. She was very resistive at first (not wanting to impose), but we insisted. She took us to a popular local restaurant. The place was giant (3 huge floors in this restaurant) with something like a 60 page menu. Everything was served family style and the food was GREAT! So much better and so much more authentic than the food in the hotel. This province is known to be one of the three spicy provinces in China (the 3 are Jiangxi- here-, Hunan and Sichuan.) They use a lot of red chile peppers here. Monica ordered 5 dishes for us which were all great: Spicy beef (with a hot dipping sauce), pork (which was more of a sweet bacon)...came with a hot sauce to dip in, green beans with chiles and garlic, dumplings (which were a cross between wontons and potstickers....looked like wontons, but had more of a vegetable potsticker interior), and an egg dish, kind of like a big omelet with mushrooms (I swear Abby ate half of the pork and eggs....she has quite the healthy appetite). Yes, Abby likes to EAT and I can't feed her quickly enough. It was pretty hysterical, really. While still chewing, as I was cutting/ putting food on a spoon for her, she would reach over almost in a panic, grab my whole arm and bring my arm with the spoon to her mouth and shovel it all in. I couldn't keep up with her pace. One of her favorite foods here, which we've been pushing a lot to hydrate her (since she doesn't drink) is pronounced "she- gwa"....(watermelon). Emily also said "I love she gwa. She gwa is my favorite." So cute. Anyway, they served lots of she gwa at the restaurant, so that was good.
After lunch, we returned to the hotel and started packing up for our flight to Guanzhou (Friday), while the girls napped. At 3:30, Monica stopped by with Abby's notary documents (which we will bring with us to the consulate). Tomorrow Monica will be picking up Abby's passport for us, and then we will fly to Guanzhou to meet up again with the rest of our travel group (and all of their new additions). Emily can't wait to see her friend Naomi again. :)
Today was such a great day with Abby. She and I (mom) really had some nice bonding moments. She kept wanting for me to pick her up and she would nuzzle her head into me. I would kiss her on the forehead and she would keep putting her head near my mouth to be kissed. She also kept sticking her hands through my shirt arm holes while I was holding her and would rest her head on my shoulders. Also, in her crib she likes sticking her legs up in the air and resting her feet on the side of the crib. I will then tickle whichever foot is up in the air. She then giggles, takes her foot away and then puts it back up to be tickled again. Very cute...and she has the most infectious little laugh....just like her big sister.
After the Walmart, Monica led us (by foot) to a porcelain shop. Jiangxi province is famous world-wide for its porcelain. We bought two teasets (one for Abby and one for Emily). They were both handcrafted and BEAUTIFUL. Emily has expensive/ upper crust taste and chose the pattern which was a personal favorite of Chairman Mao. For Abby, we bought a teaset which is blue and white with all of this intricate detail which is made using a technique only found here. It was important to us that, since she is from this province, she should have a momento from here which can't be found anywhere else in the world.
After shopping, we took a cab back to the hotel, dropped our stuff off in the room and went out to lunch with Monica. She has been such a great guide, so we told her we would take her out to eat. She was very resistive at first (not wanting to impose), but we insisted. She took us to a popular local restaurant. The place was giant (3 huge floors in this restaurant) with something like a 60 page menu. Everything was served family style and the food was GREAT! So much better and so much more authentic than the food in the hotel. This province is known to be one of the three spicy provinces in China (the 3 are Jiangxi- here-, Hunan and Sichuan.) They use a lot of red chile peppers here. Monica ordered 5 dishes for us which were all great: Spicy beef (with a hot dipping sauce), pork (which was more of a sweet bacon)...came with a hot sauce to dip in, green beans with chiles and garlic, dumplings (which were a cross between wontons and potstickers....looked like wontons, but had more of a vegetable potsticker interior), and an egg dish, kind of like a big omelet with mushrooms (I swear Abby ate half of the pork and eggs....she has quite the healthy appetite). Yes, Abby likes to EAT and I can't feed her quickly enough. It was pretty hysterical, really. While still chewing, as I was cutting/ putting food on a spoon for her, she would reach over almost in a panic, grab my whole arm and bring my arm with the spoon to her mouth and shovel it all in. I couldn't keep up with her pace. One of her favorite foods here, which we've been pushing a lot to hydrate her (since she doesn't drink) is pronounced "she- gwa"....(watermelon). Emily also said "I love she gwa. She gwa is my favorite." So cute. Anyway, they served lots of she gwa at the restaurant, so that was good.
After lunch, we returned to the hotel and started packing up for our flight to Guanzhou (Friday), while the girls napped. At 3:30, Monica stopped by with Abby's notary documents (which we will bring with us to the consulate). Tomorrow Monica will be picking up Abby's passport for us, and then we will fly to Guanzhou to meet up again with the rest of our travel group (and all of their new additions). Emily can't wait to see her friend Naomi again. :)
Today was such a great day with Abby. She and I (mom) really had some nice bonding moments. She kept wanting for me to pick her up and she would nuzzle her head into me. I would kiss her on the forehead and she would keep putting her head near my mouth to be kissed. She also kept sticking her hands through my shirt arm holes while I was holding her and would rest her head on my shoulders. Also, in her crib she likes sticking her legs up in the air and resting her feet on the side of the crib. I will then tickle whichever foot is up in the air. She then giggles, takes her foot away and then puts it back up to be tickled again. Very cute...and she has the most infectious little laugh....just like her big sister.
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