Morning Outings...Fun at Our Hotel Home

First of all I wanted to let everyone know that my stomach is doing just fine today. :) I have a feeling that something I ate at the restaurant on our orphanage visit day did not set well with my stomach (it all tasted great though!). We got to do some more sightseeing in the morning. Our first stop was the Chen Family Temple. It was a beautiful building full of amazing architecture. There were ornate and intricate carvings everywhere as part of the temple walls and doors and windows. There were also exhibits in various rooms throughout the temple displaying various types of Chinese art like embroidery pictures (that looked like photographs!), ivory and bone carvings, wood sculptures, etc. A very neat cultural and historical experience that we enjoyed. Next stop was at Lake Liuhuahu Park. This was a public park/recreational area that gave us a taste of local life here in Guangzhou. It was a Sunday with beautiful weather (about 70oF) so it was full of lots of people. We got to walk the path around the lake and as we did there were a couple different community singing groups performing, a tai chi class in session, an amusement park area for children, an exercise equipment area, an area with several ping pong tables out and being used, badminton courts, etc. It was fun to people watch and get some fresh air and exercise on a gorgeous day!

After Chun Le took her nap we ventured out again around Shamian Island to do some shopping and also to go to the White Swan Hotel for a few pics on the famous red couches there and they have a beautiful lobby area that we used as a backdrop for a few pictures. When we returned to the hotel room around 6pm, our little girl was in a form we have never seen her before! She was just giddy with excitement! We had her on the bed and were tickling her tummy and she was laughing hard out loud and kept wanting us to do it again and again. Chun Le started to "pose" when we would get out the video camera--typically she would start to shut down when that came out but this time she wanted to show off! When we fed her she was so animated and silly in opening her mouth extra wide to eat; she was running around the room and stopping here and there to do what we called her "happy dance" (like running in place really fast). She was snacking on Cheerios and then made up a game where she would put a Cheerios on the wheel of a toy car and then eat it off the wheel. Phil got some noodles for supper and brought it back to the room and she wanted to try them and was letting Phil feed her little bites with chopsticks. She is getting more and more "daring" in trying new foods today which is encouraging. Chun Le has been hesitant to try anything that was not really soft or liquidy since that was her diet at the orphanage so seeing her try noodles and also at the buffet this morning she fed herself part of a mini muffin which was a new thing for her. It is almost like she is a "new girl" today and really really coming out of her shell. Still she is a lot quieter when we are with other people or out, but getting so much more comfortable with us--we are almost at the one week mark since Gotcha Day. So we are thinking that it may take a week or so when we get home before she comes out of her quiet/observant mode. Yesterday and today brought a new group of adoptive families arriving at our hotel. Some of them came from other provinces where they met their child and now are finishing up the US side of the paperwork at the Consulate here in Guangzhou; others are arriving to meet their child probably tomorrow (if their child is from Guangdong province like Chun Le is). So it is fun to meet some more families and see them around the Island and at the breakfast buffet. We found out that three of the families will be on our flight home to Chicago on Thursday. We are looking forward to being home before too long!