Wednesday, city tour

Today started like the others with breakfast at 7 am with the Lees.  We have really enjoyed spending time with their family and are thankful that we ended up together sharing a guide even though we are with different agencies.  Our children were together at the orphanage so this is a bond they will have and hopefully be able to stay in touch.

After breakfast we called the girls and then got to watch the school children do their morning routine.  It is very military style with loud music playing and the kids marching in place, the rising of the flag and then doing exercises together.   They do another routine about 2:30 each afternoon. We have seen this at other schools here and it seems to be normal.

At 9 we met Ming Ming to head out on a city tour.  We went to The Bund (river walk area). From here you have excellent views of the city and river.   Old Shanghai is on the Bund side and New Shanghai is across the river.  It is all big city with 24 million people.  It is a very busy city with many cars, scooters, bikes, buses and lots of construction vehicles to keep up with the growing city.  Shaun got to see a fire truck pass by on the street walking to the Bund area.   

After walking in the Bund area we drove over to Yu Garden.  This is a Garden and was the home of the first mayor of Shanghai and is not a museum / visitor site.  Before getting to the garden you walk past Many shops and it was very crowded with people.   I have to admit I am a bit more uneasy here than on previous trips, it is so crowded and I have seen a lot of panhandlers.  We have to stay on guard and watch out.  I guess this is good advice for every day of life though.

We toured the garden and took many pictures and fed the fish, which was fun for young and old alike.  We spotted on fish with a giant tumor on his back, I had never seen this before.  Dr. Lee noticed it first.

After the garden we had an hour to shop.  We hit a few shops and found a few of the gifts that we wanted to purchase for Joshua while here.  We try to give our children a gift from their homeland every year on their adoption day.  It can be challenging to find something to give as the child gets older.  I did manage to find a Terra Cota Warrior set that I had hoped to purchase and got a really good deal on it.

After shopping we met back up with our guide and she took us to lunch at a Shanghai  Dumpling House.  We had steamed dumplings with pork, shrimp, vegetables etc.  These were the best I have ever eaten. They are very juicy and flavorful.   At the end they brought these fried pastries (SO HOT, Burned my lip badly) but so good.  We also had these dumplings decorated like pigs.  Josh loved this.  Then we ended up ordering the noodle soup, which is a dumpling filled with soup, you drink the soup through a straw and then eat the noodle.  Our friend Lisa had told us about this and we had to give it a try, so good.  This was the best meal I have had since being here.

Then it was back to the hotel for naps (for everyone but me).   Tonight we are meeting our friend Shiyan for dinner.  Tomorrow the Lee’s leave for Guangzhou so we are on our own, the morning will be down time.  We will go visit the orphanage tomorrow afternoon.  Please pray for Josh to do well on this visit, it can be very confusing for the kids when they go back there but we really want to get photos and get to meet the ladies that have cared for him.

We received Joshua’s passport today so that is another major step out to the way.  Now we just wait for documents from the notary which will be ready on Friday, then we fly out late Friday afternoon for Guangzhou and start the US part.

Joshua is doing wonderfully.  Thanks for all the prayers.  He smiles a lot and loves to laugh.   He is very curious and taking everything in.  He LOVES his mommy and sometimes cry’s when she gives him to me.  He woke up once last night crying but relaxed when I talked to him and rubbed his face.  He likes playing with daddy but so far he is a mommy’s boy.  He is starting to play more, at first he would just stand and wait for us to tell him what to do, now if you put him down on the floor he will head for toys and start to play on his own or with Shaun. We are so thankful for how well he is doing and are anxious to get his Baha’s on so he can start hearing better.  Pray that the rest of our trip is uneventful and pray for Josh as he goes on his first plane ride ever on Friday.