Friday, July 24th- 1:00 pm

 

Today has been a good day with Elizabeth getting more into a routine and us understanding her wants and needs better as well.  She is eating better today, but we still have to deal with the tantrums when it comes time to eat.  If you are persistent after about 1-2 minutes she will give in and finally take a bottle at least.  Table food is hit or miss-depends on what is going on, what her mood is at the moment, etc.  Oh well, if she at least takes formula it is better than nothing. 

 

Several of our travel group, including us, left the hotel around 9 AM this am, and rode our bus out into the countryside of Hunan province.  It took over one hour just to get to where there were no high rises and alot construction going on.  Once we cleared the "big city" the countryside was quite pretty.  We turned down a road and it looked like the canopy as you ride down Beach St headed towards Tomoka State Park.  Within just a few moments the driver pulled over to the side and we saw a rice field and water buffalo and people working in the rice paddies.  We got alot of stares and traffic slowed considerably when they passed us.  I imagine we look kind of funny to them, a bunch of different sized Americans with Chinese babies!  The other thing that is funny is the bus driver decides he wants us to look at something so he just stops the bus right in the middle of the road and everyone goes around us.  If we did that in the US we would get killed for sure. 

 

It sure is humbling to ride out into these places and get an idea of what a Chinese farmer and poor person has to deal with and what little they have.  According to our guide, the government of China provides alot to the people so they have very little worries overall.  Many of the high rise apartments we passed Chinese people can buy for like $3000 US dollars and have a home for life.  They also get many subsidies to help them with everyday life as well.  For example, the rice field land is owned by the Chinese government but the farmer farms the land and can build a house on the land.  Usually they start with a small one story home and as the family grows they add second and third levels onto the house.  In the countryside the one child per couple rule does not apply as the extra hands are needed to run the day to day operations of a farm.

 

After the bus ride, which took about 3 hours to go out to the country and back, we came back to the hotel and all had lunch in our room.  Thank goodness I am a snacker and pretty much backed at least half a suitcase of "snacks" for the trip.  This has made us able to just stay in and avoid the heat of the day and just have lunch in our room as a family.  Then like many of the post said before we meet our travel group and go out for dinner around 6 pm.

 

Elizabeth is now napping and looks just like an angel.  She is so tiny and petite and when she is out, she is out.  But when she wakes up you better have a plan for something to eat or the howling begins!!!!  If you have food pretty much ready to go and she gets to eat then the smiles really start, the hands are clapping and she is babbling at you like crazy.  She says DaDaDaDa-we are not sure if this is Daddy or if she is cussing us out!  She likes to get her voice really deep when she says it and loud too.  She has also discovered she can take her mom's hand and put it up to her mouth and make the AHHHH sound and it comes out like an indian chant. 

 

Tonite is our last nite in Changsha.  We will be flying out tomorrow morning for Guangzhou.  The flight is about 1 hour so we will all get a taste of what the babies will be like for our flights home.  Not much of a taste but some idea.  Since our flight is 15 hours coming home I don't think this will scratch the surface! 

 

I am kind of sad to be leaving Changsha as this province is where our daughter is from.  This is the only part of the world she has ever known and now we are taking her away from it.  We know it is for greener grasses, but she does not.  I am very thankful that a set of parents somewhere in the Hunan province knew they could not keep a precious little girl and have now given us the opportunity to raise her as our own.  Someday I hope she realizes how much we wanted her and how much she has already changed our lives for the better.  I never could have imagined how such a little person could affect ones life so much, it is just astounding.  This part of the trip has been very enjoyable, not just because we now have Elizabeth but also because we have truly experienced things that we never would have been exposed to otherwise.  The traffic, the food, the smells, the people, the shops, the culture, the language, and just everything in general.

 

Well our next post will be from Guangzhou, one step closer to home

 

Until next time...............................