Rest Day

If you can call it that. We all went to sleep at 8:30pm last night, but Sebastian woke up at 2am! I got up with him for an hour and a quarter, and then went back to sleep while Tripp took him for 3 hours! It rained on and off all day, and after a quite good breakfast buffet, we all took a walk around Green Lake. There are lots of walkways, bridges, flowers, and pagodas, but no grass for kids to play on.

Sebastian took a nap from 10-1, and then we met our guide, Jerry, who took us to Walmart. I hope we never have to go there again! Being Saturday, it was more crowded than on a weekday, and more crowded by magnitudes than I have ever seen a Walmart in the US. When we reached the bowels of the store, the air was so hot and heavy, it was difficult to breathe. We were sweating and rolling up our sleeves, and there were Chinese people walking around in wool coats looking comfortable! How do they do that?

We bought some water, chips, cups of noodles, and a container in which to sterilize our water (we brought UV "Steripens" with us so we don't have to wait for boiled water to cool, which takes forever, as the fridge is barely cooler than room temperature). We looked at strollers, but they were all fancier than your basic $20 umbrella stroller from Babies R Us. We couldn't convey to Jerry what we meant by a more simple stroller, and said we would show him the stroller we brought with us. However, we got back to the hotel, and our stroller was nowhere to be found! None of us had remembered bringing it to the room last night. We thought we had left it in the van that picked us (and only us) up from the airport, but it wasn't there. We must have left it sitting in the terminal, or on the curb! Drat!

Tonight we walked to a local chain restaurant that serves the specialty of Yunnan (or Kunming?), Crossing the Bridge Noodles. This is broth served in a huge bowl, to which you add various ingredients, such as a raw egg (the hot broth cooks it), veggies, meats, flower blossoms, chili paste, etc. There were also some appetizers, that consisted of bugs (a type of bee, Jerry said), and bird feet. Tripp, of course, tried both, and more than once! I told him he wouldn't be kissed for a week. I couldn't even look. I only put the vegetarian ingredients in mu soup. It was very good, but so filling. There was a sort of stream running through the restaurant, with fish in it. All Sebastian wanted to do was look at the fish. He ate a few bites, but got very frustrated by the chopsticks.

Some things I meant to mention: shopping bags cost extra at Walmart; there is a chidren's play area in the middle of the restaurant where we ate breakfast (BRILLIANT idea!). Sebastian spent a long time this morning running around the play area with another little, slightly older boy. We also met two other adoptive families of Chinese descent that had just adopted infant boys through CCAI. They were such beautiful little boys, and already very attached to their new moms. One of the moms was originally from Albuquerque, where we live, and her parents still live there! We forgot to ask where, though.

I ordered chocolate mousse cake at the hotel resturant tonight (we stopped by after our noodle dinner to try to get something for Sebastian to eat), and it tasted like old marshmallow fluff. Blech. The buffet looked much better.

Our rooms are very nice. We have two bedrooms with a living room between, 2 full baths, and a half bath. Our bed is pretty hard, though not as bad as I had expected. I did bring a camping pad that I am sleeping on, and it's worked great. We can see Green Lake Park from our 10th floor windows- it's really just across the street.

Tomorrow we are going to the Stone Forest, about 90 minutes outside Kunming, if there is no traffic. Monday we meet Xi Yao Yu! Hard to believe the day is nearly here. It always seemed like it was something that would always be sometime in the future. Like planning your wedding. There is so much planning, you almost become accustomed to just planning, and the actuality seems farther and farther away the more you plan; the longer you wait. It is incredibly difficult to mentally grasp the concept of increasing our family by one in just one more day!

I'll add today's photos tomorrow.

Jen