Monday, February 27, 2006

I'm back. : ).....

After almost 2 full days of not feeling too hot, I feel like myself again and made up for the time spent in the room by browsing all the stores on Shamian Island and a local mall which our guide took us to. Anyone who has adopted here knows what I mean when I say I had to buy the big, no really big suitcase this time and it is full of our booty. If we buy anything else in Beijing, we will need to buy more luggage. What should be surprising to anyone who knows us well is that Michael has been right there with me in the purchasing department.

WenYan is a great companion.. she seems to stand back and just watch us go. She is willing to pick out something for herself when prompted but that is still not her first thought. I keep asking our guide to explain to her that our life in the US is not like this at all. We don't eat out every meal and have our beds made and laundry done by others and spend our time buying things while being treated like a VIP with a private guide and driver who drops us off and picks us up right outside wherever we are going. With the language barrier who knows what she really thinks of us.

I have learned a few more things about WenYan over the past days. My favorite is a discovery I made today... when she doesn't want to do something she claims she is too shy! sneaky girl. Also, she is very much a teen with a strong will and definite ideas about everything and is not afraid to point out flaws or mistakes such as the way I use (or mis-use) chopsticks or how to spell yahoo.com which she insisted tonight was yahoo.con when giving her email address to a new friend we made. This girl will conquer the USA quite handily I think.

We have had more than a few remarks on how well she speaks Mandarin. I hope this fluency in her native tongue will help in her ability to learn English. We finally found the cd she has been looking for everywhere and we played it in the car and wow, this girl likes teenie-bopper-techo-pop Chinese music. One of the songs also had a few phrases in English including her dad's favorite.. "shake it mama". Oh boy.
 
Our paperwork passed the test at the consulate today so tomorrow we will just have to go and pick up her visa and if I remember right, raise our hands and swear to always care for her etc. Then we will be off to the airport and Beijing!

We have shopping tips below our signature for those interested. We are very ready to come home. We miss Shea and Sophie so very much and we are so happy that we will be with them soon!

Love,
Susan, Michael and WenYan