Trip to China
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Sunday, July 22, 2007 Today we went shopping with our group to a large toy market and a shopping mall. The toy market was huge with I believe three floors! We were allotted only 45 minutes to shop, so we didn’t accomplish too much. We did manage to get a few gifts for my beautiful niece, Shea. We were then off to the mall which consisted of 2 towers. One tower had mainly jewelry including lots of jade. I can’t seem to resist the jade markets. I bought some jade items in Beijing at the large jade market, and today I managed to purchase 2 more jade charms. Chris says I am now cut off from buying any more jewelry! I will post more photos and shopping information on my regular blog once we are home. We bought some music and movies at the mall, also. We found an excellent Bruce Lee box set that includes several of his early movies in black and white along with the popular classics. The quality is exceptional. We bought a Chinese children CD set and Buddhist music CD, but were unable to find the soundtrack to one of our favorite Chinese television series, Return of Condor Heroes. The store said they had just sold out of it. We’ll keep looking! We also got a CD of dance/techno Chinese music which is quite fun. Auntie Bat, I’ll have to play it for you…I think you’ll like it! The outdoor area of the mall had several shops and was absolutely mobbed with people! Of course it was horribly hot, very bright and sunny, and people packed on what seemed like every inch of the streets. We decided to head back into one of the malls to look for some last minute deals. Big mistake as more money was spent by yours truly – mama! I found a Nightmare Before Christmas specialty store so I had to buy some gifts for friends there! Sadly this is where I ran out of money and my shopping for the day came to an abrupt halt. I was heartbroken when I was told by most of the shops that they don’t take credit cards. This, however, made Chris quite happy! I’ve been a bit of a shopping maniac, but the deals have been amazing, and I must admit, I’m addicted to bargaining with the sales people. I wish we could do that in the States! During the shopping frenzy, Oscar was a saint. He was either sleeping of quietly relaxing in his stroller. He did get 2 new pairs of sandals. We found one pair we loved, but his feet were too wide! The sales girl laughed at how “fat” his feet are! They’re just like mama and baba’s feet! We tried out the new shoes once we arrived back at the White Swan. We decided to take a walk to the first floor playroom for the children. Oscar decided to assert his independence by walking without holding hands. He then decided to test out his new shoes. So he ran for the first time since we’ve had him. He went flying down the hall laughing all the way with a very out of shape mama and baba chasing him!!! We have thus begun what I am calling the 2-year-old diet. We have little time to eat, and he will keep us active by running after him! I know we’ve both lost weight since being here. Hopefully we’ll keep that up once we get home! Oscar played beautifully in the playroom. He was so polite to the other children. He would hand them toys, and he even shared his ball. Oscar really loves to play ball. This will make his Pop-pop (my dad) very happy. So far he still seems to be a lefty. We are simply amazed at how far he has come in just under one week with us. He blossoms more and more each day and it is just beautiful. I especially love to wake up to his sweet little face each morning and ask for a kiss, which he readily gives me. We so adore our little man…then again, who wouldn’t?

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