Fun at the Park & Lunch

Hello Again,

Today, after our appointment at the Civil Affairs Office, we went to a local park, about a 30 minute walk. I love it when we get to walk through the city. There are so many different sights & sounds. Usually wherever we go, Ruthie likes to hold my hand or Todd's. Todd was taking turns holding Kai & Gracie while we were walking. Then he gave Ruthie a piggyback ride.

For those of you who have not traveled to China, I want to tell you that crossing the street is no easy feat. Actually, it can be downright scary. You are usually okay if you are crossing at the light, but if there is no light and just a crosswalk, BEWARE! Basically, crossing the street is done by dodging cars, taxis & motorbikes. Pedestrian right-of-way is a completely foreign concept, even in a crosswalk. Basically, the cars have the right-of-way ALL the time.

We went to a very nice park. To get into many of the parks, you have to pay an admission fee as you can see in the photo below. It is probably not a bad idea, the parks are well taken care of and vandals cannot get in easily.

The kids had fun at the park playing on the equipment.



While we were there, there was a bride & groom having their photos taken. In China, brides usually rent a Western style wedding dress for pictures. So, we saw the bride who was all made up, holding up her dress as she walked - she was wearing jeans and boots under her dress. A few minutes we saw the same couple in traditional Chinese dress for additional photos.

Later we went to a dumpling restaurant and got a private room to eat in. We went with the other family in our travel group. Our guide ordered a variety of dishes for us. The other family we are traveling with have adopted 4 children from China; 3 daughters & now a new son who is 4 years old. They brought one of their daughters, Katy, with them who is 8 years old. Ruthie was initially shy with her and wouldn't even look at her. Today, while walking from the park, they were holding hands.

As far as communicating with Ruthie, we are doing okay. We mostly communicate to her using Chinese phrases. However, now and then, she will ask us a question that we do not understand. Our guide, Daphne, has been great helping us with the translation. She also talks to Ruthie to make sure that she understands what is going on, answering her questions, etc. Daphne is usually with us until the later afternoon. She then calls our room in the evening to talk to Ruthie to see if she has any questions or if we need for her translate anything for us.

Okay, I noticed a totally cool thing about Ruthie today. She is left-handed!!! Woo Hoo!!! I have always wanted at least one of my children to be left-handed like me and now I have one. I guess that means that we can stop adopting now :)

Okay, my Chinism's for today consist of the following photos. One thing I want to point out is that Christmas, here in China, is not a religious holiday, (except for the Christians here), but rather a commercial festival. This year, many of the Christmas decorations consist of the 2008 Olympic logo and the mascots as some of the photos below show. *Behind the mascots, is a huge Christmas tree.

Some of the Christmas decorations are typical Western style, but some are a little different as the photo below shows.
Cars driving on the sidewalks can be a problem and you always have to be aware of what is going on around you so you don't get run over. But along this street in Changsha, they put up barricades so that the cars don't come up on the sidewalk. *Notice Daphne, Ruthie & Katy up ahead.

Here is photo I took of an apartment complex and the courtyard. Notice the fish hanging on the line on the right side.

Lastly, a stone elephant is not just for decoration, but can also be used as a place to dry your mop heads.

When we viewed the comments that people left on our blog, we received 3 comments from some of Ruthie's friends who were adopted last year. I will get them printed off and have our guide translate them for Ruthie. Thank you so much for sending them.

Well that is it for now. We will be visiting a department store tomorrow morning to purchase some more clothes for Ruthie. We only brought a few clothing items for her until we knew for sure what her size was. We will also let her pick out a backpack for herself and some other items.

I will "talk" to you all soon.

Noelle