Today was a very boring day when framed in the middle of the rest of this trip.  It took us until 12:30pm to make it out of the hotel room … ouch!  And then it was mostly about walking the streets and shopping.  We headed back over near the Holiday Inn Shifu hotel and the LiWan Shopping District.  We picked up a very cute pajama dress for Claire (I tried to take a picture of it … but she wasn’t diggin’ that idea) and a few other small items.

One quick anecdote about our excursion.  The market is right by the Holiday Inn Shifu (named that because it’s on Shifu Road).  We jumped in quick to use a western toilet before heading out into the market.  As we were riding up the elevator to the lobby level a couple of Chinese men in the elevator started talking about us in … Chinese, of course.  The first guy said … “Is that little girl Chinese?  What is she speaking?”  The other guy said, “She’s speaking English … I think!”  The first guy then said, “English?  Is she really speaking English?”  To which I replied (in Chinese), “Yes, she is speaking English.” First guy: “Oh … ummm, does she speak Chinese?”  Me: “Yes, but she doesn’t really like to … she prefers speaking English.”  First guy: “Oh … OK.”  And then we exited the elevator.  It was pretty funny because he just really wasn’t expecting the conversation I think.

This little event reminded me of something we used to do occasionally on the mission that always cracked me up.  If we were in our missionary clothes, everybody knew we spoke Cantonese.  But sometimes on a P-Day we would find ourselves out and about in regular clothes and people would be caught unexpected when speaking about us in Chinese.  We would respond and they would always be shocked and say something like, “Oh … sorry, I didn’t know you speak Chinese”.  To which we would respond in a very quiet voice … “I’ll tell you a secret … all Americans know how to speak Chinese.  We just pretend like we can’t.  So you really should be careful what you say around Americans … they can understand you.”  Anyway, hopefully that wasn’t too mean a thing to do … we liked to think it was just cleaning up some of the more offensive comments sometimes made in mixed company.

Anyway, we grabbed some pizza for lunch, AGAIN, while there at the shopping district.  Claire, once again, loved the spaghetti.

Here are a couple of videos of an oft traveled street during our walks here in Guangzhou

On the way back we stopped at a little shop on the island that we have passed everyday.  I didn’t figure it had anything very impressive … boy was I wrong!  I was able to find the perfect jacket I’ve been looking for.  Of course, we’re not returning to “jacket weather” … but I’m going to love it next fall.  It’s an Adidas “training jacket” for lack of a better term.  A similar jacket in the States would be over $100 retail, or around $50 at Ross or TJ Maxx if you could find it.  Got it for $20 here!  Awesome.

After that we headed back to the pool for some more sub-zero swimming! WOOHOO!  Sandy has all her mental faculties about her so she didn’t really even pretend to participate in swimming in ridiculously freezing cold water this time … she was a spectator (and a brilliantly fantastic one at that).  We spent about 20 minutes collecting the leaves that were blowing into the pool before we decided to call it quits.

Post swimming meant a little more shopping and we picked up our laundry – which smelled great!  No more handwashing!   The laundry lady even gave us a break on the price because I have been helping her translate some words she can use when conducting business.

Dinner meant more ChaSiu Faahn … awesome!  After that we headed out for a stroll at the local park … absolutely beautiful waterfront park.

Also, at the bottom of our hotel is the following alcohol shop … love the name and so made a quick shot after our park walk …

After all that we decided to get some ice cream … not bad for some Chinese syutgou! Claire and Mom got chocolate and Dad chose strawberry. We had a meltdown of the non-ice cream variety when Claire said she was done for the third time and so Mom and Dad each had a bit from her cup. We continue to learn a lot about how to treat and react to her moods. Long road ahead … but we’re all making progress each day and excited for the journey.

Oh, and as a side note, remember our mention of the family in Nanjing whose little girl got sick on gotcha day from all the crying?  Well, they are here in Guangzhou and we are happy to report that their little one is doing great.  Her mother is a hoot with a deep southern accent and her sister just dotes on her.  So happy to know she is feeling more comfortable and safe now.