Saturday a.m. in Nanchang

Hi - it's Lisa here. Chal and Kyle are off to buy more baby food for our plane ride today. We leave around Noon, the plane leaves around 1:40 p.m. and then we arrive in Guangzhou around 3:30 today and at the hotel at 5:30 or so. Should be fun, since Kyle likes to eat alot now and we will be eating out of our backpack today for a bit. Everyone is ready to get to Guangzhou to have more food variety, including American food. I have still been on bread and water now for 3 days -- my advice to everyone is "don't get ice cubes ever in Nanchang!!" Supposedly, they should have been purified, but I have felt horrendous each day.

Yesterday, we took a walk down the street in the afternoon. When we were taking a picture of the lotto store for Aunt Mary (to show her the numbers here), a guy ran out of the store next door and started practicing his English on us. He told us that "Nanchang is a very nice city." He understood that we were from the US, but he didn't know where PA was. He was proud to have his picture taken with Kyle. Of course, he tried to hold his hand, so he and Charlie are smiling in the picture, while Kyle is wailing. At the same time, we attracted a mini crowd around us to look at the baby. The elderly are especially interested in him. It is customary to stare here in China (unlike the US) so people will stare at you for a long time and even turn around.

On our walk, too, we went by a river with raw sewage pumping right into it. Totally disgusting but 2 people were fishing right in the water. The air pollution here is probably similar to LA but more yellow. God knows what might be in the air. The hotel windows are covered with something and there is a musty, mold smell in the room (this is a 4 star hotel in China!) Hopefully, the White Swan will be a little better.

We had another pizza party last night and they ran the movie "Cars" for the kids. When they turned the lights off, Kyle decided that it was okay to talk and sing out because no one could see him in the dark. It was funny. I don't think he was interested in the movie, but he did like the pizza and he was ready for a coke (although he did not get that!) He is a little food hound.

He was funny yesterday; he decided that sometimes it is okay for me to touch him but Daddy must be right next to us at the same time. He tends to cry lots of crocodile tears so that Daddy picks him up and holds him. Last night, he was showing us his dancing skills -- he can do the twist from a sitting position. He does not want to crawl nor will he turn over, so he either sits, lays or stands. He can walk pretty fast (to Daddy) if I hold his hands at the same time. He is definitely a very deep sleeper. He has been napping several times during the day and then will go for around 11 hrs. at night -- we call him Baby Rip Van Winkle.

Our group is like "Robeez Shoes" central - each baby has a different kind on. It's really funny. Some parents have bought their little girls the "squeeky shoes" that make noise when you walk on them. It makes the babies walk faster.

In case Charlie didn't tell you (as I didn't page back through all of the postings), we had a little outfit made for him at the laundry a few days ago. It's a hat, shoes, top and bottoms. We'll see if he wears it! We hope to get at least part of it on for New Year's tomorrow.

Hope everyone is well -- Kyle saw some little dogs yesterday, so he was interested in those (he had never seen them before). Hopefully, Murphy is behaving himself on his little vacation!!

Also, I mistakenly told you that our guide, Kathy, was from Hunan. She is from Hubei (little translation issue on my part!) In case you are checking out the sites on Google.

Talk to you later from Guangzhou --- Love, Lisa, Charlie & Kyle