Day 10 Dalian and Shenyang

Today was a long day and we are ready to turn in early. We had a 9:00 appointment with Kathy our guide and the driver to take a trip to Tiger Beach in Dalian. It was probably not the best idea to take a van trip on the same day as the bus trip but that was our itinerary so we went with it. Those of you who prayed for Gage to avoid sickness on the bus found favor, but he didn't fare so well with the van. The twists and turns leading to Tiger Beach had him feeling poorly and even our walk around the area wasn't enough to help. We drove back and the poor little guy managed to leap out of the van just in time to throw up in front of the Ramada Inn as we returned. I felt horrible that we had to put him on the bus for the 4 hour ride back to Shenyang, but he did fine and slept most of the way. Dave and I have colds and were sniffling and blowing on the bus ride. Jake began to feel queasy a few miles out of Shenyang and jumped off the bus at the first opportunity without realizing he had left his laptop on the seat. The bus driver said he had never in his entire career seen as much luggage as we had so we managed to get off the bus without noticing the laptop on the seat. Luckily, Jake noticed it as soon as we reached the hotel and Kathy, who is certainly an angel, took a cab back to the bus station and picked it up. We have just returned from our favorite restaurant in China so far - the dumpling place just behind the hotel. We had a feast including two huge beers for about $15 American.

Tiger Beach was spectacular, but we forgot our camera so we have no pictures to post today. We didn't even consider taking pictures on the bus. We are happy to have seen so many places that are a part of Gage's history and culture. He told Kathy tonight that he was not sad to leave Dalian which is a great sign that he is ready for his new life as a Bauer. We are certainly ready to have him as a Bauer! Kathy told me today that twice Gage has told her that Mommy is pretty! It just doesn't get much better than that for a Mom who is feeling not particularly young and pretty these days - especially with a head cold!

Just a couple of quick anecdotes about our feeble attempts to order food without Kathy in China. Last night the boys and I went to a food court in a huge and gorgeous shopping mall. The bottom line is that you are supposed to purchase card for 100 RMB and then give it to each food vendor as you buy food. Then if you haven't spend the whole 100 when you are done, you get a refund from the cashier. This seems like a user friendly system, but we absolutely could not figure it out. We stood by the cashier for at least 20 minutes asking the crowd at large if anyone spoke English. Of course, it doesn't help that Jake looks like he should speak Mandarin so people were very puzzled. Gage does speak Mandarin but couldn't explain anything to us in English. In fact, I'm not sure he ever knew what the problem was. We finally figured it out on our own and the cashier was overjoyed! Tonight Kathy had very kindly returned to the bus station to get the laptop so she wrote out in Mandarin the order for us to give to the dumpling restaurant and said she would meet us there later. We sat down and handed the paper with the order on it to the waitress. She kept handing us menus and pointing to them and we finally realized she no longer had the piece of paper with the order on it. I was trying to pantomime the piece of paper to no avail. I finally spotted the bartender with it so I raced over and showed it to her. The two of them had a very long and serious discussion after which the waitress returned with the menus. I finally called Kathy on my cell phone. She talked to the waitress and sorted it out in no time.

Tomorrow we have basically a free day during which Kathy will pick up Gage's passport and some notary paper. Tomorrow night we will fly from Shenyang to Guangzhou which is about a 4 hour flight. Gage is really excited about the flight so please pray that it is smooth with no need for barf bags. The very sad news is that we will part with Kathy tomorrow night and she has been an absolute treasure. We will be joining a group of adoptive families in Guangzhou and will have two guides there. Since all Chinese adoptions end in Guangzhou with the US Consulate part of the process, there will be many other families there. 

Gage is stretched out on the bed in his very cute pajamas watching a Chinese cartoon on tv. I still can't believe it when I look at him! Love to all of you!