A Free Day

Today is Friday and it was a free day from sightseeing and formal adoption appointments so we could really do what we wanted for the whole day. We decided we would go to China's version of Barnes and Noble - it's a 4 story bookstore in the middle of Guangzhou. We took a cab and were definitely amongst the locals and away from tourists as we were the only westerners in the place- other than an Australian guy who was looking for maps and asking for them quite loudly- it was funny! Our main goal for this outing was to get my niece Betty some books and cds in Chinese. My niece Betty is 13 and was adopted about 2 months ago. Fortunately Betty had written me out a nice list of what she wanted in Chinese so I could hand that to the workers and they could help me. Two of the books were part of the Twilight series so I managed to find those on my own but the rest took several people helping us trying to figure out just what she needed.

The bookstore itself was huge and packed! Either the Chinese really love to read or they were trying to escape the heat. There were rows and rows of people sitting all over the place just reading books. I almost took a picture but figured I better not since we weren't really where anyone spoke English. The books are also really cheap! About $5 a piece for those Twilight books. Of course Bobby has gone into great thought as to why the books are so much cheaper- you can ask him about it sometime...when you have the time :) We ended up with two large stacks of books. We also got Alex a few Disney movies in Chinese- $2 a piece- not bad! They do not give you bags, they tie the books with twine. It was sorta fun, I felt like I was headed to school on Little House on the Prairie as we left the bookstore. On the way back in the cab Alex tried on my sunglasses. She had a great time with them. We will have to get her a pair tomorrow. It was a great way to spend the morning, I'm so glad we ventured out!

It is really hot here and we have had storms almost every day. After lunch Alex took a long nap. I snapped a few photos out of the window of the storm- it was so cool how the clouds were coming up off the mountain and joining the storm. After the rain stopped I snapped another photo outside our window of the traffic. The traffic here is insane!!! There are basically no rules, its somewhat of a free for all. The buses get so close together you are sure they will hit but as of yet I haven't sen a crash. I will try to get some pictures this week.

We had a nice dinner in the hotel, at a little more casual Chinese restaurant. They have tanks of fish and other seas creatures where you can select your dinner yourself. There are also some ducks, chicken and every part of the animal roasting for your viewing pleasure. I personally stuck to the fried rice and dumplings- those were very good- can't comment on the other items :) Alex continues to adjust well. She is loud and happy! It works for me!