Department Store

November 11, 2004

AR's sinus infection is getting worse. He elt so miserable that he just wanted to stay in bed all day. We are waiting for Katrina's Chinese Passport, so we still do not have any official adoption paperwork to do today.

Another adoptive mom in our group was itching to get out of the hotel. I told her that I wanted to get out too, so we met up with the babies and walked to a local department store. It was a big marketplace and since it is mainly used by the locals, we attracted a lot of attention. My mission was to go in and try to find some sort of medication for AR.

I walked up and down every aisle and finally found some meds. Of course, none of these meds were ones that I would buy at home, but there was not a big variety to choose from. I bought Contact cold meds for AR. I know he had a sinus infections, but I couldn't find anything for that at all.

The mom I went out with made the trip with her mom. Her husband was afraid to fly. She was definitely disappointed that he was not experiencing what she was being in China, but she couldn't force him. She was grateful to have her mom along for the help. I know people have adopted a child without their spouse or another adult accompanying them on the trip, but I don't know how they do it! What if AR came and I didn't? How would he handle the baby when he was so sick? I am glad that we came together and are experiencing the culture first hand.

At night I looked over the paperwork tha the notary and registrar prepared for us earlier in the week to ensure there were no typos. Everything was spelled correctly.

We ordered dinner from room service. Katrina napped so much during the day thats he did not want to sleep at night. She cried and cried and cried. AR cannot bear to hear his sweet baby cry and so he picked her up and walked her up and down the hallway. I gave her a bottle of formula which she gulped down quickly. She finally fell asleep at 9 pm and we fell asleep shortly thereafter.

A trip to Walmart

November 9, 2004

Well there is nothing like a trip to Walmart to counter a trip to a poverty stricken village, right? After the village we did take the bus to a Walmart so that we could buy some baby supplies that we needed. For $24 U.S. dollars we purchased: Pampers diapers, baby wipes, sippy cup, 2 onsie outfits, baby cold medicine, three 2 liter bottles of water, one bottle of orange juice, one bottle of jasmine tea, a box of Ritz crackers and a box of Oreos.

The Walmart had three levels. It had three conveyer belt ramps that allowed you to take your cart to each level. It was way better than an escalator. The Walmart looked pretty much like Walmarts in the U.S. except that the foods were significatly different. One level had a fish market on it. I am not so enthralled with Walmarts in the U.S. http://www.alternet.org/story/21658/ , so I didn't want to spend a lot of time there.

Some of the families took longer than others in the store. We were all supposed to meet at a certain time to get back on the bus. Katrina was hungry and I didn't really have any food for her since I thought we would be back at the hotel already. There was a KFC next to the Walmart, so I dashed in there to buy her some mashed potatoes.

In fast food places in China you order by point to pictures on a menu. Everyone orders this way, not just foreigners like us. I pointed to the taters and was served quickly. Katrina had her first taste of fast food and she liked what she ate. She ate the potatoes in the bus and because of the long day she missed her nap and was cranky. She fell asleep on me on the bus ride back to the hotel. She did not wake up as I carried her from the bus to our room on the 14th floor. She was exhausted.