Up early

I seem to do this about every other day, wake up about 4 am. No big deal really, nothing to feel sorry for. Since we have no routine, my body isn't tired. Weird really. I'm usually one of those people who can set their watch by their belly. Not here, we've usually eating two meals a day, whenever we get around to it and feeling just fine.

Guangzhou is like an American outpost. I may have said this in the last post, but its really a lot like Tampa. Its warm, laid back, lots of shops, river running through it. Its by far the best city yet. There are also plenty of Westerners here. It sounds funny, but when everyone you speak to, you have to speak slowly, in small words, and repeat yourself, communication becomes a drag. It was really nice to have a conversation with someone yesterday on the way to the grocery store with whom I could speak normally. No Chinese person, that we met, can speak perfect English. They all struggle at some level. Our guides have by far had the best English, each one getting subsequently better (jack, our current one is pretty good), but you still have to watch how you phrase things and they sometimes get lost in our grammar.

Yesterday brought us to a Buddhist temple. It was a complex of smaller shrines with different Buddhas, who apparently have different powers, some larger than others. Assured it wasn't sacrilegious, I dodged suplicants to take good pics. Btw, our camera won't turn on so I have to use the camera in the video camera, grumble. Pretty, but tough to understand, as we have no familiarity with the religion, despite jacks very thorough explanations. Of the massive chinese population, only 7% are Buddhist, 4% Christian, and an even smaller number are home grown Taoist. The nation has no desire for religion. Their pride seems to be in their tradition and their professionalism. This temple was only the second to be built in south china and is over 1400 yreas old, which apparently to them is nothing. I terms of professionalism, I have seen only one slacker, and that was the lady at yesterdays checkout line.

She just didn't care. No emotion on her face what so ever. The American in front of me forgot to weigh her cucumbers and kiwi first, so when she got to them, she slammed to the side and gave a real annoyed look. When she finished ringing her up she glared at my friend, and tossed them into a basket behind her, then pouted.  Rude by american standards. When it was my turn, she asked if I wanted bags (you have to buy them here, its a law) then rang it all up, put it in a pile and set one bag on top. Apparently, I can bag it all myself, and fit it in one bag.  :-)

On the whole, however, they are very thorough in all they do. Service is full and complete and they seem to be 100% reliable. I've never had so many bags held, doors opened, buttons pushed for me in my life. Poor William (or so his name tag tells me) was in utter disgrace the other day at breakfast as I got my own high chair. When he saw he carrying it, he came running over to me, insisted I let him carry it the remaining 20 feet and had a conniption when he realized it needed to be wiped - I never saw any dirt. He was horribly embarrassed that I would take on that level of self-service.

After the temple, we went to a park and had a very nice stroll through. Jack works in tandem with a driver, and they really make a great team, so we were able to walk through it and be met on the other side.

It was the perfect day for a stroll, except for Steff who is in a sweat shirt and long pants, but more on laundry later. The park has great scenery, good shade and plenty to look at. There was a Kung Fu class, which I was forbidden from taping:-),  for boys going on just inside. Several parts have large groups sitting down doing a group sing along of old folks songs. There's a small carnival section with rides, some new to us. They have a go cart track for kids, where the cars run on batteries, like a power wheels car. There is a round, flat metal track that looks like a roller coaster track, with what looks like individual coaster cars on it, but they're not. The cars are actually pedal powered. Lastly, they have these large mechanical animals that run on wheels about the park that kids can ride.  There's also a playgroujd, but we tried one yesterday, but hope is afraid of it, so we didn't try.  Many people spend times at these parks using exercise equipment. Jack explained that apartments don't have enuf space for exercise, not even for a fold up ping pong table. But man, they're good at it. (Sorry Pastor Eric, its called ping pong here.) Its on TV every day and we even stood outside a sports school is Beijing, specializing in ping pong.

Lunch brought us to pizza hut, hallelujah, we didn't get sick from the soda! It was a weird menu, much bigger than ours. Sorry shana, we got a cheese stuff crust. Perhaps tomorrow we'll be more adventurous. I should add, however, that we have eaten Chinese several times. I typically split my breakfast plate between Chinese and western. We've gone out several times for Chinese and we even got Steff to use chopsticks once, but she usually uses the ceramic spoon. :-)

There is no such thing as a Chinese Laundromat.  Doesnt exist. They all do their own, so you have to get a service to do it for you. Apparently, we aren't the first ones to ask for a way to bypass these services and do it ourselves. The first person actually had to explain to jack what a Laundromat was.  We've tried doing it in the sink, but it takes at least 2 days to dry, no matter how hard we ring it, then smells of mildew.  I even tried to iron some things dry, which worked for some things, but not others.

Tonight, we went swimming. Rather, I did. Hope wasn't interested, but she did look adorable in her suit. It was freezing cold, I swam a few laps, got sore very quickly, and got out..... and fell right on my can. :-)  Steff was pleased, not just that I was OK, but that she got a front row seat. It wasn't some stumbling, bumbling thing... when I got out, my feet shot out and rolled right onto my side.  Sigh.

A strange side note, Hope hated the water and wanted nothing to do with it. Not just that, but she was upset by me going into it. She was very afraid for me. We just wonder sometimes, what have you seen, my little dear, over the last year? She was in a good orphanage, but I keep realising, there's a big difference between a day care and an orphanage, even though they look the same. A day care watches kids, whereas an orphanage manages them.  I beg you to pray for these kids, over several hundred million world wide, who's heads are getting flat because they lay down all the time, who's bed time routine is lay down with a bottle in your crib, and who have never had a proper bath. As we uncover more of her personality, we uncover more and more things that must have been so stressful on a little girl. We'll talk in person about some of them for those who are interested, but this is certainly not the place for details.

Praise God for the two babies who will be adopted out of that room shortly, 1 in only two weeks and thank you for the families who bring them into their families.

It is important to note, that despite my prior words, this is a good orphanage.  The nannies genuinely care for them and perhaps even love them.  They were very happy to see Hope go, knowing she would have a better life. The nannies work hard and seem to be happy doing what they do.

Prayer requests:

Despite Biblical mandates, we are spending a lot of time worrying for tomorrow, or specifically Wednesday's flight back. Steff has many more strengths than I, but holding a squirmy, cranky, 16 month old who doesn't know you for 15 hrs on a plane isn't one of them. Hope has chosen Steff to be her anchor through this time of transition (praise for a good step in the right direction) but she will only sit with Steff. I can carry her, play with her, whatever, but I cannot sit with her, she'll scream. We're praying that we'll be granted a bassinette seat, but there's no way to confirm that until we arrive.

Thanks again to all for your verses, that was a big blessing. Plz continue to pray for Steff, as she's horribly, terribly homesick. Plz pray for me so that I can find good ways to support her and love her.

Brian

PS> today is consulate appt day. Hopefully we got the time right, cause there was a discrepancy in the paperwork.