Saturday

We went to another park today. It was about an hour away. It was really pretty though. They had lots of koi all thru it - really big koi. We saw kidney bean flavored ice cream, but decided not to get it.
While we were there they were filming a video for something like Chinese MTV. There was a little girl that had won something like Chinse American Idol. (So cute.) And all these other little girls dressed up in different traditional Chinese dress were the back-up dancers. I think she was lip-syncing though. There are 56 different ethnic groups in China. 92% are made up of the Han group and the other 8% are the other 55.
his has been an amazing experience, but I'm really getting ready to come home. I miss America. I'm getting tired of not being able to drink the water. Of having to rinse my toothbrush with bottled water. Of having to boil water to make bottles. 2 English speaking tv channels. Lots of little things that we normally take for granted.
Laundry is a whole other issue. I thought I'd do laundry here at the hotel. Not so. You can't do laundry. You have to have it done. People don't own washing machines. Most everyone washes their clothes out in the sink. I had even gone to the laundramat and bought little one load boxes of detergent to do laundry. It did me no good. I have to send it out. Rosa can send it somewhere for less than 1/2 what the hotel will charge, but it's still really pricey. I've started washing what I can out in the sink (what will dry rather quickly) and hanging it all over the bathroom each evening. (It rather looks like a Chinese laundry.) What we have sent out, is done really well though. I sent it out in a couple of trash bags. It came back in their bags. BUT, each shirt was in it's own plastic bag, all the socks were in a plastic bag, each persons underwear was in a plastic bag - even my trash bags came back in a plastic bag!
Leila seems to be feeling better today. That REALLY helps. The 6-9 month clothes that I brought fit her lengthwise, but everything is too big thru. All the pants fall off of her. She has no butt. Austin said she needs a belt. I told him that they don't make belts for babies. He's decided that a dog collar would work fine.
We have no plans tomorrow. We've decided to take a taxi and venture out on our own. Pray for us on that one. The roads here are unreal. Not the roads, but the drivers. One of the other families in our group, described crossing the road like playing a game of Frogger.