Homework & TV

Today was a free day. We slept in until 9AM & then went down to breakfast. We ran into Sarah on our way back to our room. The girls had a fit because she had glasses on. They both thought it was awful for her to wear glasses. I just thought it was interesting to see the reaction from each of them. I knew Alison would have a fit because she says she hates glasses but then Emma did too.

We ride the escalator up to the third floor everyday as we come back to our room. I don't think Emma had ever rode an escalator before and we have used a number of them in our various shopping trips & the hotel in/out. She spotted it the first day & wants to take it up everyday. The up/down are side by side. Two days ago the hotel switched which one went up. She looked so confused with the stairs going the wrong way. She tried to walk up the down escalator. She didn't get too far.

We did homework most of the morning. With Alison being sick for a few days & a couple of longer travel days plus jet lag (mostly mine) she is behind in getting everything done. The rest of the week and the flight home will be homework focused.

We ate at McDonalds for lunch. The boiled chicken was not good when I got it the first time. The hamburgers are good but different so I went with the fried chicken sandwich. Well, that was good but very spicy. Emma ordered a cheese burger but didn't like it so Lynn went back and got her the same sandwich as mine. I told her it was hot so she took the chicken out of the bun & ate the bun w/ lettace & mayo all by itself ... every bite. Then she ate the chicken. Too funny.

We walked down the street window shopping. Alison wanted to go into an office supply store to get pencils. The whole store was about twice the size of our walk in closet. They had some cute pencils & pens. Emma bought a pen that when you push the open/close the nose or the top of the head has a peg that comes out like you are sticking out your tongue or blowing your top. Ok, stupid but that is what kids like. Our shopping was cut short because Alison had to go to the bathroom. Emma & I walked at leisure while Lynn & Alison hurried to the McDonalds. When we got there, we went to the courtyard beside the McDonalds entrance. The restroom was actually in a small shopping mall beside the McDonalds. Emma & I cooled off from our walk by sitting on a fountain stone wall. The fountain was not running & was almost dry. We sat there for a long time & then a guard came by telling us “no sit”. He also made another person get off of the wall. Ok, I know we all looked like vagrants and I am sure he thought we were setting up squatters rights for a nights rest! I finally decided to go look for Lynn since they had been ahead of us and we had waiting for some time. It seems Alison was stuck in the bathroom without paper. When I went in, I was greeting with “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? WHAT TOOK SO LONG?” I just can’t win.

We decided to go to the Trust Mart (more like the old (and I mean old) 5 & Dime and not a K-Mart knock off. Anyway, we went looking for movies. We bought a number of Chinese movies when we were here last time. Some still work & some don’t. We only brought one back with us. They are so cheap. Anyway, we got more of the girl / fairy / magic / preteen stories. We bought a box set. Alison understands them & it promotes the language skills. We also bought Ice Age 3 in Chinese. Emma wanted a Disney learn English book / CD. I also picked up a math CD set in Chinese. I thought it was a workbook but seems to be all DVDs. We picked up a couple of story books w/ CDs in Chinese / pinyin pronunciation. We got in line behind a lady with one cart. Then as they started working on that cart she backed up & pulled another cart in behind her. She was buying in bulk (maybe this is a very small Sam’s Club). Then as we finished our check out, I noticed the person in front of us taking her cart to a station & sacking her groceries. Now I know, we are in Aldies (I don’t know how to spell it since I don’t shop there)! Well, do we have a bag? Of course not. Can you buy a bag? … of course, but not at check out. So, we took Alison’s hooded jacket & wrapped our purchases up in that.

It is overcast and late afternoon. There is a breeze most of the time but we are walking and the humidity is about 90% & low 80’s. I am drenched each time I go out for a stroll. As we were coming back in, Alison says “you are hot”. Lynn says “of course she is hot”. Alison says “not hot like that Dad”. Then the whole discussion of not hot, HOT! She told Lynn the Jonas brothers were hot so when he sees a cute guy he asks her if he is hot. The same goes for a really cute girl. Don't get her started... Mom and Dad are NOT HOT!

When we got back to the hotel, I took a nap to cool off. Emma & Alison have watched about 4 of the pre-teen shows. Alison is eating her way through a bag of sunflower seeds. Emma ate left over chicken from lunch. I gave her cookies. Lynn & I ate a candy bar and that is our dinner. Oh, there were Pringles for Emma & Lynn… I ate a few but they were the original tasting Pringles & not the new & improved Pringles we have at home.

Oh, I forgot to tell you all about our dinner last night. I wanted to go back to the same restaurant that I had to leave early from because of Alison not feeling well (that was Sunday night). It is a large restaurant around the corner and up a million stairs (ok, maybe just two flights). Sunday night we had a curried chicken w/ potato that was GREAT. We also had broccoli w/ garlic & oil that was OUT OF THIS WORLD. I wanted both. They have a huge book of menu items with pictures! They have another two sided picture menu. Could I find either of these items on the menu…. NO! Did our waiter speak any English? NO. Maybe I did tell you all about this. I guess you can tell, it still bothers me. So I ordered a kind of chicken w/ something and what did we get? Shrimp w/ shells in the curry sauce. Chinese don’t eat with their fingers. They slurp, scoop, lick and have noodles hanging while they eat them but they don’t eat with their fingers. So how do you peel a shrimp? It was really good but impossible to eat and we had three napkins between us. I tried to appeal to a waiter that we had the wrong food but he insisted we had what was ordered for us. Oh well, we ate. Alison didn’t eat a bite. Emma ate the broccoli and the rice. That curried chicken / potato was so good. I guess I will have to see if I can find a recipe. Ok, I will stop complaining about our lack of restaurant ordering skills. And the shrimp was as good as the chicken but I had sauce up to my elbows!

I continue to get hugs today from Emma. She woke me up from my nap by coming in and lying in bed beside me... just for a snuggle and then she was off again. She has giggled and laughed out loud w/ the movies. I love to hear her laugh. I remember Alison laughing as she watched movies when we first got her. The girls feed off of each other and are such company for each other. Today at the store, Emma was blowing on Alison’s hair and Alison jerked around and yelled at her in Chinese. Emma just laughed & shrugged her shoulders at me. Like what is she upset about? Oh the days ahead.