BLESSINGS
12/6: Today's post will be a short one as it is late here and I am really tired. Eleanor has decided to fight sleeping lately and so bed-time takes a lot longer. Then last night she woke up at 2:00 am and while she went back to sleep, I have been up ever since.
In the morning we had to stick around the hotel as Marcia took our documents over to the U.S. Consulate. Apparently the Consulate is incredibly nit-picky and we got caught in it when it turns out that on one document I wrote Ming Ye and not Shao Ming Ye, so they sent the document back and Rich had to then go to the Consulate and re-do the document. One of our agency people said that the U.S. Consulate does a lot to yank people's chains here. However, all is resolved and we have the swearing in ceremony tomorrow afternoon.
The highlight of the day was a visit to the Temple of the Six Bayan Trees which is a Buddhist Temple. There is the main temple, but also several smaller buildings all surrounding several different courtyards all of which have altars and incense burners. It was very beautiful and it was really wonderful to watch all of the Chinese coming in to light incense and pray. We were each given three sticks of incense to light and leave burning. As you place the incense into the burners, you make a wish. I am quite certain that almost all of our group's wishes centered around the newest blessing in each of our lives.
We then entered the Grand Hall which has three huge (10 tons each) Buddha-like brass statues. We took off our shoes and all kneeled and a Buddhist monk sang a blessing of our daughters. It was very beautiful and moving.
On the other end of the spectrum, we then went to a DVD store which was on the third floor of a building in a small and dingy room. I felt like someone was going to open up their coat and say "hey, lady, you wanna buy some watches?" or some such thing. I guess no visit to China is complete without buying pirated DVDs. Rich and I stayed for about 5 seconds and walked around outside instead.
What was interesting about our walk is that we found that shopping areas become "designated" areas for certain products. For example, all around the DVD "room" was store after store after store selling electronics of every kind. They are essentially big malls of just a certain category of goods. At the end of that street was a street filled with just draperies and textiles -- every store! I suppose it makes comparison shopping easy! That said, just one mall-like electronics store was about the size of Watertower place. Too many choices for me!
Okay, off to bed for me -- tomorrow will be a flurry of final shopping, the Consulate appointment and packing. It is absolutely unbelieveable that the time has come and gone so quickly. I wonder how I will ever remember all of the feelings and impressions I have had about this life-altering event and I am sad to leave the birthplace of our child and wonder everyday when we will be able to bring her back and just how different a place it will be then. Already I understand that that she will grow up all too fast!
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