journey4

Day 5 � Shanghai

We start the day at the breakfast buffet at the hotel. We manage well, considering our newness as parents. Grace downs a full bowl of congee with scrambled eggs. Mommy and Daddy manage to eat as well. Mrs. He picks us up at 9:00 and we�re off to yet another appointment. This morning it is the notary. We�re not sure exactly what he does� but we answer more questions on why we wanted to adopt from China and how we will treat Grace. After the notary, we return to the hotel. We have Mrs. He write down the name of the grocery/department store that we went to on Sunday in both Chinese and English. We bravely get in a cab, by ourselves, and head to the store. On the way the cab driver starts asking us, in Chinese, what seemed like, �Which exit off the highway should I take?�!! Somehow we manage to show him the correct exit, get to the store and head straight for the McDonald�s! After a lunch of Chicken McNuggets and fries we head into the store. We buy Grace a few more items of clothes (very cheap, only about $2-3 each), more baby food, fresh milk, bottled water and a cold Diet Coke for Mom.
Grace has a bad afternoon and we end up eating granola in the room for dinner, with ice cream drumsticks for dessert. Grace has noodles again. We all suffer through the night as Grace�s cold seems to be worsening. We have propped up one end of her crib mattress with a pillow, hoping that will help the congestion some and it seems to work.

Day 6 � Shanghai

No appointments today, yippee!! We have until 10:00 this morning before Mrs. He comes to get us for some sightseeing. We will be going to the YuYuan Gardens and old town Shanghai. We celebrate this a.m., as Grace has �graced� her diaper with her first poop! It is truly strange what excites us adoptive parents� After another buffet breakfast, we meet Mrs. He in the lobby and after another hair raising taxi ride, we arrive in Old Town Shanghai. It is a large complex built around a series of alleys that holds stores and restaurants. It is quite crowded and we�re seeing the most Caucasian people we�ve seen since arriving in China. We first head off to the YuYuan gardens. Jude has Grace in the Snuggli and I carry the camera. As we are waiting to enter the gardens a lovely, older, American couple approaches us. It turns out their daughter adopted from China last December (I believe I�m correct). As we toured the gardens, really a series of old buildings, we ran into them quite a few times. The gardens were beautiful. They were a series of interconnected buildings and garden settings, including a beautiful outdoor theatre. The stonework was amazing and we got some great pictures of the dragons festooning the fences. The detail work was incredible! After touring the gardens we headed to a large store (I believe it was a �friendship� store, a state run store) to look around. The only item we purchased was a beautiful lavender silk pajama set for Grace when she gets older (size 2). I�m finding I have major problems shopping since I like to look around without being bothered by clerks, and that is impossible here in China. After shopping we went for a wonderful lunch at a nearby restaurant. Mrs. He ordered for us and we had a shrimp dish, some wonderful stir-fried greens and a wonderful, spicy chicken dish. We fed Grace as we tried to eat. Looking back, it was quite comical. Grace really needed a nap at this point and started melting down a little. Mrs. He and I took Grace to another room in the restaurant for a quick diaper change and then we decided that it was time to go back to the hotel so Grace could nap.
After Grace woke up from her nap, we went for a walk in the lovely park across the street from our hotel. The park is filled with locals; some practicing Tai Chi, others playing chess and still more are �writing� on the sidewalks using water and paintbrushes. We never did find out what they were writing about. After our walk we went back to the hotel for a room service dinner of pizza and chicken satay (very good) and then bed. Grace�s cold is getting worse, but we see the doctor tomorrow.