PIZZA!!

The topic of food has been a frustrating one for us. When we are with our guide, we have had some really good meals. He is able to take us to nice places and order for us. However, when we are not with our guide, getting food is very hard. It's hard to know what is good and where we should go. One of the other families told us that they had discovered a Pizza Hut. When we heard about the Pizza Hut, we knew that we would try to make it there for Sam's sake. One of the receptionists at the hotel wrote down the Chinese characters for Pizza Hut. So Jeff went with the mom from one of the other families to try and catch a taxi for us to go. As they stood out on the sidewalk, they were able to stop several taxis, but none would take us to Pizza Hut. To top it all off, it was raining outside, so they got soaking wet in the meantime. Finally the gave up and we ended up eating peanut butter and jelly in our room.

According to our guide, today is intended to be our "day off". A chance to rest and relax and do things on our own if we wanted. Since we had the extra time, we thought that we would try to walk to Pizza Hut. We set out at about 11 o'clock. We made good progress, but I'm pretty certain that we were not going the most direct route. We have become pretty used to having folks stare at us as we walk down the street. Some will even come up to us and try to ask us lots of questions in Chinese. Our adoption agency was aware of this and they gave us little cards to bring with us that described what we were doing in China and that we were adopting Caleb. As we were walking, we were approached by a couple of nice ladies who began to ask us questions. Luckily I had one of those cards in my pocket so I pulled it out to show them. Immediately the began to smile and give us thumbs up. We were somehow able to communicate that we were going to have Caleb's cleft fixed and they seemed very appreciative. Jeff decided to ask if they could point us in the direction of Pizza Hut. She got a huge smile on her face and said with a very thick accent, "aaahhhh, Pizza and coffee! Come, come..." She began walking with us and we quickly realized that she was taking us to Kentucky Fried Chicken. So, we corrected her and made sure she understood Pizza. She then brought a Police Woman over that she seemed to know and began talking with her in Chinese. They soon figured out where we should go and said we needed to get a taxi. They hailed a taxi for us and explained to the taxi driver who we were and that we wanted to go to Pizza Hut. They tried to pay him, but he wouldn't let them and we told them that we had the money. However, once we reached our destination, he would not take our money either. What an amazing gesture!

We were able to make it to Pizza Hut and had good salad and an amazing cheese pizza! It tasted so good! Sam ate several pieces. After we were finished we were able to walk back to the hotel. Even as we were walking back to the hotel, another older lady started walking with us. It's almost like these ladies were sent as our guardian angels to make sure that we were able to make it to our destinations safely.

At the risk of sounding repetitive, I know that your prayers are keeping us safe and helping our trip to run smoothly. Thank you!