Burnt coffee, congee and bathtub laundry

The last couple of days have been filled with sight seeing, hotel room time, venturing out with the family for supper/shopping and more hotel room time.

Generally our day begins with breakfast at the hotel buffet.  I usually try to get my vegetables in. :)  My plate generally holds an egg with soy sauce, bok choy, broccoli or cabbage and some sort of pastry or bread.  Jeff has had a variety of items.  Sam and Caleb have been living on cereal and bread.  And, Jonathan eats whatever is on my plate, because what I get him is not nearly as interesting.  His foster mom told us that he typically had congee for breakfast.  For those of you who don't know what that is, it is basically milk paste and rice.  He went to town on that the first day, but after tasting a few other things off my plate, he didn't really have any more to do with that. 

Although they are very sweet to have coffee for us every morning, it really leaves a lot to be desired.  It definitely has been sitting on a hot plate for a while and is VERY burnt.  Jeff couldn't even finish his yesterday.

After breakfast, we typically come back to the hotel room to Skype with family.  (That is a highlight of our day!!)  Then we usually meet Iffie in the lobby around 10 to go sight seeing for a couple of hours.

We have visited a local Monastery/Park, Pavilion and today we will be visiting a "flea market."  We have seen a lot of cool/amazing things. One thing that we weren't expecting was seeing quad copters at the monastery. :)  We had to get a few pictures for Uncle Frank!  There were also wild monkeys at the monastery which the boys loved seeing.

 

Once we get back to the hotel, we have a lot of free time.  Usually Jonathan will take a nap and we'll try to find other things to do.  Yesterday I actually got the opportunity to run on the treadmill.  It was definitely something that has not been used much.  It squeaked with every step. (Good thing I had my earphones with music!)

Last night I also attempted something that I had never tried before.......bathtub laundry.  The last time we came to China, our guide arranged for us to have our laundry done.  We learned our lesson that time....it was very expensive!  So, this time I brought some travel packets of Tide and attempted it myself.  Let me tell you.....that is HARD work!!  But, we have clean clothes......they're still wet, but they're clean!! :)  That was my second workout of the day.

 

We also try to venture out each evening to get supper and do a little shopping.  We've been able to have pizza from Pizza Hut twice and the boys were able to have grilled cheese and French fries last night.  Jeff had a cheese burger, which he tolerated since it was obviously a frozen beef patty.  We also do a little shopping, however have quickly learned that it is not easy.  Typically the cashier cannot speak English and communication is very difficult.  We also continue to have a lot of pointing and stares.  Needless to say, by the time we do that, we are exhausted and ready to head back to the hotel.

Nights are going better and Jonathan is mostly sleeping through the night.  He also is crying less when we get back to the hotel room.  We're still having some issues with jealousy between him and Caleb, but that is also getting better.  Whenever we can have them sitting or playing beside each other without Jonathan hitting or biting Caleb, we consider it a major success!

We will be flying out tomorrow from Guiyang and heading to Guanzhou where we will spend the remainder of our trip.  We will re-unite with the other AWAA families and will have access to other hotel amenities such as pool, gym, basketball court and STARBUCKS!!!