Random thoughts

Its almost 7am on Saturday 11/30 (5pm cst on Friday).  I slept until 6am which is the latest I have slept in china.  I wake everyday at 4am.  Everyday here is kind of a blur and it's as if time doesn't exist.  It's really strange.  We get up at 4am, have morning cuddles with Emma Kate, get dressed, go to the breakfast buffet which is awesome here, then meet our guide in the lobby for some necessary appointment each day.  We are exhausted when we finally get back to our room and wanting to go to sleep between 3-5pm.  Yesterday was different.  I forced myself to sleep in a little longer and after our daily event we got back to our room and let EK rest for a while.  Robert and Carter usually walk somewhere and grab  some dinner and we eat and go to bed around 8-9 each night.  We weren't so sleepy as we usually are so we went to Haagen daaz (did I spell that correctly?) and we had icecream for dinner!  None of us were very hungry after our big lunch so it was perfect.  Then we walked to trust mart which is their walmart.  They even carry great value.  I captured some video and people were looking at me like I was crazy.  It was so funny!  Imagine that crazy foreigner walking around wih a video camera in walmart and on the street just videoing normal life.  I didn't care though, it's just very different here and I want to remember it.  There are so many people everywhere.  People selling stuff on the sidewalks and people begging.  We passed a lady with her two children sitting there begging for money, then an old lady walking around with her little silver bowl begging and she was very short.  She followed us for a minute saying something in Chinese holding her bowl out.  It was very weird, like we were in a movie. Then we passed another lady with an infant sitting on the ground begging and then one more lady with an infant and a child maybe 5 or 6 years old and the child was laying on the ground to sleep.  It was very sad.  There are disabled people sitting or laying in the middle of the sidewalks just begging.  It was heartbreaking.  Poor Carter, I just love his heart.  He wanted to give money to everyone.  It is also very noisy on the streets.  I will never forget the things I have seen, really makes you appreciate all that you have.

Today we have a completely free day and we will go to a local park, I think it's about a 20 minute walk.  No pics but I'll post some later.  We seem to have adjusted to the 14 hour time difference now.  Thanks for following our journey and for the prayers.