Day 4 happenings (Wednesday)

Have a good connection, so will type while I can.

Today we don't have any adoption business, so we are taking it easy. Actually I think we are pretty much done with adoption stuff except for Friday when we pick up Sarah's passport. We fly to Guangzhou (U.S. Consulate city) on Saturday morning.

So we went to Walmart this morning. Now what would life be like without a trip to Walmart at least once a week, right? Walmart was remarkably similar to home and there were lots of American brands. We bought Sarah some more diapers (Pampers), some small crackers for snacks, a baby spoon, another bottle, some juice, and some Ritz crackers with chocolate filling (for us!) We paid 130.70 RMBs, which is less than $20 USD.

Then we went to KFC for lunch!! I was really looking forward to this. We have been eating in traditional Chinese restaurants, and the food is good, but tends to be a little spicy and just "different", of course.

KFC is wildly popular here. I have seen more KFC's here than any other fast food chain. There are at least 4 KFC's here in Nanchang--probably more. KFC was also very similar to home, except for the potatoes and gravy. Added bonus: KFC's here have french fries!! Ahh, my most favorite junk food! And orange fanta-- most of the time we have seen just sprite and coke.

I have also seen McDonald's here (Ike says there are over 100 McDonalds in Beijing) and Pizza Hut. We actually had Pizza Hut for lunch yesterday. It was good, but a little more expensive than most other food. The Chinese restaurant we've been eating at in the evening usually costs about $10 USD and gives huge portions. We've yet to finish the food on the plates. Sarah loves the rice but hasn't eaten much else at dinner.

Last night I asked Ike if we could have egg rolls at the restaurant and he said, "Egg rolls? What are egg rolls?" I couldn't believe it! It was kind of embarrassing! So I tried to explain egg rolls to him, but wasn't getting anywhere. He thought they were some kind of dessert. So now I'm wondering if egg rolls are truly an American invention or what. I realize our American Chinese food is different than authentic Chinese food, but was surprised by the egg roll thing.

So, anyway, back to the story. We gobbled up lunch. Sarah enjoyed the french fries (!) and the bun from my chicken sandwich.

Now we're back at the hotel. Dave has been waking up every morning at 3 am and watching tv. And then of course I'm up, too! The sleep thing is a real adjustment. We'll probably about get it figured out and then fly home. So Dave and Sarah are both napping right now. Can I tell you how nice it is to have a baby that actually naps on a schedule? We just lay her in her crib (with a bottle-- I know it's a no no, but that's what her foster mom does, so I'm going with it!) and she falls asleep. This will be such a life saver for me when we get home. Jason is pretty high maintenance in the evenings, so if I can just lay Sarah down, then he will feel a little better about Sarah and I will be able to give him some individual attention.

We've been following the election results on CNN, so we aren't feeling too out of the loop. (We voted absentee before we left). But here's an interesting observation. The Chinese are also very interested in our presidential election. On one of their news channels they have a whole "set" decorated with American flags and are tabulating the results just like they do on CNN. The election is in all the Chinese newspapers, too.

OK, more later. And more pictures, too!