Thursday, 30 August 2007

Thursday, 30 August 2007
As expected, today began much like the other days. Kate woke around 7:15am and we all casually got ready before heading down to breakfast. After breakfast we were going to run a few errands but I wanted to exchange a little money first. Minor mistake. A nice man helped us get a number to wait in line and when we realized it would be a while (like Dan at work warned), mommy, Gram, and Kate headed back to check out the play room in the hotel. An hour later, I finally accomplished that item on the to-do list and went back to the hotel to retrieve our three ladies. They had a good time playing and meeting other adopted parents/children. Elizabeth even met up with another Greenville native. They had both heard about each other through a mutual friend at Furman and as luck would have it, they ran into each other right outside the Swan Room. A little bit of home when you are half way around the world never hurts.

We eventually went out and stopped at a few shops to pick up a few items and leave laundry and film to develop. Little Kate was falling asleep in her stroller so we went back up to the room to let her nap some.

After her nap, we went back out and walked around the island a bit. The first place we headed towards was the Catholic Church that was about 4 blocks away. It was a small church built/founded by the French in 1892. Unfortunately, all the signs were in Chinese except for one so it was hard to tell if it was still serving as a church. Just then, it began to rain so we turned to head back after a quick stop at the supermarket.

Upon arriving back to the hotel we decided to get an early dinner for a change and ate at the White Swan River Café. Not exactly the place to go to eat every day because they really thing highly of their food. It was good, but not THAT good. Either way, we knew what to expect and wanted to have a relaxing meal close to home base. During dinner, they came a draped small cloths (that match the table covers) over the purse and bags that we carried into the café. Oh such high class and me sitting there in my Crocs! Whatever.

Today was another good day for Kate. Eliz and Gram said that she did some things in the play room that she has not done yet. She reached for another baby and stood a little more on her own. Also, in the evening after dinner she was very chatty. She was babbling different sounds like “ma-ma-ma-ma-ma” and of course “dah”. She laughed good bit today and each day another layer of the onion is pealed away to reveal a remarkable little girl.

On Friday morning I hope the local ESPN channel will broadcast the first college football game of the year. My guess is they will not. I’ve seen more Australian rules football than anything. I also watched the USA basketball team destroy Puerto Rico (in Chinese) the other night. Oh yeah, they have HBO but most of the movies are about 10 years old. It is really bizarre, but good nonetheless.

KEG.