Tea and Silk Market

While last night (for us) ended with a wrestling match (and a little King Fu thrown in), today was mostly a catch-up day, since many of the families in our travel group arrived late last night. As I told you yesterday, they all went to have passport photos made and then to the medical clinic for physicals and immunizations...so we had a free morning! We started it by having breakfast with all of our new friends that we started with in Beijing...it was really neat to finally meet these darling children that we had heard so much about and waited so long to finally meet. The kids all got along great and it was nice to hear of similar sibling rivalries in the other families.
We decided to walk around the whole of Shaiman Island (not that big) and along the way noticed a Chinese medicine clinic that specialized in massages. My darling husband insisted that I go in with Peggy, and after an hour of being tortured (not really, but I am soar), I came out a new woman. So great was the experience, that I booked an appointment for Jay right after me. He graciously took the boys to the park where they ran out some pent-up energy and we met them back an hour later at the Starbucks. When I arrived, the boys were just finishing their ice cream so I ordered up a coffee and we enjoyed the milder temperatures of the day out on the patio. While we were sitting there, all the other families came by as they were returning from the clinic so they joined us and we had a great time sharing stories and advice!
While Jay was getting his massage, I brought the boys back to the hotel for cup-o-noodles and a nap! While I thought it was a great idea, I had a REALLY hard time waking them up an hour later to head out to the tea and silk markets with our guide.
The tea market area was fascinating...I knew that there was a lot of tea in China, but had no idea how many varieties and the proper way in which one should prepare and serve the tea. One of the coolest things we saw was a large jasmine flower that had been picked and dried before it bloomed. When the hostess added the hot water, the thing bloomed in the pot before our very eyes...see the attached picture...way cool...and the smell...amazing! We're bringing some home to show you all!
The boys got bored with the whole affair very quickly. Luckily, the shop owner (who also lived in the apartments in the same building) had a 6 year old boy that had a lot of boy toys for them to play with (swords, cars, etc). We made a quick pass through the silk fabric area so that I could pick up some scarves to bring home. All in all, it was a good day...while I'm sure this makes for a boring read, I must also share the continued transition of our newest addition. As I mentioned yesterday, he is like a whole new kid after seeing his foster family and he talked non-stop, today (except for the waking up after the nap thing).
Tomorrow is a visit to the pearl market and provincial gift shops (not sure what that last thing means, but will let you know tomorrow).
For now, all is quiet here in GZ. Thanks to all of our family and friends for their comments! We come in each day to see who has read the blog and it means a lot to us. We will be able to save them for the time when we print this whole thing out and put it into a book for Enyi (kind of like a baby book).
Love from China!