So Long *Hefei* Buffet (Which Rhymes, By the Way)

We had our last meal at the Qiyun Hotel this morning.  I don't know how they'll get along without us tomorrow.  I won't miss the food after 6 days of the same thing, but I'll certainly miss the view out the window.  There are 7 million people in *Hefei* and 6 million of them walk, pedal, scoot, or drive by these restaurant windows everyday.  It's a people watcher's paradise.  These still pictures just can't capture the scene.  Imagine the continuous variety of horns honking, the putt-putt of the scooters, the clang of the bicycle chains.  Put this picture into motion, and it's a thing to behold.  There is a narrow strip in front of the hotel and just beyond the cars in the foreground is a row of cars parked here and there and beyond those cars is the street.  On the left where it looks sandy are about 15 men on their hands and knees laying down a strip of bricks with string lines and rubber mallets in the midst of all this.  Most of the traffic goes to the right, but you never know when someone is going to come from the other direction.  More horn honking follows, but it just keeps right on moving.  I don't imagine the rhythm will change tomorrow without us, but maybe any of those 6 million who saw us in the window everyday for a week will  wonder where we are.

Ticket 2 Ride

Is that Maryn or our taxi driver?

Who doesn't love taking their kids to an amusement park and having them wave to you as they go past on the merry-go-round?  Doesn't matter what age the child, it's heartwarming, and when a child gets off every ride and says, "Sank you, mommy," well, that makes it even better.  The rides were small and harmless looking and we were reassured at each Table of Admission Fee to Scenic Spot, otherwise known as the ticket booth, that the ride had passed it's safety inspection, although we had no idea in what year that was because the certificate was written in characters.  Among the rides they rode were little cars on a track, hopping kangaroos, a squirty thing, and a carousel, for which we may have even shelled out extra money for them to ride on the second level, but we'll never know for sure.  We walked all around the park.  They operated little boats in a sectioned off part of the lake, took lots of pictures, and we had our picture taken.

It was really fun, and later in the day Maryn told us "Thanks, I had a really good time at *Disneyland* today."  Now, doesn't that warm your heart, too?

 

Taxi!

Too much time in the hotel room makes us, Tom and I, feel like caged animals and, remember, I said there wouldn't be anymore caged animals on this blog.  We were desperate enough for something to do that we were willing to accept the idea of a ride in a taxi to a park this morning.  When we got in, Maryn said, "Mom, there's no seatbelts.  That's dangerous," but like a good mom I comforted her by saying "It's dangerous even with seatbelts."  But once Tom offered up the idea of using our backpacks as airbags, I could sit back, relax and enjoy Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.  I even managed to almost double over with laughter at one point so it was quite enjoyable.  When we arrived at our destination, we found out it was an amusement park, and there we were already amused before we even got there.

The girls went on a number of rides, powered little boats in a sectioned off part of the lake, slid down an elephant slide, and had a memorable time.  When it was time to leave Tom was eager to get back in a taxi for the best ride of the day.

One More Thing, And It's a Big One

Tenley and I were holding hands walking in the park this morning with Tom and Maryn steps ahead.  She smiles A LOT, but she doesn't say much, yet.  She gave a gentle tug on my arm to stop me, looked me in the eyes and said, "Wo ai ni,  mommy."  I'm not even going to translate that cause it just might take away from the magic of the moment, but it was special, and so is she.

A Walk in the Park

We walked down the street this morning to see Lord*Bao Park.  It was about a 10 minute walk, and we felt like big shot wei (why) guo (gaw) ren (run) (= foreigners) with directions and a small map on a card written only in Chinese characters.  No big deal.  Now, it will completely ruin the scene I'm trying to create here if I admit that we could see the park right across the street for 9.5 minutes of that 10 minute walk, but it just took that long to get to an intersection (which is really not the correct term to use because intersection sounds so neat and orderly, almost safe, if you will, and it truly is anything but) where we could cross the street.  Once there, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.   It was a photographer's dream, especially for the newest photographer of the bunch, with something to capture at every turn.  A long, long time ago, Lord*Bao was a very righteous man, not to sound so 70's or anything, but those were the words our guide used, and they carried a lot of weight coming from her.  The beautiful temple pictured above was built to honor him way back in 1999.  What???  No, that's not a typo, although I'm sure it could just be Chinglish, but that's what the sign said.  Never thought I'd live to see the day I would be able, without shame, to admit that I was around the year a Chinese temple was built, but this is it.  Oh, well, it certainly looked ancient, and the view from the fifth floor was marvelous.  Dad, you would have loved it.  Off in the distance we could see the hotel we stayed in the last time we were here in 2009.  It was a much different experience then than it is now.  We couldn't step outside the hotel without people staring at us, mouths agape, pointing at us and taking pictures.  We're noticed everywhere we go now, but it's much less dramatic for the noticers and more tolerable for the noticees.  Maryn's going without sunglasses now, having learned how to look right past the people looking at us, and Tenley's just happy to be out and about, I think.

Tomorrow evening we will meet with the guide we had last time we were here.  Her name is Jane, and I know she has been the guide for many other families who have come here.  She will be knocked over when she sees how Maryn has grown.

Tom and I are eager to move on to the next location.  While I certainly love a hotel buffet that serves "Blue Gordon Chicken," I haven't been eating dinner at night, and I'd really like to try a room ventilation system that offers something in a cool, refreshing menthol!  Which is reminding me how this morning, three 20's ish men were sitting in the park, and when they saw us they said, "Hi!"  Tom said hi back, and they were desperately trying to pull any tiny bit of English out of their heads that they could without much success, so one of them did the next best thing and offered him "a smoke".  We gave them the universal sign for are you out of your minds, we don't smoke!  I pulled a tiny bit of English out of my head and with a wagging index finger told him, "and you shouldn't either."  They laughed, and we walked on toward the "ancient" temple of Lord*Bao.

A Pair of Aces

We didn't need to get up and get somewhere this morning so we slept in till 6 a.m., the same time we needed to get up the last two days to get somewhere in the morning.  Grumble.  Maryn started coughing and came to our side of the adjoining room and got in the bed.  I don't know what it is about the beds and sheets here, but they are noisy and when they are being rolled around on by a coughing 10 year old, there's no going back to sleep.  Yesterday we spent a good part of the day in a dusty place, and that got her coughing.  This morning we went to a dusty temple, and she started coughing.  Now, we're in the smokey smelling room and here comes the coughing.  Our allergy testing is complete, and as I typed that just now, kid you not, I heard a guy sneeze twice.  Wish I could holler to him to take two squirts of *Flonase* and call me in the morning - 6 a.m. to be exact.

The girls are getting along like old friends and new sisters.  They come together holding hands, laughing, content and then separate spending time in separate rooms.  That goes on through the day, like an unchoreographed dance.  It's language and figuring out the new roles their playing.  To sum it up, they're getting along beautifully, and it shows in the pictures.  Tenley is a doll, always smiling and kind.  Whenever we heard any little, tiny bit of information about her, that's what it was.  They were right, and we are blessed.

It's Official!

Both pen and thumbprint were put to paper this morning, and we are officially a family.  It was a wonderful, memorable day.  The picture tells the story, and, as I sit here at the keyboard tonight, I can't think of any better way to say it.