Monday and Tuesday

Monday was an exhausting day. We went to the Pedestrian Market where there is everything you can imagine including KFC and McDonalds. We walked through a mall that is similar to ours but of course we couldn't read any of the signs.

We also went to the pearl market. It wasn't at all what I expected. It was a small store inside a shopping center and of course NO AIR. So there were about 6 families there trying to buy pearls and you don't just go in, pick out pearls, and buy them. The salespeople show you the different quality of pearls. You pick out what you want and then they thread the pearls right there. By the way they are helping 5 other families at the same time and only 1 of the 5 pearl stringers speak English. Of course all of the families are English speaking like us. So.... I tried to be patient. Kevin had Mia outside of the store and she was great for the 1st 15 minutes and then it was over. She wanted to leave. Well I was in the middle of picking out pearls and if anyone knows me they know that I can not make a decision quickly. I need time to think of it. Well Kevin was done and wanted to leave. So I thought it would be a great idea to take a picture of the lady beading Mia's pearls. So I did. So after much fussing and fighting with Mia, we left and finally got back to the cool bus.

We got back to the room to put Mia down for a much needed nap and guess what? Yep! I couldn't find my camera. Again! And no… it wasn’t on my arm this time. So of course we called Elvin! (At this point, are you wondering if he is paid enough to deal with Bridget King in China??) Elvin called the stores and even went back to the market to look for it. Of course with the population being 11million here and 10 million at the market today, I didn't really have hope that he would find it. I was devastated and very upset. So no luck -- no camera. Fortunately I had put most of my pictures on my computer, but still I had to have a camera for the rest of the trip. So Elvin took Kevin to a nearby electronic store to purchase another inexpensive camera to finish out our trip. I did have all 3 of my camera cards in my camera bag and had some pictures that I hadn't downloaded, but all is well. Now we have a new camera, but the handbook and the camera are in Chinese. So we went to the concierge and he changed our camera to English. I will try to download a handbook when I get home so that I can learn how to operate it.

When Mia gets mad at us, she climbs into her stroller and sits. We decided to buy a stroller to take back on the plane. We will use it for our layovers because she loves it so well. We figured it might diffuse some problems that we will likely encounter.


We went swimming last night and she loved it. She has no fear, but will not put her swimmies on. So we were a little concerned with her enthusiasm since she likes to run and play games so much. It unnerved me at the pool. But thankfully she was okay and she absolutely loved it.

Elvin has made contact with Mia’s SWI and has gotten more information for us about her first 2 and ½ years. Some of it is intimate information and we will keep it private for her. We have been able to learn a bit about Mia’s foster family. The father worked in business and she spent most of her time with the mom and their biological daughter who was 5 years old. The family lived about 20 minutes from the orphanage. They miss her so much and Elvin told the director to relay the message that she was in good hands and would be cared for forever. It adds to our sadness for Mia’s grieving to know that the foster parents are also grieving.

This afternoon, Kevin had some paperwork to do. We hope it is the last of it! It took him 2 hours so we planned to go out and shop. Kevin left the room and we agreed on a meeting place. Just as Kevin left, Mia managed to get under the desk and trip the breaker, so we had no lights in the hotel room. So I fiddled with it and couldn't fix it. I called the desk and of course “no speak English” she said. She would send someone. About 10 minutes later a lady came and I tried to explain through hand motions that we had no lights and once again said, “no speak English”. Getting frazzled at this point she went and got the repair man. Through my “sign language” (waving arms…) he understood what I was saying and fixed the problem. By now we only had about 30 minutes left to shop.

A typhoon is hitting Hong Kong tomorrow, so we will have winds and rain. We are “looking forward” to a day inside with our little version of a typhoon on wheels!

We are counting down the days to hug our stateside girls!! Can’t wait to be home!