Hm....

I don't know how to title this blog entry... there's too much to say to simply give it a short name! Right now, it's 11:40AM here, so lunch will be shortly, so I don't have time to contemplate a good name.

Of course, I know that you don't read this blog to hear about my problem of what I should title this blog. But, it was probably one of my favorite days yesterday.

Pearl Market vs. Shopping Mall

Yesterday, there was a planned trip over to the Pearl Market. Our family decided that the Pearl market wasn't as appealing as sticking around and doing other stuff. So, we stayed (I think someone said that only like three families went).

Some of our friends here told us about this outdoor mall on the other side of the river. We decided to go. But before you arrive there, you have to pass through the evil-medicine-market-of-disgustingness-that-nobody-should-have-to-pass-through-to-arrive-at-such-a-wonderful-place-as-a-mall (got all that?).

I won't go into details about the medicine market, but if you actually smell and look and the stuff there, it will make you nauseous (at least it does that to me). But, it was only like 5 minutes through there until we arrived at the outdoor mall!

One of the best things was that it wasn't like Americanized at all. Our family and the family we walked over with were the only Americans in there. Everyone else was Chinese. It was so awesome!

The prices there were good! I ended up spending somewhere under $100 (I don't know what I spent exactly...) But, I got quite a bit of stuff! My purchases:
- A pair of Converse All Stars (they're pink and brown! lol)
- 2 long sleeved t-shirts
- A furry white vest thingy (it's so cozy!)
- A brown coat (like a winter coat) and the hood is fuzzy! (Cass got the same one, but without the fuzzy hood... that was a little bit extra, but I liked it)
- A pink sweater thing (it's hard to explain it exactly)

We're planning on going back. I'm totally going to bring more money with me!! The only reason we left as early as we did (I think we only spent like an hour and a half there) was because we began to run out of money (well, at least my sisters did).

Picture time!

After we returned from the mall, it was time to get all dressed up and get the pictures taken of our travel group. Every family had a picture taken of just their family and then there was a picture taken of everyone all together. After those were taken, there was a picture of all the kids being adopted in our group.

Our family decided, though, as we were already dressed up to take a picture over by the waterfall in the hotel. So, that's what you're seeing in the picture.

It's hard to see in the picture, but Josh's hat is really amusing. It's one of the hats that has a braid sewn on the back. It's a really long braid, too.... quite amusing.

Riverboat cruise

At 6:40PM, everyone met downstairs for a riverboat "cruise". It was only like an hour an a half, but it was really fun. And it was so beautiful! The lights on the different buildings all looked awesome in the night (it was really easy to see them from the boat). And it was so relaxing...

This is our hotel. See how close it is to the river? Our rooms unfortunately don't have a view of the river.

On our way home from this expedition, a little white car tried to squeeze past our bus, but did so with unwanted results. When this happened, everyone on the bus could hear the loud scraping noise.

When this happened, the bus obviously had to stop. The police and some other people had to come and check out this accident (in all honosty, there was basically only a few dings on the car and the bus only had a few scratches).

We waited probably close to an hour for another bus to come and pick us up for the short 15 minute drive back to the hotel.

But, it was a good day. Extremely good, in fact.

Tomorrow, we have the swearing in for Amy... and then the next day, we are heading home! I can't wait to return to the United States! I mean, China is gorgeous and I would definatly come back, but I miss my home!! Luckily, it's only 2 more days!!!