Nothing too exciting

Our last few days in Xi'an have been spent mostly hanging around the pool and hotel. We have seen most of the famous sights and quite frankly, the kids need a break. McDonald's continues to be a favorite spot for food for them. B. and I went to the grocery store without our guide yesterday and managed with no problems. Afterwards, we took advantage of the fact that the boys were with Grandma and Grandpa to run a get a couple more "treasures" (as the boys call them) to bring home. I had seen a tea pot in a store in the Muslim quarter the night before and inquired about the price. The shopkeeper said something in Chinese and a guide that was in the store said "800". I decided not to get it, but the more I thought about it the more I wanted it so B. and I went back to get it during the day. There was a different shopkeeper there and she quoted the price as 600 so I was able to get the that one and another set for 700 (what I was planning to pay for the first one.) Now I am not sure why the price changed but I am begining to think that the guides get a cut of whatever we buy and the additional 200 would have gone to the guide who happened to be in the store. Often after we make a purchase Kaige has to go back to the store for some reason.... I am not sure I care that they get a cut- it is just rather interesting. My bigger frustration is with the act of haggling- I don't particularly enjoy it and am one of those people that either I want it or I don't and in many of the exchanges we have done we are talking about haggling over 100-200 yuan which is like 20 dollars- so it is not a big amount of money anyway. I guess if I was buying something more expensive I would be more motivated. It is part of the culture though and when in Rome...

We took D to the pool for the first time and little Miss I hate the bathtub LOVED the pool. We are hoping to get back today before we leave. The pool here is a heated indoor pool that is in a solarium type room. Yesterday the outside temp was in the mid 90s so the sun beating through the windows in the roof made the pool area easily 120 degrees (the tiles on the floor were too hot to walk on barefoot) and the pool was hot tub warm which is probably why the kids loved it. It is supposed to be cloudy today so hopefully that will keep the heat down alittle

Our agency had another family arrive yesterday. They are fabulous people. I had talked to the mom a couple of times via phone or email. Their daughter and D were roommates at the orphanage and we have lots of photos of them together from their lives there. The girls seem to recognize each other, but weren't overly excited to see each other (but what did we expect- they are babies) The other family lives outside of Chicago so we hopefully we be able to get together occasionally to keep the girls in contact with each other. I kind of wish we weren't leaving today cause the trip would have been much more fun with another family

We got all of D's finalized paperwork yesterday including her passport so later today we are on our way to Guangzhou- our last stop before finally being able to come home. We are ready to get home. D seems to be getting sick, she coughs and cries all night long but seems fine during the day (other than being over tired) and there is nothing that seems to really help her. I gave her half a dose of cough medicine last night and she coughed less, but cried more so the net gain in terms of sleep was zero (although she seemed more comfortable)

Our next post will be from Guangzhou