It has been a few days since I have updated everyone, because the internet is iffy over here in this hotel. We pay for it each day, but that doesn’t guarantee it will work.
We arrived in Guangzhou on Saturday, and we will stay here for the rest of our trip. It is really hot here. Like Florida hot. And we only packed for winter. I am wearing big boots all over the place, because when I went to buy new shoes, every store owner looked at my (big) feet and literally laughed. Apparently, in China, a size 9 means you need shoes specially made for you or shipped over from some other country where people have “plus-sized” feet.
You can tell by the fact I am talking about the weather and shoe shopping that today was a better day. I knew, with time, it would be. Not that the hard times are over, but they are not constant. And that is really good.
We shopped, ate out, sight-saw (is that a word?), and searched some of the side alleys, and Eyann seemed to actually enjoy herself. Keith took lots of pictures proving that she is actually requesting that I pick her up sometimes. This is a long way from the little girl who would only tolerate me if I worked REALLY hard to make her laugh, but would not even look at me if she was scared or upset at all. Which is everywhere in public.
It’s really hard to know who our girl really is at this point, because she has been forced into so many new situations and been with so many new people while at the same time grieving all of her old life and the people there. We’re not sure which parts of her are just because of the new situations she is in and which parts of her will stick, but what we think we can tell you about her is this:
She loves music. She sings almost constantly. Between Keith’s whistling and her singing, there is no end to the music in our room.
She likes eggs. She eats boiled eggs like candy. Two almost every breakfast time, and if I bring some back to the room, she will eat those too.
She’s a jewelry girl. So far, we bought her a bunch of hair ties, a bracelet, and a necklace, and she is constantly requesting more. We have to watch to make sure she isn’t walking off with one or two on her arm as we walk out of the stores. Queen Eyann, you might say.
I don’t think those things will change.
Last but not least, the girl is a charmer. And funny. Everywhere we go, she has people laughing out loud. Most of the time, we have no idea what she is saying, but whatever it is, it is funny. The nurse and the doctor laughed during her medical exam. The shop people laugh when she talks to them. The elevator guy laughs. The breakfast lady laughs. Everyone, everywhere, laughs, whenever the girl opens her mouth. And charming. Oh my word. Tonight, in less than five minutes, she had acquired some new barrettes and a little toy duck from the shop keepers, because they just think she is “so beautiful”. The nurse at the doctor’s office gave her a handful of candy, and somehow, after she stuffed all of that into her pockets, she almost got the guide to give her more. I told the guide no, and she looked visibly upset that I would deny this poor girl anything.
This kid? She gets what she wants from anyone.
She’s got some major skills.
Okay. Last, last. The girl likes to be held. We have hauled this big lug all over China, and even when we are both sweating our butts off, somehow, she is still being carried like the princess that she is.
We love this funny, charming, girly-girly who likes to sing a lot. We can’t wait for you to meet her. And we can’t wait to get to know her more.
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