Pandas and Tea

We have had a great Tuesday in Fuzhou so far! Right now Randy and Calli are both napping. Calli is going on two hours of sound sleeping in her stroller! That is the longest she has slept yet without waking up and fussing a little. We'll be trying sleeping in the stroller again tonight!

I tried to take a nap but couldn't fall asleep. Jet lag I guess, or time change. We may go take a walk around the lake in front of our hotel later - it's a nice day here. We ordered a Papa Johns pizza for lunch and it was the best thing I've had since Lisa brought Olive Garden home for dinner the night before we left! We'll be ordering that again!

Randy posted earlier (if you haven't read his post yet, scroll down below this one and read it first). He wrote about how Calli is doing and about how today has been better for her and I. Here is a picture of us sitting together eating breakfast this morning! She sat with me the whole time and let me feed her. Progress!

Note about breakfast:

- See that little cup of coffee? I have about three of those every morning. Randy teases me, but I remind him that each cup is like three drinks! So tiny, but oh so good with warm milk and lots of sugar. :)

- I also have two bowls of that raisen bran cereal every morning. Thankful for normal to me foods!

- Calli drinks so well and eats so well. We haven't found anything yet that she won't or can't eat! She's awesome!

After breakfast we met the two other families who are here and our guide to go to Panda World. It's a panda rehabilitation place. Kendall and Cooper would have loved it! We saw Giant Pandas as well as what the Chinese call "lesser pandas." We call them Red Pandas and we have seen one at the Houston Zoo. This first giant panda is very popular there and is the oldest panda - 36 years old. Our guide said they typically live to be about 22.

We learned they eat about 50 kilos of bamboo a day - I think that's like 100 lbs!

Loving that she let me carry her!

 Randy bought the girls a panda puppet in the gift store to add to their puppet theater collection. He handed it to Calli and she immediately put her hand around it and brought it to her face! We haven't seen her do that with any stuffed animal or blanket yet - super sweet!

 We were there at the same time as some school children. They were so cute with their big coats and backpacks! This was where we watched the show that the lesser pandas put on. They did tricks. It was pretty cool!

After Panda World, we went to an old traditional Chinese house and tea ceremony. This is what houses traditionally look like in China, but real estate has become more expensive with all the growing population, so most families live in apartments now. We enjoyed getting to see what a traditional house looked like and hearing all the meaning behind everything.

The tea ceremony was one of my favorite touristy things we've done so far. Chinese people typically have tea after every meal and will have a tea ceremony once a day. There is meaning behind each part of the ceremony and the way the lady poured and washed and made everything was very beautiful. We tried three different kinds of teas, even learning how to hold the cup and how to drink it. One of the teas was a jasmine tea, which Fuzhou is known for. This was very fun! 

 

Tomorrow we will visit Calli's hometown and orphanage. The drive there will take three hours, we will spend some time there and then make the three hour drive back. We are very thankful to have the opportunity to do this, even though it will make for a long day and might be tiring. Please pray that the trip will go well, and that we will be able to gather a lot of memories for Calli of the place where she was born. We want to have as much information as we can to give her as she grows. Thanks for your prayers for our family!