Medical Exam to pearls

First, I asked our guide about the food; he assured us that you just pick up the large pieces of vegetable with your chopsticks and bite pieces off. I wonder what Miss Manners would say about that? The chicken, he said, many people just eat bones and all!!! We are talking some fairly significant pieces of bone, not just cartilidge. I shudder to think.

Tian made it through her medical exam. She officially weighed in at 23 lbs and 79 centimeters. Their reaction - ooo, big girl for 13 months. Yes, her size did not suffer at the orphanage. After hearing her scream I am sure they gave her anything to keep her quiet - we have:o) She had 5 doctors puzzled over the rash on her face. They had no real idea, so I have decided Hydrocortisone was the safest bet and it does look a little better this afternoon. We will see. She otherwise passed the medical exam with flying colors and so did the 3 other babies in our group - one step closer.

The paperwork for her visa is completed and tomorrow our guide brings everything to the American Consulate and hopefully she will get the green light and we can pick up her visa late Wednesday and head out Thursday morning - yeah!!!! So far our guide has been fantastic and we have glided through each step - we can't say enough about him.

This afternoon we visited the famous pearl market and had our education in pearls. I had no idea that pearls can range in color from black to gray to purple to pink to orange to snow white. They were beautiful. We also say some varieties of freshwater pearls and seawater - some I couldn't tell the difference. We saw a lot of what we thought were bargains, but wished we knew more to be sure. Next time. It was fun to see how quickly they could string the pearls and how quickly they could convince people to buy - oh, you need one for baby and one for you and do you have a sister? a friend? Boy, I wish I was a millionaire. We enjoyed the show though.

Hope all is well at home we are getting anxious to get back to normal ( whatever that is) and be able to order chicken with no fear of bones:o)
Tara