Yesterday's Happenings

FINALLY, I am able to access blogger again! Just about everything was blocked yesterday for me, but today it is working again….so I have lots to share.

Yesterday we went to White Cloud Mountain. It was a short drive to the entrance where we boarded a small “electric car” to ride up to the temple half way up the mountain. Basically it was a big golf cart with about 4 rows of seats. They use the battery powered vehicle to eliminate the pollution entering the area…however, I am pretty sure the pollution from the city below enters “nature” area. But hey, I guess it helps.

Tons of goldfish and If you can see on the rock...several turtles.

Happy Buddha

After about 8 minutes we arrived at the entrance of the temple…and that is when the skies opened up and poured!! We walked up to the first temple, passing a small pond full of gold fish and turtles. There sat the “Happy Buddha” aka James, along with the 4 guards and temple guard. I was hoping that the rain would stop, but it didn’t in fact, it got heavier. We pushed through and went to the other 2 temples and made our way back down to wait for the car. While we waited, Elli told me that she had to go to the restroom…there was no restroom. So Connie pointed us to a corner…not my thing, but okay, here we go. Doing my best to keep privates private and her pants dry, I was very relieved when Elli was finished and to see that we accomplished the task and were dry. As I stood up and got Elli back under the small roof that was keeping us from the monsoon, Connie told me that I had Elli go to potty wrong. Instead of her facing me, I should have had her back to me. Seriously?!? I think going in the corner is wrong…so we are even.

Past, Present and Future

One of the female Buddhas. She is the deliverer of children and give protection.

There is a pretty cool legend associated with this statue. It is said that the people living on the mountain had ran out of water and were about to die. A monk had a dream one night of a tiger digging in the ground and a well sprung up from the ground. He got up from his sleep, went to where his vision showed the tiger and there was a well. They built this statue to commemorate the tiger that helped the people. There is a well at the belly of the tiger that you can see bubbling up. I took a picture, but you really can't see "bubbling" in a picture ;-)

When the car finally arrived, we finished going up the mountain to see the lookout point of the mountain. It was really pretty and the cloud had settled in the valley area between the mountain and Guangzhou. You could barely see the buildings in the distant. After we took some pictures we were ready to go down the mountain…in a cable car! I am scared of heights, like scared of a step ladder! I get dizzy changing a light bulb, no joke. My strategy was to just look at Elli’s head the whole time….stay focused. Thank God it wasn’t that bad. The worst was the drop off, but then after that it was okay.

While we were on the mountain I got soaked. My pants were wet up to my knees and my shoes would “squish” when I would walk. My hair…oh gosh! It was sticky, fuzzy and wavy….just bad all the way around. At one point I said to Rodney, “my hair is so bad.” He replied, “yeah, its pretty bad.” And of course I know my make up is long gone. My face feels sticky and slick! I feel like I desperately need a shower. So let’s go to a restaurant full of locals!

Can you not see the attitude just oozing off this little girl's strut...hands on hips and all!

At the bottom of the mountain, we took a short walk to an old, traditional Chinese restaurant that specializes in rice noodles. We ordered an assortment of rice noodles, dim sum, vegetables, tofu, fish and a beef dish. When we first sit down we were served hot tea and I was worried that Elli might burn herself. I moved the cup from her plate and she was insistent on getting the cup. After thinking it had cooled some, I gave it to her and she gulped it down. I guess Aunt Stephanie has a fellow tea drinker.

Tea in the cup to the bowl to the cup to the bowl to the mouth...busy girl.

Elli quickly picked up her chopsticks and was concentrating on getting them just right. She soon began playing like she was feeding me. She is pretty good. When our food arrived, we began test tasting all the foods. The dim sum arrived first. One was a shrimp filled and the other I didn’t get to taste because Elli ate it all. It looked like it had maybe fish and vegetables, but again, nobody knows but Elli ;-) The shrimp one was really good. It tasted like a shrimp dressing filled pasta.

Practicing before our food arrived.

Shrimp dim sum...tasty

Next came the noodles. There was a curry noodle…I tried it, but I can’t do curry. The smell, the taste, just not my thing. There was a sweet one with black sesame seeds that was okay, but very bland. Then there was one that had a faint tomato taste, but again very bland. The next one was hot and spicy with bean sprouts. I liked that one best. It was very crunchy and the heat lasted long after you had swallowed the food. In the center of the noodles was a sushi type roll that I knew from the beginning I would not try. It had some type of cream sauce in it that looked like mayonnaise…there was no way I was doing that one. Rodney tried it and said that it would have been good IF it didn’t have that sauce – duh!



The fish dish was small nuggets of fried fish with tofu. I tried the fish and the initial taste was okay, but then it was followed with a very fishy after taste. I also knew better than to try the tofu, just my personal taste. As I watched Rodney’s chopsticks head for a piece of tofu I sat back to watch. He put the piece in his mouth and…..yep, that’s what I thought. The expression was priceless. It was like he was trying to keep a normal expression, yet it was so unnatural and forced. Needless to say, he didn’t get another piece. Elli on the other hand loved the tofu.

Rodney's favorite - Tofu!

The beef dish was good too. It was spicy and again very hot. It had a very strong peppercorn flavor. The odd thing about the beef here is that it is very, very tender. Almost, too tender in a sense. But if you can get past the textural issue, the flavor is good. The vegetable dish was also good. It was a green with garlic, mushroom and what appeared to be pork. It had a little bit of a bitter flavor but kind of reminded me of broccoli stems…good. We finished up the meal with some steamed rice, which was good of course. I love rice, so there is no rice like real Chinese rice. I could eat rice everyday…wait I do!

After we ate, we made our way back to the hotel. When we got back to the room, Rodney told me that he was hungry and he had totally given up on Chinese food. I didn’t think it was bad, but he didn’t like it at all; which is funny because at home, he loves Chinese food. However the food here in Guangzhou or Cantonese food is very bland compared to other parts of the country. There are some Thai influenced foods here, but for the most part it is not spicy at all. The climate here is sooo hot, the culture foods of Canton is “cooling”. Not like the foods that you would get at your typical Chinese restaurant back in the States.

So for the 4th night in a row…La Dolce Vita. Rodney had the spaghetti and I had the spinach ravioli again. It started raining again on our way and then when we where making our way back to the hotel. The summer season is the rainy season here. It typically rains everyday for about a half hour or so, but yesterday it rained about all day long. I was very tired and so was Elli. We climbed on the sofa and she started getting restless. We went and got in the bed and it wasn’t long until she was out.

Elli has continued to do beautifully. She seems more and more comfortable with Rodney and has become quite the loving girl. She reminds me of Anna at times when she holds my face with one hand on each cheek and gives me a kiss. She is such a sweet heart. Occasionally she will get a little “wild”, but for the most part, she is very even tempered and a very good girl. You can tell that she was very well cared for at the orphanage and knows a lot. Unlike our first adoption where everything we encountered was an introduction to Anna, for Elli she knows how to play, how to bathe, how to brush her teeth, she knows what a telephone is, what a camera does, etc. Such a different experience.

QiaoQiao loves her baby

At some point, the baby got hungry and Elli thought she needed some crackers.

No joking...Elli did this diaper work all on her own. She can do a diaper

better than most men I know.

Taking a nap on Mama's chest...one of my "dreams" that has become a reality

Carter, Jacob, Parker & Anna,

Elli has found her lip gloss and ate about half of it this afternoon. She put it on the baby doll, on her coloring book, daddy, me and all over her face. She is playing right now in the floor with her broken crayons…yes, she has broken all them too ;-) She is a very typical 3 year old, but you are going to love her to pieces. We went to the electronics market today, but no luck. Sorry. It seems like the prices have gone up some since the last time we were here. It could be because the dollar has dropped though. Hope you all had a good time today and will talk to you soon!!

Sending love and hugs to Carter, Jacob, Parker & Anna,
Rodney, Marcy & Elli