July 9

Ni Hao Everyone (that means hello),

Sorry it's been a couple of days since we updated the blog. Things have been going well here in Hefei. Hefei is a large city but not a very nice one. Everyday has been very overcast and hot. We have not done a whole lot here. We took Micah to the Hefei Zoo yesterday and he enjoyed it. It was a very large zoo on the edge of the city in a very pretty area. The habitats were large and open. we were hoping to see a panda but it was sleeping. We caould only see its behing. Micah loved the black bears. We gabbered to them and in the end kept telling them to come with us... in Chinese of course... but we understood. He cried when we had to move on. He got his first ride on the carosel. Tim got one picture and of course he was not smiling. Micah was so tired after about two hours. He wanted mah mah to carry him the entire way back to the taxi and he dozed off a bit. It was so hot!! We were both soaked.



Today we went to the "market street" in Hefei. It was not what I expected. I thought it would be more "authentic" for lack of a better word but it was junky. There were lots of places with plastic stuff like carnival toys. Wierd. We did find a small shop that sold tea sets and tea pots. They were very pretty. I left with a few things.



Micah is doing well. His personality continues to come out. He is overall a very happy boy. He seems to have attached to us. He calls for us and wants to be held. He loves hugs and kisses and loves to play. His most difficult times are at meal time. We have to eat out for every meal unless we do room service or Tim gets food from one of the restaurants in the hotel. If we go out, he seems to try to exert his attitude. Meaning he fusses at different things at different times. So you can't peg what the real issue is. In the room he is much better. He has picked up things very quickly and we don't really have a problem communicating with him. However, when we got him, he didn't try to mess with his food with his hands but because Tim is terrible with chop sticks and can't help but pick pieces of food up in hopes of getting it to his mouth, Micah now "helps" bah bah. Cute but messy. We look like three fools.





Everyone he is very nice. They do stare at us though... in a good way. They look and smile. The teens walk up and say "HI" with huge smiles on their faces. The older people point and nod at Micah asking if he is ours. So far everyone has commented on how handsome Micah is. Our guide said people say this as we walk by.



We are off to bed soon and tomorrow we will fly to Guangzhou