Free Day in Guangzhou

Today was a free day for us here in Guangzhou. We were actually able to sleep in and I got caught up on all my blog posts. You should find the last three posts have been updated and we are now current!!

.

We barely made it downstairs before the breakfast buffet ended and then we just decided to stroll around the area. It is so great being here and being surrounded by other adoptive families. We do miss a little of the star status that we have had since arriving in China, but it's great to once again fit in!

We are actually on Shamian Island which is separated from the mainland by a canal and bordered by the Pearl River. After googling for information about the island I learned that it was given to France in the 19th century. This explains the architecture and the overall feel; at times I have to remind myself that we still are in China.

There are beautiful gardens and bronze statutes everywhere you walk. Today there were brides and grooms everywhere taking bridal portraits. We later learned that they come here on buses because they want their photos to have a Western look and to make it look like they were in a big American city.

Another thing we have found here are other Christians and two churches! That is probably one of the saddest parts of this trip. While traveling through Beijing & Nanjing you can sense the lost among you. We were able to ask our guide in Nanjing about religion here in China and found it so sad to learn that at least 85% of the population is atheist and doesn't believe in any religion. We have found two shopowners here who were happy to share with us that they are believers.

The highlights of the day were finding a 7-11 with Cola Slurpees (very refreshing on a hot day!)and a Starbucks and having a piece of marble poundcake!!

After making sure that Eva had a good nap today (during which Mommy went out and did more shopping!),we decided to take a taxi into the city for dinner. The city is so modern you feel like you are in New York! We immediately noticed that there were hardly any people on bikes or mopeds and we didn't hear everyone blowing their car horns. There is also alot of use of neon on the buildings with lots of lights. Eva loved looking at it all out of the car window!

All in all a pretty low-key day, but it was nice now that we are all starting to wind down.