Day 9: Terra-Cotta Warriors

I'm tired.  Do I start every blog post this way?  Because I feel like I should.  The journaling is so needed, but I'm just SO tired that I can hardly stay on top of it.  But there's so much going on and I know as soon as we're past it, I'll forget it all.

I'm not going to write in story form - maybe just list it out and go back and rewrite it later, or never, but here it is

Good moment at breakfast - Ian reached told hold hands before anyone else and bowed his head for prayer at breakfast.

He bowed his head at lunch while we were with our guide at Subway after seeing the Terra-cotta warriors, and the guide chuckled and asked him if he knew what we were doing and explained to him that we were praying.  He started eating dinner before we'd even all sat down.

Hard moment at breakfast when lady clearing table dumped leftovers in Ian's bowl for him to eat when I had said we were finished and she could clear the table.  The manager came over and the two women cleared the table talking.  Phil's interpretation was that the manager told the busser that she should not have done that.  I was dumbfounded.  I couldn't believe she had been so disrespectful to Ian.  Who knows... maybe she was trying to be nice.  I told Ian he didn't need to eat it because he had said he was full but he waved me off.  So, I went around the table and rubbed his back and told him that if he was full, he didn't need to finish that.  But he smiled kindly at me and said it was okay.

Hard moment when we tried to get Ian to try on a pair of shorts to see if they fit.  He says no to me unless Phil is there.  I handed the shorts to Phil to tell Ian to try them on to see if we could at least limp our way to Guangzhou where we could find options for clothes for him easier.  He only has two pair of underwear and the clean pair are still sitting on his desk, even though I told him to put them on.  He's been wearing his jammie shorts under his clothes since he got them... so not sure if he thinks they are boxers or what.  Anyway, Phil handed him the shorts and told him to try them on to see if they fit.  They don't, but Ian tied them up tight and then tried to put his regular shorts back on over top of them.  So, he thinks basketball shorts are also boxers?  I think we are all confused.  I told him to take them off and he said no.  Phil told him to take them off and give them to me.  He's not being naughty... a lot gets lost in translation and not speaking the same language.  Plus so much is foreign to each other.

Interesting moment when Phil found Ian using my camera to take umpteen pictures of the washing machine.  THANK GOODNESS for child lock - he hasn't figured it out yet.  He has been pushing buttons on the washer all day.

We left to go to the Terra-cotta Warriors and Jemma insisted on getting in the van herself.  So she got out of the van and got back in.  Then she asked Celine, who she calls Seesa (love you, Aunt Annalisa!) if we could go through a car wash - LOL!  Where does she come up with this stuff?  And then not one minute later and the air washing truck (ya, that is a real thing here) drove by and our car got a car wash.  LOL  Also, the air washing truck plays It's a Small World as it sprays the air with water.

The kids try to find the most lions... kind of like looking for painted horses in the OBX only stone lion statues in China.  They are in pairs at the front entrances to places.  Jemma calls them elephants.

Phil took Ian shopping for clothes and underwear today.  It was an unsuccessful trip.

Ian tried subway and didn't like his sandwich, but ate it.  He said he had never had cheese before and it was a new flavor.  I told him to take the cheese off but he said no.

We got souvenirs after the tour.  Ian paid for his own when Phil wasn't looking with the money he had been given (possibly by his foster parents?).  We decided the money is going to burn a whole in his pocket until it's gone.  We might as well view it as spending money for the trip.  As long as he's not spending it on meals or things that parents usually provide.

Phil gave me a pep talk to distract me and make me comfortable in an otherwise uncomfortable situation caught in the middle of a typical Chinese "negotiation" over our small selection of souvenirs.  The first woman said 150rmb.  I told Phil the number and he said that was outrageous.  He said to go back and insist on 50rmb.  I thought that was going to be tough.  But he walked me through it.  He said inside the museum they were selling one of the souvenirs for 10rmb for a set of 5.  The guide ended up coming over because they acted offended.  I told the guide what Phil had said about the price inside the museum and that he said only 50.  That's when it got heated and Phil stood whispering in my ear basically giving me the play-by-play before it was going to happen and that this was how it was done.  They had to act offended and upset before a number could be agreed upon.  Sheesh!  Phil knows just how to take care of my heart though because he knew that I'd see it as a conflict and get all upset about it if he didn't warn me.  Honestly, I cannot believe that the Lord has given me such an amazing husband.  I have fallen in love with him even more in the last several days than I ever knew possible.  I just really admire and respect him and am blown away at how well he handles the many situations we have been in since being here.

Maybe God gave us Jemma and her crazy level of independence to prepare us for Ian.  We need to teach him dependence so that he can learn independence appropriately.

We had cup-o-noodles for supper.  Ian was happy with that.  PHEW!

We surprised everyone and took them to the top floor to play ping-pong.  Ian RAN to get his new paddles and balls and was SO happy to play with Phil.  Not as happy to play with me but still smiling and laughing.  A little less happy to play with a sibling - left the room randomly.  Phil went to get him and said Ian was hot.  They went to another room and played pool, which Ian had never seen before.  Phil was teaching him how to play.

Lily's hand slipped and she dropped the glass globe mickey mouse gift that Ian had given her and it shattered.  Such sadness - she cried in her closet.  I climbed into her closet with her to talk after Ian helped me clean up the glass and then went and played on the iPad.... Sigh.  I think she's okay.  But it is a disappointment to have broken something so priceless.  I salvaged the inside of the globe.

Phoebe's heart is hurting today.  She picked up on the fact that Ian is resisting her.  I won't go into details, but my heart hurts deeply for her.  I had a good conversation with her in the back seat of the van on the way home from today's tour.

I only saw a few flicks today on peoples' foreheads - a tiny fraction of the first two days.

Pictures are split into two again because I still haven't changed the time on the camera correctly:

Terra-cotta Warriors

Celebrity siting:

 Celine explaining things in Chinese to Ian

Celebrity siting:

First Big Brother moment for Lily - her brother showing her how to do panoramic shots on her camera - oh I love him even more!

Two peas in a pod

Telling Titus to get down

Boys picture

Girls picture

Camera 2

I match my son - LOLOLOL!

A clearer picture of "Be careful chothes sandwich"