Day 4 Getting to know each other

Today went well. The morning was very busy and Amy just went along with everything without minding too much. We went to the Civil Affairs Office today to sign papers and make Amy officially ours. She was clinging to me and I didn't know what she would do when she saw all the orphanage workers again who obviously love her. She didn't respond to them at first but as soon as I put her down they started talking to her- something I can't do, and quickly drew her over to them. I felt like I was on trail to see how I responded to her and everyone else. She hasn't eaten much, at the office she drank some water, started coughing and threw up. They jumped to her assistance and I felt sidelined at the same time wondering if I was supposed to push them out of the way and be the mother. Anyway, glad when that was over. But I must say I know they took good care of her, and she was loved and for that I am so greatful. Oh, at one point they we're laughing and pointing at Brent. Our guide told us they all thought Amy looked like Brent!

Hotels

We really didn't like the hotel the travel agency sent us too, after spending the night we were pretty firm about wanting to move. So we moved to a new hotel right after the Civil Affairs office. Amy was happy and talkative even though she must be getting bored with us not understanding her. We took a walk down to the public square, a large open area where you can feed the pidgeons – Amy didn't like that, and shops open up towards the square. Luckily for us there is a KFC there! We went in and ordered a bucket of chicken and tried to take it outside and eat it. We were told we couldn't do that and they told a lady to move so we could eat at her table! That was embarassing.

Laundry

We did a lot of walking around today. We were looking for a laundry place and couldn't find one. Brent told me to pack light because they will wash our clothes for a few dollars. We were down to our last change of clothes, couldn't find a place to do our laundry. We finally broke down and asked the hotel to do it and we needed it today. When we got it back today it came with a bill for $50!! Yikes! I think I will start wearing outfits a couple times before I wash again!

Cultural experiences

I don't know why, but no one uses handrails on stairs, Escalators, anything. I don't understand but I know I should probably do as the natives do, there must be a very good reason. :-) Another thing we have had to just follow by example is when we take out lives in our hands to cross the road. There must be traffic laws, but I haven't figured out what they are yet. People, bikes, mopeds and cars all mingle in the street in the greatest game of chicken I have ever seen. Riding in a car is scary enough, walking is REALLY scary! Even though the pedestrian crossing is lit up it seems to be only a suggestion for cars as the people try to cross the street between cars like frogger. We try to just stay with the masses, they can't hit all of us right? They have to slow down if there are 50 of us crossing at the same time right? Walking is a pretty normal mode of transportation here. There are very wide sidewalks, but they aren't necessarily safe either. Today a car decided traffic was going too slow so he went up on the side walk and drove on it a while, honking at all of us to get out of the way!

Brent has been stuffy with allergies here. He ran out of his medicine he brought so he went to a pharmacy and mimicked sniffing and they handed him some medicine. I talked him out of taking something based on a diagnosis of sniffing. They could be handing him cocoaine for all we know! We finally found some medicine with some words on it we recognized.

Amy

We got Amy to say some English words today. She likes the Pringles Brent brought from home so she learned to say “chip” over and over. We need to buy some more. She still isn't eating very well. She seems to like us although she thinks we're pretty dumb. She wanted to be held all day. She can walk, but I don't think she likes to for very long. Amy loves her doll we gave her and takes it everywhere. I think the family that raised her taught her well, she knows to wash her hands. She cleans herself in the bath and uses a napkin. Our guide confirmed today that she had never seen a toilet before, the houses here have the "squatty potties" a basin in the floor that has to be squatted over. Still working on the bathroom thing but we'll ge there. :-)
She was in a good mood all day but around bedtime she got pretty sad and kept telling us something over and over that we can't understand and finally cried herself to sleep. So sad to watch. We had our little dictionary out but couldn't figure out what she wanted. She scratches a lot around her shoulders and back and has some scabs from doing so. I gave her a cool bath, but I don't think it helped much. We hope to find some benadryl or something tomorrow.