More Paperwork, More West Lake

This morning we did our last day of document work here in Hangzhou.  We were first taken to the bank to exchange our money for the adoption payment and orphanage donation.  Juliet liked waddling around the lobby while the local customers smiled at her.  Even the serious security guards at the bank seemed somewhat amused by her.  After the bank we had to go to a notary office to make all of the documents official.  We were done for the day with Jessica before 11:00 a.m.  She offered to take us to see how silk is made in the beginning stages at a local center, but we decided to return to the hotel since we had already visited the silk market near our hotel three times.

Juliet slept about 2.5 hours again this aftenoon.  It is hard to believe how tired she gets after sleeping twelve hours at night, but all of these new experiences in the "real world" exhausts her.  She seems so curious when we are out, like everything we do is completely new and exciting.

When Juliet woke up, we walked the 30 minutes back to West Lake with her.  She likes traveling in the baby carrier strapped to us, although even in that, she gets heavy after that long of a walk.  It is funny how you rarely see strollers here.  Most people just carry their kids around in their arms, and that seems really tiring and awkward.  They either don't have space to store the strollers or they are just too bulky to maneuver around the fast paced sidewalks. Occasionally you see a little kid sitting on the "floor" of their parent's scooter zipping around.  It looks totally unsafe but it seems to work here.

Today seemed more crowded at West Lake.  People must come in at the end of the week for a long weekend.  It was a totally different view of the lake today, being overcast. The big dragon boat coming in was cool to see.  We stopped at the two-story Starbucks that overlooks the lake and  Juliet liked walking around the garden area.  She was trying desperately to step on each leaf she saw.  We saw the tail end of a huge fountain show that occurs each day at the lake.  They are quite large, and on a sunnier day or lit up at night, they must seem even more spectacular.

After the lake, we walked along the main road across from the park. It is lined with high-end shops like Cartier and Prada.  This area definitely caters to the very wealthy with the designer stores, expensive restaurants, and flashy cars everywhere.  It is not what most would envision China to be like here. 

We ate at a nice Thai inspired restaurant across from the park.  It was the first restaurant we have eaten at where we didn't accidently order too much food.  We have had to point at pictures of items we want and then hold up our fingers, trying to tell them one of this or two of these. We usually try to tell the waiters we need something for the baby, and then a huge bowl of food shows up for her that is too much for even an adult to eat (although Juliet likes to eat...) We are getting the hang of this now.  Juliet liked playing with the wooden chopsticks tonight.  She is getting pretty good at feeding herself with the fork and spoon we brought for her, especially if we help her get the food on the utensil first.  The nannies in the orphanage usually feed the young kids by spoon so most likely she hasn't had much practice on her own.  She seems to like the independence though. 



We are constantly watched in restaurants or on the streets with Juliet.  The local people are very curious about her, probably wondering how we look as we do, yet we have her.  At least once a day, a local person looks at us, then at Juliet, and asks us (or Jessica) if Juliet is a "China Baby".  It doesn't seem like the local people see many adoptive families here.  Tomorrow we get to visit the orphanage, her "finding place" and then we are off to the airport for the flight to Guangzhou where the U.S. embassy is located.  This will be Juliet's first plane ride, and luckily it is only about an hour.