Shamian Island

Today Juliet woke up in a good mood so we played in the hotel room for a while before heading to breakfast.  Matt tried desperately to find updates on the Michigan State vs. Wisconsin game on the internet, and when he did, he and Juliet sat at the computer cheering the Spartans on ... and it seemed to have worked!  We headed down to a late breakfast and then took a walk around the hotel gardens so Juliet could get some exercise and see the fish.  She was especially taken with leaves again so she tried to pick up every one that she could see.  Once she seemed to get bored with that, we layed her down for a nap, but that didn't last too long. 

We decided to head over to Shamian Island where the famous White Swan Hotel is located.  The White Swan is known for catering to adoptive families so many adopted children have stayed there.  The hotel is closed for renovations now, but all the shops surrounding it are open for business.  All of the shop owners speak really good english and are extremely friendly.  The shops carry everything that adoptive families may want to bring home, such as traditional Chinese dresses, children's shoes, and other souvenirs. Many of the shops carry the same types of goods, so everyone is trying to get you into their shop.  One woman even offered to feed Juliet some soup after Juliet spied her son eating his dinner.

Shortly after we arrived on the island, Matt remembered that, although he brought the camera, the battery was still sitting on the charger back at the hotel room.  So, we unfortunately do not have many pictures from the island.  We tried to make due with the iPhone, but the photos just weren't the same.  The island looks very much like New Orleans actually.  There are boulevards that people walk along with moss covered trees overhanging.  Every so often there are fountains, statues, and even a Starbucks.  Usually, the area is teaming with foreign families and their adoptive children, but since the White Swan is closed, it was mostly Chinese families enjoying the area.  It seems to be a very popular place for photography as we saw several brides and grooms getting photos taken as well as aspiring models being followed around by their "paparazzi".  Juliet was most taken in by the little dog playing fetch with her owner ... and by the leaves ... and by the little boy with the lollipop.

After buying her some chinese dresses and some shoes that actually fit (the ones from the orphanage are about 2x too big and have cotton shoved in the toes), we decided to head to Lucy's for dinner.  Lucy's is a restaurant on the island that caters to American families.  Even though they have a large menu with American items (hamburgers, cheeseburgers, etc) we ironically found ourselve still ordering Asian food.  Juliet loved the chicken congee!

After the taxi ride back to the hotel, we found a huge party of some kind going on in the lobby.  It was so crowed.  There was a guy cruising around on roller skates playing the flute and wearing a costume that looked like he was riding a chicken.  He was handing out some sort of dried olive snack.  Juliet wasn't sure what to make of him.  After her bath, she practically fell asleep on the bed she was so exhausted.  She's now sleeping soundly.



Juliet is still doing very well.  We both agree that she seems to be going through some sort of grief process as she's not quite as happy go lucky as she was the first few days.  There's less smiles and giggles and she seems to get frustrated very easily, which results in some very stubborn behaviour.  She definitely has a temper and she lets you know when she's not happy.  All the changes that have occurred in her life over the past week or so are probably taking a toll on her, however, these moments don't last long and she can be easily distracted by something interesting .... like leaves.  It will be good to get home to a normal routine.  Especially in the fall .... because of the leaves.