Old Town

I haven't posted in a couple days. We've just been hanging out in our room. Thursday, it rained all day and we didn't end up going to Old town like we were planning. Kai had a bit of a fever and a cough. He's better now. Anita was great. She came to check on him and was able to convince him, in Chinese, to take the medicine. Yesterday, we went to Old Town. It is one of the oldest parts of Chongqing. It could only be described as sort of like Los Angeles China town. Lots of small shops selling many different things. We bought lots of souvenirs and some really yummy homemade candy! We invited Anita to join us for dinner, and at the advice of another family who had traveled to Chongqing, she took us to the Hot Pot restaurant. It was kind of like a fondue place, but you boil all of the meat and veggies in a spicy soup and eat it. Very spicy, but very good! I'm so glad she went with us. All of the menu items were in Chinese--there was no way we could have eaten there by ourselves! Today we leave Chongqing for Guangzhou. We have completed all of the legal adoption paperwork and have received: adoption registration, abandonment declaration, birth certificate, Chinese passport. Now it's time to complete the American end of the adoption and receive his visa to travel to the US. I'm a little bit sad to be leaving Kai's birth place and province of origin. However, we're all ready to be moving into the next leg of our journey. Chongqing is amazing, but rather difficult if you don't speak the language. Even buying things in the market was difficult. I'm glad I had my translation book so I could ask for peanut butter. I saw that in the book and wondered, "Why would you need to ask for peanut butter in China?" After some of the wierd food we saw and the difficult time we had ordering in some restaurants, PB&J never looked so good!!