Tsoo-zoo
C stayed overnight at the hotel to keep from traveling the hour and a half first thing in the morning on Friday. J agreed to meet us at the shopping area to help purchase the clothing for the orphanage. The "mall" is referred to as the "tsoo" due to its location across from the "zoo". However, due to the number of shops coupled with the amount of shoppers the mall IS A ZOO!!
J was running behind so I asked C if we could run into the real zoo and see the giant pandas. Because of the heat (according to C) the animals were all inside and very inactive. The depiction of a white and black pandas was not what we saw. The bears were a dingy yellow and moved slowly through their jungle habitat. I was glad to finally go - but not too impressed with the location. The girls finished shopping and we stopped for lunch.
Soon we were stopped in traffic.
C had choir practice and J agreed to accompany me to the CAREFORE grocery store to purchase the food for the orphans. We loaded the cart as full as we could with milk, shampoo, cookies, meat sticks, soap, toothpaste and a few treats. With each item added to the cart J's eyes grew bigger and bigger. Finally, when the list was checked off and the cart could handle no more - we proceeded to the check out. My guess on the expenditure - several hundred dollars. I even was wondering if I actually had enough cash to cover the cost (I had well over $500 exchanged). The check total was 612RMB (under $100) - what a deal. J pushed the cart and laughed - "I have never in my life spent so much money at the grocery store!"
We unloaded our wares at the hotel and shared an American style meal of "pizza". I asked her if she liked it to which she replied "I'm not sure, this is new food for China." With the coming Olympics in 2008 I would hasten to say - not for long.
J was running behind so I asked C if we could run into the real zoo and see the giant pandas. Because of the heat (according to C) the animals were all inside and very inactive. The depiction of a white and black pandas was not what we saw. The bears were a dingy yellow and moved slowly through their jungle habitat. I was glad to finally go - but not too impressed with the location. The girls finished shopping and we stopped for lunch.
Soon we were stopped in traffic.
C had choir practice and J agreed to accompany me to the CAREFORE grocery store to purchase the food for the orphans. We loaded the cart as full as we could with milk, shampoo, cookies, meat sticks, soap, toothpaste and a few treats. With each item added to the cart J's eyes grew bigger and bigger. Finally, when the list was checked off and the cart could handle no more - we proceeded to the check out. My guess on the expenditure - several hundred dollars. I even was wondering if I actually had enough cash to cover the cost (I had well over $500 exchanged). The check total was 612RMB (under $100) - what a deal. J pushed the cart and laughed - "I have never in my life spent so much money at the grocery store!"
We unloaded our wares at the hotel and shared an American style meal of "pizza". I asked her if she liked it to which she replied "I'm not sure, this is new food for China." With the coming Olympics in 2008 I would hasten to say - not for long.
