My family and I are traveling to China to meet my new baby sister, Elizabeth YunDan.
All the other days here in China, there isn't much going on except for doing homework, watching DVDs (we bought some real cheap here) and going in the pool. The pool is very cold, but once you get used to it, it doesn't really feel bad anymore. I'm looking forward to getting home and seeing all my friends again.
Today, we went to a Buddhist Temple that was over 1,500 years old. We went inside and the Monk performed a blessing ceremony where he did a chant and pounded on a little drum and he sprinkled a little holy water on us. When we got blessed, our sister was wearing a cute Chinese outfit.
Today, we went to the Guangzhou Zoo. When I first got in, I had to pay more money because I was taller than Chinese boys. When we got in, the first thing we saw were parrots. At the zoo, they have Pandas, Koalas, and they had a train that took you through an African Safari where we saw Wilde Beasts, Zebras, Lions, Giraffes. They also had a predator area where the tigers were at. My dad paid 10 Yuan (about $1.50 US Dollars) so Matt and I could throw raw meat for the tigers to eat.
Today, we saw the Sea of China and we got a horse ride on the beach and it only cost 20 Yuan. We bought a bunch of presents for everyone in the class. After we were going back to the White Swan Hotel, we stopped at a restaurant and ate lunch. After lunch, we went to a store that was a part of the restaurant. They had knives, butcher knives, swords, and nunchucks. My dad bought me a set of nunchucks. In China, you see a lot of people in the fields working on their crops.
Today, we went to Maoming City and we went to see Dan-Dan's Orphanage and Finding Place. The Orphanage was poor. When we got there, me and my brother got a gift on a necklace from the orphanage of a rooster made out of jade. I thought it was very cool. Me and my brother donated toothbrushes and clothes and candy to the orphanage. When I handed out the candies, I felt very bad for them because I don't think they get a lot of treats. When we got at a table when we first got there, they gave us a bag with the clothes that Dan-Dan was found in. A finding place is very important because you want to know where they came from and if it is being torn down or still there.
Dan-Dan is what we call Elizabeth because her name was Nan Yun Dan. The way you pronounce brother in Chinese is Ge Ge. Daddy is BaBa and Mom is MaMa. Today, my Mom and Dad went to an office to sign papers to make her my sister. Dan-Dan is 10 months old and she can already walk real good. We went to a Chinese restaurant and saw all sorts of insects for sale to eat: sandworms, beetles, waterbugs, lobsters and fish. I didn't like the food too much. We went swimming again in the pool. Tomorrow we check out and go to the city where Dan-Dan was born and see the orphanage where she was raised.
We started today out swimming with my Dad and brother Matt. The water was freezing, but we got used to it after about 5 minutes. We went to lunch at Lucy's and had a cheeseburger. It was a little sweeter than America's. Next we went to a building and on the 8th floor we had to wait for our baby sister Elizabeth to be brought in for us. When they brought in Elizabeth, I thought in my head "Yay!" Her nickname is Dan-Dan because her Chinese name is Nan Yun Dan. I got to hold Elizabeth second when she came. Both hotels in Beijing and Guangzhou are very nice. We have two rooms connecting that give me and Matt our own space.
