In Nanchang - Day 9 (Friday)

A week from now we will be on our way back to America. It seems like a long way away but time has really been flying here. The days can be as packed full of touring or as mellow as we choose. Today’s schedule includes a trip to the park, to the porcelain store, a foot massage at 3:00, dinner at 5:30, and then a trip to the musical fountain at 7:40. So far, we have taken in the trip to the park and the porcelain store. I am sure Ileana will opt for a massage but since the baby is running out of formula (she is eating 3 - 7 oz. bottles a day and really going through the stuff).

The park was very nice. Since we had some leisure time, I took the chance to do some sketching while Ileana was walking around with Sophie. I attracted quite a bit of attention – with a large group of people hovering around me. Unfortunately, the attention, mixed with the spectators obscuring my view, made the sketching a bit difficult. I hope to give this another try one of these afternoons down at the tower and see how it goes.

Sophie caused quite a stir with the locals – she seems to do so everywhere she goes. Waitresses, old women in the parks, nannies, and our guides all say that she has a “classic” Chinese beauty about her and they always comment on her small “cherry” lips. I am sure everyone with the Chinese babies gets these kinds of comments. We are just a little overwhelmed by it as it seems to happen everywhere. Sophie enjoyed the park and she loves the attention she gets.

I think that we caused just as much of a stir at the porcelain store. After being cautioned not to buy anything too large, we went in and pretty much cleaned out this small shop. I would guess that within our small group of 15 families, we bought about 100 tea sets. It was very inexpensive and everything was so beautiful. The picture shows the Schramm and Gabriel families out front of the store.

Sophie is now back in the hotel room enjoying her noodles. This kid is going to be cheap if we can keep her on noodles until she is 18. I am not sure what affect this will have on her waistline though. I had to include a picture of Sophie on her “eating mat”. She just loves her little mat decorated with Chinese dumplings and other food items. We saw it at the store and thought it would be best if we didn’t leave the hotel with a noodle-encrusted carpet. Unfortunately, I think Sophie can’t quite tell that these are just pictures of food and she tries to grab at it in frustration. As long as we keep her attention on the real thing, I think she’ll be fine.

-Chris