Another Day in Tianjin

I feel like all we ever do around here is eat! I guess it just seems that way because we're not used to being so lazy and relaxed.
Yesterday we got up early to eat breakfast so that we would be ready for lunch at 12:15 when we were to meet Robert.
Helen was not able to go to lunch with us, but thankfully Robert can read and speak chinese. Otherwise we would have been lost! We had a wonderful lunch with Robert and got the opportunity to learn some about the orphanage and how things work there for the children. He couldn't tell us anything about Owen's foster family, but did say that he's one of the first in his "kindergarten" class to be adopted and he figured that some of the other children would be adopted soon. It was really a good time and we are soo thankful for having Robert to share information with us and be there to help the children.

After lunch it was naptime and we all were able to get some good rest. I'm really getting used to these 2 hour naps in the afternoon! After nap we went swimming! Owen was really scared at first. We all went to sit on the edge of the pool, but he stood off in the distance near the lounge chairs. I coaxed him into my lap and we used his dumptruck to bring water over to dribble on him. I inched slowly closer to the pool and by the time we left he was sitting with me on the edge with his feet in the water. A smalll victory maybe?

After swimming we went out pick up the cameras that we had sent in care packages to Owen. Only 2 of the 3 cameras processed, but there are some great pictures in them. There are a couple pictures with Owen's foster mom, his teacher and maybe his foster dad. There are also a couple pictures with 2 little girls that I will share with the Tianjin group after we get home.

After that we did some walking around to see if we could find somewhere to eat. We had asked Helen about a "western" restaurant and she suggested McDonald's, not exactly what we had in mind. So, we did some walking to see if we could find a good place to eat. We came across a "western" restaurant and decided to give it a try. It wasn't exactly what we consider western... we had some sort of italian cod, chicken curry, beef & pepper stew and spaghetti with meat sauce. Thinking about it now, it's the craziest meal we've ever eaten! At least it wasn't too bad and Owen was introduced to spaghetti (sort of). The kids were being good (well as good as they could be) so we went to McDonald's to treat them to ice cream. The McDonald's was like walking into a sauna, it was easily 85 degrees in there, so the ice cream was VERY welcome!

We then headed back to the hotel to get ready for bed. It was nearly 10 pm at this point and we were all beat. We had a quick screaming session with Owen when we had to take something away from him, but then it wasn't too long before we were out for the night.

Sweet dreams from Tianjin!