Boo Hoo

Well Kevin's job takes him out of town AGAIN (I think Frannie's English vocabulary will have TRIPLED by the time he gets home). He's working the National League baseball playoff games (Colorado, Philadelphia, back to Colorado, who knows where). Frannie misses him -- every morning I put her in bed with me for 20 or so minutes and she always looks over at his side of the bed and says where the heck is he NOW? Actually, she just says DaDa, but I get her point. She had her first American doctor's appointment yesterday and did great. She had to have blood drawn from her arm and didn't even cry when they put that needle in, but let me tell you, when she got 3 shots in her legs, she let us know she does indeed have feeling in that part of her body. She's a trooper, though. She doesn't cry much when she gets hurt so when she does cry, you know she must be feeling pain.

She's being measured for her tailor-made baptismal dress on Friday -- thanks to Nancy Rucci and my Mom for offering up her wedding dress for Frannie's sake. That dress is 55 years old! The satin still looks great so Nancy will have plenty of fabric to choose from.

Please pray for patience for me, better sleep for Frannie and safe travels for Kevin. We also want to keep our friends in our prayers -- lots of friends still to get to China for their beautiful babies and for other friends who are having family issues. Can't wait to see my family in 2 weeks for the baptism! xo Ellen

There Aren't Enough Words to Thank Everyone

Frannie has received so many wonderful gifts -- not only at the showers, but friends who give and send fun things in the mail, like this adorable shirt from an internet friend, Jane in PA. She passed on the love when a friend sent her a gift too so it's my turn to pay it forward, I think! Frannie loves her big giraffe, thanks to the Brennans and so many more fun toys too. Katie gave me some toys and games a few years ago for my classroom, but now Frannie is enjoying all of them, a few at a time. Thanks Norma for all the fun toys and fun times too.

Amen

Frannie now says an emphatic AMEN at the end of our prayers! When Kevin and I are both praying with her and we all hold hands, she cracks up. We went to the park yesterday with our good friend Norma and her son Tristian so she got introduced to a sandbox which was interesting to see. She didn't like it at first, but she warmed up to it. She likes the swing, the higher, the better.

Her sleep schedule at night is still to be worked out. (wink, smile, ha ha) One good night, one bad night. We are trying very hard to do the "right thing" which is not the same for everyone. She needs to be held and loved and to know we are always here for her (not really the same for adopted/non-adopted/orphanage/foster children) but she needs to learn no fear at night too, to soothe herself to sleep, etc. Age-old problem, I know! It's hard to hear her cry, but in the end I know it's best for her to sleep in the crib and have no fear of being alone. Thank you Cheryl for all your help and listening to me every day! I also wanted to mention how incredibly grateful I am to Cheryl (my friend and neighbor and Frannie's best buddy -- she's the next-door daycare friend). She has given Frannie such a safe and loving environment to visit so much so that Frannie stayed with her for about 7 hours the other day with almost no fuss at all so that Kevin and I could finish our deck. Thank you Cheryl for that. I know she wouldn't do that with just anyone. Call me anytime to take your daughter to school!

Check out my Slide Show!

Frannie's First Braves Game

She was most assuredly the most popular girl at the game -- she got air time in Milwaukee, on TBS and she was featured on the Jumbotron. After her appearance on the big screen, I had a few people stop us and say "Hey! That's the little girl who was up on the screen!" She had a blast -- she was well-behaved, she was charming, personable and everyone was roaring at her jokes. She even made a new friend named Shea who has been in Atlanta since April from the Henan? Province and she is already speaking very clearly (she's 3) and she pointed out the Capital dome to her mom by saying "Look, Capital Building." Hmmmm.

It's All About Having Fun

Frannie is so funny! More than anything she likes to have fun. Sounds obvious to me, but she would rather be silly and be tickled, I think, than anything. She loves peekaboo and loves her new big duck towel that her friend Ally gave her, monogrammed, of course. We are going to Discover Mills Mall today to meet Ally and hang out in the play area. The collage photos are from Donna's party on Saturday. Thanks Donna for sharing all those great pictures. She also loves to show off her red wagon around the neighborhood. She waves at everyone like royalty.

A fun day at the Straights

We had a great time at the FCC party at Donna and CJ's house in Marietta. Frannie, I think, was amazed at seeing so many other Chinese faces. She really had no fear creeping away from me and exploring the other kids and the new environment. Thanks again Donna for the gifts. Of course Frannie likes the beads the best. Frannie was obviously wiped out from the minute she got in the car!

Sorry for the Big Delay

We would have posted some pictures lately, but it probably would have been photos of Mom sneezing, Frannie drooling from the teething, Dad painting (our Tucker house) or lots of piled up dishes! We are finally getting into the swing of it, however. Frannie has been sleeping about 6 or 7 hours every night and her naps are still about 4 hours long. If I wake her up, she is grouchy and so is Mom from not getting a whole lot of sleep. If Mom hasn't called you, please know she will when things settle down.

Funny Frannie Facts:

* She loves to dance and will slowly sway back and forth to a tune she particularly likes.

* She shrugs her shoulders up and down to music too, just like Great Gramma Evrard.

* She loves it when we brush her tongue while brushing her teeth.

* She is a shoe girl.

* She loves to be tickled and will ask for more with her sign for MORE.

* She eats like a horse and especially loves Cheerios and chinese noodles like Ramen noodles.

* She loves it when we splash her head with water in the tub -- she stands up and opens her eyes wide and giggles.

* She doesn't like dolls or stuffed animals -- she prefers blocks and paper -- she likes to push a button -- remote controls or her toy cell phone.

* She wakes up every morning saying "Dadda" really loud, regardless of whether Dad is home or not. She says it breathy like "Whazzzzup!"

*She loves to ride in her wagon and would go for hours around the neighborhood if she could.

More photos later, I promise!

Visit with an old Friend and 1st Church Day

Frannie had a visit from an old friend, little Ally Harkness (like little sorority sisters). They were in the orphanage together and I could tell Frannie knew her -- she didn't exactly run and hug her, but she was giggly and watching her every move. They hope to keep in touch for years to come! She also went to church with Mama and the Michaels yesterday too -- all dressed up and she was having a great time in church smiling at all the people around her. The Brennans came by with ice cream later in the day and Frannie had a ball tearing up and down the street in her red wagon. She's adjusting so well and every day does get better and better -- thanks Lucy for all your advice and help!

Look at me Now

After the prom -- Frannie is not exactly feeling too good these days -- this picture is from Xi'an but I think it's how she would express herself if she could. We are both still sick and Kevin called from Nashville this morning to tell me he's got it too. On a happier note, she is doing so much better today than yesterday. She is not quite as nervous about the dogs and I can actually leave her side for a moment without her getting fussy. We will probably go out for a walk today and we are expecting a visit from Ally later! Our two Xianyang buddies reunite! I'll post some pictures of these two beauties after our visit.

God Bless America

You don't know anyone happier to be back in the good ole' USA! It wasn't like it was a horrible place, don't get me wrong, we just missed our language, our food, family and friends horribly. If I hadn't felt such a huge surge of love and support from everyone for this little wee one, maybe I would have felt different. The flight, oh.... the flight. My kingdom for a valium or a time machine or hypnosis for the baby or..... the flight to Guangzhou started off with a bang -- they seated me next to the window and I instantly could not breathe and felt like I might have to stop the plane on the runway -- the flight attendant found me an aisle seat right next to.... Typhoid Mary himself who coughed the whole trip so about 3 hours later I knew I had the crud and Frannie's nose started running. She slept about 1 hour on the Tokyo to Atlanta leg, screamed about another hour and kept everyone smiling the rest of the time. Our Tokyo flight left 30 minutes early to avoid the typhoon! Yes, of course there was a typhoon on the way directly to Tokyo! Well thanks be to God we made the connection, we had no typhoon and we are home! Yes, sister Mary, those pictures were taken at a true Chinese restaurant. Those snakes and worms (we didn't take any photos of the leeches for some reason) are main courses. Frannie on red couch day -- what can we say! Lucy and Doug, your pearls await you! Peg, I got the Bead Chick a few additions, but I'm sure you would have done things differently! Some things were dirt cheap, but.... I'll have to show you later :)

China Daily Update

I wrote this separately, but since we are probably not going to be blogging any more before we leave, I wanted to quickly send this one

Today is the "Oath/Swearing" Day at the Consulate. Apparently there will be a lot of families going at the same time and since Jophy did our Consulate appointment for us yesterday, I have no idea what to expect. We also have a "red couch" appointment in about 45 minutes on the 2nd floor lounge area -- our friends we met and their little girls will have the customary photo shoot. We will post those pictures when we get back. I tried on Frannie's dress yesterday and she is the picture of a China doll! We're really looking forward to all of you meeting her. She's really a silly girl -- what else would you expect?

Yummy Yummy

We could not be happier to be heading home! Frannie needs some normalcy in her life and on small bathroom to share among the 3 of us is making me claustrophobic! We had such a nice dinner with our physical therapist friend Jo, her new daughter Tessa and her son Alexander. We went to the Cow and Bridge for Thai last night in the pouring rain -- it was hysterical. We just ran and we all got wet and it was fine with us. We have been trying not to venture out to "Lucy's" the American restaurant too much, but as you will see below, the known is sometimes so much better than the unknown....

Fay Factor, Guangzhou, China -- Wed. (AP)

As the Fays ventured out Tuesday for a sumptuous dinner, they stepped into their own episode of Fear Factor. Looking for some simple local fare, the Fays found quite a surprise awaiting. They couldn't decide among the roasted water beetle with mango sauce, sauteed toad with a plum reduction or almond encrusted mud eel. Frannie was overheard saying "Let's blow this popsicle stand and go get some good American food....like pizza."

CA Day!

I'm going to post some pictures and another blog later, but while I have time, I wanted to write a quick update for the blog:

Today is our Consulate Appointment Day. This just means we sit in the hotel and Jophy goes to the Consulate for us and files all the papers. Kevin is sitting in the hotel room with Frannie in case Jophy has a problem and needs to call, but that's about it for the morning. We met a very nice family from Syracuse -- a PT no less! She works for an early intervention program for children? Sound familiar Fays? Her name is Jo and that's all I know. Pretty funny. We had pizza delivered for dinner last night which was nice -- Papa Johns! Today we are going to the pearl and jewel markets. Peg, I wish I knew what a good/great/excellent price was for all these gems. I don't know what to get for the money! I'm bringing a few hundred in case it's a real steal, but if I'm not sure, I'm going to get just a few things for the Bead Chick. And Lucy will get her pearls and jade rings too of course! Lucy, I meant to tell you that upon your recommendation I bought disposable salt shakers from Publix before I left (2 of them wrapped together with plastic, you know)? and going through Hartsfield, they saw them on the x-ray and pulled my bags apart -- I guess it looked like two sticks of dynamite wrapped together -- the guy laughed and just said "hmmm... salt."

I had the worst massage of my life yesterday. The recommended massage place down the road is only 68 yuan for an hour and in hindsight I would have paid her 68 just to leave me alone. Her little tiny hands either tickled the crap out of me or bruised me. I was hoping it would get better when she got to my... hands or.... my arms but she yanked my bad shoulder around and from a prone position she yanked my leg up in the air -- very bad for my back -- she gave me the most painful temple massage akin to Chinese torture -- hey lady I might need those brain cells to remember where I live or how to drive stick shift!

Frannie is truly amazing us with her quick learning. This morning I put her on the carpet and said "Go get your shoes" and she toddled over to the suitcase and got her green shoes and brought them back to me, lifting her little feet up to put them on. She says "Mama" and either "Baba" or "Dada" now for Kevin (Baba is the Chinese for Daddy) and she really loves her books. I bought her some books with good photos of animals and toys and I said "turtle" to her -- she repeated it right back to me. Ok, I know I'm biased, but.....

Kevin has a good article for later so I'll be back to type that one up. We can leave here the day after tomorrow! Yeah! Oh yeah, Mary Pat, the base to the car seat is on our dining room table if you want to grab that -- I'm not exactly sure how to snap it together, but I'm sure you can. I miss you! Can't wait for Frannie to meet her Fairy Godmother! xo

Update from the Swan

I can finally sit down for a few minutes and write!

The White Swan is treating us well -- for the most part -- it's hard, I'm sure, when so many families come and each one is so excited about their newest addition to the family and these people are probably thinking WHATEVER. My only complaint is the beds. They really are pretty bad, but today we are walking upright so God is protecting us.

Frannie had a rough night and she ended up sleeping with us. I'm trying not to do that if we can help it, but I don't want her scared or upset and it's not spoiling her after all she's been through! The challenge will be when we get home and our bed shrinks from king to queen (and we have 2 dogs with us too :))

I wanted some friends to know about Frannie's "Mongolian Spots" before you meet her -- if you see her in a bathing suit or without a shirt, you might think we have been beating her. It's very common pigmentation discolorations in Asian (and other) children and it looks EXACTLY like bruises. She has them all over her back. I'm going to have to print out the medical journal article on them and carry it around with me so people don't call DFCS! I had never heard of it before, but Frannie has a pretty severe case of these spots and they usually go away by age 4 or 5.

This morning Jophy took us up to the mountain (Banian?) with the Tanzillos. I have to tell those families travelling here who plan to do this -- there are about 60% steps and 40% flat surface. Don't take a stroller with you if you go! That part was torture. It was very pretty and worthwhile, just don't take a stroller!

Did you all know that the White Swan was closing in 2 months for complete renovation? It will be closed for a year. The new "adoption" hotel, according to Jophy, will be closer to the new Consulate, which is unfortunate because this island is so incredibly quaint and convenient.

Kevin's Two Cents' Worth

Memphis -- FedEx Corporation and Chairman Yao (Ming) announce a global partnership between the Memphis-based company and "every person in China with a 'bleedin' bike" to expand its international service. With 40 gazillion bike owners, the newly-developed "RedEx" will fill a void no other overnight delivery service has been able to offer. "When you absolutely, positively have to have it the next day," RedEx guarantees delivery within.... 3 months."

Short Update

The internet costs so much here in the White Swan we are trying not to use it much. There is a store Lucy told us about -- Jordon's -- that has internet for free so maybe tomorrow morning I will go there to give more details.

Poor Kevin lifted Frannie and the high chair this morning in the dining room and froze for a few seconds -- he's not being a good patient because he's walking around with Frannie and not lying down or putting ice on it -- I can't push Frannie, all the luggage and a wheelchair to the airport! The beds here are indeed the worst. It feels like plywood with a small bit of padding. Wish I knew where to buy a featherbed around here!

Kevin got the $8 massage yesterday and I'm going today to get some pampering too. We had an interesting conversation with the Director of Civil Affairs and the Director of the Shaanxi Orphanage last week which I failed to mention. One of them mentioned us coming back to get another baby from Shaanxi and when we told them we were not permitted due to the changes implemented May 1, they both said, no no no, write a letter to CCAA and they know you so you can come back! Now I'm not sure what we will do? Vietnam? China again? Egad, the wait.

We will write again soon from Jordon's. By the way, waiting Moms, there are some BEAUTIFUL chinese fabric diaper bags around here for cheap so if you want to wait until you get to Guangzhou, you will be glad you did.

Kevin's Two Cents Worth -- Go Gators.

Made it to the Swan

We have been out of touch -- we've been busy! Poor Frannie had a horrible travel day yesterday from Xi'an. She was so upset by the claustrophobic plane and she was clinging to me, Kevin felt hurt and it was tense! The worst problem was that she had no nap at ALL. By the time we got to the White Swan, she had fallen asleep and she slept for 10 hours or so. We met the Tanzillos this morning and we've bonded with them -- what a treat to have such an experienced adoptive family.

Frannie is doing great today. She got a good nap and was cracking up on the bed. I'll attach a movie clip of her!

I'd love to write more, but I'm using the Tanzillos computer in their room and I don't want to take advantage. We are looking forward to home, but in the meantime, the White Swan is very luxurious, the area is beautiful and incredibly safe to walk around. We walked along the river tonight with all the fairy lights lighting up the river, it was beautiful. We're doing great. Lucy, I got your traditional dresses today from Jordon, we had a great talk. Lots to tell about Guangzhou, but later.....

Thanks for all the prayers, we've needed it!

Leaving Xi'an

We are leaving beautiful Xi'an and only happy to be that much closer to home! Frannie had a sort bad day yesterday. I think she may have been sad/confused about the trip back to the orphanage and after a nap, she had a slight fever. I couldn't tell how bad because our thermometer read Kevin's temp as 96.5 or so twice. She felt warm and was whiney so we walked her for a while which seemed to soothe her. She STILL will not drink from anything expect her leaky orphanage cup! We got her two different kinds of cups yesterday and I'm starting to believe she would drop over dead before she would take a mere sip from anything else. We will have to write more about the orphanage trip later. We took lots of photos and promised to not post them on the internet so I only sent them to the families. I was more impressed with everything about it than I expected. I think after the orphanages in Kingston, this place seemed much more new and clean.

Kevin's Two Cents' Worth
Friday AP -- Auburn University administrators, amazed at the reading proficiency of not-yet 2-year-old Frannie Fay, have retained the services of Ms. Fay to coordinate the "Teach a Tiger to Read" program for all Auburn student athletes. Head football Coach Tommy Tuberville says "This program is a must if we are to compete with th University of Florida for the best student athletes in the SEC and we believe Ms. Fay is aptly qualified to take us to the next level."

Shopping Adventures

For those of you who have asked, Frannie is in 9 months to 12 months size and her shoe size was way off. Not one of the shoes we brought with us fit her (the shoes were too big by about 2 or 3 sizes). She was just sitting here with me at the computer, but I had to put her down, she saw me typing and wanted to try. She's a fast learner. Kevin taught her the word BOOK (one of her favorite things) and she has said it now about 10 times.

Frannie a/k/a Frances a/k/a Emma a/k/a Rui Zhen a/k/a Mer Mer (?) and sometimes Brini is such a little trooper. She has been put into such unknown situations with these two weird-looking, weird-sounding people and yet she'll toddle right over to Kevin when he's on the floor, makes a 180 and plop right in his lap. She'll stretch her arms up to us to be picked up and she started to touch our arms and hands and hold us around the neck. Other than Gotcha Day, she has not cried once -- only a whimper -- and she's sleeping 9-10 hours solid every night. Yesterday at lunch the restaurant had a high chair for her (a first) so I put her next to me, scooted it close and started to get a bib when her lower lip started to quiver and her eyes got red, but she didn't make a sound. I took her out and fed her on my lap as usual and she was happy as a clam.

The other day we bought a facial cleanser/exfoliating gel product from a market. That night I used it and noticed the clear gel wasn't really exfoliating per se, it was more like sticking, akin to super glue on all my facial parts that have tiny little hairs like around my jaw-line. I scrubbed and scrubbed with a face cloth and I finally had to pluck the glue balls from my face with a tweezer. Red and blotchy-faced I went to bed thinking of the trip to Italy with Nicole and the "Ben Gay" incident. We had walked all over Rome for days and then around Florence and by the end of Day 4 or so my feet were swollen and sore. We stopped into a Farmacia to find something like Ben Gay for some sort of relief. The barely-English-speaking pharmacist said "Ah si!" and brought out a tube of something that looked like a prescription cream and before bed that night I applied this foreign cream liberally all over my feet. Within about 10 minutes my entire face had broken out in a sweat and I was hopping around the room like there were hot coals in the room. I washed and scrubbed and washed again, but it did no good! After about 30 minutes of agony I tried baby powder, which gave me some relief. Even a day or two later, whenever my hiking boot-clad feet would get warm, I continued to feel this warming sensation. I seriously considered taking that tube back to the U.S. to have it chemically analyzed. I was sure it was sulfuric acid or nitric acid (or paint remover) or.... Moral of the story, I guess.... don't forget your American crap which is better than unknown foreign crap.

An international incident broke out yesterday at the Muslim Market in Xi'an due to an argument over a cheap suitcase. I'm not kidding or exaggerating. We were all walking down a narrow lane in the market with cheap goods on all sides. A row of suitcases lined one side of the "alley." When Kevin passed a Chinese woman, right next to the suitcases, one of them knocked over a suitcase. The Chinese lady kept walking fast in the other direction. The saleslady started to yell at Kevin to pick it up and she pointed out a scratch which could not have happened from just falling over. She screamed and Kevin screamed back and next thing you know, we were surrounded by other salespeople yelling and the saleslady started to push Kevin! They threatened to call the Police and we said OK, sure. Poor Sally -- she was so upset. Kevin offered to buy her cheap luggage for 40 yuan and she yelled that she paid 60 for it. We finally gave her the money and Kevin then put his fist through the front of the suitcase (easily) because it was thin plastic and he placed the luggage where it had fallen and left the area as quickly as possible! Sally was pretty shaken up! But we got some good bargains from the Muslims while we were there! We are banned from the market for life!

Kevin's Two Cents' Worth
In Beijing, the Hory (Holy) Cow! Institute is investigating a cheeseburger sighting that is leaving researchers baffled. Room service in the Shangri La Golden Flower Hotel in the Shaanxi Province delivered this 18 lb. slab to the Fay room late on Wednesday night. Exclaimed young Frannie Fay (F squared) "that thing is bigger than Barry Bonds' head!" Balco officials declined to comment.

Gator Fan in the making

Frannie is doing better and better. She slept for 10 hours last night and may have slept more if we didn't have to wake her up. Today we are off to the Muslim? market for shopping. Can't wait! We went to the terra cotta store yesterday (the one where they make the "official" replicas and we bought this cute embroidered print of a little Chinese baby in a tub for 240 yuan framed. We thought that was just fine -- about 30 dollars? We got back to the hotel later in the evening and the hotel gift shop has the same ones -- ha ha, for 80 yuan. We got another one which is adorable. We had dinner last night at the chicken place, as Sally called it and one of the seemingly innocuous dishes almost killed us. We thought we had picked all the chili peppers out of it, but we each got a few mixed in and yikes. This region is known for noodles instead of rice which is fine with me -- but eating long spaghetti shaped noodles with chopsticks is a treat.

Kevin sent a picture of himself and Frannie in their Gator gear to the director of the SEC show this Saturday in Gainesville. Watch or tape the Lincoln Financial game of the week for a potential Tex and Frannie sighting! Someone please Teevo (sp)? this for us?

Kevin got a few cell phone calls in the middle of the night -- fyi people, we are not home and guess what? 3:00 pm EST is 3AM Xi'an time! Thanks for the wake-up call two mornings in a row!!


Tex's Two Cents Worth

Frannie Fay has declined a University of Tennessee offer to become the chairperson of the school's Engineering and Architectural Program. Her bold thinking and innovative ideas made her a natural fit for the program. We can do a lot more with blocks than just putting a '74 Malibu on top of them. Negotiations broke down when the UT administration balked at replacing Rocky Flop with Molly Hatchet's "Gator Country" as the school song.

Terra Cotta Warrior Day

Today we went to visit the Terra Cotta Warriors. I would love to say it was the most exciting thing ever, but we've been bombarded with replica warriors and photos of them since we arrived -- I realized the enormity of it, but I was somewhat distracted. Sally is incredibly knowledgeable about the history and lots of pertinent information regarding the surrounding area. She is from Northeast China originally and she told us the funniest/saddest story about her first year in university here in Shaanxi. She said she could not afford to fly home for Chinese New Year so she bought a train ticket with her friend, but they told them there were no seats or sleep cars available so they would have to sit on the floor the whole 26 hours to her town. She said by the time they got on the train it was literally jam packed with people and they barely found a place to stand. She said she tried to give right leg a rest for a while and then give left leg a rest by standing like a stork, switching back and forth. One time she closed her eyes and she lost her spot for the other leg and almost fell over, etc. She was laughing so hard telling this story (which sounded like absolute torture to me!) She's adorable. She loves to tell us Harkness stories too!

Yesterday we went to this restaurant for lunch with Sally and a whole group of the waitresses gathered around our table to watch Frannie (and us) eat. The teeniest bit distracting, but they were very nice. I wanted to cry when one of the waitresses picked up Frannie (yes, we had not even had her for 24 hours at this point, but...) and when I tried to get her back, she latched on to this woman and turned away from me. The ladies kinda giggled and although I knew it wasn't Frannie's fault, it made me sad for just a minute. She's better with us today, stretching her arms up to be picked up. This picture is a tummy tickling photo.

Frannie is eating like a moose today, thanks be to God. We're trying not to give her too much Western food yet so she's been eating rice cereal, rice, noodles, formula, fruit and some crackers. She sits and does this little hand motion thing like she's doing interpretive dance (ha ha Karoline), bringing her hands together and rotating her wrists around in front of her face like ... Chinese dance, I guess!

I just had the weirdest massage in my life -- it felt great, but the tiny lady actually climbed on my back and kneeled on my lower back and butt while massaging my back and shoulders. Sixty minutes for about $25! Tomorrow we are shopping and Thursday is the orphanage visit. I'll blog asap after the orphanage. In case any Yahoo Group people are reading this, we were told we could see the Hope Haven kids AND the Chinese side too! I've got everyone's name written down to ask for. I'll take as many pics as possible. FYI: We have spent quite a bit of time driving to and from the Office of Civil Affairs and noticed that the Sofitel Hotel is directly next to this office and if we had to do it again, we would have liked to have stayed there. We had 3 or 4 trips ? to this office and the traffic is horrible and the time taken adds up. We like the Shangri La, but check the prices for the brand new Sofitel! Kevin and Frannie are napping and we are heading out to the Fish Head Restaurant later. Just kidding. That's next door to the chicken and rice place that Kevin picked out. Our best to everyone -- how is my Brett? XOXO Ellen