It's my birthday...

...but I still can't sleep as late as I want to. Six-fifteen, no matter how late I stay up. Woke up this morning to a very foggy day. I can barely see any boats on the river. Last night we had our first real thunderstorm, although we've had lots of misty rain before.

Yesterday morning was the visa appointment we didn't have to go to. We did, however, have to stay in the room in case Connie needed any information from us. Good days do not start with 2.5 hours of 2 wiggly boys in a hotel room. As soon as we got the all clear from Connie we took them outside to wiggle across the island on a quick walk. I was looking for a silk comforter, which are pretty much impossible to find in the States, and there is a nearby "Department Store and Electronics City" about 4 blocks off the Island. So we walked there to discover that the "Department Store" part is very outdated, and instead it's 5 floors of cell phones, USB sticks, etc. I couldn't believe that there were more electronics every set of stairs we climbed. On the way down we found the escalators.

We had lunch in the "American" restaurant. I ordered chicken congee for Jed, and he poohpoohed the entire notion, now knowing there was much more interesting food in the world. He loves potatoes, and so his lunch ended up being apple juice and French fries. Oh well. Gus polished off an entire adult-sized grilled cheese sandwich. Dad ordered chili con carne and enjoyed it, despite talking trash about it the entire time we were waiting. As much as I would like a hamburger, it just isn't the same without lettuce on that bun (and we're not supposed to eat lettuce here, too many crannies for dirty water to cling to when it gets re-washed). Sigh.

During naptime Dad and I left for a trip to the wholesale pearl market. We are seeing a big difference in shopping philosophy: in the US, a mall has a lot of stores, with very few types of stores being repeated (and therefore not much competition). In China, a mall has a lot of stores selling exactly the same thing (like big bags of pearls, or cell phone cases) and a lot of competition. The Pearl Market is a six story mall full of jewelry wholesalers, and a lot of the stores look the same. Yet they stay in business. I found the simple freshwater pearl necklace I'd been looking for, and then wandered into the amber store to see pendants as big as my fist (beautiful, but probably awfully heavy to breathe under). Then Connie took us to a pedestrian shopping area (which stands on the original commercial center of Guangzhou, proven by a glass enclosure inside the main square that shows a piece of an old and an older city gate). There was an enormous department store where I found my silk comforter.

Dad and I both noticed something creepy, though, about the department store. All of the mannequins and practically all of the models on posters were white (and most of them were blonde). It's as if the brands we see in the US don't even change marketing for China (although they must, right?). What kind of body image issues are going to come up when the girls are pushed to achieve a look that is really physically impossible for them?

We arrived back at the hotel to find the boys happily destroying the playroom, and I ran to pick up the laundry before dinner. If we lived here, Jim would never do laundry again. I picked up 5 days of laundry for 5 people, washed, pressed, and folded, for $30. Wow.

Then Connie took us to her favorite local Cantonese restaurant (which is right across the street). We'd gone as a group a couple of days ago without her and enjoyed it, but this time she ordered for us and it was fantastic. Everything was delicious, even the mushrooms, which Jim and I always hate. The tea was fabulous, and the boys were diverted by the enormous live prawns and fish waiting in tanks in the front to be chosen for dinner. There's a saying that the Cantonese eat everything with four legs except the table; I saw a box of water beetles skittering around out front too. No thank you. But dinner was excellent.

Then bed for the boys, Jim did an ice cream run for the grownups, and we chatted until we were about to fall over. Today will be a calmer day.