Nanning Days with Eleanor AKA Le-le

Our Nanning days seem to have settled into a pattern: breakfast at the hotel, where Eleanor Xile scarfs down congee, and Libby eats noodles, while Pierre and I eat more conventional American breakfasts. Then we head for the People's Park, where we admire the gorgeous tropical landscaping, feed the carp, and people-watch. Today a man passed by with a homemade-looking guitar, and Pierre played it a little. Often we see musicians, violinists especially, and dancers. There is a large Zhuang ethnic population here, who are noted for their music. Another prominent minority group, the Miao people, have their own distinctive music and customs, and we have seen some of them practicing dances in the park. Today, though, we saw only an elderly couple ballroom dancing, and they were very good!

However, before we went to the park, Matthew the Guide took us to Walmart! Normally such places make me feel crazed and ill, and I wasn't too thrilled to go today, but . . . Walmart in the U.S. doesn't have an extensive supermarket, with a live fish market, including live turtles! The fruit and produce department was huge, filled with exotic specimens we couldn't identify. All this was mixed in with kids' clothing, TVs, etc. We got lots of cute, cheap clothes for the girls.

We have been having lunch at the hotel. They serve excellent noodle soup, and since the Mingyuan Xindu Hotel is obviously a center for adoptive families, it's fun to watch happy, but exhausted parents, accompanied by new babies, new older kids, and possibly a few siblings, wander into the room, and collapse. We have met lots of great people--one of the advantages of traveling without a big group. There are families from Italy, from the Netherlands, and from all parts of the U.S. It makes me think about the international community of adopted Chinese girls, who share a birthplace, but will grow up in so many different environments.

After lunch, Pierre and Xile took a nap, so Libby and I had our Mom-and-Libby time at the pool. This is another popular socializing spot for the adoptive families. The only other person I have ever seen there is a guy we call Mr. Laps, who swims back and forth for about an hour. Today we met a guy from Chicago, who adopted his third daughter from China a few days ago, who was at the pool with his girls. Libby greatly admired his oldest, Jazz, who is 9. "Mom, can we give her our room number?" she whispered as we were leaving. (We did)

This evening Matthew the Guide took us to a Miao ethnic restaurant, where we had great food, as usual, but also were treated to Miao singing and dancing. As part of the floor show, the guy we're traveling with, Terry, was called upon to be the groom in a mock Miao wedding. It actually turned out to be a pretty strenuous role to play, involving standing on a sort of balance beam, drinking toasts in various poses with the bride, and carrying her around the room! I think Pierre was quite relieved not to have been drafted.

Apparently a killer typhoon is headed for Guangzhao, and so are we, eventually. I think the typhoon is expected to hit the coastal regions tomorrow morning. Stay tuned . . .

It can't be worse than the flooding in Massachusetts, which has made the Chinese news. We are hoping and praying that our friends and family are ok.

Eleanor Xile is MUCH happier today. She is laughing and smiling, and in fact, is getting quite silly, so should fit right in with the rest of the family. She still refuses to wear underpants, but has given up sleeping in her shoes. (I think she was given new shoes when she left the orphanage, and she was very protective of them for the first day or so.) Her caregivers called her Le-le, so we do too. I think this nickname may morph into Lulu.

Libby and I had another Mom-and-Libby time at night, after Le-le went to bed. We went to the lobby bar,(Libby had Sprite, and I had a "martini" which I think was actually a Manhattan), and talked about life with Le-le. Libby said she kind of likes her mei-mei, but not that much! Le-le is wary of Libby, but not about to be pushed around! Show-down in the future, I think. Probably on the 14 hour flight home!

Good night, and zai jian!