Journey to Sophie: March 27/05 ~ Changsha's Walmart

Easter Sunday! We thought someone was breaking into our room by coming through the ceiling at 7:30am but soon realized that they are doing construction in the hotel. I guess they don’t worry about guests that may be trying to sleep in. Breakfast was very good. Once again it was a western style buffet. They had 3 dwarf bunnies in a pen in the lobby and Jamie made the comment that they were going to be our dinner. We met some people from Norway that are also here to adopt. We are staying on one of the 2 baby floors that they have in this hotel. As soon as the elevator doors open on our floor, you are greeted by a play area with lots of toys, strollers, and baby walkers. Right now the floor is quiet but come tomorrow I’m sure it will be very noisy. This was our last day to get in any shopping that we needed before the babies arrive. We all piled into a minibus and headed to Walmart. Yes, they do have Walmart in China. It has 2 floors - the first for food and the second for everything else. The food floor is unbelievable! First you have to get used to the smell which is very hard to describe. I wouldn’t use the word pleasant. They sell everything from live turtles to fish and bullfrogs. Jamie took some very interesting photos. We then headed to the second floor in search of baby things. The prices are amazing! Everyone stocked up on baby formula, diapers and water. We spent 2 hours shopping and then piled back into the minibus. It seems that we are all feeling a bit jet-lagged so we napped in the afternoon. At 5:00pm Jamie and I went to a local grocery store to get some more water. People kept staring at us and we were followed around the store by two young men who kept whispering to each other. I guess they don’t see too many caucasians around here. I didn’t like them standing so close to us at the checkout counter. Jamie was in front of me paying for the water and the two guys were standing so close to me -- too close for comfort. It was good to get out of there and back to the hotel. We met the group at 6:00pm for dinner in a local Chinese restaurant. Very interesting is all I can say. I can tell you that we didn’t eat very much. We’re very tired tonight and hopefully we’ll sleep well, but I don’t know. You see, tomorrow is "Gotcha Day" when we get Sophie! We will be heading over to the Civil Affairs Office in Changsha at 10:30am and will meet the babies at 11:00!