Fish Ride and Looking for Clothes

Finally! I always plan to post when Abbey goes to sleep, then I end up falling asleep myself. We are on a break now in honor of National Holiday (anniversary of the founding of the PRC). We will be leaving for Xian tomorrow with our friend Heidi. This may be a little wild as this (and of course CNY) is the main time that everyone in China is able to travel. But we are going for it and hope to see the terra cotta warriors, Wild Goose pagoda, etc. Little Miss is asleep right now, tired out from a shopping trip to try and get some warmer clothes for our trip. We were not very successful. We had hoped to get a coat but it is still so hot here and we only managed to find a few long sleeve shirts and a hoodie jacket. We went to Children's World, our third time to that place and let me tell you it is not for the faint of heart. It's a two story building with clothes on the bottom and shoes, toys, and a place like Chucky Cheeses on the top. In China when you find something you want to buy you get a reciept from the sales ladies, go to the cashier to pay for it, get a ticket and go back to pick up the item, and then go to customer service to get a fa piao (another little reciept I need for tax purposes). I thought just the oprhanages put all these mismatched clothes on children, but everyone does it here (adults too). I am now joining rank. Gone are the days of matching outfits and hairbows. I take anything I can find that fits and that will do. We also went to Book City which is like a 5 story Barnes and Noble. We wanted to get a little book for her to take on the trip and of course the children's things were on the 5th floor and you have to take escalators. So ready or not we will be going tomorrow and we may have to buy warmer clothes when we get there. We have been living in flip flops and tank tops and didn't bring much more with us. We had our 3rd typhoon this week and it helped tremendously with the weather. I can now leave our airconditioned bedroom and walk into the bathroom without immediately beginning to sweat. I just cannot tell you how hot it has been here. Also, because it cooled down we were able to walk down the street to a new mall for the first time. We bought a stroller there which has been a huge blessing and we had a great time. They have a new TCBY frozen yogurt and a really nice Funoland area for kids. Abbey was so happy. It was her first time using one of those guns that shoots foam balls and going on a downhill zip line. We had a little incident at McDonalds where I was attempting to get Abbey a little pack of 5 chicken nuggets. We waited a long time and finally they came out with this big carton and about 20 chicken nuggets. The sales girl was very unhappy that I said "bu yao" (don't want) and counted how many I did want on my fingers again in Chinese. The manager was nice however and straightened everything out. A brazilian mom whose daughter is in my Mommy and Me class saw it all and was laughing at me and sharing the things that have happened to her here. We then went in the grocery and on the cereal isle Abbey pointed and said "Who's that?" I looked up to see our friend Heidi studying the cereal boxes. It is such a big deal to see any caucasian during the week and I think Abbey was totally surprised. It's such a comfort to run into someone that you know.
I still haven't emailed anyone yet but I will, soon! She's up now so I have to go.