Macao!

Yesterday, we had a very cool day. We planned to go to a Sea World-type place about 20 minutes outside the city, but at breakfast my folks told me that they were going to spend the day in Macao. The more I thought about that idea, the more I liked it. Luckily, Colleen liked it too. After all, how often are you this close to a fascinating place like Macao? It would be far more educational to show our daughters this former Portuguese colony that to let them watch dolphins jump over bars and through hoops, too. The more they can see and experience, the better. Dolphins be damned, say I.

So, off we headed to the docks, bought tickets on the hydrofoil ferry, stopped off for a Starbucks in the terminal, and settled into leather seats for the 70 minute ride to Macao. Once again, Colleen and Danielle got motion sick. I did a little research before leaving and saw that the best place to go was Senado Square, a very European plaza-type place with a gorgeous mosaic surface made of 2 inch black and white tiles. Here and throughout the rest of old Macao, the European (Portuguese) influence was obvious: the shop fronts, the churches, the place names, etc. Our first stop, since the girls were "starving to death" was McDonald's. After that, it was straight into St. Dominic's church, which was beautiful. Upstairs, in what was basically the church's attic and belfrey, was an exhibit of the church's religious artifacts from the past 400 years. We loved it and, somewhat surprisingly, so did Emma. She was very curious about the various pieces of art, the priests' vestments from centuries gone by, candlesticks, crucifixes, etc. We also stopped to light a candle in the church as we asked God for His blessings during this adoption process. Again, compared to jumping dolphins, this wins every time.

We then headed through the crowded, narrow streets of old Macao on our way to the ruins of St. Paul's church (only the massive front edifice of which still stands...an odd sight). On the way, we passed hundreds of little shops that sold everything from spices to herbal medicines to hand-carved wood crafts to pounded meats. The smells and sounds were fascinating and wonderful, and the girls had a ball. One vendor came out and gave a strange looking cookie to Emma. Being a good sport, she tried it but did not like it. Another vendor got her to try a free piece of pounded spicy meat, and this she loved (see pic of Emma sampling the vendor's wares). Again, dolphin's are worthless. Travel and experiences are priceless.

We finally made it up to the ruins of St. Paul's and enjoyed about an hour there. In addition to the ruins, there was a surviving crypt (see pic of Emma looking at bones), and a wonderful little museum that housed some of the former church's artwork. Emma had a lot of questions about some of the more graphic painting of the Crucifixion, by the way. She was also fascinated by the whole story of the Virgin Mary. This struck a chord with her. She seemed to like the idea of a perfect woman who was an overseeing mother figure. She also liked one painting where the Virgin was stepping on a snake, and understood very clearly the good-crushing bad" message. I was very proud of her.

We made a short drink stop (see pic) as we began to re-trace out steps back to the taxi stand. It was hot and sunny, and it had been a long day. But we had been somewhere new, and the girls had had a very special experience. They had seen a new culture, witnessed history, saw the world from a new angle, and had come to appreciate (in their own way) a world other than their own. This is a VERY good thing.

The ferry ride back to HK was pleasant and uneventful. The girls slept the whole time. When we got back to the hotel, we all rested and got ready for dinner. My dad and Sandy (who were also in Macao the whole day, although their visit was limited to the new and ultra-massive Venetian hotel) were back as well, and planned to go across the harbor to an old navy haunt of my dad's for dinner. Our group, on the other hand, headed down to the hotel's main restaurant for a quick and easy dinner before heading to bed for a well-deserved night's rest.

Today (Monday the 5th), was a big day: we left HK and flew to Changsha, about a 75 minute flight north. This is where we'll get Josie tomorrow. Needless to say, it's all starting to hit home for us. The flight was easy and, after having to wait about 30 minutes for our transportation to show up, we finally got all our million pounds of luggage loaded and headed to the Grand Sun City Hotel.

Changsha is like the other two cities we've been to to adopt Emma and Annie: big, pretty dirty, and very character-less. The Western influence is gone. Construction is everywhere, as is traffic, noise, soot, etc. The hotel looked okay as we pulled up, with a massive, shiny lobby and well-dressed staff. But when we got to our rooms (the 4 of us plus Danielle...my parents had a suite up on the top) we saw that beauty truly was skin deep. The walls were stained, the carpet was stained, there was no shower curtain, and the furniture was old. However, the hotel was thoughtful enough to leave a box of CONDOMS in each of our bathrooms. You gotta be kidding!!! Where the hell am I? Colleen and I were pretty bummed since this will be our home for the next 8 nights. Just when we were the most bummed, though, we turned on the TV and got ESPN. And on ESPN was a YES Network feed of a Yankee game!!!! This brightened us up a LOT, and we took it as a sign from God, as if He were saying "Have faith you two, things will be okay. And just to show you that I mean business, here's a little Yankee game for you to watch while far from home."

Still, the rooms (we had 3, one for self and wife, one for the kids, and one for Danielle) sucked. I ran into my dad who told me that his suite up on the 19th floor was nice. With me it was the work of a moment to head down to the front desk to see if we could trade up. Turns out there were three available rooms up there and I asked to see them. Sure enough, they were WAY nicer than the dumps down on the 11th floor, and I said "Switch me!"

So here I am in room 1902 with Annie sleeping behind me as I type. Next door are Colleen and Emma (the rooms aren't adjoining, so we had to split up, each staying with one of the girls), and across the hall is Danielle. We are all very happy to be staying in new rooms.

So tomorrow we get Josie. The emotions are odd. On the one hand, we absolutely cannot wait to welcome her into her new family. On the other, it feels funny to know that our little family of four is going to change. Of course, the change is for the better, but this will be an adjustment. We felt the same way when we went from being a family of three to a family of four...but look how beautiful that turned out to be! Net-net, though, we're counting the seconds until we get our Josie tomorrow (the 6th) at 3:00. Let's hear it for families of five!!! We are so incredibly blessed, and it's times like these when you realize it the most.

Anyway, that's about it for now. More once we have our new bunny! Thanks to all for reading and for all your support.