Our last full day in Jinan.....

Well, today we realized how ready we are to go home!  Mike has 3 requests, 1)a fork, 2) a roll of paper towels (napkins are not a necessity here) and 3) a hamburger (other than McDonalds). I just want a normal bathroom.......I have always been a squatter but you REALLY have to squat here.......(sorry TMI ;-))We miss the kids SO much! I would really love some snuggles from them right now!! It has been so nice to talk to them once or twice a day via facetime.  There isn't any air conditioning in the hotel room and the smells here are very different.......(but I'm NOT COMPLAINING AT ALL!!!) ;-)

 We have noticed that Chinese are very respective of their heritage, culture, and family.  However they will walk out in front of oncoming traffic, there are no lines, and holding a door for a woman never happens.  Mike has had a hard time understanding the lack of respect for women here.  I keep trying to remind him that this is just how it is here and we can't change that.  He is such a southern gentleman at heart, you wait your turn and say yes m'am and no m'am and open the door for women.  No one waits for their turn here, not even while driving.  Lanes are only a suggestion, not a rule, you get over when you want not when the lane is open, and if you don't jump in you will be waiting a long time.   

The people are nice, many people have stopped and talked to Olivia.  Everyone tells us how pretty or beautiful she is.  We have had A LOT of stares.  Sylvia said that this province is not very familiar with adoption.  Olivia was number 8 for the year, apparently this is very low.......However, Olivia's orphanage (only 1 out of the many in this province) has over 200 kids, all with special needs.  Mike said he feels like he is walking around perpetually in his Spiderman suit (another story for another time, let's just say he won a bet).  One man told us yesterday that she needed more clothes.  She had on fleece pants, ski bibs, socks and shoes, a turtleneck, fleece hoodie, thick jacket, hat, and mittens......

Every morning Olivia allows me to hold her and we will go to breakfast and then once we head out for the day, she is done with me and will ONLY take Mike.  She is SO smart, already she knows exactly how to get what she wants.  Tonight at dinner, Mike took us on another romantic date to Pizza Hut (LOL) and we gave her a piece of ham, she hung the ham from her mouth for a good couple of minutes, waiting on Mike to take it out of her mouth, even though she is very capable of taking it herself.  Eventually, she did get it herself.  Then later Mike gave her a wipe to wipe her hands, she left it laying on her hand and wimpered, then cried until Mike wiped her hands for her......Obviously if we had had her for longer than 4 days, we would have not given in to this behavior, however she is testing us, and we need to prove that we're not going anywhere.  We are slowly showing her some boundaries but we also want her to feel love and comfort.

We walked around Qianfu Buddha Scenic Mountain this morning.  It goes back 1400 years, there are both Buddhism and Tao temples on the side of the hill, still used for worshiping.  The history here is just amazing. I love seeing all of it.  Sylvia and I took the "ski lift" up the side of the mountain to look at them.  We didn't think it would be a very good idea to take Olivia on the "ski lift".  Speaking of "ski lift" I was asking Sylvia if she has ever been skiing, she loves to travel.  She said no, most Chinese don't ski, but she said it is getting much more popular between lovers.  She said it's a very romantic thing to do because the girl falls a lot and the man has to hold her and help her.  She said it is a very big step to hold hands in a relationship here.  The differences in this culture to ours is too many to count.  We plan to enforce the cultural relationship guidelines in Olivia's (and the other kids) relationships later in life............:-)  

 My few minutes of holding time this morning!  I'll take whatever I can get!!!

 This is for Ella, thought she would like this chandelier in the hotel.

 The temples on the hill.

 View of Jinan from the hill.

 These ribbons have stones on each end, you throw them into a tree for good luck.

 One of the Tao temples. I went to take pictures of a Buddha and was asked not to so I decided to respectfully withhold all temple shots.......

 Bobsledding down the hill was closed.....

 More views of the city, from the "ski lift".  See the nice haze over it, and this is a clear day........

Isn't she beautiful!!

 We had lunch at this restaurant, the chairs actually swing....and our lunch which was very good, consisted of noodles, sweet and sour pork, rice, fried dumplings and hot tea for about $8!

We took another trip to Starbucks at the local mall.  We also went to look for Mike some more jeans.....the "Lee's" and "Levis" were over $100......needless to say, he didn't get any new jeans.....

Tomorrow we will hang out in the hotel til about 2 then leave for the airport.  We fly to Guangzhou, where the US consulate is. Our appointment is next Thursday.