Last full Day in China!!!

Well, we have had our last full day in China. Hildy had a pretty good night last night. She went down instantly at 7pm then was a little fussy around 11pm so ended up sleeping with me. She likes to be wedged in tight between three pillows forming a "U" shape with her two pink blankets around her middle...just covering the right side of her head but not covering her legs. I was watching her sleep a little before I went to bed and she was dreaming. During those first few days, she would thrash around and cry during her dreams. Last night, her fingers and toes were all moving around and she was smiling in her sleep...definitely a change for the better! She woke up with smiles and a giggle this morning.We got up and headed downstairs for breakfast. I have been wearing the same clothes for the past two weeks and had saved a clean, brand new shirt for today so I wouldn't feel quite so "traveled". I got dressed, we sat down for breakfast amidst stares(as per usual) and while everyone was still watching us, Hildy promptly tucked her head in nice and tight to my chest and barfed up the bottle that she had just finished into my shirt. Ahhh so much for clean laundry. After a quick shirt change we ended up having a long chat over breakfast with some people we met from Australia that were quite taken by our adoption story, then got into the cab and went to the Silk market...another gong show. People calling out to you every step you take, "Hey, Lady you want some silk/shirt/jacket/CDs/you name it..." to come and buy their wares, haggling for everything right down to the last yen; it is exhausting. We got a few last things then headed to Tiannamen square. We got there, wandered around a bit then just came right back to the hotel to pack. It was not really what we were expecting... it is huge but there is a really busy road between the square and the mausoleum,didn't expect that. You can't really walk up to it...you have to go around barricades, cross 8 lanes of traffic etc. I know it has a lot of history and is significant in the story of Mao, etc but it really just looked like a giant cement parking lot. Oh well, at least there were no crazy rickshaw incidents today... all very calm (minus the early morning barfing, of course). Smoggy but calm. No one grabbed me or Hildy today or stared and created a mosh pit around us so all in all a good outing. We came back to the hotel to meet our driver then Tom and I and Hildy went to the embassy. That was cool. We got to go inside...passport check, security clearance and all...got a visitor's badge...felt very diplomatic... all we did was go a few flights of stairs up to pick up papers for immigration but i still thought it was cool to be let inside. So, we came back, then got picked up for dinner. Really good dinner...didn't recognize anything i was eating...I decided to just eat it and not ask any questions. It was all really good. Could have been donkey or ox or some other creature but I was hungry, our "guide" didn't speak English and it was our last dinner here so I thought I would live dangerously...I'll let you know how that turns out.
I have pretty much finished packing. Dad is taking a few things home for me as I have run out of room in my bags... In some ways it feels like we have been in China for months not 2 weeks and in some ways, it feels like the trip just whipped by. We have seen so much, learned so much about this country and the many people we have met along the way. I am so glad we spent the time here that we did to get to know Hildy's country of birth. It is a place of huge change and much contrasts from the Beijing hutongs to the 50 story Shanghai skyscrapers. We have seen $46, 000 watches for sale in the trendy shops of Shanghai and we have seen deplorable living conditions in the outskirts of Wuhan that made me cry and that have been burned into my memory forever. We have about a million pictures and just as many stories to share once we get home. Mom, your ears are going to be red from all the stories I am sure dad has saved up for you for the next year or so. And when he's done, I have a few too. Thanks for sharing along in our journey... see you in Vancouver.
Lots of love, T, Hildy and the big guy (who incidentally informed me he is ready to go home... He just ate his last granola bar...)