It's a good thing we didn't begin our day at 7:30 am, as we didn't wake up until 7:00 am. We still haven't quite gotten on China time, but get closer every day. The hotel is lovely, a 4 star hotel that has a lot of marble and three or more restaurants. The fresh fruit is so nice at meals--huge bowls of fresh watermelon, pineapple, a chinese melon much like honeydew, fresh oranges. The buffet has both western and Chinese breakfast items; we have been sampling from both. Our day started at a large Chinese grocery store so we could buy big bags of individual Dove chocolates for our first stop. Who knew a couple pounds of chocolate would cost 30 USD? That was a surprise. We bought chocolates to share with the children at a local elementary school. Our guide had arranged for us to tour a local school, three floors of classes from preschool to age 5-6 first graders. Lydia was initially shy, but then joined in with children in a class of her own age and sat down and completed an art project and then played a jumping game that is like musical chairs. The children were so friendly and practiced their "hello" and "thank you" many times. The principal and teacher were so friendly and welcoming. At the end, mama and baba were talking to the adults when the children lined up and left the room--and Lydia with them! We had to go and find her, out on the play ground with her new friends. We were delighted to meet the principal's daughter, whose name was JiaJia! Just like Charlotte at home. We took many pictures and the children hammed it up for the camera. They presented us with a Mickey Mouse photo album that all the children had written their Chinese names in, so that we could put our photos from the visit in the album. The children stood perfectly still in a long line (about 40 children in the kindergarten class) while Lydia gave the children chocolates--lots of smiling faces.
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