bubble baths and buried bells

Last night we found bubble bath and Amy spent 45 minutes playing in the bath tub amusing herself as she decorated her body and hair with tons of bubbles and the giggled in the mirror - she is becoming more and more animated, talkative and opinionated everyday! Of course she will have nothing to do with the outfit I find the cutest ! A good sign, I know. She is mimicking everything we say - Including, calling Mark "big funny white guy!" That was said right after Mark wondered out loud what she might be thinking of him. She is beyond fun and cute and eats all kinds of things - except fruit - hmm, a little Matthew and Alyssa in her...

This morning we went to the Hubei Provincial Museum which has an amazing exhibit of the tomb of a Marquis from 430 B.C. that was discovered by accident and incredibly preserved -there were four chambers filled with ancient bells, of which we watched a performance where replicas of them were played - very beautiful. Intricately carved jade, gold, weaponry and huge bronze wine containers, food containers and the world's first BBQ I'm sure! The advanced skill used in 5th century B.C. was quite impressive. I felt like we were looking at archaeological finds akin to King Tut's tomb.

She spends hours each day coloring and drawing - and told our guide she does not like music - that will be interesting in our home. My guess is she will like her sibling's beautiful music and she is quick as a whip - she has her body parts almost down already and numbers too!

Culturally, Buddhism is definitely the most common religion we have encountered and the people are proud of their faith and of Mao Tse Tung. Some differences we have noticed:
-most women wear very high heels - everywhere - not just for dressy affairs
-people are masters of making do - a delivery man today riding a bike with four, larger than BBQ size, propane tanks - and another riding with a 25 foot ladder attached to his bike!
-Umbrellas everywhere to provide shade from blistering sun - although we haven't seen the sun yet through the haze or smog - not sure which.
-No difference between breakfast lunch and dinner foods.
- services and food is cheap, Western products eg. name brands we would recognize are very expensive.
like the pirate's code... traffic rules are more like guidelines - it's a total free for all on the street!
the food is not sweet - even their sweet things aren't very sweet

We are really enjoying our lazy days of hanging out and getting to know each other. Its pretty simple, eat, paperwork, sight see, eat, nap, eat, walk, bed! Not a bad life - but boy do I miss home.
Teri