oh my goodness

So, I opted for the massage yesterday. Holy crap. That was the best money I've ever spent. Here they do it with your clothes still on but a towel over you. The woman pounded, rubbed and cracked my entire body. I had to bite my lip to keep from screaming when she was rubbing the muscles along my spine! It felt SO GOOD. She massaged my head so of course, my hair looked...interesting when she was done. I ran my hands through it and I bet 500 strands of hair came out. I didn't see a trashcan so I had to put all that hair in my pocket! I couldn't put it on the floor because they would know whose it was! Plus, that's gross. Then she asked if I wanted a foot massage. I thought that sounded good so I went for that as well. My feet were soaked in a small barrel while my shoulders, back and neck were rubbed again. Then she went to town on my feet and legs. MAN. I think David is going to go today. She also asked if I wanted my ears cleaned. Hee. I declined although I do enjoy a good ear cleaning. I went back to the room where David had apparently NOT been having such a relaxing afternoon. I think I shall let him type out his version and then I'll return.

Hello. David here. While Allison was enjoying herself Maggie was busy being squirmy. She apparently hates the hotel room. We can't put here down on the bed. That equals a diaper change. We can't sit in a chair. That equals naptime or feeding or some other horrible situation. Anyway...she likes to be held. VERY CLOSELY. Not that I mind. I have been waiting for a baby for, oh, 37 years. So, it's okay. She likes sensory stimulation which is good. I think Allison said on another post that she likes textures and colors and lights and moving stuff. She will watch traffic at the windows for a good 15 minutes without getting bored. I kind of like it too.
So, Maggie and I explored ALL of the hotel during Mommy's mysterious 3 hour absence from our lives. We went to the 4th floor where the health club, pool, tennis courts, and garden are all located. We took a bottle outside in the courtyard-garden and tried to work on it. Nope. We walked around the garden. She touched every tree, bush, rock, whatever. I mean every one. Some things she didn't touch for very long, but it was so interesting to watch her reactions. Then we went back inside to the 2nd floor to explore there. The restuarant where we eat breakfast is there...The Veranda. Wow that's a cool name. We looked inside some meeting of FinnAir and a hostess pinched Maggie's cheeks. Obviously we were not with FinnAir but I guess Maggie is so cute she couldn't resist! Then we went downstairs and walked around. There is a largish shopping mall in the hotel. Well, not a mall like we know it. It is kind of like the NBC building at Rockefeller Center (30 Rock?) in its set-up. No cool frescoes though. Lots of high-name fashiony places. But most important...Starbucks. Sadly, no chai tea lattes. So we walked the halls and looked in windows. All this time, I am carrying little SiQi and she is twisting and turning and looking and cooing and gurgling and generally attracting a lot of attention. Hmmmm...scary bald and bearded white American man with cute as a button brown skinned Chinese angel. Who are they looking at? HER! I found a shop called "Kiosk" that sells American newspapers and magazines. USA Today is about $4 so no. Newsweek International is about $6 so again no.
The main lobby is what Maggie loves the most in the whole world. We sat down there and she immediately started jumping on my belly and seducing all the people that went by with her tongue-in-lips routine. Remember her "mugshot" ??? That's how we know there was no mix-up...her tongue is always out. We stayed there for a good 30 minutes and maybe 4 or 5 people asked about her. I decided to walk a little more and check to see if Mommy was home. She was not. So we left. Maggie started to get a little whiny but magically when we entered the lobby again that stopped. This time we tried the bottle and she sucked it down. It was about 5:30 and I was praying Allison would be back because I was WORNOUT. We tried to watch CNN but no go. Finally Allison came home and proceeded to tell me how wonderful her massage was. Forget MY back and MY patience and MY stress level. SHE was doing GRRRRRRRRREEEEEEAAAATTTTT! So that was my day. I loved it! I will gladly do it again and again and again!

Okay, I'm back. When I returned from the land of pleasure, we ordered Danny's Bagels with Jeff and Brooke. It's a delivery only place with Chinese versions of American food. Jeff and David got pizzas, Brooke had chicken noodle soup and I had a grilled ham and cheese. Mine was tasty but they used what tasted like Mexican white cheese. I don't have a problem with that! Oh yeah, Brooke and I took Emma and Maggie for a walk while we waited for dinner as the men looked somewhat haggard. We walked way down the street that the hotel is on. There were SO many people out. Tons of cars, buses and bicycles. We got hit up by some little kids begging but we didn't have any money with us. Emma and Maggie seemed to be captivated by the hustle and bustle of Guangzhou. It was HOT. I mean, HOT. I had sweat rolling down my back and face when we got back to the hotel. Pleasant. We all sat on the floor with kind of fussing babies and laughed and talked about poop. How far we've come. Maggie is still withholding information on us even though I shoveled some more prunes into her last night. I think she would be much happier if she could go to the bathroom. Some people say that the nannies give the babies something to stop them up so they won't poop on the trip between the orphanage and the city where they are adopted.

We sent some of our clothes out to be washed and that was a very pleasant experience. They came back all in individual little bags, neatly folded and pressed. The laundry here might be worth moving to China for. Well, that is all for now. I'll write again after we return from the zoo.