January 9th

We are lying low in the hotel room today because Alyana is cutting teeth. She is not a "happy camper" so we decided to forgo the group dinner tonight. She has just settled after gulping down a big bottle of milk. We actually had to cut a hole in the top of the bottle so that the flow would come quicker. She honestly downed the bottle in about 2 minutes.

She is now quieting down for the night so I have a few minutes.

Here are some pics of the area so you can get the idea of what we are seeing on a daily basis. The city is approx. 2.2 million. It is large, quite crowded and quite polluted. There is construction EVERYWHERE. The entire province of Hunan is approx. 65 million people. It is known for spicy foods and embroidary. The little girls from here are often referred to as spicy girls and are known for their "determined" personalities. :)

The people are lovely and are very interested in our group that are toting around these little chinese babies. The only thing that we have found unsettling is the act of crossing the road. We went for a short trip to a market the other day and we had to cross a large intersection, honestly, for those of you that will come to China in the following months, crossing the road is a matter of life and death. It was one of the first warnings that we had from our agency rep. She advised us to follow a large group of local people if we plan on crossing any streets. The cars will not stop and will drive around you as you are crossing.

We haven't gotten out to explore very much as we have been primarily spending time with Aly. Tomorrow and the next we will venture out for some shopping although most of our shopping will be done in Beijing. We will return there on Friday after we get Aly's passport.

So without further delay, I will post these pictures of the area that we are presently in.