The three of us slept in and realized we were late in our blog time to see the kids. In a panic we logged on to see our silly twerps perform in front of the computer camera, pulling faces and delivering anecdotes in a manner only little children can. Both David and I are truly grateful for Skype, and its helped tremendously in times when we miss them badly. And Nevin is enjoying seeing family as well, reaching for the screen, pointing waving. Its also getting him used to some new sounding voices. He enjoys seeing the kids, and getting accustomed to his grandparents.
Breakfast was a long, leisurely meal as we hadn't and tours planned. We did roam the streets in the Muslim populated area and took some interesting contrast pictures-- ie: Kentucky Fried Chicken with a Mosque-like building in the background. We decided to enter a low end shopping centre to see if we could find Nevin a new pair of shoes, as the ones he was wearing from the orphanage were a little tight. Way up on the fourth floor we found a shoe dealer and he fitted Nevin with a pair of cool led-flashing-lights shoes. We haggled a bit with him, but he was still smiling after we bargained so we know we didn't pay his bottom dollar. In the end it cost us about $6 for a pair of shoes. Its a strange concept that I was unaware of-- bargaining in nearly every shop. I learned that lesson too late in a tea house on the street when I purchased a tea set for Heather. The price was on the box and I gave him the store owner the money and he looked at me like I had two heads. I was confused, and didn't realize he was waiting for me to haggle with him. Then he shot me a big smile and laughed all the way to the back of the store to get me my change. Obviously, I paid his top dollar. When I realized what happened the deal was already made. And really, for a few extra measly dollars, I made this guy's day. Kind of like the taxi drivers when you insist they keep the change, they just cannot fathom why we would pay more than what it costs. I tell my guide that in North America, it is customary to offer a tip when we feel the service provided is above normal. And in my books, here in China, if the driver gets me to my destination alive and unscathed, I will give him a tip! At least now we are trained to haggle when we go to Beijing today.
As we were leaving the shopping centre, a fabric store caught my eye and I went up the stairs and left David and Nevin for a moment. The stairs were high and we didn't want to carry Nevin up in the stroller. I looked around and was met with kind smiles. When I headed back to the stair case David was being surrounded by curious locals. I had remembered in the morning to bring a piece of paper provided by our adoption agency with Mandarin phrases written in Pinyin and in Chinese characters. So at least we could offer the phrases we knew how to speak and when we realized our pronunciation was poor and the locals were struggling to understand, we could point to the Chinese characters for them to read. They were all delighted to learn we adopted Nevin and we were his new parents. David said they literally gave him the thumbs up. When I came back, Nevin was uncomfortable with the crowd we had drawn and began to fuss and reached for me. I lifted him up, with everyone watching, and put him in my sling and he hugged and snuggled into my chest. The curious crowd reacted like I pulled a rabbit out of my hat. We said goodbye and we were off. Within minutes, Nevin fell asleep.
During our venturing, we headed down another back street-- there are some neat little stores in those back streets and we felt fairly safe. It was a dead end but there was a Christian church back there! A woman came out of the door a greeted us with a big friendly welcome in Chinese. I wonder if she thought we were coming to visit the church or maybe have an offering of some sort, but we were simply curious travellers. I thought it best we didn't go inside without our guide, so with a friendly goodbye in Mandarin and letting them know we were from Canada (again the rabbit out of the hat reaction...) we decided to be on our way. We enjoyed looking in the windows of the stores on the way back to the hotel. Beautiful bakeries, many scooter and bike stores....and then it hit us. We couldn't wait to get back to our room to pack for Beijing. Although we still have some other sights to see and the real shopping is yet to come, we both have had our taste of the Inner Mongolian culture (although I still would have enjoyed to see the grasslands and witness how life is out there...that is the true Inner Mongolian culture). I am growing a little tired of the food in our hotel. Now we could venture out to eat, but having Nevin with us, and drawing a crowd like we were Brangelina, we chose to mellow in the comfort of our hotel. And we both crave to smell the air of Canada, even Toronto wouldn't be so bad right now!
So today is a big day for Nevin-- he is leaving his home province, only a small part in his great journey to his new home. We should be in Beijing just after 2 pm China time. Our agency has switched our hotel when we return, so it will be a fresh start to the last leg of our China journey. The restaurant offers a wide variety of cuisine, including Szechuan, so it should be a culinary adventure.
Good bye, Inner Mongolia! We'll be back one day.
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