Reflections - Day 3

From Constantin - my comments in red

Everybody is well here. Today is a different day for Sophia. I can not get her away from the TV. She bought a series of DVDs, about 20 of them in one package and each DVD has a small series of 3 plays (soap opera with young people). The girls are treated like dirt in these plays. When I hear Teetah (Popi) screaming inside, "no good, no good" I know its a boy miss-treating a girl.

We have to buy clothes and it is a drag to get her out. She has only one outfit, one bra, but plenty of underwear. (I sent 3 packages of underwear. Only things I sent that fit, apparently!)

Well, I just gave her laundry away, so she can have another outfit (her old clothes).
The hotel is extremely expensive and tricky. One small bottle of Evian water is 60 RMB (about $9), while the same bottle in the supermarket is 13 RMB ($2). I gave our laundry the first day we got here to the guy that the guide brought and it came back the next day. It was packaged nicely but it was not dry, so we have laundry hanging all over the rooms, we are missing a sweater which cost me 283RMB ($40).

One night we had dinner on the second floor, the classy Chinese restaurant, great food and great table service, and the cost was 340RMB ($50). Last night had dinner at the buffet restaurant, junky food, serve yourself and the cost was 740RMB ($100). Go figure. I guess from now on, no buffet, but the classy Chinese restaurant with their best chef....what a punishment.

Tonight we expect her friends, we will go to the classy Chinese restaurant on the second floor despite the ugly looks from the help and the customers.

I think Sophia is going through the stage of feeling uncomfortable being with us in public and she makes no eye contact with the help. However, she initiated on her own the use of fork and knife and she is training herself on the use; she is persistent and doing very very well, ding ding hao.
Her smile is still great and she still jumps when you call her name, even when she watches tv. The face shows a lot of stress and sadness. She stopped following me around on every step and that is good.

I got two report cards and an award from last year. The award is second place in reading/writing Mandarin. When she saw the report cards in my hands she smiled and hid her face.

Among other things, they are attaching a building to this hotel and they work 24 hours a day pouring concrete at 2 am. Of course it disturbs your sleep, but the management feels "really bad" and that makes it OK.