Day 12: Guangzhou - Michelle edition

Well, I have bypassed my nightly 20 minute coughing fit (to the point I can't breathe, talk and sometimes end up throwing up.) Nice. It only happens immediately after I get Coee down for the night. Who knows.

We had a good day today. Trey and Dillon are a bit behind on getting their school work done so we did several stretches of uninterrupted worksheet time while Terrell did a bit more shopping for me. The whole group had dinner together. We took pictures of each of the families, discussed that we need to keep all of our girls in touch since they came from the same orphanage, and said our farewells. It's amazing how quickly and close you become with these families, but we are sharing a monumental happening within our families halfway around the world.

Did you know that the tap water in China is not for drinking? I mean nobody in China drinks straight out of the tap. Every one of our hotels has provided a hot pot in our room. They also provide two bottles of purified water per day per room. Before using the tap water for brushing our teeth or any consumption, you have to boil the water for three minutes. Even when you are in the shower, you have to keep your eyes and mouth closed because you can't get the water in your body. They don't purify their water to a consumable state. It felt like the right thing to do in the first two hotels, but it is hard to believe that we are in a super-nice 5 star hotel, and can't drink the water. Amazing. Between making bottles, brushing teeth, making hot chocolate and ramen noodles and washing dishes, I have kept the hot pots majorly busy.

I know we have said it before, but it is truly amazing how lucky we are. This is a city of 12 million people. There are tall buildings after tall buildings after tall buildings. There is public transportation, a subway, HUGE multi-level malls, but there is no heat in most apartment buildings (which is where the large, large majority of the population lives. We have seen ONE house the whole time we have been in China. One.) People do not have washers and dryers. Every single apartment has an expandable clothes "line" outside its' window or balcony, with clothes hanging to dry. Many, many apartments have meat hanging to dry right beside the clothes. We have seen beggars, many of them. We have seen homeless people sleeping on the curb - right next to the street- in the middle of the day with no shoes on. Sound asleep. We have seen women with the stick over the shoulders balancing two baskets of bananas and clementines to sell - right outside our hotel. This trip has certainly opened our eyes to the world. You can see it on t.v., but it doesn't do justice until you have seen it with your own two eyes. The contrast is amazing.

We are gearing up to head home day after tomorrow. I am looking forward to being home and seeing everyone, but I am not looking forward to the fourteen hour flight and twenty-four total hours of travel time. Please keep your prayers with us as we travel, that we have a safe trip and Coee does well on the long trip home. We love you all!!

Michelle