This morning was spent applying for Jaelyn's Chinese passport at the police station. There was some problem, but we have no idea what, as we had to give our guide the paperwork later in the day so he could take it back so the officials could look through it. Our guide, Steve, said "no worry" so we won't.
Speaking of Steve, he has been a fascinating person to speak with. He really wants to learn from us, so he asks us a lot of questions, and vice versa. We talk a lot about education, history, and the governments of both our countries.
This afternoon Steve took us to the South Park and the Zoo. The first photo below is of us and the Cunninghams, the other couple adopting here, in front of the monument in remembrance of overthrowing the Japanese. The Japanese occupied Changchun for 14 years, and the Russians helped liberate them. South Park is a large area with a manmade lake. We walked around the park which has paddle boats, bikes, carnival type games, etc. Mike and Joshua rode a ride here called the Challenger, which was like a simulator. They drew quite the crowd when they got off. Actually, we drew quite a crowd everywhere we went! The people here have been very curious, but also very friendly. Everywhere in China we get a kick out of the mistaken translations. Check out the sign we saw for the Paintball at the Park. Amazing how just one missing letter can change the meaning!
The zoo was not much. In fact, it was quite sad to see just one elephant, one giraffe, etc. It was funny to see a man go riding by us on a bike, holding a chimpanzee! Joshua enjoyed petting the zebras, but Jaelyn wouldn't even get close. She was also scared of a small dog someone was walking with. I'm a bit worried about her introduction to our 2 golden retrievers:0)
We decided to venture out to dinner tonight. The first adventure was the taxi ride. Kellen sat in the front seat and felt as if he was in a video game with all the close calls! We thought we were headed off to a restaurant named The Red Lantern, which was recommended to us by a American friend who use to teach here(hi Leah). There were to be English menus, lots of lanterns, and good food. Well two out of three wasn't bad. There were lots of lanterns inside and outside, and the food was quite good, but no English menus. Some kind man at the table behind us offered to help us order, then proceeded to ask me for our phone number in the states. That happened to us the last time we were in China too. We just changed the subject and didn't answer his inquiry. We really enjoyed the breaded spareribs, green beans and corn bread. Changchun is known for its corn; they sell it cooked on the streets on a stick. This corn bread looked like a pancake and was quite delicious. Our entire meal, which we could not eat all of, only came to $8. After the meal we elected to walk back to the hotel instead of the cab ride:)
Tomorrow morning we're doing some touring of a local palace, then off on our own to do some shopping. Has been great getting emails from so many of you. We don't have time to answer them all, but know we appreciate them.
