Shopping

Today was shopping day. We went to the Silk and Clothing Mart. Imagine a smaller building of 4 floors with several hundred mini shops about 8 feet by 6 feet of everything you can imagine. A photo is attached of the mini store. As you walk thru the narrow hallways, you are poked and tugged with "Hey Mister, you want to buy jeans? T-shirts? sweaters? It was really annoying except you could really make some good buys! I think we left a few merchants unhappy with our "walk away" tactics; we did make some really good buys!! After lunch, we traveled to a pearl market and found some other gifts.

This evening, Jingyi and her Mom hosted us at their home for a huge dinner. We rode the Beijing subway for 40 minutes to get to their home. Jingyi's Mom is a great cook and we had a number of items. The photos are of all of us together and working on folding dumplings that we had. Billy and Jingyi also sang us a song they had learned. She has a beautiful voice. One picture is Jingyi and her Mom holding the stamps we brought them from the US post office. They gave us several gifts as well. They are very giving and it was a special evening. Meg is wearing her new jacket in the pictures. Tomorrow is our last day! Today was the warmest day we have had - about 51 degrees.