Sleepless in Thomasville

Tuesday, My mommy took me to the US Consulate and swore to love me and take care of me forever. Julia had to be taken there in style. She had on her Alabama (Roll Tide) dress with her initials engraved on it. Yes, we got some looks but we didn't care. We spent the morning at the Toy Market..five stories tall. You had to walk past all the dried delicatesents and cross a death trap street to get there but we made it. I now see why the people in China are so tiny. They do not believe in elevators and they use so much energy talking. We are spoiled here in the US. The toy market was okay for me but great for all the boys in the group. We really didn't find much of anything but somehow I managed to find a silk tablecloth and a linen purse. "We do good deal for you since you are a good customer." I heard that several hundred times.

They had a dim sum goodbye dinner at a local restaurant and sadly I was too exhausted to make it. Matthew attended and had a good time. I spent the next several hours trying to weigh in my luggage within the required limits. That took until 2 a.m. in the morning. We got our wake up call at 4:30 a.m. and had to be on the bus by 5:30 a.m. I know Mom and Nancy never went to sleep and decided they could sleep on the airplane all the way back. Ha! Ha! I am so grateful for their company during this trip.

I would like to mention our China Facilitator, Lily and our last guide, Rebecca. Lily went above and beyond to make sure that we were at all times taken care of and is a super nice person. She does a Grade A job and is the perfect person for making your China experience as good as it can get. Thank you, Lily. Rebecca has her tour guide speeches down to a science. She is funny and always gets you where you wanted to go and then some. Our last afternoon, we had two hours before we all had to board a bus to go to the US Consulate. Well, Lisa and I had mentioned that we wanted to return to the pearl and gold market. Not on did Rebecca get us there and back in an hour, she also took us on the tour bus, just the three of us. Now, we did ride back in the wonderful taxi that was filled with gas fumes. You win some and you lose some. Lastly, Lifeline,
they have been great even considering our excruciating wait on our TA that was out of their control. I would like to thank Karla and Jenn for doing such a good job of walking us through this process. We have been so blessed.