Day 13: Buying pearls...

Today was a slow day so the guides offered to take people to the local wholesale pearl market.  If you want to buy pearls, this is the place to go.

Everyone piled into taxis, except for Elvin and Xiao Yu.  Given that Xiao Yu likes to grab things, and doesn't like being told "no", we didn't think it'd be the best environment for him.

The place was huge, with lots of stalls selling pearls of every shape and size and color, dozens of other types of gems and stones, and other things.

The girls looked at various pearls.  They had all sorts of sizes and colors.

You selected what type of pearls you wanted and they would make them into a necklace or bracelet for you on the spot.

Eliana ended up getting a necklace.  After leaving the pearl shop, the girls went into another shop selling stuff made out of glass beads or shells polished and shaped into hearts.  The girls really liked those too.  So Eliana got a glass bead bracelet as well.  Gabriel was getting super tired by this point, so we had to leave quickly, as he was trying to throw glass pendants around!

Karina opted for a glass bead necklace and bracelet.  It's pink and sparkly on the inside.

Meanwhile, Elvin spent some quality time with Xiao Yu.  He found the girl's little plastic figurines of Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake.  Into his mouth they went.  He is really oral still, so we are thinking that we will have to baby proof our entire house with a new set of eyes when we get back.

The fourth floor of the hotel has a little garden and playground that the girls explored earlier.  Elvin and Xiao Yu went by to check it out.

It is our suspicion that Xiao Yu was not exposed to a slide at all before us getting him.  He ignored the play structure at first until Elvin directed him that way.  Also, he had no idea how to climb the ladder on the backside.  Elvin had to physically place his foot and hands on each rung until he got the idea.

And then Elvin had to show him how to sit down at the top in order to slide down.  But he loves to slide now and went down about 30 times.

He was also unschooled about the swing.  Elvin put him on but had to hold on to him the hold time.  Xiao Yu loved it but Elvin said that it was like holding up a wet noodle. 

Elvin and Xiao Yu rejoined the girls and Gabriel.  By now it was nap time for the boys and lunch time for the girls.  When the boys got back up, they ate a snack of croissants.  Another first for Xiao Yu.

The girls came back from lunch with Slurpees.  They shared with Gabe but we told them not to share with Xiao Yu.  Best to leave him ignorant of Slurpees for now.

Karina showed Elvin some glow-in-the-dark stickers she got while we were out exploring.

We had some down time in the afternoon, so Erica read some stories.  

The kids also watched Mary Poppins on the laptop.

Elvin found a soccer game to watch (Australia vs. U.A.E.) and Xiao Yu watched a little bit too.  His foster grandparents told us that he likes to watch TV.

For dinner, we saw these interesting steamed buns.  We thought the kids would be interested in eating them.  We thought the waitress told us they were filled with pork, but instead they were filled with black sesame paste, so the kids didn't like them.

Xiao Yu liked the noodles though.  He was a lot calmer during this dinner.  He didn't throw any objects across the table or any food on the floor.  Instead he handed what he didn't want to Elvin.  We think that maybe this is the real Xiao Yu and that the grumpy Xiao Yu is just the little kid struggling to adjust to all the changes that he's been through.

We had dessert at McDonald's and the girls wanted to pose with Ronald, once they learned who he was.  Once more, ironic that we do this in China instead of the U.S.

Eliana had a McFlurry and Karina had a cone.  Gabriel said he wanted the "green cone" which also came with sweet red bean ice cream on it.  

We weren't sure he would like it, but he finished it all.  So in addition to liking olives, green beans, and bok choi, we can add red bean ice cream to the list of things that Gabriel likes!