July 8

Whassup, homies?

Kay, I need to check Ben's inbox, and I only have time to write a
teeny e-mail right now, but when things get less crazy, I'll be able
to write more later.

Welllll, yesterday, Ben was gone at meetings most of the day. They
don't have a swimming pool in our hotel. (it's really, really nice, but
I don't get the impression that Chinese people are big into swimming
for leisure. When I've asked if there's a pool nearby, they look at me
like, "why would you want to do that?")

I'm in the hotel lobby with the three oldest kids, and I think their
behavior stresses the hotel workers out. They're definitely not used
to kids. There is one lady whose sole job is to keep the pillows on
the couches artfully arranged. My kids are making her job hard this
morning.

So anyways, yesterday for most of the day, the kids watched movies
that we brought on our laptop (sooo glad we brought that). I would put
Gage down for his naps and then go next door to the kids' room and
hang out there. I would just mainly cuddle them and dose in and out.
It's the first time I have relaxed in weeks.

I had to take them out for lunch by myself, which ended up not being
nearly as scary as I thought it would be. Chinese people are sooo
nice. We walked to KFC, and it was really, really gross. There are
signs that say, "we do chicken right!" all over the place, along with
pictures of food I don't recognize. We got "popcorn chicken," which
ended up being like sweet and sour pork, without the sauce. It was
gross.

Kay, more later. We have to catch the rental car to go to Baoding.
Love you and miss you TONS.

-Kar