Tuesday

This is Ryan.  It is Tuesday here in Fuzhou, China.  We are having a great trip so far.  Rylie is doing really well.  Last night she slept almost 12 hours!  She is very happy, and it feels like that she has been with us much longer than just two days (that's a good thing).  We have been eating breakfast in the hotel.  Rylie is eating very well.

Today we went on a sight-sight seeing trip. 

We went to an old district of Fuzhou.  The main street in this district has been restored to the original architechture of Fuzhou.  Along the street are many shops and restaurants.  The shops feature many traditional trades of the Fujian province (calligraphy, wood working, lacquering).  There were many beautiful items for sale.

The greatest part about today is that I finally got my Starbucks fix.  I think our guide, Penny, doesn't quite understand American's fascination with coffee.  I got a wonderful cafe mocha, and Julie had an Earl Grey tea latte.  There was a British woman in there talking loudly on her Bluetooth.  She kept saying "bloody" this and that.  It was quite amusing hearing that in China.  We enjoyed going into the shops and hearing about some of the history of the area from our guide.

Our guide really opened up to us today.  I asked how old she was.  She is only 23!  She was explaining more to us about the one child policy in China.  She was an only child until her parents decided to have another child when she was 11.  Her family was from the country.  Her parents decided to move to the city of Fuzhou so she would have better opportunities for education.  That is the case with most of the families.  Their best chance to get a good education and have a good career is in the urban areas.  I also was handed a flyer by someone on the street.  It was all in Chinese, so I asked Penny what is was.  She said it was advertising apartments.  Apparently, I looked like the type of person who needed to buy a place here.  The downside is that real estate is not cheap here.  It costs about 15,000 yuan per square meter.  That means the average family apartment (about 1,000 square feet) would cost about $750,000.  So I guess I won't buy a summer home here after all.  Most young men here will strive to buy an apartment.  They can't really get married until they have a stable residence and employment.  Penny said that she would really like a boyfriend and feels like she is getting too old to get married (keep in mind she's only 23).

This afternoon, we are probably going to find a place outside for Rylie to run around.  She is very content with about everything we have done so far.

 I hate to admit it, but this is kind of feeling like a vacation...  We are really missing Nick and Alex.  We got to talk to them on video Skype this morning.  Rylie loves seeing her brothers on the camera and thinks they are hilarious.  The boys bought her a stuffed panda bear to give to her when we arrive at the airport.  I am still trying to figure out how to get a stable VPN on my computer so I can consistently get on Facebook and our blog.  So if any of you techies have any advice, let me know.  Luckily, Julie's sister Jackie has been nice enough to copy this and update our blog for us.  Thanks for reading!