Just a little hiccup!

Just caught up with 49 phone messages, having been out of town this weekend - meeting friends from Texas in Branson. Last Friday, the Chinese Consulate in Chicago had called and left a message, telling us we didn't pay enough for our dossier processing! Today, we're already 5 days beyond the day they called, so we will be sending another money order overnight to Chicago tomorrow. The lady from the Consulate said they had completed the authentication, and were getting ready to ship it when they noticed the mistake! We were sooooo close! In the grand scheme, no biggie I guess.

We continue to pursue an understanding of Chinese history, modern Chinese culture, language, and foreign adoption. I just finished another book about China, and started my next. The books I'm finding range from clinical facts in history to novels set in China by Chinese authors. So fascinating. We are also watching a Great Courses video series about the modern history of China. It has covered opening Chinese markets, the cultural revolution, and the Beijing Olympics (did you know it started at 8:08 on August 8, 2008? Eight being a very lucky number!) We only have one more lesson to go. Allie has her Chinese final tomorrow evening, with high hopes of getting a 4.0! Jenna and Nate have enrolled at Longview for next term in Chinese I, which Allie will continue to study with them, while she takes Chinese 2.

We visited a REALLY cool Asian market called 888 International Market (notice the 8s?) on 119th and 69 highway. Besides having a blast looking at whole roasted ducks (heads on), baby octopi, squid, live tilapia, buckets and buckets of jelly fish, pig livers, omasum (cow stomach), etc., there was a Chinese gentleman in the back corner of the market selling all things Chinese - beautiful paintings, pots of all sizes, tea sets, statues, etc. He spoke VERY little English, and it was great fun to watch Allie practice communicating with him. I was so proud of her. All I could manage was "Ni hao" (hello) and "Xei xei" (thank you), and lots of smiling and bowing. We managed to strike a few deals with him, and brought home some beautiful pieces of artwork for our living room. 

We are having SO much fun on our adventure!  Thanks for reading!