Some more notes from today

It's 9 pm China time, getting ready for a more relaxing day tomorrow.  No early morning timepoints to get up for, no paperwork, just sleep in a little and go to some temple tomorrow afternoon as part of a tourist-type thing.  It's supposed to be really neat, but nothing can top the Forbidden City.  I'm just glad it's well outside the city, because we could all use some semi-fresh air.   I don't know how it's going to be with the U.S. Consulate in Guongzhou, but the provincial bureaucracy was a snap for us.  Considering that we arrived and left the Nangchang government offices while families from other agencies were still waiting, I wonder if our agency, A Helping Hand, has some sort of inside track or something.  At any rate, I'm glad because I slept most of the afternoon, as did Clarisse.   When we were at the government offices, we saw the other children being adopted.  One had a heart condition, one was an albino, one looked like he had a touch of MR.  Children of a lesser god, indeed.  Those couples deserve a special place in Heaven for knowingly taking on such formidable challenges that will persist for the rest of their lives.   After that brief panic after waking up from the nap, Clare has been terrific.  Eating well, very cheerful, smiling easily, playing with her toys.  Just the perfect picture of contentment.  Christy gave her a bath, which she loved.  She's ready now for bed.   I was walking around town a little today.  Unlike Beijing, where I was a neat novelty, people here seem mostly afraid of me.  Staring, crossing the street when I walk by, and pointing, it's not as much fun as Beijing was.   The Chinese food has been pretty good here so far.  Certainly inexpensive--even at the hotel, a full dinner tonight for the both of us was only $11.  Sometimes we're not 100% sure what we're eating, but we haven't gotten sick yet.