Good evening everyone. Well we ventured out again today. We went shopping downtown at jimo market. I love jimo market. Once again, we had to take a taxi. Taking a taxi is like having a death wish. People do what they want on the road here, there must not be any rules when driving. They drive into oncoming traffice and it seems like you are gong to get into a head on collision. People honk alot here. It is called honk and go. We do not like the driving here in China. It is about a 40/45 minute ride and along the way we seen 2 or 3 accidents. I thought my husband was the worst driver in the world, not anymore…..LOL. And then let’s talk about crossing the street. Here pedestrians do not have the right of way, you WILL be hit if you don’t get out of the way. The chinese like to use their horns alot, I mean alot.
We ended up doing quite well shopping. We bought gorgeous hair clips, North Face jackets, Coach Purses, Gucci watch, Gucci purse, wallets, and Chinese pajamas and more. As we were exiting jimo, there were these men outside selling real mink fur, tigers, skins, etc. from real animals. Diane looked at one the was a neck wrap/scarf, the mouth was the clip. How sad……..poor animals.
Brooke has another spinal injection tomorrow. I will write more tomorrow, I am tired now. Goodnight
October 19th, 2008
Hello. Sorry I haven’t blogged in a few days. Not much to say I guess. Brooke has been doing her therapy. She is still walking around with me assisting her. We only have 2 weeks left but who is counting. I am ready to come home. I miss my bed, my bathtub, my family, normal food, and my freedom. Diane is really going crazy too here as well. She will be going to Florida Nov. 4th for vacation. It is not horrible here just beginning to miss America. I would do this again if I see improvement. Brooke has two spinal treatments this week, Monday and Friday. I have already sent an email to Brooke’s Therapy Clinic, to schedule her therapy for November and that I want to increase it to 3 days a week. We have to push those new little cells in her head.
We did get out of the hospital and spend the night (Fri) downtown Qingdao. We originally booked two nights but we only stayed one. The doctor here at the hospital told us that it was against the rules to leave but they agreed to one evening. Our hotel room was decorated incredibly unusual. Nothng matched in our room. A blind person must have decorated the room. It was extremly busy downtown, so many people. We did some shopping (not at jimo though), we walked around alot. We went to May 4th Square. Seen were they hosted the Olympics. Met a few Americans. Ate an an American diner. While walking we seen two traditional wedding ceremonies outside of a hotel. What they do is they have a band like set up with drums only and have men dressed up in these unique dragon costumes and dance. It is really quite interesting and different. The ceremony was done outside of a hotel. We also were able to eat McDonalds. That was the first thing we did after we checked into our hotel, was immediatelly go eat a Big Mac, and it was great. The sauce was a little different but for the most part it tasted the same. Brooke had chicken nuggets and fries. We had to order her a second order of nuggets. The area we went shopping at was just incredible. The buildings were all painted colorful and it all lit up in the evening.
Well today is Sunday and not sure what we are doing. We have a free day. I want to go back downtown to jimo where all the good bargains are. See ya soon
Kris, Diane, Brooke
October 19th, 2008
