We saw LOTS and LOTS of stores selling fish (not the kind you eat - the "pet" kind) and fish tanks, fish food. Keeping fish in your house is considered good luck. We also saw a whole store that only sold Chinchillas. They were very cute. Young or adult Chinchillas are about the size of a rabbit. We also saw two baby Chinchillas with their mom. Also in the market were small song birds, chicks and ducklings as well as what we though were baby mice.
Grace and Maggie were intrigued with walnuts (not the edible kind) that you take two and massage and exercise your hand by mnoving two of the walnuts in your hand. With the help of our guide, Sunny and our driver (ShiFu) we were able to buy small enough size walnuts and of decent quality. The driver had a set that if he were to sell he could get 1000 yuan (exchange rate is about 8.5 yuan to the dollar). We did not pay nearly anything close to that! Overtime the oil in the users hands will turn the walnuts a rich red color.
The girls also bought some ox bone combs for gifts. Our guide, Sunny, was very good at picking out the real bone versus the jiade (fakes). Sunny had never been to this market before and liked it enough to buy herself a belt and new pocket book. Our driver also bought some things for his fish...so it was a good trip for everyone ;-)
After the market we had Peking Duck for lunch. We learned that for a duck to be a "Peking Duck" it must be certified as a Peking Duck, which means its been raised and prepared in a particular way. It was delicious! We haven't had a bad meal yet.....
After our lunch of Peking Duck we went to the offices of CCAA and BLAS. Eric who works for BLAS showed us CCAA. We stood in the hallway of CCAA and saw the 3 areas (medium to large office space - maybe 10-20 cubicles in each area) that make up CCAA. So we saw the "Log in room," the "review room" and the "matching room." Eric explained that the first room was where the adoptive familiers paperwork comes in and is "logged in." Dossiers are then sent down to Eric (and co-workers?) at BLAS for translation or verifiying that a good translation has been made. After translation the dossier comes up to the "review room." This is where questions get asked and answered or if everything is already in good order - paper work is then passed to the all mysterious "matching room."
We asked Eric two questions - first question - can we see the girls records?...No (politely, no). We had asked this prior to the trip and even suggested a donation or fee to cover the cost of a worker's time to retrieve the records. So the answer was not unexpected, but you never know in China so we thought it was worth asking. Second question - how did the matching room workers make the matches...answer, that the Chinese beleive in fate - so we got a typical Chinese answer - rather than our USA sought after fact based answer ;-) Another question we didn't really think we'd get a true/real answer to, but again felt we should try anyway.
After our CCAA tour - we went up a floor (or maybe down a floor) and met Nancy from BLAS who had worked with Diane and myself to arrange the tour for us. We were given water and the girls were given very cute pandas as well as a book of papercuts each and puzzle maps of China. Sweet. We took pictures, thanked everybody, etc., and then we were on our way.
After that we came back to the hotel to rest, swim in the pool, and pack. Later we went to Pizza Hut for dinner. Pizza Hut in Beijing is more like a full service restaurant with plenty of options besides pizza and pasta. Our waiter spoke very good English and is headed to George Washington University to study later this year.
My parents are managing the trip quite well. Although the pace is a bit tiring for them - for example, they chose not to climb the Great Wall - which was a good choice! It was strenous even for those who are younger - fit or not.
Joyce
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