A Work Week Begins

Monday morning we were informed that David and Marianne had to resume their life and responsibilities, even though we were visiting. For David, it meant language class from 10-12 am. For Marianne, it meant a run to Walmart to do some shopping. Since Barb loves shopping, the girls decided to make a morning of it and took Sarah with them. Shawn and I stayed at the apartment and I read while Shawn enjoyed playing video games on David's new computer. (We had brought over the component parts for David to build a new office computer.)

For lunch we walked to another Chinese restaurant and enjoyed another great meal. We were introduced to cucumber/egg drop soup and the practice of buying drinks and taking them with you to the restaurant since the drink choices in restaurants are often very limited. One of the big events of the day was Barb's having a baby shower for Marianne and Sarah. Barb had collected gifts from many of our family and friends in the states and brought them with us to China. She carefully packaged them up and we invited one of Marianne's friends to join us for her "shower." Following the shower Barb and Marianne helped with preparations for a meal that would be held at another couple's apartment. We shared the meal and again got to visit the people with whom David and Marianne are friends here in China. We enjoyed our time with them and when the meal was finished we returned to David and Marianne's apartment where we visited until bedtime.