Thursday April 8th (part 2)

Decided to post a bit more about the rest of the day since it was exciting that Emmie went swimming for the first time!  She hates taking a bath (and still did after the pool) but the swimming pool here has a kiddie one only 1 foot deep and water is warm so I figured maybe it would help if I take her in it.  She wasn't sure what to make of it at first but gradually got the idea and liked splashing with her hand.
In the evening Mary met us at the Chinese restaurant in the hotel.  We went from being vegetarian a week ago to picking a fish out of the tank to eat - for this time in China anyway where it is hard to eat vegetarian.  We had sweet and sour fish which is nothing like at home (mostly sour tasting - here it's like a sweet barbecue sauce).  We also ordered rice, some scallion pancakes, pork dumplings for Maddie, and Chinese green beans.  The beans came with ground pork stirred fried into it so we kept that for Mary and Maddie but had them remake it for us without the pork.  The food was very good. We had watermelon for dessert.  There was a little ball pit for Maddie to play in too.  Mike joined us for a drink and told us about his trip to the swi for his daughter.  He had a good day there and learned that his daughter could eat a lot more and do more than he had even thought.  She is very sweet and seems she had been very well cared for.  He bought a tea set at the shops today too.  We are hoping to get a porcelain piece or two also since it's the speciality of the province.   Just delicate to pack in the suitcase - !