August 29th This is the end of our third day in Jinan. A day of firsts. Karwen's first time on a swing, her first merry-go-round ride and feeding the pigeons. The kids spent the morning with her singing us the ABCs and Happy Birthday on her own, saying 'thank you' and 'teacher'-all in English. She learned to count to 5 already, backwards and forwards. We found that she likes to be called xiu-xiu (sort of sounds like choo choo). Kenley is pretty amazing at communicating with her, but we are all getting much better. I expect her to learn english faster than I am learning Chinese though. We also found out that she knows a lot of characters and can recognize many English letters. Today, KG, Keely, Karwen and I went to the notary to sign for the final papers to take with us. Then we had a nice lunch (that oddly included chicken feet in the bowl at one point). The guides have been terrific. We said good-bye to 'George', who has really been a major source of help. I was a bit sad, but we got his email and promised pictures of Xiu-Xiu playing soccer. Then we all went swimming and had a late night snack that turned into a pajama trek downstairs to have some ice-cream. The staff think that we must be a bit odd and locked the ice-cream bin after we sat down. Karwen is singing a lot, getting a bit stubborn and teaching us lots of things. She had some sad time today, but she really likes all the kids. Kenley is a big help and we all ask her too much for translation. KG is a great big brother with pushing the wheelchair (which is not going to last long - she does NOT like to ride in it). Kolya is her Mei-Mei and they are constantly holding hands. It feels like we have been in China for several years now - I am almost not disturbed by the smog (and I mean SMOG), crazy driving and stares that abound. People stop and take pictures all the time. The pictures that are attached are from today's park and yesterdays outing to see the mountains (I mean fountains, as George kept saying). We then ventured into a grocery store and got some provisions. KG got durian and it does stink and none of us liked it. But that is one more off his life-list. We had haws and some weird apple - both good. Cucumber chips and what seemed like corn-pops with spice on them. We refrained from the swallows nest and sea cucumbers. Food is mostly amazing with a few ...ummm... surprises? Water is an issue, as are toilets out in the world. Really the bus is the thing that freaks me out the most. The horn must be stuck and lanes seem optional. Especially for pedestrians. Motorcycles/scooters can go where-ever they want and cars usually stay on the street although they do seem partial to sidewalks sometimes. I did see one parking ticket and a traffic cop. Nobody seemed to notice him though. Well, I think we are off to bed as you all are off to work. Love to all!