Pearl Market

Today we took a trip to the Pearl Market. We took the hotel shuttle to the market area and our guides took us to reputable stores for pearls and jade. I bought a strand of pearls and the ladies in the store made Cara a pearl bracelet to wear for her baptism. I also bought several gifts for family and friends at home. We went to the jade store, but I think the prices were about equal to the jade we saw yesterday and yesterday the selection was quite a bit better so we didn't buy any more. We spent some time walking by some shops but didn't buy anything else.

Then we spent some time back in the hotel room until it was time to leave to go back to the medical clinic and have Cara's TB test read. I just knew her test was going to be positive, which would require a chest x-ray. We walked to the clinic and stood in line with the rest of the children in our travel group. Some of the children were crying because they remembered the shots from 2 days earlier and were afraid they were getting more shots. All of the other children had negative TB test results except Cara. Her mark where she received the skin test was 1 centimeter. If the mark is less than 1 centimeter the test is considered negative. One centimeter or larger requires a chest x-ray. I was worried she would cry because she doesn't like her clothes taken off unless she hears the bath water running. Her dad took her in for the x-ray and she was fine; no crying or anything. I few minutes later the doctor said her x-ray was negative and she was free to go. Thank goodness!!!

Then we did some shopping. I saw a little girl with cute shoes on and asked her mom where she got them. She said, "Emma's" and told me how to get there. Emma's store is a little hole in the wall and it was crammed with moms buying squeaky shoes. I saw one mom buy 8 pair. It was hot and the wait was long and wouldn't you know it, they didn't have anything I wanted in Cara's size. So we went down the block toward Jenny's store. On the way we were acosted by Maggie, Emma's sister. We went to her store and I thought she would never let us leave! We escaped when she went to look for a shoe size and went next door to Jenny's. We bought Cara one pair of squeaky shoes at Jenny's and she was actually cheaper than Maggie and Emma. Tomorrow I think I'll go back to Jenny's to buy more shoes. They are leather with good rubber soles and I think they were under $4 a pair. Who can resist that kind of deal? Especially when they squeak on top of it!!!

Then we went to a couple of other stores to buy some traditional Chinese silk dresses for Cara. We bought a white one for her baptism and a gold one for the red couch photo. J, A, and B aren't to sure about the gold dress, but I think it will look good. She's going to have to go shoeless for the photo, though. It's hard to find shoes to match a gold dress for a 3-year-old.

On the way to the medical clinic I took a couple of pictures of the school children outside for their excercises. Aren't they cute? Tomorrow is our consulate appointment, but we don't go to that. Our guides go and we need to stay in our room in case they have any questions. We go to the consulate at 2:15 tomorrow afternoon to take the oath. Four more days and we get to go home. I am so ready!