After an hour outside we headed inside to take a walk around the mall. Even though this is a brand new mall it still has a Chinese flavor to it in that there are lots of little shops with a bit of a maze to go through. The area around this shopping mall has several new high rise apartments. It is amazing how many of these there are.
We headed closer to town to another Chinese style restaurant for lunch. We are all starting to recognize most of the dishes now and are all getting better at using chopsticks.
After lunch we went back to the Hotel and had the afternoon for free time. We, the Clements, and the Deans decided to head to the Town Center for a walk. We ended up seeing some sort of festival going on with dancers and music and lots of people gathered about. Almost like a fair. It might have been a typical Saturday afternoon there but we had no one to ask. We dropped the kids off back at the Hotel to play in our room while Sue, Dave, Monica, Alyse, and I walked to Walmart to try and find one more suitcase to stuff all the gifts and stuff we have bought. Walmart is a lot different and a lot the same as in the states. Made it back to the hotel in time for a little rest and then preparation for the Farewell dinner. This ended up being not quite as big of a celebration as the Welcoming banquet but much more emotional. It was attended only by the guides, the adoptive families, and the orphanage workers. A few speeches were given and Sue was asked to give a speech representing the two families from Yangzhou. It was a tearful speech followed by hugs from the Nannies and other mothers. I think we all understood what these girls have meant to their families.
We leave for Nanjing airport early in the morning so that is all for tonight.
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