Tuesday, Nov. 4

Today was another adventurous day in Nanchang!
After breakfast, we met up to go to the pedestrian street, a long street edged with shops and people people people. We tried to get Peter a pair of Nikes for cheap==but no size 15s. They laughed.
At the end of the street was a very typical Chinese market--filled with cheap goods, street vendors, food vendors, selling everything from underwear to umbrellas to corn on the cob to kitchen wares. No Westerners except us and another couple we were with in sight.
We then went to a museum that glorifies the August 1, 1927, Nanchang Uprising, and according to the brochure, "One of the Top Ten Classic Revolutionary Scenic Spots." The Jiangxi Grand Hotel is where Zhou Enlai and others began their revolutionary question. The First Museum of the Chinese Miltary History is a one-sided telling of the Communist take over. No other versions allowed, thank you very much.
While standing in line for the museum to open, I was given a whiplashing for allowing Lia's leg to be showing between her socks and bottom of her pant legs. This girl was on me. The toddlers here are bundled for the Arctic (except for bare bottoms hanging out of split pants), so I can understand why they thought I was being a neglectful mother. Also on the street: old ladies selling magnolia blooms attached to paperclips to wear on jacket zippers, a karaoke street performer doing a booming business, sleeping homeless, beggars with coin cups, chestnut sellers. All in all, just another day in Nanchang.
For dinner we went out as a group to a restaurant--what would be a fancy pants restaurant to the average person here. Our total was 80 yuan, or about $12. The waitress just kept bringing out more and more food--all delicious.
Then comes the hard part of the day--nighttime. Lia fights sleep, and Shane and only Shane is allowed to hold her, feed her, look at her. One look from me sets her off with wails at decibels that can cause hearing loss. She doesn't like her crib, so ends up hogging Shane's bed. She sleeps spread eagle, and when awakens crying in the middle of the night, Shane just pats her back to sleep. Consequently, I'm getting sleep--Shane not so much. The two of them are still sleeping--I'm headed down for a cup of coffee. More to come!