Getting Buddha with It

This morning was our TB check, so we piled into the van with the rest of the families that adopted children over two and went to the medical center.  The exam literally took approximately 5 seconds per child.  All the nurse did was check each child's arm and say okay.  Thankfully, all the children passed with flying colors.  We were in and out quickly since they opened especially just to do the TB test results since it's one of the tomb sweeping holiday days.

Chloe and her friend, Juliet, at the medical exam office.

When we returned from the medical center, we decided to take a little walk around the neighborhood of the China Hotel.  We found this beautiful park hiding behind shops across the street.  It housed a large lake with paddle boats and koi fish.

The view from our entrance to the park

Paddle boat went up and down the lake.

Zoey, Jenna, Juliet and Chloe:  Chloe made Juliet her big sister for the day since her real big sister is at home.  Get ready, Hannah!

An older gentleman with his grandson give the girls crackers to feed to the fish.

 In the afternoon, we took a tour with the rest of the group to a Buddhist temple.  It was really interesting. There were various Buddha figures in temple structures and a group of people chanting and worshiping in a room.  Buddhism is the largest religion in China, followed by Taoism and Christianity.

The only female Buddha, she is supposed to help with fertility, growth, etc.

A large tower in the center of the complex

The trees were over 100 years old.

People were chanting in their worship ceremony, kind of like reciting prayers and hymns.

Much, much incense was burned.  Check out the smoke around the incense station.

Beautiful red flowers grew and fell from the trees inside the complex.  Maggie, our guide, gave one to Chloe.

We then visited a museum of art.  It held everything from ancient furniture to ivory and bone sculptures to beautiful embroidered artwork on silk.

The front of the art museum

These were two mannequins in the old furniture section; they reminded me of scary wax figures.

The museum had beautiful courtyards to sit in.

This woman was more interested in taking our picture than looking at art.

Chloe was more interested in pushing the stroller around and being pushed in the stroller by Juliet than learning about Buddhism or art.  However, she was definitely interested in the pizza party we had at the playground of our hotel afterward.

Pizza - so yummy after a long day....

Tomorrow is our consulate appointment, our last official duty before getting Chloe's visa.  U.S.A., we're coming soon!

One more thing...between today and yesterday, I had two Chinese people tell me that although Chloe was quite beautiful, she was also naughty.  It made me chuckle....Of course, we already knew that.