Thursday, May 11, 2006
Today we travelled to Guilin by train. It was a 4-1/2 hour train
ride
made much longer by the fact that the SWI director was sitting
right
across from us! It seemed like an arduous and painful inspection
of my
parenting abilities in a confined space for an extended period
of time
with a toddler. Thankfully Sophie was wonderful, sitting happily
on my lap
most of the way.
The director wanted to hold her, which I
assumed would
be okay with Sophie but after a few minutes of the director
trying to
engage her, she started to break down in tears. It was so sad to
see and
I was very proud of her for flatly refusing to allow anyone else
to
hold her for the rest of the trip. If she hadn't refused them, I
would
have. She is obviously still struggling with the adjustment and
it seems
to be exacerbated by others trying to hold her. The director is
a very
nice lady who was gracious and helpful to us during the trip, I
just
wish we had had a translator!
During the trip Sophie fed me some
of her
yummy sweet potato puffs and rubbed my cheek. It was so sweet
and such a
touching show of affection. This just confirms my belief that
her nanny
was wonderfully loving and tender with her.
We arrived in Guilin at 1:00 or so and headed straight to the
Waterfall
Hotel. It was a very nice hotel, in an excellent location across
the
street from a beautiful park. Guilin is stunning, as lovely as I
had
heard. We visited Elephant Trunk Hill and the Reed Flute Caves,
all the
while Sophie was in a great mood, occasionally rubbing the back
of my hair
or pulling me in so I would kiss her. She is such a sweetheart!
We had
a quick dinner and then we went to a popular show in Guilin.
Unfortunately I was so tired that after Sophie fell asleep on my
lap, I started
to nod off myself! After a long day we were both happy to get
back to
our room for the night. |
On the train to Guilin
With SWI director, but not happy about it |
