Crocodiles and Pancakes

Guess what we did today? Right! We woke up and went to the breakfast
buffet. Then we tried something completely different. I took the boys
to the swimming pool and mom stayed in the room (she had to, as
someone from each family needed to be in the room while our
coordinator took our paperwork to the Consulate, just in case they
needed more information). Jacob had never been swimming before and
said he was afraid. Joshua had previously mentioned that he did not
like swimming. Both had a great time as Jacob really liked the pool
and Joshua's friend Adam (being adopted by another family) was also at
the pool. For teenagers, being at the pool is only fun if your friends
are there.

After swimming, we had a quick lunch in the room then met the
Sullivans and the McCormicks for a trip to The Crocodile Park. Getting
there and back was pretty entertaining. We took the subway and two
different buses, massively overcrowded, through mud bogs and dirt
roads. All survived the transportation, with stories to tell! The park
itself was sort of fun but less amusing than the ride there. The park
is a crocodile meat farm so all the crocodiles will eventually end up
as someone's dinner. The had a place where you could see them butcher
and process the meat, you could sample some delicious crocodile soup,
and buy fresh crocodile meat. Yummy! Susan bought wanted to buy
several hundred pounds and stick it in her purse, but then remembered
when we brought home several hundred pounds of blue fish, then big eye
tuna. Then she changed her mind and just got some ice cream. The park
has almost 100,000 crocodiles, 70% of all crocodiles in captivity in
China. We saw a few of them, a fun crocodile wrestling show, and many
other kinds of animals. We fed some giant hippos, up close and
personal. We also saw pigs on a diving platform. Bizarre. You never
know what you will see here.

Afterward we went to dinner and had some pretty good food. Dana and
Pat Sullivan are pretty much fluent in Mandarin and that made the trip
and dinner much easier on the rest of us. Susan wanted to try the
chocolate pancakes. The brought us a bucket of ice. Apparently bing
and bing sound similar in Mandarin. Eventually the conflict was
resolved but the pancake was neither chocolatey or pancakey. After
dinner, Pat went to McDonald's to get his daughter something. We ate
at McDonald's the other day; everything at McDonald's is the same in
every country, so we had chicken sandwiches, nuggets and fries and
felt like we were back in the states; but we also felt like we were
eating at McDonald's and McDonald's is mediocre. The have KFC, Pizza
Hut, and McDonald's everywhere in China, and Wal-Mart too. Where is
Chik-fil-A? They are missing out on a golden opportunity to make me
and a billion others smile. Maybe the Colonel paid someone off.