Day 6: Terracotta Warriors

Today's photos:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=f0o3yyn.50ukmgyv&x=0&y=-jpx91

We met our host Minnie at 9:30 this morning to head out to the Terracotta Warriors. These life sized warriors were discovered in March of 1974 by four farmers digging a well for water. It's considered one of the greatest archeological finds of the 20th century.

more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army

We were told the ride to the warriors would take about an hour. After 20 minutes we came to a sudden stop with police cars blocking the entrance to the highway. The fog (combined with smog) was dangerously thick, so they shut down the road. While anxious to get there I was able to appreciate our wait. If something traffic related required police intervention in this city then I could only assume it was very serious. So we waited a half an hour just stopped, and when the policeman removed the cones blocking our way I felt like we just got a green flag in a NASCAR race. All of the cars around us floored it, and we were right there with them. Something had to give because the entrance ramp narrowed to one lane, but just as every other traffic experience, it all works itself out...within inches.

At the site of Qin's (pronounced Chin's) army, we began our tour in a gift show while we waited for the next showing of a 360 degree film on the history of the site. During our wait our host Minnie pointed out an 80 something year old man sitting at a table. He was one of two farmers still living who were among the four who discovered the Terracotta Warriors. We purchased a book on the history of the site, and the old farmer signed & dated it for us.

The tour, unlike the film, was very interesting. Surreal is a word that's come up repeatedly during our trip, but when you stand in front of 2,200 year old terracotta warriors created on such a grand scale it's really the only word that describes the experience. Getting photos was a bit tough. They don't allow flash photography or the use of tripods and the place isn't lighted well for it's size. With the low lighting came slow shutter speeds, and with my early onset Parkinson’s (not diagnosed by a doctor) many of the shots came out blurry. I'll post what I've got.

When we were heading back to our car we were accosted by guy selling souvenirs. I actually was half interested in the mini set of five terracotta warriors he was trying to pawn. He began following us with this box of warriors in a nice open display case, and asked me how much I'd pay. I ignored him. He then said "230" as in Yuan, which is about $31. I laughed. He said "200" and I ignored him. Then "180" which he repeated three times. I said "no, no, no". Any interaction is a mistake, because they take it as a glimmer of hope of making a sale and continue the harassment. I didn't mind terribly because I half enjoyed this game and was unassumingly interested in his product. Eventually he made the sale. He would have hit the lottery had I said yes at $31. Final negotiated price: 20 Yuan ($2.75). So I bought two sets. We're not really into knickknacks, but I've realized that as Isabel gets older it'll be nice to have these trinkets to help tell the story.

We came back to the hotel and napped for a bit then headed to dinner at 7:00pm. Room service had been fine the past three nights, but we wanted to get out. A block and a half from our hotel is, what we've been told, the "most famous" restaurant inside the Xi'an walls. If I hadn't mentioned it, Xi'an is a walled city. Anyway, the restaurant was very elegent and crowded, and the menu had pictures and descriptions in English! The offerings were diverse and expansive...page after page of stuff I'd be willing to try (Leslie wouldn't), but never order. Chicken feet, intestine in hot broth, fish mouths...it went on and on. Les settled on a beef dish, and the picture and description of the chicken I chose looked safe. Our food came and it looked fantastic. Mine was a lightly breaded chicken with scallions, ginger, onion, and hot peppers. The issue became that apparently in China they use all of the chicken before they bread and fry it. Every single piece had either bone and/or cartilage. I tried to tough through it (no pun intended). I finally gave up after my fourth bite of crunching and chewing. I briefly digressed to ages 4-14 when food would sometimes end up in my napkin. Thankfully Leslie had more than enough beef for the two of us. Her dish was very flavorful and quite spicy. Had we been in the states I would've sent my dish back, but since we're in China I happily paid for my mistake. Since this was the most famous restaurant in town I had grabbed 400 Yuan ($52) on the way out of our hotel door. On our walk to the place I guessed we'd spend 250Y. I was wrong...for two entrees and two large bottles of beer our grand total was 101Y, or $14. I said the other day that I didn't think $10 per plate for room service was unreasonable...now I do! We're going back to that restaurant and next time maybe I'll order the fish mouths....can't be worse than lightly breaded and fried chicken bone.

So there's been very little about Isabel to this point. It's been tough to say the least. She's extremely attached to me and sometimes cries when she looks at Leslie. She clings to me almost always...and it's a rare moment when I can put her down and get her interested in something to play with. Eating out for breakfast and dinner is always with her on my lap. If I try to sit her down in any seat her body goes limp, she slides down onto her back and cries or whines until I correct the problem. I think she's really missing her "ma-ma" which is what she called her nannies in the orphanage, and can't wrap her mind around having a new ma-ma. My heart aches for Leslie. It's clearly painful for her to be shunned, and while she comprehends what Isabel is going through it's still understandably hard to accept.

We did hit a milestone today. We got our first recognizable smile(s). At dinner tonight I tossed the cap of her sippy cup onto the top of the cup. She grabbed it, placed it in my hand and I tossed it up again. This continued for about 10 more rounds and with each toss her smile grew and grew. It was thrilling to see! She and I have been playing a lot of these little games. She'll grab my fingers and squeeze them together, and as she lets go I spread them apart. She'll squeeze them together again and the process starts again. These moments are small, but big. The bond is growing...I just wish it was with Leslie as well. Their moment yesterday was great, but there hasn't been much since.

Tomorrow we're going back to Isabel's orphanage. We've been really conflicted on if we should bring her back. Part of us says we should cut her losses and let her continue this grieving process, while we would love for her to say "good-bye" to her nannies and friends. On the day we got Isabel one of the women who works in the orphanage (not a nanny) said she thought it would be good for her to come back one last time. We've received strong advice on both sides of this issue from other families who have adopted. We'll let you know how it goes.