Kellan's Excellent Adventure

Thanksgiving day in china

2006-11-23T05:18:00.000-08:00

Today was thanksgiving and we spent most of it at te airport this morning we had to wake up at 5:30 so we could get to the airport on time. We got tothe airport went through security and all that.Then we had one our until our flight boarded. I fell asleep and then my sister woke me up just before our flight started boarding. We got on the plane and expected to take off within a few minutes. Instead we sat there for about an hour before we finally took off. We arrived at the bejing airport around 2 pm. Our guide picked us up and we shoved all our luggage in the back of a big van. WE were scheduled to visit a panda zoo today but we postponed in because everyone was so tired. We came to the hotel and unloaded our bags. No one really felt like going anywhere so we ate dinner downstairs at the hotel. It turned out to be one of the best meals we've had in china. They even had turkey for thanksgiving. After that we went swimming in the pool downstairs for a little while. Then we came back to the room and i attempted to watch a bootleg copy of miami vice but it kept skipping and eventually i gave up. I'm going to go to bed now bye.

Three days in guangzhou

2006-11-21T05:21:00.000-08:00

The last three days we've been in guangzhou theres not much to see but theres tons of shops and prices are cheap yesterday i got a new pair of shoes for 1 dollar 15 cents. Sopping would be somewhat fun if my mom didn't drag us to the worst stores and make us stay there for forever. We spent thirty minutes in a store that was only one tiny 10x15 room. Other than shopping we haven't done much the other day we went to get my sister's visa photos and immunizations done. Most days we eat at a restaurant down the street called Lucy's. They have american style food which is great to eat after all the noodles we've eaten since we've gotten here. Today after dinner at Lucy's i looked into these two restaurants where i had seen tanks but hadn't been able to see what was in them. I walked in and there were eels, frogs, turtles,snakes,and Water Beetles. All of which you could buy for the restaurant to cook for you. The only thing in the restaurant that looked appatizing were the giant lobsters they were probably a foot to two feet long. That would be a big meal. Yesterday we went down to look at the pool it wasn't warm outside so no one wanted to go in. We felt the water it was very very cold. I asked how much money my family would pay me if i jumped in. I got 20 yuan the water was very cold. We also found out a few days ago that my sister took a gunshooting class in school. They spent the whole year learning about guns and shooting guns. Last night we went to a thai restaurant just around the corner called the cow and bridge. I ordered Crab in black pepper sauce. They brought out the plate along with plastic gloves a shell craker and some sort of a probe to get the meat out with. Myt stepdad's dinner was served in a giant pineapple and my sister's in a coconut. Today we also went to a large mall just a few minutes away form the hotel. We went to dvd store where they had cheap dvds most bootleg. we bought about 30 movies because they cost less tan two dollars 15.90 yuan. next we went to a whole separate section of the mall that was dedicated to pearls. Five floors of pearl stores and they were very inexpensive. For a good quality pearl necklace it cost about 60 dollars. Next we went back towards the dvd store and we spotted a whole store devoted to the nightmare before christmas. I was so excited but when i went in i realized how different chinese fashion was. There was hardly anything in the store that i liked and what i did like cost a ton. So i didn't end up getting anything in there. For lunch we went to pizza hut. It was almost exactly the same as home which is always nice after you've been eating strange foods for days on end. Okay i'm done sorry about not posting for a few days i'll post tomorrow.

Su xue wei's school

2006-11-16T05:58:00.000-08:00

this morning we took a trip to su xue wei's school. The taxi pulled up in front on a large 5 story building. We went inside and there were su xue wei's teacher and the lead teacher and her grandparents. They took us into a room and we sat there and drank tea for a while. Next we walked through the school looking into class rooms. The kids all waved and yelled and another teacher followed us around videotaping us and taking pictures. When we got into Su Xue Wei's classroom she ran to talk to her friends and then they took a class picture. After we had seen all the classrooms the teachers took us into a room with plaques and posters about the school on it. We were walking around and we saw a picture of Yao Ming on the wall. We asked the teachers why his picture was on the wall. It turned out it was the middle school he had attended. As we walked away The kids hung out the window waving goodbye. We waved back but just a couple seconds later all the kids were outside with us giving her one last hug. We got in taxi and came back to the hotel. My mom and my sister went shopping. When my mom came back we got KFC for dinner. Fast food restaurants are different in china KFC has pastries with beans in them and at mcdonalds you can buy cups of corn. After dinner we went to a place in the hotel with bowling and foosball and billiards. Su xue wei had never done ay of these things before so it was interesting. She wasn't very good at bowling she couldn't quite get the hang of it. She tried Foosball though and within 20 seconds she was better than my brother and I. She was a natrual. Shes still having trouble communicating with us particularly well but we're getting to see more of the person she really is because shes becoming more comfortable around us.

Day 4

2006-11-14T06:35:00.000-08:00

Today was our fourth day in shanghai and we had more paperwork to do so once again we had to get up early. First thing we went straight to the civil affairs office today. After sitting there for about 15 minutes we had to go to an office building where they made the adoption certificates. we thought this would only take about 45 minutes or so but we ended up sitting there for close to three hours. After that was finally over we thought we were done but then we had to sit in a notary for another 30 minutes. If you don't know what any of those places are thats okay i'm not really sure myself. After all that was finally done we went to a mall, It was five stories tall! We ate lunch at the mall then went to a musical instrument store i found a nice red and black acoustic guitar for 20 dollars (things are cheaper in china) I bought it. After that we visited the foster families house. Waiting for us at the house was a reporter to interveiw us about adopting su xue wei ( she has been in newspapers before and the reporters thought it might be good to print follow up articles to tell what became of her). After staying at the Chen's house for a little while we went out to dinner. We thought that they would take us to a small restaurant with just our family and their immediate family. But we pulled up in front of a huge building and they had reserved two large rooms where a large amount of their family members were waiting. They ordered us lots of strange foods There was duck soup witht he whole duck still floating around and shrimp with the eyes still attached. Although the food was strange it was very delicous. When dinner was over we talked more with the family and then came back to the hotel.
Kellan

Day 4

2006-11-14T06:05:00.000-08:00

Monday

2006-11-13T04:37:00.000-08:00

This morning we had to get up at 6:30 because we had to be at the adoption place by 9 and it was a long drive and there was traffic. WE got there and were all very nervous about meeting Su Xue Wei. About 10 minutes of sitting there biting our nails we found out we had to drive to another place 20 minutes away until we met her. So we finished up the paperwork and things we had to do at the adoption place and then jumped in the car. We arrived at the orphanage and walked inside our translator/tourguide told us to go into the room on the right. We walked in and su xue wei and her foster family (who she has been with for 10 years of her life) were standing there. Because she had been wiht this foster family for so long they were basically her family. The second we walked up they started crying and then everyone started crying. After everyone got a hold of themselves we took a tour of the orphanage. Next we went to lunch it was very good and we ate a lot. Then we went to a museum we saw lots of ancient chinese art. It was cool they had huge jade carvings made hundred of years ago. After we came back to the hotel for a rest. Then we went to dinner they had lots fo strange things on the menu such as Shark fin and Pig intestine. What we orderer was delicous though. Tomorrow we have to get up early again to finalize the adoption and after that we are visiting su xue wei's foster families' house. it's only 9 o'clock but the jetlag never really wore off so everyone else is asleep and i'm really tired.

~Kellan~

The picture is on the steps of the orphanage is of our family and su xue wei's family

First Day in Shanghai

2006-11-11T03:20:00.000-08:00

Today was our first day in shanghai and it was awesome. First we just walked around the city for a little while. We went to a five floor clothing store and it was very funny when you saw something that was translated into English because it made hardly any sense at all. There was a whole story that had been translated into english and not a word of it made any sense. After exploring the city we went to a Buddhist temple it was very interesting we got to see all the statues of their gods. The monks walked throughout the temple ignoring the tourists. This temple was also very famous because it holds the famous Jade buddha. Sorry we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the chamber. The temple also had a Koi pond the koi were huge there was one that was probably 2 and a half feet long. We also saw people praying with incense which they light in a huge fire in the middle of the temple. After we left the temple we attempted to catch a cab but were unsuccesful and eventually a beggar came up and started asking us for money in chinese i shook my head no and tried to communicate that i was not going to give him money. He did not listen he stood there hitting my pocket with his cup for about 2 minutes until he finnally moved onto the rest of my family. WE finally caught a cab and came back to the hotel then we walked to a restaurant jusst down the street. The food was pretty good they gave us free Green Tea Pudding with beans on the top. Then after dinner we came back to the hotel and now im typing my blog. Its only 7 pm but my whole family including me are jetlagged and it feels like its 2 am. alright i'm gonna go to bed now ill type more tomorrow.

~Kellan~

In china

2006-11-10T04:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning at 6AM i left just about two hours ago we got here i went on the longest plane ride ever. You don't really appreciate how long 14 hours is until you have to sit in a seat for that long. we arrived at 3pm China time in shanghai we spent the next hour and a half waiting in the customs line. We arrived at the hotel and unpacked then ordered some food and i got lasagna. when i got it it wasn't like normal lasagna it had just noodles and three strange meats one was beef and i think the second one was chicken but i have no idea what the third one was. I'm sorry i don't have anything real to say or any pictures my post tomorrow will be better i promise im gonna go to bed now bye.

Kellan is going to China! Oh Snap!!!!!

2006-10-30T18:49:00.000-08:00

Kellan is going to china next thursday i know you guys are jealous. Don't worry i will miss all of you too because i know you are going to go home and cry yourself to sleep because you know that kellan is going to be gone for two weeks. So this is my first post and i'm not really sure what to write i'm watching heroes and i don't really like that show it's slightly terrible.

CRAIG JAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!