Nothing intelligent here today.....I am much too tired for that...

April 11, 1:05 A.M.

-Did you know that when you go to the blogger homepage to log in, it's actually written in the language of the country that provides the internet service? Fortunately, the layout is the same so navigating my way around wasn't too difficult. This example carries through to the rest of our stay here thus far. Brand names have taken on a whole new level of importance. Coke still looks like Coke even when it's written in Chinese. I can truly appreciate that. It's funny how we often take the ability to read and write for granted. When you become suddenly immersed in a different culture, symbolism, commercial or otherwise, takes on a whole new level of importance. This point really deserves it's own post but there is simply not the energy for that at this time. I have slept a total of 7 hours since we woke up at 5:00am on the morning of the 8th and there is no coffee here. Tomorrow, I will go out and buy myself some coffee....I hope.

-Pizza here is not like pizza at home. It comes with things like broccoli and does not have tomato sauce. It actually has a lovely little side of Heinz ketchup....which Lexi got quite excited about....because in her world, food is simple a side dish to her ketchup.

-Milk comes in bags, with pictures of cute little cows prancing across the surface.

-Tomorrow I get to attempt to explain why there is no way in hell that I will put my child on tegretol again. I will seriously abandon the treatment and go home before I let this happen. My other thought was to simply dump the offending capsule in the toilet and simply say nothing. We'll see what happens I guess. (Tegretol is what Tatyanna was on last summer and it caused a dramatic increase in her seizures)

-China is very much a "dr. knows best" country and although they try to accommodate my requests for things like drug lists and my refusal to administer anything to my child until said list is in my hands, it is something they are not used to.

-Chopsticks are a multipurpose tool. The shower wasn't draining properly this morning and the maintenance guy showed up, chopsticks in hand. Unfortunately they do have their limitations and he was forced to send for more tools to get the job done.

-Tatyanna and Lexi have become instant mini-celebrities and attract a significant amount of attention whenever we go any where outside the room. Actually, the room itself isn't particularly safe and we had a group of nursing students (?) show up to check out the new arrivals. Lexi is currently developing a rather diva like attitude. This will need to be taken care of before it gets any worse. I half expect her to show up with an agent and a ryder with her demands any day now.

-Everyone here is amazingly friendly and helpful. There are no bitchy nurses and they all try really hard to understand what our needs are. I'm not used to this but appreciate it a great deal.

-The only other Canadian family leaves tomorrow. Almost everyone else seems to be either from China or the UK.