Church on Shamian Island

We went to the Anglican church on Shamian Island this morning. The later service of the day, at 11 a.m., is in both Mandarin and English. Rachel hung in there for the hymns and prayer, but she became restless during the sermon, especially after a young Chinese woman came in late with two rowdy boys and sat down next to us. Mommy and Rachel went out into the courtyard, where the sermon was playing over loudspeakers, before Rachel started squirming even more. Daddy stayed for the duration and said it was a well-done and scripturally based service, Mommy and Rachel missed the youth choir that sang at the end of the service.

Rachel is napping now, and when she gets up, the three of us are going on an expedition to a market area a short distance for the island, accessible via a pedestrian overpass. Most of the other Holt families are going to the jade and pearl markets this afternoon, but as we did that 2 years ago, we thought we'd try something else this time.

Mommy is working with one useful eye now. I think some dust or debris got in behind one of my contacts and may have scratched my eye a little. I have backup contacts, but they didn't make a difference, so I just took one out and am hoping the eye will heal itself over the next day or two. At first I thought maybe I was just tearing up with allergies (it's very green and humid here in Guangzhou), but the way it's reacting to light points to a little scratch. The first order of business for our expedition today is getting some cheap sunglasses.

Tonight, conditions permitting, we are planning to eat at a local pizzaria with the other Kansas family in the White Swan, the Schmidts from Hutchinson.