TB Test and Swimming

Yes Yanzi's TB test was negative. We were not too worried because her arm had no swelling but it was just nice to have it officially read. All the girls in our group were fine so it was a good start to the day. We then got together with our guide and gathered all our paperwork for the US Consulate. She will take it all to the consulate tomorrow and we just have to stay in our room in case there are any questions. And that is all our plans for the day( great to have nothing planned).

We did some more shopping and all the shop keepers comment on how good Yanzi behaves and looks. They can not believe that we just got her, they think she has been with us for awhile. That is all due to the wonderful care of her foster family.

We also got to go swimming for the first time today. I was concerned that she would not want to go. But once we told her in Mandarin, "swimming", she was ready to go. We got her suit on, she was very concerned that it covered her scar on her back( which it did). And once she saw it was ok, she was ready to go. She was not afraid to get in but did not like us holder her in the deep part. She would do it for a little while but then would start to wimper about going to the side. Once she found the shallow part, she wanted to stay in that part the entire time. THere was a little girl there that had been adopted awhile ago but spoke some chinese still. She would translate what Yanzi was saying. She kept saying "This is fun". In fact tonight, after we got ready for bed, she motioned swimming and said something, I am guessing she said that she wished she could go swimming again but it was dark and getting late( it was only 8:30 but for us that is late)

She is only getting upset now, when we eat. It is not an upset but a sadness. I think it is that there is not much food that she likes and she is missing that. It has been really hard because we have eaten at chinese restaurants and the breakfast buffet has both western and chinese foods but she doesn't seem to want anything. Finally today, we opened up some almonds that we had. SHe tried them and really liked them so I will make sure that I have them at all meals just in case. Otherwise she likes french fries and coconut milk. Not a very balanced diet but right now we are just trying to keep her full. She will try things for us( at least one bite) but something she will eat today she will not eat tomorrow. Oh well! Tonight we ate dinner with two other families and having someone that she can talk to really helps her during meals.
She was in a great mood after dinner and she even took out her pony tails( I think to show us she wanted to swim). When Russ commented (in chinese) that she looked beautiful, she lite up. She left her hair down for the rest of the night(she normally sleeps with her pony tails in - ouch!) and would keep going back into the bathroom to look at herself. It was so cute. THis was great because I tried to braid one of her pony tails today and she was about in tears.

THe big test tomorrow will be getting dressed. She has now worn all the cloths she brought and the two outfits that she picked out from the store. They are all dirty now and she will have to pick something that we brought for her. That will be a really big step for her so we will see.