My Birthday and Consulate Appointment

It rained all day yesterday because of the typhoon.  We did not get to go to the zoo, which was disappointing.  I wanted to see Panda Bears and feed the giraffes. I probably would have just felt sorry for the animals anyway.  We ended up just meeting up with people from our group off and on all day.  We are all bored and wanting to go home.  It's been two weeks today that we left, and it feels like an eternity ago.  One of the teenagers from the big group brought her guitar and sang for the kids and they sang Happy Birthday to me. The hotel brought up a cake for us.  The best part of my day was when Milli lifted her hands up to me and gave me a hug.  She did this for the first time outside of swimming and did it multiple times.  It was priceless.  We tried to go to a small market to buy some gifts next to the hotel but the people were very aggressive in trying to get us to buy things.  So we just left empty handed.  You have to take a taxi to other shopping centers, and with the rain, it's not been worth it.  We ended up going to an Irish Pub for dinner with some people in our group.  The food was good except for John's hamburger was raw, even when he sent it back and got a new one. Needless to say, he did not eat it.  . But he was happy with the Heineken and fries.  He has turned into a vegetarian here because he is afraid of the meat.  Milli ate so much I had to unbutton the top snap on her shorts because her belly was so distended. Today was our big day at the American Consulate where we took the oath. It did not take very long and our paperwork was all good.  We will get Milli's visa tomorrow, and she will become an American citizen when we land in Chicago.  I became a little emotional thinking about her becoming an American.  It means so much to me.  I hope she will appreciate it when she is older.  I think life here in China is harder.  If she does chose to come back here for whatever reason, I would never stop her, but at least she will have a choice.
We have group pictures this afternoon. We leave for Hong Kong tomorrow at 4:30pm, and will fly out on Friday morning.  Right now we are trying to pass the time.  Luckily we have the best little girl who is happy and patient and so very easy to take care of.  Gus on the other hand........