Day 32 -- Suzhou, China

I stayed on the computer way too late and didn’t get to bed until about 1:30am. Daniel was reading but didn’t feel well when we went to bed. He took some Theraflu a before bed and once during the night. I woke up about 9:30 and he woke up shortly after, still feeling sick. We checked his temperature and he had a slight fever. Mom called Mi (local travel agent/ friend) to book their trip to Thailand and also asked what temperature was allowed for leaving the country. Daniel was slightly over that temperature, so he has been taking Tylenol all day to try to keep the fever down and not get stuck here. He said he feels like it is the onset of strep throat, but doesn’t feel that bad. Mi even offered to bring medicine for Daniel to keep his fever down so we will be able to leave tomorrow. I did computer crap for a while and heard back from one of the old friends that I got in touch with yesterday. He said he remembered me as smart and charming in high school. I’m not so sure I remember being charming then or manage to pull if off now for that matter. Mom made me a yummy PBJ sandwich for lunch and Fong came to clean the apartment. I don’t think I will ever get used to an ayi working around us with us paying no mind and just going about our business. About 2:30pm, we headed down to Walking Street to visit Mei Mei at her silk shop. I was going to pick up some silk for a friend and Daniel for his mom. I didn’t find what I was looking for and a phone call to Daniel’s mom revealed she wanted something different then what was there as well. We made a last minute decision to have a bedspread made for ourselves of cashmere and silk. We are also having 4 pillow cases made for some throw pillows to match. They should be ready in a few weeks, so Mom will pick it up and have it shipped with their household stuff when they leave. That should be about the end of March. We walked around and bought a few other small items then took a taxi to Auchan to get a few last minute things. We took a cab back home. On the way, Mom talked to Mi to arrange a van and driver to take us to the airport in the morning. Dad was home by the time we got there. We got a confirmation on the driver from Mi and will be meeting him at 5:00am to drive to Shanghai for our 9:30am flight. Mi also said she wanted to come to the airport to see us off but has to do a tour tomorrow morning. Mom is going to come with us partially in case we get stuck in Shanghai for Daniel’s fever, but I think mostly because she wants to spend as much time with us as possible. I can’t tell you how many times today she has said she is going to miss us. We ordered pizza from Papa John’s for dinner and Dad and I did some blonding—blogging and bonding in the office together. Daniel fell asleep on the couch for a little while. Hopefully he is doing better. I finished the packing and went back to the computer. Figured I would get all caught up and stay up late so I could sleep on the flight tomorrow. Our flight gets in to Portland at 7:30am on the same day that we leave, so it can really screw with your body clock having a day that lasts 40 hours instead of 24.