Anna and other friends (Saturday, Oct 16)

So there are many gift shops on the island – filled with baby clothes, art, jewelry, trinkets, etc. They also do laundry. The people who work for the shop hand out cards and coupons as you walk around, enticing you to their shop. The other day, we were given a card for Jenny’s. We talked for a few minutes with the woman who gave it to us and it turned out she was Jenny. Today, as we passed Jenny’s, she was there handing out the cards – when we told her that we already had one, she said “Oh yes, I remember you – Wendy!” Pretty impressive.
Late this afternoon as we were taking our 2nd walk for the day, a young woman from Susan’s Place stopped us to talk (and to give us a card). She and I hit it off. We talked in the street and then walked together a bit. Then she asked if we’d like to go to the park. Sure! We walked with her to the park and found a bench where she and I chatted for a while. She was born in Thailand but moved to China when she was very young, is 18 with two older sisters, works and lives in Guangzhou, and she’s a freshman in college studying Business English. She had many questions about Texas and other countries where we’ve travelled. That was Anna. We exchanged e-mail addresses and I hope to keep in touch with this charming young woman.
During our time in the park with Anna, Emerson was photographed by several people. She really doesn’t smile much for the camera but she’s just darn cute.
All of the people who talk with us tell us how lucky Emerson is. They tell us that life here is very hard and they know she’ll have many opportunities that most people here do not. We just think we are lucky but know it goes both ways.