Pearls for her wedding

We all went to the Pearl market today...Guangzhou (which sits on The Pearl River) is famous for it's pearls...so Russell and I decided we needed to make sure Lydia had a strand for her wedding. I went in and started wheeling and dealing and I was able to get some really nice pearls for Lydia for about $100 American. I will put them away and someday she will have them as her "something old" from the country of her birth. For myself I got a jade necklace in the shape of a spider. It's really pretty and I paid very little for it. There really is a lot of beautiful pieces to be found...and each necklace is hand strung right there as you wait. I also indulged in some double sided embroidery...I already have one double sided piece I got in Mobile during a Chinese craft exhibit and I just love it. Shopping here is incredible and if you can haggle well you can get some great deals. I just wish we'd had more time...but honestly our schedule was crazy. The other coordinators were in awe about the schedule we kept...laid back this trip had NOT been because of the Trade Fair in Guangzhou and ASEAN in Nanning forcing us to move often and endure MANY long bus rides in order to find shelter in the storm so we could get here in October as opposed to November.
Tonmorrow is our last full day in China. I am looking forward to being home. I will miss this place...but I think I would have missed it more if I'd gotten to slow down and had time to look around a little more. I do want to come back. Maybe to adopt, but more likely just to show Lydia her birthland--it is old, it is poor, but it is noble and I want her to be proud of this land and it's people. I hope she embraces it...I know I have.