The Pickle Factory!

Today we drove  hours to a pickle factory. Where we spent 5 minutes.  watching a room full of women(think of the women in veruca salt's father's factory unwrapping wonka bars).  We marveled over their speed at shoving the pickled brussel sprouty things into bags.  We wondered to ourselves and aloud how many they pack in a day(5000) and then we left.  Checked pickle factory off bucket list.  Next we stopped at a farm along the roadside where a family allowed us into their house to see how they live.  Big house, cool kitchen, they got a tv 5 years ago and a refrigerator last year.  they grow the pickle things that we saw get packed.  So that was fun, then back on the bus to lunch, yum, the food has been outstanding, even for a picky eater like me.  Tony can't get enough chicken feet and pig blood stir fry, my parents are pretty adventurous eaters and Sally's happy as long as she has rice and soy sauce, so everyone's happy.

After lunch we came back to the hotel and my parents watched Sally while Tony and I went to her finding spot.  You know, the place she was abandoned.  We had our guide with us and got a cab and were off.  it was no easy place to find as the city has changed so much since 2003, the address isn't actually there anymore.  But we found the building next door and think that probably her location was a house that has since been demolished.  Along with just about everything else in the neighborhood.  It's tough to describe what it looks like, but I'll try while my memories are still fresh.  It's a busy street that for some reason reminded me of 125th street in New York.  On one side it's developed, very similar to 125 street, shops, bright lights, also some fruit and vegetable vendors, but the place is definitely a business thoroughfare.  Then, across the street, sally's side, is like a bombed out village.  Debris and bricks and dirt in piles. Buildings half falling down.  A group of old men squatting on the ground playing cards.  So strange.  Around the area where sally was found(by a policeman, we learned) I found a piece of broken tile that I brought to her.  She and I might go back tomorrow because she really wants to see it, but frankly, it's depressing.  tony said he kept looking for a tree or something nearby that we could photograph the could represent where her birth mother placed her.

Based on the location of the spot, we believe her birth mother is not from far away.  It would be a real trek from the rural areas and not an easy or central place to get to.  So, That's something.  It's all guesswork, wishful thinking, but that's what we've got for her.

Tonight we went to a hot pot restaurant but I was not in the mood, so Sally and I came back and did our usual game of charades with the waitress in the hotel restaurant here trying to communicate french fries.  First i drew them, little stick like things on a piece of paper.  She brought me a fork.  Next i took a few toothpicks and mimed eating them.  She just looked at us strangely.  Finally we found someone who spoke English and was able to communicate.  This waitress is my bff.  We had to do charades to get red wine yesterday and when we walked in tonight she smiled at me and said in perfect English, "Red wine?"