Saturday, April 2

Our first full day in Guangzhou was fun!  It was such a change in many ways from our previous time in China.  This city - at least where we are in it - has a completely different feel from Beijing.  Not only the weather, which is warm and tropical, but also the upkeep and style.  It is much more westernized than Beijing, which we expected it to be.  There is an island, well known to veteran adoptive parents, called Shamian Island, that is a really relaxed and laid-back environment.  There are a couple of hotels well known to adoptive parents right on the island, although we are not in one of those.  We can however easily take a taxi to the island and walk around there.  The island has a lot of shops and restaurants as well as parks.  Another thing that is different about our time here in Guangzhou is that we are actually in a group with other American adoptive families!  Pretty cool huh?  After all this time being so isolated and standing out in the crowd, we are now in lots of company.  There are 5 families total that will be in our group, we only met up with two others today.  They are families from our same agency that have all been in different provinces getting their children, and we have now all arrived in Guangzhou for our consulate appointments.  Besides our group, there are also a lot of other adoptive families all around this area since all Americans have to leave through Guangzhou before going home.  It is so nice not to stand out in the crowd as a complete oddity. 

Our day began with us meeting the two other families and our guide to go to get visa photos and medical examinations for the children.  This proved to be mostly a technicality, just jumping through the right hoops.  TingTing however, did really great.  We fully expected her to be intimidated or unhappy about the whole process, but she was fine.  A little timid of course, but that is to be expected when she gets ushered into three different rooms and poked at a bit by three different doctors or nurses.  That appointment had to be completed before our Consulate appointment on Monday so that we can take the results with us to that.  

At the place to get visa photos

At the place to get the medical exam done.  There were lots of adoptive parents there having arrived from all over China with their new children.

Waiting for our turn in the three different exam rooms.  We are waiting with a mom and daughter from one of the other adoptive families in our group - Donna and her daughter Elise.  We have seen each other's blogs while in China, so it's been really fun to meet them in person!

Jim looking at and working on MORE paperwork!

Lydia being very patient with the ENT doctor

Our big girl getting measured!

I was waiting for the freaking out to begin, but it didn't!

 After the visa photos and medical exam, the only other things we did with our guide was that she helped us fill out our paperwork for our Consulate appointment on Monday.  After that we had the rest of the day free.  We enjoyed walking around the hotel and took lots of pictures of the garden and waterfall out back of the hotel.  This waterfall area is what the breakfast eating area looks out onto!  Not too shabby huh?

Our super knowledgeable guide helping us fill out the paperwork for our Consulate appointment on Monday

With all of the beautiful flowers everywhere, I just couldn't resist putting our pretty girl in front of some for a picture!  I still can't believe I get to bring her home!

The rest of the afternoon, we just bummed around a little.  We tried shopping at a big department store across from our hotel, but found it to be mostly high end products.  We weren't looking to spend $40 for a short sleeve shirt for Lydia, so that place wasn't much help to us.  Then after that we met the other two famlies for dinner on Shamian Island at an iconic restaurant for adoptive families called Lucy's.  We ate outside and all of the kids, 6 total, could run around and play a bit together.  Lydia loved running around and interacting with the other kids.  Especially since we had bought her a pair of squeaky shoes - which apparently every Chinese adopted kid needs.  :)  She was certainly entertained by the fact that with every step she made a fun squeaky sound!  Overall, the island was lovely this evening. We were so glad to find that the shops on the island are not anything like the crazy markets that we've encountered in other places.  These were quiet and low key.  One shop owner, Jordan, even advertises on his sign "No high-pressure sales".  We had already been recommended to go there by another family, but that line on his sign sold me in an instant!  And it was true - this guy was super nice and quite a talker, but he didn't try to sell us stuff, he just let us look and was really friendly.  He also writes the Chinese characters for the kids' American names in calligraphy for parents to have for free.  So any adoptive parents out there that have yet to do this part of your journey - go and see Jordon's shop on Shamian island.  It is right up the street that is straight across from Lucy's.

Us and the two other families outside at Lucy's

The front side of Lucy's

Running and playing with the other kids. 

She liked picking the flowers.  I wasn't sure how to tell her not to - especially when she is running over to me and handing me a flower saying, "Ma ma!"

An area of the street on Shamian island.  I'm sure we'll take lots more pictures on the island before we leave here.

Three things we are thankful for today...


1.  Being in Guangzhou!  Friendly company, final adoption process, and the last stretch of our trip!


2.  Softer beds!  Ours and Lydia's both!


3.  The great breakfast buffet at this hotel - with everything from real waffles, to BBQ pork, to watermelon juice.


Oh, and one final picture - this is a follow-up from earlier in our trip when we first went to a pizza hut.  Perhaps you remember the post where we mentioned the Teriyaki Octopus with Quail Eggs?  Well we finally got back to a pizza hut and remembered to take a picture just to show all of you how yummy this dish really looks...

Mmmmmm!!!