Arrived Guangzhou!

Arrived Guangzhou just fine. The sun is shining, there are Americans everywhere and we had spaghetti, burgers, grilled cheese for dinner. Our whole travel group went out last night - walked to a local place called Lucy's.

We are on Shaimin Island. It is much more expensive here and the hotel room is 1/3 the size of our room in Chongqing.

We're taking a tour today to go to the Jade market. Priorities first.
K

Friday night party

Our group was invited to a birthday party for little Haley. Her actual birthday was September 2 but we weren't here then so we celebrated November 2. We all met downstairs in the buffet restaurant where we eat breakfast every morning. It was so nice to get everyone together. We ate shrimp, chicken wings, fried and steamed rice, lots of desserts. We did not eat fish tongues or fish throats which are on the buffet. There were also lots of other dishes which we avoided so we would not get sick - although they looked okay.

The breakfast buffet is interesting each morning. The french toast has a layer of green in the middle. The ham is spam. The yogurt is thin enough to drink with a straw (but is a great choice for protein in the a.m.) There is rice soup, various chinese noodles and vegetables....and baked beans and corn on the cob. Go figure. After a week, we've figured out that you have to ask for hot water to mix in with your coffee so it's not so strong.

We got the biggest compliment after dinner tonight. We wanted a family photo with Xiulan. She said "I want to get next to this boy. He is good behavior. He is gentleman." J HAS been so good on this trip. It has been very stressful and he has handled himself well. Sarah is blessed with a great big brother and we are blessed with a wonderful son.

Tomorrow morning our group heads to Guangzhou where we will complete the requirements to get Sarah a visa to enter the US. She has a Chinese passport (with the prettiest picture! Why can't my passport picture be that pretty?) In Guangzhou we will be on Shaimin Island where lots of other American adopting families will be staying. We won't be such a "side show" there. Xiulan won't be going with us. We were all sad to hear that. Peter will be helping us there. My next post might be a day or two until we get settled in GZ. We're all ready to get out of this place and see some new scenery. One step closer to home!

Friday

An AMAZING thing happened today. The SUN came out!!!! We all went outside for some photo-therapy. We had heard about these banyan leaf paintings that are only done in Chongqing. S and our friend V were tenacious about finding them. S surfed the internet until he found some phone numbers to call. In his best pigeon-Chinese, S called around. He mentioned to our guide, Xiulan, that he and V were going to the place to buy the leaf paintings and she said they should not go alone. She rearranged her schedule to go along with them. Xiulan helped get a taxi cab because the taxis would not stop for S and V because they were too tall - ha!. The paintings are amazing. We were glad the guys made the effort to find them.

V's wife JB and I went shopping at an area very close to the hotel - it's like a flea market. There were LOTS of folks out in the courtyard because of the beautiful weather. We created quite a stir. People would stop and stare or come talk to the babies. In the flea market area, I stopped to look at an item. I turned around to see a lady trying to take Sarah out of her stroller. We high-tailed it out of there quick! We saw several kids peeing and pooing in the landscaping around the courtyard.

Thursday

Thursday was a dreary day with lots of rain. we still managed to venture out for lunch with another family to an Italian restaurant adventure. They were out of what I wanted. So I got some sort of funky chicken with lots of ginger. S was nice enough to eat it and give me his spaghetti which was somewhat normal. We hit Haagen Daz and Starbucks afterwards.

We had a LONG supper at the Japanese steakhouse (think Kobe's) located in the "Underground Town" below our hotel. At 7:30, our group boarded a bus to see the sights of Chongqing. We had a harrowing ride up a narrow, winding road, across two rivers/several bridges to the top of a mountain. We got some beautiful night light shots.

Two drunk guys came up to J and started hugging and rubbing his face. S had to push them away. They laughed at me when I said "no" in Chinese. All of us were tired and ready to head back to the hotel for sleep. J fell asleep on his new friend Hannah on the bus.

Happy Halloween

We went walking around the area today and ended up at Pizza Hut for lunch. The hostess was dressed in an orange witch outfit. Happy Halloween from China.

Sarah is looking pretty in the pajamas my aunt bought her. She really hams it up for the camera. She also likes when her big brother reads to her!

It's official

Sorry for the delay in posting. We've been so busy trying to do dishes while having to boil the water, doing laundry, school work, shopping and tending to the princess's needs.

Monday at 2:30 we walked next door to the government adoption office. The 5 families sat in a waiting room waiting for each step. First we each had our pictures made with the baby which would go on the final decree. Second we had an interview which consisted of the governmental officials looking to see if we were the same people in the photo (that they just took.) Lastly we each put our thumb prints on the documents. The officials said, "Congratulation!" and she was ours forever. It was very anticlimactic after 3 years of waiting to get to that point.

The "Head Lady" from the orphanage and one of the nannies were there at the government office. They took picture with all the families. They came over to Sarah and said, "Ai Ai, beautiful."

Sarah is the queen of sleep. They must have known how much we love sleep when they matched her to our family. She had 3 naps on Monday and 2 longer naps on Tuesday. We were able to keep her up in the evening so she would go to bed earlier and sleep longer We had to wake her up this morning at 9:00 a.m. to make it to breakfast before it closed - that was about 12 hours of sleep overnight.

Observations from S….

Cokes/Sprite are still distributed with “pull tabs”. Coffee is so strong at the hotel restaurant that your spoon can stand straight up. God bless the person who invented Folgers coffee singles.

No potable water in a 5 star hotel – we must boil water in the room or use bottled water to brush teeth and clean baby bottles – but right down the street you’ll find a Starbuck’s, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and a Haagen Daz.

Chongqing is the largest city in China with just over 30 million people compared to 8 million in New York City.

Smoking is a national past time in China – hotel lobbies, bathrooms, restaurants, office buildings, etc. Cigs are stocked in the hotel room mini-bar.

Very little, if any English is spoken in Chongqing – far different than Beijing where most attempt to speak English.

If you want a “fresh” dinner just go to the local supermarket to select a live crab, fish, frogs, turtles, chicken feet and other various animal parts.

Chongqing is made up of slums located directly next door to new skyscrapers – major rebuilding of the city to accommodate the rapid growth.

We’ve not seen the sun in 5 days – not sure if its smog, fog or straight pollution but our allergies are going strong.

Buicks, Fords, Chevrolets along with Toyotas, Nissans and other unrecognizable auto brands pack the city streets and highways.

Young children don’t wear diapers – when the urge hits them they just squat no matter where they are…McDonald’s, airport or a city park. J asked if the circle “P” was for no parking or no…

Younger generation…20 somethings…celebrate the gift giving of Christmas not the B.C. Older generation don’t even acknowledge the gift giving. Strangely enough they use BC to recognize years…

CNN (Hong Kong edition) on Channel 43…communist propaganda on Channel 44…and their version of MTV has the communist flag in every music video.

Pre-requisite for driving…a course in the finer art of using your horn…turn signals are optional….

Steak dinners are interesting to say the least…everything is rare to medium rare…I’m not sure they understand the concept of anything past medium.