Guangzhou - Day 3

Today started off with a little victory.  I was in the bathroom when Hope woke up, and started crying.  My first instinct was to run in there before it got worse, but I thought that I’d give her a little time alone with Jen, and so I hung back.  Well, Jen was able to comfort her, and change her, all without a fuss, and without intervention on my part.  Later that morning, she fell asleep in Jen’s arms, another first.  We’re not completely there yet  -  Tonight she wouldn’t let Jen put her to sleep, but this morning was a big step in the right direction.

We hung around the hotel until after lunch.  We went to the roof where the pool is located, walked around, and snapped some pictures.  Our guide Becky called and said that everything was ok as far as Hope’s visa was concerned.  Tomorrow is the swearing in ceremony at the Consulate.

After lunch we took a cab ride over to Shaiman Island, for some shopping, walking, and a little Starbuck’s Coffee (yep, it’s here, too).  For dinner, we decided to eat at the same Thai place that we had been to a couple of nights earlier.  A family from Atlanta sat down at the table across from us.  We got to chatting with the wife about the return home, and mentioned that we were staying in Tokyo for a few days, before leaving for the States.  She mentioned that her travel agent had told her that they were not allowed to overnight in Japan, or at least, their newly adopted daughter could not, because she had a Chinese passport  -  Those with a U.S. passport are ok.  We just about had a heart attack.  We had so little time to book the initial flights, and had not considered that Hope would have a Chinese passport, not a U.S. one.  Now we had visions of sitting in a Japanese airport for 3 days, or being sent back to China.  Jen lost her appetite, and so we raced back to the hotel to make a call to Delta.  Fortunately, we were able to change our flight.  We are still flying into Tokyo, but leave the same day for the States.  Delta also waved the change fee, which would have been $500.  Awesome.  So we will arrive home three days earlier than expected.  I’m relieved.  We didn’t want to stay in Tokyo, anyway, but that was the only option when we initially booked our flights.  Now, we will see Bella three days sooner than we anticipated.  We both miss her terribly.  We’re so fortunate to have run into the family in the restaurant.  It could have been really ugly in Tokyo had we landed and been given the bad news there.

Hope was as pleasant as ever today.  She's a really sweet little girl, and I think she and Bella will get along.  She had a blast again playing in the bath, splashing like crazy.  Our guide in Wuchang said that she had been given two baths a day at her foster home, but I'm wondering if they were just sponge baths, or maybe a shower.  Hope acts as if she's never had one before.  I had mentioned that she would not sit down during her first bath with us, and it just appears as if the water and the sensations are all a new experience to her.  I may be wrong, but it does appear that way.

Tomorrow afternoon is the swearing in ceremony at the U.S Consulate.  So more shopping in the morning.  Until tomorrow…

Rooftop pic

Another view

Yet another.  Note the pretty fronts that they've added to the buildings at the bottom of the photo.

Hope on the roof

Ladies playing cards in the park

I'm not sure about this guy.  This is as close as she got.

Guangzhou - Day 2

Today was a fairly busy fun day.  We started off with a little shopping, just up and down the main corridor that the hotel lies on.   It’s a very busy street, pedestrian wise, and construction wise.  These are the modern shops, selling clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc.  Sales people try and entice you into the stores as you walk by, and follow you when you enter their shop, which is a little annoying.  One asked me if Hope was my baby.  We bought a couple of things, nothing too exciting.  I prefer the older areas, where they sell the “unusual” stuff, but we didn’t venture there today.

In the afternoon, our guide escorted us to a Buddhist temple.   The predominant religion in China is Buddhism.  We toured the grounds.  Hope spent most of the time walking around, picking up every leaf that she saw on the ground.  I spent most of the time trying to prevent her from eating them.  She also loves to go up and down stairs, over and over again, which requires me to hold her hand to prevent her from falling.  I don’t really mind, though.  Just wish it wasn’t so darn hot.  Not as hot as Wuchang, but hot enough that I was sweating up a storm.

A monk performed a blessing for Hope.  We knelt in front of three giant, copper Buddha statues, as the monk chanted and banged on some sort of wooden instrument.  It was very interesting.  I had no idea what he was saying, of course, but the gist of the blessing was for long life, happiness, etc. - all the good stuff.  Hopefully, these guys have a little pull with whoever makes those decisions.

After the temple, we drove down to the river for a river cruise.  We were on the “VIP” deck, which meant a/c and a buffet.  The food wasn’t that great, though, and unfortunately, it rained for a good portion of the cruise, but we did get maybe a half hour window without rain, and were able to go out on deck and take pictures.  You get a great view of the city from the river, and all of the buildings are lit up with a variety of colors.  Hope had a good time, walking around, and bouncing and waving her arms when music was playing.  She blew kisses to everyone when we were getting off the boat.  She’s a very happy baby, for the most part, very friendly, and seems to be very comfortable with us now, although she still prefers me when she needs comforting.  Now the bad - She drools like crazy!  I think it's because some teeth are coming in.  I'm surprised the furniture in the hotel room isn't floating.  We bought a couple of bibs for her, and we keep them on her most of the time, so they will be featured prominently in all of her photographs for the time being.

Tomorrow is a free day for us, but our guide goes to the U.S. Consulate for us to apply for a U.S. visa for Hope, so it's actually a very important day.  We'll probably do some more shopping.  Until then…

One of the interesting alley ways

At the Buddhist temple

This is where the monk performed the blessing for Hope

Hope has one of her leaves.  The Buddhas in the background are made of copper.

Guangzhou, from the river

Getting ready for dinner.  The bib is actually for drool - She's a drool machine.

Mom and Hope on deck

The city at night.

Guangzhou - Day 1

Before leaving Wuchang yesterday, Jen took an opportunity while Hope was napping to visit a 700 year old Buddhist Temple in the area.  She took some great pictures.  I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to see it in person.

Anyway, we stopped at the Civil Affairs office one last time to pick up Hope's passport, before departing for the airport.  I had pretty much had it with Wuhan - the heat, the stares, the crazy driving, the "Pizza Hut incident" as it will henceforth be known, and I was dreading the long drive back to the airport, and sitting in the cell block like terminal for a couple of hours, then a 1 1/2 hour flight with a baby whose tempermant on an airplane was unknown.

The drive was very uncomfortable.  I had Hope for most of the time, it rained for a good part of the way, and the driving was even crazier.  In China, the lines that divide the lanes are just suggestions.  No one sticks to one lane for very long, cars come very close to side-swiping one another, pedestrians come within inches of being run over.  If this was the U.S., middle fingers would be flying everywhere.  Here, no one really even glances when you honk at them.  At one point, our driver passed an ambulance which had it's lights on, and honked at and passed a police car.

But we made it safely to the airport terminal, which fortunately was the brand new terminal, not the old one that we arrived at.  So the wait wasn't as bad as it could have been.  Hope did pretty well on the flight, I must say, but it was stressful finding ways to keep her entertained, plus were were in coach, with a guy sitting next
to us, and I was crammed in the middle seat.  We made it to Gunagzhou, though, our very nice guide Becky greeted us, and we headed off to the hotel, the Shifu Holiday Inn.  I had read nice things about the hotel on line, and was not disappointed.  Beautiful lobby (with a/c!),  and big beautiful room.

In the morning, after a pretty good night's sleep, we toured the hotel with cleared heads.  I told Jen that I felt like I had been released from prison.  Such a nice hotel, nice staff, incredible views from the roof where the outdoor pool is located.  Plus, the hotel is located in the shopping district.  There is a long corridor of modern shops, crisscrossed with alley ways that lead into older parts of the city, and more traditional shops. It's completely fascinating.  They try to hide the old buildings behind false fascades, and I know a lot of the old parts of the city are being torn down, but it's ashame.  It's like stepping back in time when you step down one of the old alley ways.

After exploring for a bit, we had to head back to the hotel to meet our guide, who escorted us to the medical exam.  We got to the clinic early, and beat the crowd that arrived shortly after we did.  You go to several different rooms, see several different doctors and nurses, who weigh her, look in her ears, her mouth, etc.  All a little strange - I half expected them to see some bizarre, antique medical equipment - but fortunately, we were in and out pretty quickly, and there were no shots, so that was good.

After a lunch of KFC (yep, that's here, too), we headed back to the same area where the clinic was, this time on foot, for some sight seeing.  The area where the clinic is located is called Shaiman Island.  There's a lot of British Colonial influence there, so the architecture is different, and there are a bunch of gift shops catering to tourists, and adopting families.  To get there, we had to walk several blocks through an area that sold pets, and pet supplies, and what I guess you would call herbal shops.  There were dried assortments of plants, and other things that I didn't recognize, lizards on sticks, dried snake skins, sea horses, etc.  Really fascinating.  I'd love to know what some of the things are used for.  What do you do with a bag of dried sea horses?

Once we reached Shaiman Island, we just did some exploring, checked out several gift shops, took some pictures, let Hope walk around a bit.  Just a really nice area, really relaxing.  We ate dinner at a Thai restaurant, talked with a few other adopting families from the States, and headed back.  I can't say enough good things about Guangzhou, and the area that we are staying in.  I will post pictures tomorrow.  It's getting late here.

Bath time fun.

Entrance to the Buddhist Temple in Wuchang

Beautiful ceiling

View from hotel window in Guangzhou.  This is the main shopping corridor.  The older buildings are hidden at street level.

Waiting with other adopting families for the medical exam.

Filling out some paperwork

Dried snake skins

Sea horses

Can you find Hope?

I found a leaf

You'd better get used to these Hope...

Sign at entrance to park.  Darn, and I bought a pistol in that tunnel in Wuchang!

Hopscotch with friends in the park.

Yellow Crane Tower Tour

I wasn't able to post last night.  We were having trouble getting Hope to sleep.  No problems the first few nights, but then she was simply exhausted, and not feeling well.  Her fever had subsided by last night, but she's been digging her finger into her ears, so maybe they're bothering her.  I held her and tried to lay her down in her crib after she closed her eyes, but she would wake up and cry, so I held her in the bed, etc.  Finally, after an hour or so of repeated attempts, I laid her down and she went to sleep.

Anyway, the day started with a trip to the Yellow Crane Tower.  It's a tower that has been built and re-built many times since 223 A.D.  Most recently, it was destroyed by fire in 1884, and not rebuilt again until 1981.  It's a beautiful spot only 10 minutes or so from the hotel, and has great views of the three cities that make up Wuhan.  It's a very popular tourist destination.

Unfortunately, it was so darn hot and humid that we just could not enjoy ourselves.  I was literally dripping even before we climbed the first step.  We couldn't use the elevator, because it's reserved for "...only the visitors older than 70, or those with lower limbs disabled", according to the sign.  They sold wash cloths at one of the gift shop counters, which I bought.  I needed a full-size towel, though.  Hope was a trooper, and Jen and I took turns carrying her.  Not a single fuss, even though she was sweating just as much as I was. 

At one point, we caught someone taking a picture of us.  Jen caught his eye and smiled, and he snapped another of her.  We're celebrities here!  

We managed to take a few good pictures ourselves, but we were relieved to head back to the van, and the hotel.  

We spent the rest of the day in the room.  We gave Hope her second bath.  This time, she really enjoyed it, and was splashing and having fun (the first bath, the day before, she wouldn't even sit down).  She continues to prefer me, and will only let me comfort her.  She let's Jen carry her when we are outside of the room, but once inside, it's a different story.  I'm afraid to walk into the bathroom, where Hope can't see me, because if she notices that I'm gone, she will cry.  This is very hard on Jennifer, as you can imagine.

I probably will not post tonight.  Our flight doesn't leave until close to 7:00 PM, so by time we get to our hotel, get us situated, and Hope to sleep, it will be late.  So until next time...

The tower from a distance

A view from one of the levels of the tower

Beautiful ceiling

Family photo.  Daddy's a dripping mess.

She knows when her picture is being taken.

View of the Yangtze river, and one of the three cities beyond.

Rooftops of homes adjacent to the tower.

Sick Day

We had intended on venturing out today, and were dressed and ready to go after breakfast, but Hope was falling asleep after being up for only a couple of hours, if that, and we noticed that she was very warm.  So we gave her some Motrin and decided to spend the day inside the hotel room.  Not very exciting for either of us, but good for bonding, I think.  After an early nap Hope was feeling a little better, and Jen got her laughing harder than we've seen before.  Hope would throw something on the ground, and Jen would go "Boom!".  For whatever reason, Hope found this hilarious, and I caught some of it on video.

For lunch, I headed out to the McDonald's across the street.  The menu board is numbered, so it's easy to order.  I just hold up the appropriate number of fingers, and they get the point.  I referred to my handy Chinese Survival Guide for the word for french fries, which isn't numbered, and for ice cream, after which I then pointed to a picture of a McFlurry.

I should mention that not only is Wuchang hot, but it's also hot inside most of the businesses here, and McDonald's is no exception.  Some businesses will have portable a/c units, and the more modern buildings have central air, but some feel like they have nothing.  Even our hotel is hot inside, and it hits you as soon as you step out of your room into the hallway.  They must be used to it here, though.  I was the only one in line at McDonald's sweating, or so it appeared.

There's a tunnel that runs under the street, allowing you to cross without worrying about dodging traffic.  There are a variety of "vendors" that line the tunnel, usually with their goods spread out over a blanket or something similar.  Several were selling knives, and what appeared to be handguns, although I don't know if they were real (they looked real, though).  There was also a beggar, and a man playing a Chinese musical instrument, quite beautifully, actually.  On my way back across, I gave them both 1 yuan.

So after lunch we sat in the hotel room, played, and napped for most of the day.  We did go to the restaurant in the hotel for dinner, and took a very short walk outside after that, but that was about it.  Hope appears to be a lot more comfortable with us, and the belly laughs were a joy to see, but we still know that we have a long way to go.

Tomorrow our guide will take us to the Yellow Crane Tower, a very old and famous landmark here in the area.  Hopefully, Hope will be feeling a little bit better.  Then we spend our last night here, before heading to Guangzhou the following day.  Until tomorrow...

Dressed and ready to go out, but she wanted to sleep

Feeling a little better

Enjoying Chicken McNuggets with Mommy

Civil Affairs Office Day

Well, today I think we experienced discrimination.  First time for me, that's for sure, but more on that later.

This morning we returned to the Civil Affairs Office to pay the orphanage donation and other fees, and basically reaffirm with a red fingerprint that we still wanted to adopt Hope.  They also took a red footprint from Hope, while she was asleep in Jen's arms.

Hope's nannies were there again today, and our guide said that they thought Jen and I were both very pretty, and wanted to take lots of pictures of us, which they did.  You can tell that these women really care for Hope, and it's evident from looking at the pictures in the photo album that they gave to us yesterday that they took wonderful care of her during her time in the orphanage.  One of the nannies gave us another gift before we left - a photo copy of the newspaper article announcing Hope's finding, complete with her picture.  It's another precious gift that we will share with Hope later on, along with the photo album.

Things were pretty good today.  Hope cried some when she woke up, but overall seemed very happy for most of the day.  She had some good moments with Jen - She fell asleep in Jen's arms  at the Civil Affairs Office, Jen carried her around on part of our walk, and they had some laughs more than once playing peek-a-boo.  She will still cry when I disappear from sight in the hotel room, but seems to be OK outside of it when I walk away, so maybe we're making some progress.

Now back to the discrimination "event".  After a long afternoon nap (this kid can sleep!), we headed out for a walk, and a bite to eat.  We decided on Pizza Hut.  We had a great experience there the first time, but this time we had Hope with us.  They seated us right away, no problem, gave us menus, but no one waited on us. We sat there for about a 1/2 hour, they took dishes from tables next to us, and the wait staff stood just 10 feet away when they weren't busy, glanced over at us occasionally and whispered to each other, but never took a drink order, nothing.  I can't imagine that it was anything else than the fact that we were a non-Asian couple, with an Asian baby.  At one point while we were waiting, a woman came around the corner and gave Jennifer an obvious, dirty look.  Pretty upsetting stuff.  So finally, we just gathered our stuff and walked out.  No sense arguing with anyone over it.  But it makes us want to hole ourselves up in our hotel room until we have to leave Wuchang.  I know that our next stop, Guangzhou, will be better.  All adopting families go through there, so we will not be the novelty that we are here.

Tomorrow is a free day.   I almost hope that it rains so that we're forced to stay inside., but the plan is to venture out again, and visit a local park, and a Buddhist temple.  Until tomorrow...

Article announcing Hope's finding

The photo album gift from the nannies

The nannies are on the ends

In the play room at the Civil affairs Office

This is a happy face

Momma and Hope