Citizenship Day

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

We woke up around 7:00 this morning and called home. The time difference is 12 hours so it has worked out great with timing the phone calls. We wake up just as JT is getting ready for bed and at night here we can talk to him before he gets on the bus in the morning. The confusing part is the international date line. We are on the opposite side so our Wednesday night is your Wednesday morning! It kind of reminds me of that movie "Ground Hog Day". When we leave Guangzhou on Friday night at 9:00pm, we land in L.A. at 6:50pm on Friday night...2 hours 10 minutes before we left Guangzhou. I'll give you a few minutes to think on that one!!

We had yet another wonderful breakfast this morning and hung out at the hotel until 11:30 when we met our guide and all of the other families to head out on our tour. This morning, Judy, our guide, went to the US Consulate and submitted our U.S. paperwork. Everything went well and we were surprised to find out that our Swearing-In Ceremony was moved from tomorrow to this afternoon. So plans quickly changed and our tour will be tomorrow instead.

We didn't have to meet for the Ceremony until 2:45 so we decided to take the famous "Red Couch" photos since all of the girls were together. The White Swan has these beautiful red velvet couches throughout their lobbies and it is a tradition among the adoptive families to have the travel group photo of the girls together on the red couch. Now, getting five little girls to sit on the couch together and all look at the camera is nearly impossible. Most of the girls want to be held 24/7 so that adds to the difficulty, but we got our photos anyway.

Afterward, we decided to do a little shopping since we have a few hours to spare before the big Ceremony. Everything is within walking distance on the island so we enjoyed the stroll and popped in a few of the shops to pick up some souvenirs. One street in particular reminds me of Atlantic Avenue in the summer with all of the tourist shops. Everyone here is very friendly and most of the shop owners speak English very well.

At 2:45 we all met in the lobby with a few hundred other families to head over to the U.S. Consulate. It was a 45 minute bus ride from the hotel and you guessed it, Lea fell asleep. The Consulate is located in a very beautiful part of Guangzhou with a large park right in front of it that has the world's largest man-made waterfall. The scenery here is just breathtaking. At home we have the overgrown grass in the median strips with trash littered throughout. Here they have beautifully manicured hedges, Palm trees and beautiful flowers lining all of the streets.

We entered the Consulate showing our passports and surrendering our cameras. We were led to a large waiting room of chairs across from a long line of windows. Very similar to the DMV at home, but much, much better service. First we had to take Lea up to one of the windows and the clerk checked our paperwork and photos to make sure that we were who we were supposed to be and that Lea was who she was supposed to be. We all matched so we took our seats again. After all the families did the same thing, a representative came out and spoke over a microphone (remember, there are hundreds of babies in this one room, it was a little noisy - Lea's still sleeping). She congratulated all of the new families and spoke of the importance of the consulate for U.S. travelers abroad. After her speech, we were all asked to stand and raise our right hands and take the oath of citizenship for our daughters. This was the last step in the adoption process. After exactly four year from our first meeting with our adoption agent on October 21, 2005 to today, October 21, 2009, we finally have our daughter. She is now ours forever!

What an emotional release this event was. I was fighting back tears of joy when the comic relief I so needed came out. The representative was leading us in the oath as we stood with our hands in the air and she said, "I do solemnly swear or affirm...." and we, all 200+ parents in the room said, "I do solemnly swear or affirm..." Randy and I looked at each other and lost it! We laughed, silently, of course. You know that "church laugh" the one where because you are not supposed to be laughing it makes it that much harder to not laugh. All I could think of was that line from the movies where the preacher says, "Repeat after me, I, state your name, ..." and the other person says, "I, state your name, ..." For some reason, that just cracked me up and I couldn't stop laughing. I don't think anyone besides the lady in front of me noticed and since I had tears running down my cheeks from laughing so hard, maybe she just thought I was getting emotional. After taking the oath, we looked down at Lea and, ironically, she slept through the whole thing.

We got back to the hotel and decided to eat dinner with some of the other families at the Italian Restaurant by the river. Once again, my meal was very good. I had spaghetti with tomato and basil sauce. Randy, on the other hand, has issues - again. He ordered the mixed seafood plate. Wisely, he asked the waiter what kind of seafood was is the dish and was told prawn, salmon, and squid. So, he asked if it was possible to leave off the squid and the waiter said no problem. So everyone else at the table got their meal and Randy's came about 10 minutes later. We figured that they forgot about the squid request and had to redo his order. So finally, when his order came, there was no squid - good- however, they replaced the squid with clams - not so good. Randy does not like clams. I got him to try one just in case and he then reconfirmed that he does not like clams. So, I had clams for dessert. I loved them...sorry honey.

We got back to the room and Lea took a nice bath. She loves to splash in the water now. The first bath - not so much. I'm not sure if she had ever had an actual bath before since after the first bath the water was like mud and I swear she was two shades lighter. She was so funny after we were ready for bed. She was worn out from all the activities of the day and got funnier and funnier the sleepier she got. She kept giggling tonight right up until she fell over sound asleep.

It was a wonderful day!!

Medical Examination Day

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Once again, another great night of sleeping. The breakfast buffet here at the White Swan was wonderful. It's huge! I can't get over how big this hotel is...there's a three-story waterfall in the lobby! Lea, once again, had a very good breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, scrambled eggs off of Randy's plate (between bites off of her plate), yogurt, oatmeal, banana bread and watermelon. I have yet to find a food she doesn't like.

After breakfast, we met all of the families in our group in the lobby and walked toward the medical office. On the way, we dropped off some laundry at Ladybug Corner Laundry right across from the hotel. Next stop was the Photo Shop to get the girls pictures for their Visas. It was raining today so we had umbrellas and didn't get to take many photos. We walked through a very quaint park called Friendship Park with lots of bronze statues of people and children playing. Hopefully, if it's not raining tomorrow, I'll go back and take some photos.

We entered the Health Care Center of Guangdong building and were ushered to the back room. Over the door was "Examination Room for Adopted Children". There was a large waiting area with three small rooms attached. When we first arrived, one of the nurses came in and was trying to get the flat screen TV on the wall to work in English for us. Then another nurse tried to figure it out and then a third gentleman came in and started working on it. Finally, they got it to play the movie in English. As the movie began playing, we were all anxiously waiting to see what had taken so many people and so long to get going. As the title screen appeared the room erupted in laughter. It was "Kung Fu Panda"! Too funny.

The medical examination was very quick and simple. The first room was the physical examination. The nurse had a quick peek at all of her parts and made notes of any markings on her skin (birthmarks, Mongolian spots, etc.) and measured her head circumference. At this point, Lea was asleep (the appointment was at 10:00 - naptime). Well, she woke up and was not happy to be half-naked on an exam table. But the nurse was quick and then let me hold her for the rest of the check-up.  In the next room, the nurse weighed her - 6.9 kilograms, with clothes and diaper on, by the way - and measured her height. Since Lea got very upset every time I put her down, I didn't see what her height was. We will get a translated copy of her medical report before we leave here though. She also took her temperature under her arm - 97 degrees F - normal. The last room was the ENT room. The nurse tested her hearing by playing a keyboard on Lea's left side and a tambourine on her right side, one at a time. As Lea looked from side to side depending on which noise she heard, the nurse shook her head "yes". Then the nurse looked in her ears and told me, "No infection. Good." She then attempted to look at Lea's throat with the aid of a tongue depressor, but Lea would have none of that. I think the nurse finally gave up and said good anyway. And then we were done. Relatively painless.

We walked back to the hotel and all of the families met in the Swan Room. It's a playroom for the children sponsored by Mattel. It was a nice big room filled with toys of all age ranges. Lea was a bit overwhelmed at first but she got more comfortable and started playing with the toys before too long. While the kids played, the adults sat with our guide, Judy, and filled out a stack of forms for the US Consulate. It took about an hour and a half to complete them. Just to put it into perspective, the Chinese forms consisted of about 3 pages, two copies each and took about 20 minutes to complete.

After the paperwork was complete we headed back up to the room. Lea ate lunch and took a good long nap. Randy and I ate some left-over pizza and he read a book while I caught up on the computer. Much needed down-time. 

After Lea woke up we decided to take a walk around the hotel. First we walked back across the street to the Photo Shop where we were this morning and bought a nice folding stroller for about 110 yuan (that's about $16). Lea loves to ride in the stroller and we figure it will come in handy on the 3.5 hour layover in L.A. on the way back home. 

The hotel is gorgeous. Beautiful flowers everywhere and a coi pond with a waterfall in the center of the first floor lobby that goes up at least 3 stories. We walked around the first floor which has numerous shops and gallery pieces. Jade statues and carvings, beautiful wood furniture, jewelry shop, porcelain shops, clothing stores, cigar shops, shoe stores, handbags and accessories...I'm telling you this place is huge. We only walked the first floor and it took over an hour. The breakfast and tea room is also on the first floor and overlooks the Pearl River - very nice.

Later we met two of the other families and went to dinner at Lucy's Restaurant. Lucy's is famous among the adoption community for their much desired "American" cuisine. After you have been in China for almost 2 weeks, you crave a real American hamburger and french fries. Randy was very happy. I had tomato cream soup and a Cesar Salad. Well, I had some of my tomato soup, Lea likes that too!

We got back to the room and Lea went right to sleep. Randy watched a little TV and I worked on our journal. Well, off to sleep now...tomorrow is another busy day!

Leave Nanchang and off to Guangzhou

Monday, October 19, 2009

Today was a travel day. We got up early and talked to everyone back home (gotta love Skype!) and then headed down for breakfast. Once again Lea ate everything we offered her. She loves hard-boiled eggs. She ate two of them with her breakfast this morning. Well, the white part. The yolk, not so much. She spit that back out in my hand and then Randy gaged. Good grief!

 

After breakfast, we went back up to the room and Randy & Lea played with her toys while I packed our bags. Lea and Randy took a short nap and then it was time to head out to the airport. As we were checking out I got to see a few friends of mine from Austrailia that I have been talking with through the RQ website (Rumor Queen - ChinaAdoptTalk.com). They had just received their daughters this morning. They were so adorable. It's so nice to finally meet the people who have been in this waiting game with us for the past 3.5 years.

Checking out was very easy and then we all piled into the tour bus and headed for the airport. Or so we thought. Two of the carry-on bags were accidentally left behind so we turned around and headed back to the hotel. We weren't too far away when the hotel called to let us know they had found the bags and we had plenty of time to get to the airport. Which we were glad we had plenty of time because when we checked in at the airport, none of the babies had tickets for the flight. Our wonderful guide, Echo, sprung into action and got the tickets for us. We were so lucky to have her with us this past week. I would feel comfortable limping my way through a conversation in French, Spanish, or even Italian (it's so close to Spanish and French), but Mandarin is so not close to anything I learned in school. Not many people speak English here in Nanchang unless they work the front desk at the hotel, so without Echo we would have really been up a creek.

The plane ride was a short one and Lea slept for half of it. She was really good the rest of the time. She kept wanting to go back and forth from me to Randy during the flight. Which was okay, except that we were on different rows, diagonally across from each other. But Lea enjoyed "walking" back and forth and it gave her something to do. We landed in Guangzhou and my hair immediately curled up. Very hot and humid here. It will be shorts and t-shirts for the rest of this trip! Guangzhou is on the southeastern coast of China across from Hong Kong.

On the way to the hotel, we drove by a 7-eleven and I thought Randy was going to jump off the bus. He hasn't had a slurpee in 11 days now. If you know Randy, he might as well have quit smoking cold-turkey. He has a slurpee every day at home. It's his morning coffee. As we arrived at the hotel, he was very happy to see another 7-eleven right across the street. We checked into our room and dropped our bags and he said, "I'll be right back!" About 15 minutes later, he walks into the room with his lip poked out. A 7-eleven with no slurpee machine...who's heard of such a thing! Well, the only saving grace tonight was that Papa John's delivers. We had pizza and root beer for dinner...and it was great!

Our hotel is called the White Swan and it is located on Shamian Island. The view from our window is fantastic. We are right on the Pearl River. With all the lights reflecting off the river at night, it's absolutely gorgeous. Well, it's time for me to turn in. Lea and Randy are already snoring so I'd better join in. Tomorrow is Lea's medical examination and paperwork day (Visa application). After that we are done with appointments until Thursday's Citizenship Ceremony at the US Consulate.

Good night from Guangzhou!!

Day of Rest...

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Today is my parents 43rd Wedding Anniversary. Happy Anniversary, Maw & Pop!

And...a day of rest for us. We had a lazy morning in the room and after breakfast, Daddy & Lea played with toys on the bed. She has really come out of her shell today. She's smiling and laughing and playing with everything. She loves the "uh-oh" game. You know, the one where she drops something and you say, "uh-oh", pick it up and give it back to her, only for her to throw it down again. Yes, she loves that one.

Daddy decided to go to the gym for a little stress relief today and then for a relaxing massage (it actually was this time). While daddy did that, mommy and Lea went out for a stroller ride. We stayed mostly inside the hotel, which is huge I might add, but went outside only on the sidewalk in front of the hotel. There was a wedding inside the hotel this weekend so there were plenty of beautiful decorations to look at with lots and lots of fresh flowers everywhere. Every so often they would light the extremely large fire-cracker snake right outside the lobby doors. Talk about loud! It didn't seem to phase Lea, but I always went in the opposite direction just in case. It was almost dinner time so we went back to the room to see what Daddy wanted to do.

Daddy's McNuggets story.............

"We were trying to think of something innocuous for dinner on our last night in Nanchang.  While the hotel restaurant was okay, we had  eaten dinner there 3 of the last  4 nights.  We were, however,  a little too intimidated to strike out on our own for some authentic local cuisine.  I had been passing a McDonalds next to the RT Mart each time we went for supplies, so I decided some french fries like home would be a comfort and I could order Chicken McNuggets without having to modify anything - like a "plain" cheeseburger, fish sandwich with no tarter, etc.

Renee stayed with Lea while I made the six-block run to Mickey D's.  On the way, the streets and sidewalks were crowded as  usual and that ever-present gray hue to everything that is found in all big cities dominated the mood.  One of the stores, as a promotion I guess, had  a band of sorts playing out front to attract attention.  By "band" I mean about 12 people, all dressed in formal red and gold silk outfits, beating drums and cymbals in concert not unlike a marching band in the states.  The way it was presented was something uniquely Chinese and I stopped for a few minutes to take it in from across the street.

When I got to McDonald's there were mostly teenagers in front of and behind the counter.  In the middle of a string of Mandarin speech I was able to glean the words for hello, Ni Hao. I was proud of this as Mandarin is next to impossible for me to unravel when it's casually spoken.  While waiting in line, a young man asked me if I was here for business or vacation.  I explained that I was here to adopt our daughter and he smiled.  About that time it was my turn to order.  I had to jump right in or someone else would  step in front if I showed any sign of hesitation.   As soon as the person behind the counter saw me, she handed me a laminated menu that they give to the tourists so we can pick out what we want without having to talk - a good idea.  I pointed to the french fries first and held up 2 fingers - low hanging fruit.  Whatever I got was okay: large, small, medium.  Whatever. Then came the McNuggets. There were 3 choices: 4-pack, 10-pack and 20-pack.  I pointed to the 10 pack and the employee pointed to the 20-pack.  I pointed again to the 10-pack on the picture and she seemed to acknowledge this.

I started to get amused when the wait for my food began to drag on.  "Just like home", I thought.  At home I would get impatient, but here I just laughed to myself and watched as all the customers were moving in and out.  Finally, a woman dressed like one of the managers said, "Sorry", (for taking so long) in a heavy accent and handed me what looked like a small shopping bag.  I looked inside and noticed the fries on top and a box of  McNuggets, so I was good and left.  If something was wrong with the order I would just have to eat it anyway, the language barrier being what it is.
 

After walking back to the room and opening the bag for the last time I noticed not 10 but 30 McNuggets.  Guess we're eating good tonight.  I even talked Renee (the vegetarian) into eating a couple dunked in heavy sweet & sour sauce just to get rid of them.  They weren't great, but they weren't bad either.  We ended up with about 15 left.  Oh yea, the fries were excellent.  Just like home."

Well, I should get packing as we leave for Guangzhou tomorrow at noon and Lea is sleeping like an angel.