Days 11 and 12- Guangzhou

I wasn't able to get online for the last 2 days so I'm lumping them together in one post while I can get on. It was mostly just more walking and shopping. Monday we went back to medical and had Jack's TB test looked at, all looks good. We also got a group picture with other families here adopting the same time we are.

 After lunch we walked to Shamian Island. The island used to be a European outpost and port in the 19th century and has kept it's western feel to this day. It used to house the US Consulate, medical and in consequence, all the adoptive families would stay at the hotels on the island as well. Consulate moved. Just medical was there when we adopted Angie and Amy and now neither are there and the main hotel has closed down for renovations, it's a much different place than it once was. It still has several shops that cater to adoptive families, each shop provides laundry, strollers to loan, and tons of trinkets and souvenirs for that you can get your child's Chinese name and or American name customized on.
  We did the tourist thing and got our souvenirs there. Jack will never know the difference unless you tell him, but I did NOT get squeaky shoes for him like all my girls had when they were his age. Probably because I'm tired, it just sounds like a bad idea right now to give this little bolt of electricity of a boy shoes that squeak every time his foot comes down. At on of the shops,  Brent sat down and had traditional Chinese tea with the husband who spoke English while I shopped with the wife close by my side. He explained to Brent how to serve the tea and all the tradition involved, it was pretty fascinating.

 We got a lot of comments on the island about Jack, "A boy!" We don't see many people adopting boys!

So we found out that Hong Kong had a significant Typhoon on Monday. We got lots of rain and sloshed through Shamian Island and we had lots more rain on Tuesday as what was left of the Typhoon headed our way. Tuesday morning we had our swearing in ceremony for Jack to make him a US citizen at the US Consulate. Our guides kept telling us that there were no cameras allowed and all our baby stuff had to be in a plastic bag. I left my camera at the hotel and brought my regular bag with me, I didn't really care if security kept it while I was in the consulate, I just wanted to have my bag with me while I was out and didn't want to repack everything in a plastic bag, rebel that I am. All the families showed up with their belongings in walmart bags. Then the guides handed us all our paperwork for our babies in clear plastic envelopes labeled, "My plastic bag". Apparently, that is what they meant by putting our  baby stuff in a plastic bag. LOL I kept my bag and no one seemed to care.

We also had a funny episode with the hotel. They didn't give us a bed or a crib for Jack, so he's been sleeping on the couch at our hotel. Monday night he peed on it. We told the hotel and apologized and asked them to clean it. When we got back from the Consulate, the couch was gone. He took a nap in our bed. throughout the day, we kept trying to communicate with the hotel staff that we needed the couch back for Jack to sleep on. At bed time we still didn't have a couch. We called again and tried to tell them we needed the couch. nothing for about an hour, so we all got in the same bed to sleep. Around 11pm someone knocked at our door and brought us towels thinking that is what we've been asking for. Brent motioned to the empty space that used to have a couch. Blank stare from the hotel staff. Brent pantomined sitting on a couch. Blank stare. He tried to use his Iphone app to translate couch. (all this by the way with me in bed with the covers pulled up to my neck..) He seemed to understand nodded and left. Half an hour later he showed up with a cot. Well that will work! Around midnight, we got a call from the front desk asking if we got our couch yet. Brent said they had sent us a bed. "And how long will you be needing the bed?" They asked. Brent said, "You can have it back as soon as you bring the couch back." The next day when we got back from lunch we had a couch next to the fold out bed. Too funny.

bucket of snakes!

Snakes for sale! gag.

Today is actually Wednesday, Day 13. We start our journey home today. In a few hours we'll take a train to Hong Kong to spend the night there and catch a very early flight to Tokyo Thursday morning. From there we take the international flight to San Francisco and then after around 24 hours of traveling we will arrive in Phoenix around 3:30 in the afternoon. Please pray for us. On the trip here it was just tiring when it was just the 2 of us. But it is with fear and trepidation we make the trip with a 3 year old preschool firecracker whom we can't communicate with and cannot sit still for more than a minute.