Wednesday, November
3, 2010
Hey everyone! We ended Saturday thinking we would have more time
to post updates. Were we wrong! So here is a recap of the past
couple of days. Sunday morning we headed out with our travel
group to visit the Guangdong Folk Arts Museum. Within the museum
there are several halls and courtyards that house masterpieces
of stone carving, wood carving, brick carving, ivory carving and
other traditional crafts. We purchased 3 paper cuttings of each
of our Chinese zodiac animals to frame together. After a couple
of hours of touring the museum, we headed back to the hotel for
lunch and a nap for Eliana (and Melissa and Tom too!) Sunday
afternoon, our guide Zhou took the group out for a walk to a
local market, which was bunch of streets with endless stalls of
various bulk goods from mushrooms, spices, trinkets and pets.
The streets felt as crowded as Times Square in NYC on New Year’s
Eve. As we waited for a few families to go with Zhou to the
pharmacy, we created quite the spectacle. We were mobbed by a
large group of people; it almost felt like we were being
photographed by the paparazzi. We walked to the end of the
street and it opened to a huge public square where there was
crazy loud music being played. The music was an unusual remix of
vintage Eminem. Next we walked a few blocks to a Pearl and Jade
market, which looked more like a four story mall. Many moms
purchased pearls for their daughters and for gifts for families
back home. We did not buy anything as our Eliana became
ravenously hungry and let the entire mall know about it. Once
she ate a bottle (thank goodness for being prepared), she
quieted down and enjoyed the walk home.
Monday Zhou took our documents to the US Consulate in the
morning to be reviewed one last time for accuracy. Then we
waited for the phone call from him, letting us know that
everything was in order and that we could go to the Consulate in
the afternoon for the final signing and the oath taking
ceremony. We shopped until it was time to board the bus, to head
off the island to go to the Consulate. We don’t remember what
the oath said exactly, because when we raised our right hands to
say the words Eliana raised her hand too. It was extremely
precious. When she imitates us or has any sort of breakthrough,
it feels better than any volleyball victory has ever felt. After
we came back to the island, we tried to have dinner at the Thai
restaurant called the Cow and bridge or Bridge and Cow (the name
has a cow and a bridge or something.) We pushed our luck that
day because Miss Eliana was not happy at dinner. I guess the
lesson learned was, if we have a big day back home, do not try
and go out to dinner without a nap. We have tried to find or
make the best schedule you can make living in a hotel room. If
we keep to a consistent nap schedule, Eliana has less meltdowns.
I am hoping that keeping a schedule is a little easier at home
than in a hotel.
Tuesday we shopped and hung out around the room. It is Wednesday
here and we all went for a morning walk to see all of the people
doing aerobics, tai chi, playing cards and Mai Jong. It is so
peaceful and inspiring to watch everyone exercising and you get
such a sense of community. No one was on a cell phone; everyone
was talking and having a good time. This has been the first
morning that I have felt that we had it all together, and then
Eliana started coughing and vomited. Nothing like the little one
throwing a curve ball at you? This would not bother me as much
if we were at home, or getting to stay here a few more days, but
we have to get on a plane tomorrow. Throwing up baby is really
scary to me while flying on a plane.
Here are some things that we have figured out about Eliana:
We have found that Eliana does not like to eat in a restaurant
after she is woken up from a nap. This was the case after Tom
took Eliana out for a morning stroll in the park and she fell
asleep in the snuggly. She has started to go across the room to
play in the mirror, but she looks back to make sure that we are
still there. She loves to play with hard toys, banging them
together, on wooden chairs and shaking them to see what noises
they will make. She is starting to give her stuffed bear hugs
and kisses. But she definitely does not gravitate toward it when
she plays. Finally, (I don’t want to jinx this but,) Eliana has
gone down for 3 naps/bedtimes in a row without screaming. She is
waking up more pleasantly too. She is learning that she does not
have to wake up in a fit to get our attention to get her out of
the crib. Her latest thing is that she can wave hi and bye. They
are two different actions, hi is the double handed forward wave
and goodbye is the backwards funny kid wave.
We will update you when we get home. Not sure when, and I won’t
say more often, because you saw what credibility I have the last
time I promised this. We can’t wait for jetlag again! |
A little drool on the chin
Melissa and Eliana in the Victory Hotel playroom
No more pictures
Eliana helping pack for our trip home
Melissa and Eliana at our final dinner in Guangzhou
Our last night in Guangzhou |
