Monday,
December 29, 2008
Today the kids had their medical exam to complete the paperwork
that is to be submitted to the American Consulate tomorrow. Once
we get the OK from the Consulate, the babies Visa’s will be
approved for travel and we can get out of here and start on our
way home! As long as all works out accordingly tomorrow will be
our last day in Guangzhou and then we’ll take a long bus ride
back to Hong Kong on New Years Eve, stay overnight and then
finally board our plane on New Years Day (China time), thus
arriving back in the U.S. on New Years Day (Our time).
The clinic where the exams took place was a 15-minute walk from
the hotel. Since it was a Monday morning, and was still very
early we got to see tons of little children walking to school.
We passed two schools on the way. All of the children wear
uniforms, but not the pleated jumper kind that I grew up in;
instead they are like track suits. They must have a ton of books
too because many were being walked in by their parents or
grandparents and they were helping the children carrying big
backpacks that were clearly stuffed to capacity. As we passed
one of the schools I could hear the children reciting something
in unison – reminded me of our kids saying the Pledge of
Allegiance at the start of each day. It was quite cute to hear
all those little voices speaking together.
The clinic where the exams were held was pretty busy. The
government provides the healthcare here so I was interested in
seeing how many people were just sitting waiting for their time
to come to be seen. As for our group, we were ushered into an
area that is specific to adoption exams only. The exams were
pretty simple; there were three separate stations that we had to
visit. One for ears, nose and throat. One for a full body exam,
which we found to be little rough. Lauren screamed the whole
time like she was being murdered! The last station was for
height & weight and according to the technicians; she is 30.7
inches (78 cm) in length and 18.3 lbs (8.3 kg) in weight. At 15
months that’s pretty light but we expected about the same on the
height. Lauren is much taller than most of the other babies
we’ve met in her age range and it’s all those long skinny legs!
After the exams and a late morning brunch we headed out for more
shopping with Pat/Ellie & Tess. The shop workers here are on
their game. They have our names memorized and are always telling
us how they will “give us best price” as we are “friends”. Too
funny. They are pushy but in a pleasant way. For those of you
who are soon to travel to Guangzhou – don’t be afraid to barter!
You have to check out Sherry’s for the lowest prices and biggest
variety of kid’s shoes. Jessica’s will give you a really good
deal on the traditional dresses for the girls and Jordan’s has
great prices on odds and ends plus the owner “Jordan” is an
absolute sweetheart and devote Christian. I had read on other
China adoption blogs about Jordan and everything I read is true,
so it’s worth a stop into his shop. We had started a
conversation with him out in the street early in the morning and
told him we would be in later to shop. He had asked about our
girl’s names and when we came in later he had made Tess & Lauren
their own personalized calligraphy drawing. Very sweet!
On our way back to the hotel, we got to watch some of the local
military going thru their drills. These guys mean business!
After another day of shopping, Lauren & I took a late afternoon
nap while Mike surfed the web. She appears to feel better this
afternoon. Her diaper situation has improved since yesterday, so
I’m praying that the “ancient Chinese secret” medicine is doing
it’s job.
We went out to dinner at Lucy’s again and Lauren ate so well.
Two big bowls of chicken congee and some of my chicken fried
rice and sautéed broccoli. She’s been really good at taking her
medications too – even though they look and smell really gross.
I’m very proud of my girl.
After dinner, we strolled around the city and ended up going
back to Starbucks for another caffeine fix. It’s so nice there
and as I mentioned before when we are sitting on their porch, it
feels more like being in Florida then another country. We all
find it very comforting and let’s face it the Starbucks folks
were genius’s to put one here!
That’s all to report for today. |
The school children look sharp in their uniforms
The exam was torture (not really but Lauren was feeling dramatic
today; I wonder where she gets that from?)
XiXi, Mommy & Lauren are all thrilled that the exams are done!
Re-enacting the statues, pretty good huh?
Starbucks - a taste of HOME!
Me & my girl!
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