GuongZhou - The Last Leg :) April 16 - Photos Added

Coolness .... On a Walk-A-Bout With Mom

Easter Sunday here. After several days of rainy windy weather in Changsha and here, the sun is finally peeking through and the winds dying down. We expect some warming weather, which is refreshing for change and make for less stress on mom and dad with keeping wind and cold from the baby.

We arrived in Guongzhou late (very late, 11:30 PM) and then headed to the hotel. Emily did surprising well on her first air flight. She was tired and hungry at flight time, but would not take and food. She had no difficulties at all with the air pressure changes, and while being somewhat fussy at first, she settled into a nap about half way through while strapped to mom in her carrier. The long bus ride to the airport (40 min) was generally good as she loves bus rides and likes to look out the window.

After Check-in to the hotel, Emily went straight to bed, and we crashed quickly as well. We needed to be up again by 7:30 to get ready, feed Emily, and go grab breakfast before meeting back at the hotel to start the days activities for the next step in adoption (visa photos for Emily, medical exam, and paperwork prep for visa applications with US Consulate). Due to a huge annual trade show here, we ended up staying at the Victory Hotel (and actually the old hotel annex) as rooms were just not available at the White Swan. The city is bustling with activity and many foreigners are here at the hotel.

Are You Looking At Me??

First item for the day was visa photos, at a photo shop a short couple blocks from the hotel. I am happy to say that Emily gave one of her very best smiles for that photo. A smile in fact that I have yet to capture myself on film. So we ordered up extra photos of that to take home as they were so cute.

Next item, a short walk of 4-5 blocks to a local medical clinic that is approved by the Consulate to perform the required medical exam for visa application. Basically, the exam is three steps and you go to a separate booth for each. They do a basic physical check, followed next by weight, height, temperature, and lastly a basic test of hearing and response to sound and sight stimulus.

Then it was time to go back to the hotel and stack up some zzzzzz's for Emily and us for an couple hours. Timing was perfect as Emily usually crashes at 11:30-12:00 for a two or three hour nap. Great recovery time for us as well :)

Last item of the day, beginning at 3:00 is to meet with our facilitator (Chris) and do all the required paperwork prep for application for immigrant visa for Emily. This little girl no literally has paper work that exceeds her own weight I think!

Emily and I enjoyed playing and looking out the windows at the trees in the park below, and an afternoon feeding while Nancy handled all the paperwork. By early evening, it was time to choose a place for dinner and then settle in for the night. We ate at the local Thai food place around the corner and I must say it was fantastic food. On the way back, we did a bit of shopping, got a nice little teal colored traditional Chinese dress for Emily, and then headed back to crash for the night.

Today's activities are more relaxed after the hectic Friday night and Saturday. Our group of families will be headed to visit an Buddhist temple in the morning then free leisure activities in the afternoon. I plan to shop for a few more toys for Emily as they have some great little rattles and balls in the shops that have little bells in them (one such rattle was Emily's favorite in the orphanage). They make lots of bell like noises and are bright colors.

Emily continues to do well, and gets more and more extroverted with each new day. Nancy and I are amazed at how much her personality has blossomed over the last week. For a little girl who was quiet and introverted much of the time in the orphanage, and known for her aversion to strangers.... she exhibits no such behaviors any more. She continues to learn new things quickly and becomes more bubbly each day. She will happily flirt with complete strangers and capture attention with her big smile, poking little tongue and giggly noises now.

We expect to finish up the Consulate work and the final appointment by Tuesday local time. Wednesday all the families will depart for home (or other destinations). I will post again in a day or two on our progress and activities since internet services is much improved here in GuongZhou.