Guangzhou

We arrived in Guangzhou a couple of days ago - all of us a bit worn out and really ready to get home. We still have a little more waiting to do - after 28 months of waiting for the Chinese to match us with Grace, we now just have a few days to wait for the US government to issue her an immigration visa. In the mean time, we wait, we shop and we rest in Guangzhou.

This city is a stark contrast to Nanning. It's much bigger and much more cosmopolitan. Most importantly, we're not an oddity. While in Nanning, our group were among the few westerners in the city and certainly the only group adopting children. We had the complete attention of the hotel staff - many of whom were absolutely enchanted with our babies. In Guangzhou, however, we're part of a huge crowd of Americans who are here to complete their adoption process.

Every morning there are dozens of children in the dining room for brunch. Most are recently adopted children of various ages, but many are their new siblings who came along for the journey with their parents. In our group there is one family who is adopting their 5th child from China and they brought their two oldest daughters so that they could see their birth country first hand. There are so many children here that Matel has set up a special play room in the hotel. They also present each family with a special edition Barbie doll: "Going Home Barbie", in which Barbie is holding a holding a little Chinese baby.

The other difference between Guangzhou and Nanning is the knowledge of English. In Nanning, English was pretty much limited to some of the hotel staff and our tour guides, Michael and Hannah. In Guangzhou, it's quite common to find people who speak English very well; especially among the vendors and store owners that surround the White Swan. Most learn simply by immersion - the volume of English speaking visitors over the years has made it both possible and necessary. There is a young woman, Stella, who works in a small gift shop out side the hotel called "Home of Love". She speaks English particularly well. I asked her where she learned it and her answer was simply "right here!".

Another, particularly welcome, difference between Guangzhou and Nanning is that the AC in our hotel room actually works. Our room is Nanning was particularly warm. Even when it was 65 degrees outside, our room was never below 78. The last couple of days in Nanning it got into the high 80s and that made things even worse. Guangzhou is even hotter (think DC in July) , and more humid... but at least our AC works right. I am still not sure of the AC in Nanning was broken, or whether energy shortages dictated that things like AC be sacrificed. I suspect a little of both.

Yesterday we did our visa paperwork and Grace had her physical. Everything is OK... she's gained about a pound and a half, and an inch and a half since our last medical update (which was dated 3/4). She's eating regularly and sleeping well, but I suspect that we'll have to make some big changes to her diet when we get home. She's underweight and is a bit malnourished. Nothing, however, exceptional was found and other than her weight she is in very good health.

Today was a bit of a free day - there was a city tour planned, but most of the folks in our group opted not to go. We're all wiped out from a week of parenting on the road. Of the 10 families in our group, only 3 went on the tour. I think there will be more participation in tomorrow's event, pearl factory tourn.

We did, however, participate in another Chinese adoption tradition - the "Red Sofa" pictures. The White Swan lobby is nicely decorated with red velvet sofas. It's become a tradition for families and groups to pose for family photos on them when they stay at the White Swan. Amazingly, we were able to get all 10 babies to sit still on the couch long enough to get a good group shot!