The Last Day

Today was a pretty relaxed day as we spent the morning shopping and filling the extra suitcase we bought. Eli took a two hour nap this afternoon, Kim a one hour, and Dad decided three hours was needed. I guess we all are saving up for the long odyssey home tomorrow that begins with a 4 am wake up call to get to the bus at 5 our flight leaves after 8 to Tokyo.
Eli was able to get his first taste of the pool this afternoon. He really enjoyed it and likes to float. This evening we had our final dinner with three other families at Lucy's. We've met some great people on this trip and the four of our families being from the midwest gave us lots to talk about.
Some final observations on China: Coke is definitely the soda here and you'll find Coke zero way more than Diet Coke. Pepsi is trying to make an imprint here, but not really making a dent. Mountain Dew is unheard of. We've avoided drinking milk the time we've been here since some of the problems going on. In thel big cities, KFC, Mc Donald's and Pizza Hut are easy to find. You can find some american products around such as Kellogg's, Pringles and an occasional Coors light. Snickers, and wrigley's gum is around. When making a purchase most places will require you to pay for a plastic bag. I still have not seen a stop sign. The parks are huge with people in them all the time. We did see kids in school on Saturday and Sunday. Only about 100 million people in China practice a religion of the 1.3 billion. One-third of those that do are buddhist, others do Tao, and christianity has some followers. Bottled water is the only way to go here and of course just about everybody drinks tea. Television we do get CNN and BBC and HBO and Showtime. It is funny though that the most recent movie I"ve seen on Showtime is Arnold Schwarzeneger in The Running Man from 20 years ago. At least HBO gives us the recent ones.
That's about it. Time to get some quick shut eye before the long journey back. Lastly, we want to say Happy 1st Birthday to Elise. We'll be home a day late to celebrate, but it has been our mind too much. We'll put in our final blog Wednesday night. Take Care all.

Otherwise, that is about it for now

Buddhist Temple,Oath, Dinner Cruise

We've just returned from the dinner cruise and are closing down another day in Guangzhou. Only one more full day here and then it is the 22 hour journey home (22 hours counting layovers in Tokyo and Detroit). Today started with the morning venture to the Six Banyan Buddhist Temple. The place was packed as today is first day of the holiday week off. It is customary to burn incense at these temples and it was burning everywhere. Eli and most of the other Chinese adopted children along with parents received a blessing from the Buddhist monk in the temple. You can see in the picture the monk at the bottom. After the blessing Eli even received two tangerines from a Chinese woman just outside the temple. It's becoming habit him receiving things from random people. After the temple we went and became americanized again at Lucy's cafe where Eli continues to devour french fries while Dad had his american burger, fries, and a cold malted mug. Mom decided it was time to refresh her palate at Starbuck's with a white mocha.
After the lunch and nap (where Dad continues to celebrate Brewer baseball with any internet article or replay he can find) it was off to the US Consulate for Eli's visa and the oath taking ceremony. All this build up and paranoia to this big event and then all we did is give a document to some person behind a desk and say a 5 second oath and it is now official from the US side of things. Now we get a sealed brown envelope that we cannot open and hand it to US officials at customs in Detroit.
After the ceremony, we again noodled Eli in our hotel room and hurried to catch our dinner cruise. Here's the funny part of the dinner cruise. Each family orders a Papa John's pizza and drinks from 7 Eleven and takes them on the boat...and that's the dinner part of it. According to our guides the food on ship isn't very good. The cruise part though was amazing as was the boat. The two pictures at the top show the view. The boat was decorated in lanterns and old, simple Chinese music played in the background. Weather was perfect and the ride down the Pearl River in Guangzhou was amazing. The buildings are lit up like Times Square in Manhattan on both sides with all different colors. Spotlights are everywhere and even the suspension bridges are lit. It was truly an amazing event. Absolutely gorgeous.
Sooo...one day left and tomorrow is free except for an exit meeting to confirm our departure times in the afternoon. We are passing on doing the Panda safari in the morning as we would rather do something like that on a heritage tour back to China (which our adoption agency offers) someday with the whole family and whatever relatives would like to come (hint..hint...). This country's image in the US is truly misconstrued. It is a great place to be and the people are incredibly friendly, helpful, and polite whether we've been in the north, central, or southern parts.
That's it for now...looks like clear flying weather wise as we've missed the two typhoons and the other two won't be a factor until after we are gone. Best wishes to all!

Picture Day at the White Swan

Today was picture day at the White Swan. I guess it is tradition for all the adopted children to appear in a photo together from this contingent of our agency. It was almost chaos getting them all to sit on the couch with crying or falling over. So that's Eli smiling in the picture and the other picture is of us in the center of the hotel in the large atrium.

Today was a relaxed day as Kim took care of some paperwork in the morning while Eli and I played in the playroom the hotel has. We then spent the day wandering the streets looking for good shopping deals. It is different because each store owner basically comes out into the street to bring you into their store. They all speak some english and try to flatter you in every possible way. Some even give out free gifts to the adopted child. I really think the store owners make up prices as we go and then when we are not interested they drop the price. Some are quite clever and some want to talk your ear off.

After shopping, we had the experience of taking a child to the barber for the first time. Eli's hair was kind of choppy, so we had a stylist here at the hotel trim him up. He was good for the first part, but we had to hold him down basically for the last bit as he didn't like the shaver behind his head. The stylist was very good with him. So Eli has something on Elise and Ella as they've never been to have their haircut yet.

Tomorrow we will be busy as it is a very important day. First we tour a Buddhist temple and Eli gets a blessing from a Buddhist monk I believe. Then the afternoon is spent at the vaunted U.S. Consulate where Eli's visa is finalized and we take the oath to be his parents from the US side of things and I think make him a US citizen. Then the evening we are going to be on a river dinner cruise around Guangzhou which should be a neat site at sunset. We do actually have sun here. Other parts of China it is often blocked out by the smog.

We are looking forward to getting home as it seems like a month ago we were even in Beijing. So much has changed. Tonight night I am going to be up at 2 am watching the pitch-by-pitch scroll come across the internet of the Brewer game. I'll be able to get the highlights on replay in the morning, but there's no way I can sleep knowing they are playing. They better win...I wouldn't want to fall asleep in the temple! Best wishes to all back home!

Todd, Kim, Eli

Med Exam and First day in Guangzhou

This morning began with Eli first getting his visa photo taken which he was the model boy (see picture). Then it was off to the doctor. We found out he despises tongue depressors in the worst way...our guess is he is VERY sensitive about his mouth area. He weighed in at 21 pounds and the doctor discovered he may have a possible hernia and we are to inform our family practioner in the States about it...didn't know little kids could have a hernia (he didn't even cough). So we'll get that checked out back at home, but he was in great spirits again today. Kim wasn't feeling too well today so Eli and I cruised the island we are on in the stroller. It really has a restored colonial feel to it with narrow streets and building very close to one another. One thing that doesn't make it feel colonial is the Starbucks. We did see a large number of brides and grooms wandering with photographers for photo shoots...must be the thing to get married before the Oct. 1 national day holiday week.

We have learned Eli really likes scrambled or steamed eggs along with french fries. He does enjoy his noodles as our previous blog photo indicates. Tonight we had dinner at the American cafe called Lucy's (we had lunch there too) with three other families we met. One for Iowa, one for Chicago suburbs, and the third outside Columbus, Ohio. I don't know how the Columbus family has made with him being a Michigan fan and she an Ohio State grad! We definitely have the Big Ten covered here. The Michigan fan and I were trying to locate a pub/grill where they might have American sports on tv for the footbal game tomorrow. Our guide just gave us a very stern "no". She didn't seem very amused by it. We had a very American dinner tonight, so I think our bodies are back to normal. Tomorrow is just a quick paperwork day for an hour in the morning and then off to doing...umm...I guess not much...that does have a nice ring to it since I know once we get back the kids will keep us from resting for another five years. Kim and I both agree that Eli and Elise are going to keep us on our toes as partners in mischief and getting into things. Big sister Ella we're going to have to bribe or do something to keep her on our side. Grandmas and Grandpas better look out!

That's about it for now as we wind down Saturday. I have to decide if I'm going to get up at 3:30am to follow the Badgers and more importantly Brewers on the play by play blogs via the internet...maybe I'll pretend to be a sportscaster from the 1930's as the feed comes in...ok now I'm pathetic.

Nanchang to Guangzhou

We have made it to Guangzhou our final destination in China. The plane ride was just over an hour and Eli was good on the plane. He even played with the Chinese man next to us who made him an oragami bunny rabbit which was quite kind. Only on the landing did he seem a bit nervous, but all was well.
This morning we visited what they call the pavillion which looks like a Buddhist temple/pagoda about six stories high that overlooks the city and Gan River. Mostly the pavillion was used as a place on entertainment and study by scholars, writers, and artists. Otherwise today was not very exciting as we just waited out our time to depart in the hotel.
Right now we are at the White Swan Hotel and this is definitely a five star hotel. Marble everywhere in our room and the place has more shops and places to be that we need a map to get around. The hotel is located on Shamian Island which is in the old British/French colonial area. Haven't had time to do much as we've encountered our first rain of the trip. Tomorrow is a major paperwork day for the US consulate, but we will get to stroll around this laid back quiet island with shops everywhere...yikes. This place is gorgeous, but we are at the point where we are counting the days to get back home.

Miscellaneous tidbits about China

Just some quick things we've also learned about China:

For weddings, the groom's family pays for the wedding.
The girl does not take the last name of the husband.
Crime is extremely low...robbing stores, murder all end up in death.
Non-potty trained kids where split pants...so they wander around with the front and back of their pants open.
It is ok for a non-potty trained child to go to the bathroom in public. The parent just stops and the kid lets it fly.
I am looking forward to being able to use ice when we get back home.
People can smoke in elevators...ugh.
The higher the value of their paper money the bigger size the paper money is...for example the size of the 10 dollar bill is larger than the 5 dollar bill (actually not called dollar, but yuan).
Cars do drive on the right side of the road (well at least they are suppose to). Japan they drive on the left side.
Restaurant menu has shark fin, intestine, eel, and pigeon for dinner options.
Just about all families dry their clothes by hanging them outside. Pretty funny looking at the apartment complexes and all the laundry hanging out the windows.
People own their apartments...comparable to what we call condos.

Orphange and shopping day

Eli continues to sleep through the night. This trip is really becoming very relaxing as Kim and I have had our best stretch of nights of sleep in five years. It's amazing how the body and mind feel so much better.

Thursday morning found us traveling to the biggest and possibly the best orphanage in the province. It is located right downtown Nanchang and has a nice large campus with many buildings. It even holds a public school within the gates as well. It really reminded me of St.Coletta's in Jefferson back in its' prime 20 years ago. This place houses orphans of all ages and those with many mental disabilities. Many people volunteer their time to help out here. All things considered it is run well from what we can see. It is by no means a resort, but a place where the orphans get attention and their needs met. Our adoption agencey, Holt, even has helped start setting up classes to teach skills to the older orphans with special needs so they can function in society if they want to leave. This site even has group homes where six residents can live with two foster parents.

After the orphanage we went to the porcelain shops. This province and city is where porcelain was invented. They are very proud of it and is considered the porcelain capital of the world. Kim and I are not into porcelain, but those who are found some very nice pieces at reasonable prices.

Eli napped for three hours this afternoon! So we decided to nap for a couple hours ourselves...yes life is quite rough right now! We then went down to the pedestrian mall a few blocks down and proceeded to take a nice walk and have just about everyone stare at us in some capacity. We grabbed two ice cream cones at McDonald's (about 33 cents each) and finally on our way back saw a biker get shmucked by a car. Considering the zillion of bikes, mopeds, buses, taxis, and cars on the road, I was thinking we would have seen this way sooner! The guy on the bike was ok, and got back up since the car wasn't driving all that fast. When crossing the street I do feel like the frog in the video game frogger.

Just got back from an authentic Chinese massage. Kim had it done yesterday and told me to go tonight. Let's put it this way...American massage and Chinese massage do not compare. America we like to relax and have a nice smooth rub down. Here they believe that the art of massage is in the pressure points. And do they ever push on the pressure points! I have never been stretched, twisted, and pummeled like this before. It is not relaxing. There were moments I thought they were going to carry me out of the room in pieces. The crazy thing is my body does feel much better than when I walked in. And that was only the 90 minute "foot massage"...I wonder what they do to you in the full body massage. Oh yeah...like I mentioned last night the bill came to $10 and that was with the tip.

Friday we have one more morning excursion and then we board a plane to Guangzhou...our final destination. As of tomorrow all our adoption paperwork for China will be completed and Guangzhou is where we await the anal retentive U.S. side of things. The plane trip to this city which is located on the Tropic of Cancer is just over an hour and from what we've been told the White Swan Hotel is located on an island that use to be run by the British and French during the colonial time period. It is apparently absolutely beautiful, quaint, and quiet. Our guide said we won't feel like we are in China anymore. We'll update you more on that tomorrow. Oh yeah, go Brewers!