9:58 pm Mon Jan 12 Central Time
We're outta here for Guangzhou! Passports are ready and we'll make the 2:30 pm flight (12:30 am Central Time). It's a 1 hr flight, so when you wake up in the morning, we'll be there.
So happy to be moving on, but we have grown to love the people of Changsha, Hunan. The restaurant waitresses were sad to see us go, and our floor attendant gave us a small gift for Abby. Very wonderful people, very loving and warm. Goodbye from Changsha, Lisa
9:05 pm Tue Jan 13 Central Time
Just a quick post ... it's 11 am and we have shopping to do! Got up for an early breakfast and left the hotel at 8am for the girl's visa medical exams and pics. All was well except for some crying over the exams! But to be expected.
We're official ... we have our "Going Home Barbie" from Mattel. Pics later :-) Last night we were in a room with no broadband internet (gasp!) so no way to post. I'll post more later today.
The sun is shining and it's a beautiful day in Guangzhou. We've met quite a few people from the Feb 03 DTC Yahoo list ... how fun! Have a wonderful day, I will post lots more later. Hugs to Drew and TJ ... we miss you lots and are glad that each day brings us closer to home!
Lisa
8:08 am Wed Jan 14 Central Time
Hello again from Guangzhou! Since we had no internet in our room last night, I'll recap the last two busy days here in this wonderful place! Yesterday we left the Grand Sun City Hotel in Changsha at 12:30 pm to catch a 2:30 flight. That flight was delayed due to fog earlier in the day, so Echo booked us on another flight. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, we boarded the plane for the 1 hr flight to Guangzhou. We stepped off the plane to sunshine and temps near 70 degrees, a welcome change. It was a day full of packing, travel, waiting in the airport, sitting in traffic ... and collapsing in the room.
It was about 6pm before we got through traffic, to the hotel and checked in. Mitch, Abby and I wandered around and ended up eating at the Thai restaurant, Cow Bridge (thanks Leslie!). It was very good and then we came back to the hotel to get to bed for an earlier morning today.
Today we were up at 6:30 am and at the breakfast buffet with many American families and Chinese babies. The White Swan Hotel is adjacent to the American Consulate and is very full of adoptive families. Then we met our group at 8am and walked to a photo shop for visa pics and to the medical clinic where the girls would have their necessary exams to request a visa to enter the U.S. Abby weighed 18.4 lbs and was 30 inches long ... I question the height measurement, she was a little "squirmy". Everyone passed with flying colors and we were on our own by 9am. We spent the morning browsing for things to bring back to help Abby know and remember more about her culture. I bought a white Chinese dress for her baptism, and some white leather squeaky shoes. We walked over to Michael's and he took a pic of the 3 of us for a granite etching, and we gave him the boys' school pics so that we can have an etching done with all of us in it. Can't wait to see how it turns out, we pick it up on Fri.
We had lunch at Lucy's and I had the Arloa Sandwich (it was recently renamed this to honor the woman who has eaten the most of them in all of Guangzhou history ... it was formerly called the Hawaiian pineapple-chicken sandwich). Hi Arloa! :-)
At 2pm we met up with the group and boarded a bus for a little local sightseeing. I think we spent as much time in traffic as we did seeing sights, but that's ok. Then we returned to the hotel about 6pm and Mitch, Abby and I had dinner at the River View Cafe overlooking the Pearl River and the beautiful lights. A very good meal and very reasonably priced. At the end of dinner when we were having a little communication difficulty with our non-English speaking waiter, a man nearby helped tell the waiter what we were asking ... then asked where we were from, and wouldn't you know it, we traveled 8,200 miles and ran into someone from Chicago! He lives in Beijing now and works for the U.S. Embassy and is in Guangzhou for some business at the American Consulate. We had a good conversation, what a small world.
Tomorrow is a big day for all of our families ... our appt at the American Consulate to formally request visas for the girls to enter the U.S. All U.S. families, regardless of which China province their girls come from, must come through the American Consulate here in order to bring the girls to the U.S. We are not allowed to take pics or video there, but the memory of this occasion will stay in our minds forever.
It's late and we're all in need of some "lights out" time ... so signing off from Guangzhou and will write more tomorrow! There are two pages of new pics in the Jan 14 album ... some of Guangzhou sites and some of our little peanut being silly with her daddy!
Goodnight ... Lisa