And now on to Hong Kong and home.
Today was one of the busiest days of our entire trip, and other than actually adopting Sophie, it was the most important. Today was when we got the “all clear” to bring Sophie home. It was the day that we signed the last official piece of paper of our trip. It was the day where we were assured that there are only two more days to wait before we’re done and we can go home. It was our Consular Appointment.
We spent the better part of the day waiting for the word that our paperwork was OK and that were ready to go visit the Consulate. Then, almost 2 1/2 hours going to our appointment and getting those last few papers signed, and we were finally free. The visa will be ready on Friday and, God willing, we’ll head home on Saturday. Hooray!
After the emotionally tiring day of US government paperwork, it was off to the Pearl River, which runs through part of Guangzhou. We took a dinner cruise down the river to look at the lights of the city – and there are PLENTY. The Chinese like to decorate their buildings with lights, and some of the displays are pretty impressive. We uploaded a photo gallery here, but you can’t do justice to the constantly changing lights without seeing it in motion. We took a few movies, and we’ll try to upload some to YouTube over the next few days. It really was impressive.
Good news – our Consulate appointment went smoothly and the officer confirmed to us that we will get Sophie’s visa on Friday. We have signed the last “official” piece of paper!
And on the 13th day, they rested.
Today, we decided to stay around the hotel and have a restful day. We walked through the gardens (the hotel’s name is the Garden Hotel, after all) which were really lovely. The girls loved watching the koi in the various ponds as they flocked to the nearest human. The waterfall must be 60 feet high, and is a pretty awesome sight. And to think that all of this greenery is in the middle of the city is pretty amazing.
After relaxing all day, we met the other parents in our group for a group picture and a Malaysian dinner. It was fun to sit down and chat with the other parents a little bit while enjoying one of the nicest (and cheapest) restaurants in the area.
Tomorrow’s the big day – Consulate day. If all of the paperwork is perfect, we’ll swear Sophie in tomorrow afternoon and get her visa by Friday. Prayers are appreciated.
For a number of years, the US Consulate and a number of consulates from other countries were located on Shamian Island, as were two of the best hotels in Guangzhou. Thus, pre-2004 most adoptive parents from the US and Eur0pe spent their last week on the island. There were a number of shops catering to touristy swag, including crafts from all over China. Then the US Consulate moved and a few years later the White Swan (the best hotel in the city and center point of the island) closed for a year for renovation. Shamian Island is still very nice with beautiful architecture, quiet tree-lined streets, wonderful parks and plenty of hospitality, but it’s not the “adoption central” that it used to be.
We visited the island today for the second time – the medical clinic is on the island as well – to check Sophie’s mandatory TB test (no worries there) and then walked around it for the first time on this trip.
It was fun to see Jordon who does free calligraphy of your child’s name transliterated into Chinese. He did Sarah’s back in 2007 and Sophie’s today. He’s also one of the few Christians who is “out” in the city and always has a Bible on his desk. On top of all of that, he’s just a really nice person and a pleasure to chat with. We stopped in another shop where we had bought gifts a few years back and bought some gifts this time too. We also stopped in the same shop where we bought Sarah some clothes and bought a coat and a few outfits for Sophie. It was fun to walk down memory lane.
One new addition was Starbucks, where we stopped for our daily dose as well as Sarah’s new daily tradition – chocolate cake. Sophie apparently now assumes some daily ration of chocolate from these wacky Americans, so we figure that she’ll be a little disappointed when she gets home that chocolate cake or cheesecake are not part of most meals. It is wonderfully cute to hear Sophie squeal “chowcalee” (Chinese for chocolate) in her baby-sounding voice. Sarah and Sophie spent about 20 minutes playing on the ramp outside Starbucks as Sarah helped Sophie up and down it.
It was a fun visit and we’re talking with some of the other families here with us about getting a cab and heading back over in the next few days.
There comes a point in every trip (at least for us) where the thrill of being in a new place begins to get a bit thin. When the experience of being away from home begins to wear on you. For us, that point is usually around ten days. Today is day 11 and we’re just tired.
The adoption process is different in every situation. We have friends who adopted domestically who visited their child-to-be in an institution for several months before bringing them home and others who got a call and brought their child home the next day. We have friends who travelled to their child-to-be’s country several times over several months before finally bringing them home and we have friends whose child-to-be was brought to them at a US airport. In China (in general), the adoption requires a visit to the country of about two weeks. Most people recommend that you spend a few days in China to aclimate to the time change before you meet your child. Then you spend 5 or 6 days in your child’s province doing the actual adoption and finishing paperwork there. Then you spend about a week in Guangzhou presenting your paperwork to the US Consulate and waiting for your child’s US Visa so that they can go home with you. We happened to come at the end of the Spring Festival and lost a day to the President’s Day holiday, so our trip this time is 17 days. That’s a week past the “ready to go home” threshold. We’re tired.
We spent the day doing some shopping at a local mall. We got some very good deals on some clothes that fit Sophie better. We also picked up some gifts for people back at home – the Asian habit of hospitality is rubbing off on us. Daddy got to play tea party with Sophie and her stuffed animals, during which he was lectured in Chinese about where to sit, when to pick up his cup (the lid to a bottle of water), when to drink, when to help the stuffed animals drink and a host of other things tea party related. It was very cute and Sophie runs a pretty tight tea party.
Sarah is adjusting well and enjoys pushing her sister in the stroller. She enjoys her daily Starbucks chocolate cake and she is starting to enjoy being a big sister. She gets some extra cuddles from mommy and daddy which helps too. When she gets tired, some of the luster with her new sister wears off, but for the most part they are getting along really well.
The boys are at home being boys, but there is no permanent damage. They’re eager for us to come home too. We really like China, but next weekend can’t come fast enough for us.
Money is one of the biggest questions that we get about adoption…
We’re “rounding the turn” and it’s only one more week until we head home, God willing. We’re in Guangzhou which is both warmer and more of an international city – both of which make it more friendly to us. It’s also more expensive than Hohhot, so we try to cut costs where we can — at Starbucks! We normally drink a lot of coffee at home, and we’ve had to cut back on that, but we’re not quite willing to give it up entirely. When a coffee in our hotel is 60 Yuan (just under $10 US today), Starbucks across the street is a bargain! We can get a latte about three times the size of the coffee at the hotel for only 32 Yuan, so at $5 US it’s saving us money. There’s a 7-11 down the street and we’ve already bought water and milk for the girls, which means we don’t have to pick those up at the hotel either.
By the way, everything in China is relatively expensive these days. When we were here four years ago, the US dollar bought more than twice what it does today. So we’re seeing four years of normal inflation compounded by the fact that our dollars are worth much less than used to be. It’s getting worse — when we arrived, a dollar would buy almost 7 Yuan, but today it’s down to around 6 1/2. It’s like instant inflation.
On the non-money side, Sophie and Sarah are starting to bond as sisters, and Sarah has been pushing Sophie in her stroller and holding her hand while we’re walking. This is refreshing after the tears early on when Sarah realized that she would have to share mommy’s attention. Sophie is beginning to learn English and she’s an excellent mimic – she picks it up without any Chinese accent at all.
We continue to realize how blessed we are in this adventure. We keep praying for God’s strength to be made perfect in our weakness, and He keeps on being faithful to see this thing through. It’s a great adventure.
Good news! Sophie has passed her medical exam. She was not too happy about it either as the doctors poked and prodded her. Here are some more pictures.
Next step – on Wednesday we’re going to turn in our US Visa paperwork and do our swearing in.
Hooray!
The internet is better here in Guangzhou – so here are some links to photo galleries that we’ve created:
