Hello from Guangzhou!

It’s been a few days since our last post, and quite a bit has happened. We finally left Kunming on Friday for an easy flight to Guangzhou, and as usual it was quite a production with 3 families unloading their suitcases at the terminal entrance. The porters were visibly drooling when they saw us arrive.

Xiulan/Edna shepherded us through the check-in for Jen, Kate and I and she successfully persuaded the attendant to not charge us the overweight baggage fee (we were 5kg over). When we got to the security check point where they look over our passports and inspect our carry-on luggage, the person inspecting our papers found a mistake and wouldn’t let us proceed. In the chaos of the check in, one of the other family’s names was on Kate’s ticket and the inspector wouldn’t let us pass since it didn’t match Kate’s passport. Xiulan/Edna stormed to the front of the line and smooth talked the inspector explaining it was a mistake and it’s OK to let us pass. Unbelievably the inspector let us in.

That would never happen in the States.

The flight was pretty easy, with Kate crawling all over Jen and I, and eating some of the noodles from the dinner. Hopefully it was a good prep for next week’s flights to Beijing and DC.

We landed without incident, collected our bags in the chaos of Guangzhou airport, and met our next handler Peter Pei. A bundle of energy, Peter led us on a controlled sprint through the terminal to a waiting van where we threw the suitcases from all three families in and sped off for a 40 minute drive to the White Swan hotel. Once we were out of the airport Peter explained the reason for the sprint. It was very important that the van wait no more than 5 minutes in front of the baggage claim area or we would be charged. He was trying to save us money. It must have been quite a sight to see 6 adults, pulling 3 infants and 10 suitcases at such high speed through the airport.

Kunming, in the southern central part of the country, is called the City of Eternal spring, where the weather is a steady 70-75 degrees with very mild humidity. Guangzhou is in the south eastern part of China, and I believe it’s called the City of Eternal Humidity.

As soon as we exited the terminal, my shirt soaked through with sweat. I thought: this is going to be a fun 5 days!

We arrived at the White Swan hotel, with images of the Kunming Hotel in our minds as what to expect: a haze of cigarette smoke and stink greeting us as we entered the lobby with a weak air conditioner attempting to cool us off.

We were pleasantly wrong.

The website pictures of the White Swan don’t do it any justice. We walked in, our bags were all sorted by the porters and we were greeted with a cool wave of AC and a huge welcoming lobby. Peter checked us in and we were led to the room. Again, a wave of AC swept over us as we entered to find a crib all set (with a bumper, the other one did not have a bumper and Kate woke up regularly as she rolls about often hitting her head on the rails), two twin beds (hard as rocks just like Kunming… what is it with the Chinese and their beds?), a fully stocked mini-bar, and a great view of the city. It was as if we’d been sleeping in tents for a week with no showers, and walked into the Ritz Carlton. Now this is more like it!

On Saturday morning we people watched during the abundant buffet breakfast (included in the room rate – what a deal). This hotel is adoption central. There were dozens of other families from all over the world eating breakfast with their new additions. Some young like Kate, some as old as nine. Some brought their entire families for the trip. Some were back for their second or third adoption.

Our first and only appointment for the day was a doctor’s checkup for Kate. Keep in mind that the mothers in our group were extremely nervous about the doctor’s visit. A fever discovered at the hospital could result in quarantine, and keep us in China indefinitely! So we all followed our U.S. pediatrician’s advice and gave the babies infant Motrin the night before and an hour before the doctor’s appointment to keep any potential fever either hidden or at bay. Ella and Jada, the other two infants in our group, had been coughing all week with runny noses so we were all on pins and needles about the medical visit. We had a 10 minute walk to the clinic and after three different nurses checked Kate and the other babies over, they were all deemed healthy and fit for adoption. Here’s a difference between China and the States: Normally our doctors use an instrument to look into your ear for any infections. Our doctor? He eyeballed it. He turned Kate’s head to the side looked in her ear from a foot away and said “OK, next baby.” Huh? And then they took Kate’s temperature under the arm. What happened to the fun of the rectal thermometer?

While sitting in the waiting room for the other kids to be examined, Jen talked to a couple from Oklahoma in Guangzhou for their second special needs adoption. And they brought their first adoptee, a girl, and their biological daughter with them. Unreal.

Once the doctor’s visits were complete, we were free for the rest of the day. Jen, Kate and I walked around the area near the hotel for some time and got some lunch at a local outdoor café. Kate fell asleep in her stroller, so Jen and I lingered there for some time just decompressing from the stress of Kunming. It was nice to have the time to ourselves. The hotel is on an island, we’re surrounded by the Pearl River, and there are dozens of buildings from the 1800s during the British colony days, so it was pretty cool looking at the history.

We met up with Peter and the rest of the group later in the afternoon to get the consulate paper work organized. Peter would then take our documents and submit them prior to our appointment on Monday. I played with Kate on the couches in the lobby while Jen handled the hard stuff.

We went back to the outdoor café for dinner, and walked around again. As expected, we were stared at by the locals but not nearly as much as Kunming. Guess the people here are used to seeing westerners with Chinese babies.

Today, Sunday, we took a tour bus around the city. We visited a Buddhist temple, an opera hall dedicated to Dr. Sun-Yat Sen, the founder of modern China, and Carrefour’s for some diapers and other paraphernalia for Kate. We finished the afternoon at the pool (very nice with exquisite gardens all around). Kate loved the pool splashed around and her diaper soaked up half the pool’s water. She’s napping comfortably right now.

Kate is a lot of fun, and actually reminds us a lot of Jack in temperament. She’s come a long way since last Sunday. She’s attached to Jen as well as me, sits nicely in the stroller, waves, and shakes her head vigorously for no. Our biggest challenge is getting her to drink formula since she prefers juice. She’s very curious and observant, and responds well to NO. She seems to like to be with other children. We observed this in the Mattel sponsored playroom at the hotel equipped with loads of baby toys, plush carpeting and a flat screen TV. Mattel provides each adopting family at the hotel with a blond Barbie doll carrying an Asian baby in her arms and we found one on our bed as a welcome gift when we checked in.

I think this covers almost everything we’ve done in the last few days. Tomorrow Jen heads to the consulate to address an incorrect document in our packet, and then tomorrow night we’re taking a dinner tour boat around the city.

There are so many any other stories to tell we could write a book on this blog. We’ve met people from all over the world, and we really admire the families who have adopted the older children with special needs. Everyone has a unique story about his or her experience before arriving in Guangzhou to finalize the adoption at the American consulate. But we all shared the same feeling when arriving at the White Swan hotel. It was like reentering civilization, and a great relief that we are a few more days closer to getting home. We really miss Jack, and can’t wait to see him!!

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading as usual.