7-30, Day 11 in China

Day 11; July 30, 2012; Guangzhou, China

Lesson learned.  If you request a wake-up call in a hotel in China, a lady will appear at your bedroom door at 0500.  Talk about a surprise!  I had just gotten out of the shower and Sven was in the shower.  I heard rustling coming from the bedroom and rushed to Emalie’s crib thinking she had awaken.  The baby was sound asleep but the pocket door was rattling and a woman was yelling in Chinese through it.  I opened the door a crack to find a member of the hotel staff.  Thankfully I only opened the door only a little so she couldn’t see me naked!  I never imagined that someone would come in our room for a wake-up call!  Anyway, we were up early and ate breakfast early to meet Alexa at 0755 for our ride to the consulate.  I had envisioned an elaborate, gated building with guards.  It was actually a space on an upper floor in a building that had other things in it.  Nothing fancy and nothing remotely resembling a little bit of home in a land far away.    On the appropriate floor, we entered a restricted area that Alexa would not follow us into.  We went through a security checkpoint and then to a room full of chairs and lined with staff behind windows.  It resembled the DMV!  After all six families were in the room, we were individually called up to the window for our paperwork.  The young guy was very friendly, said Emalie was cute and that all was in order.  Emalie’s visa will be ready tomorrow.  Richard will pick it up and bring it to the hotel prior to our departure for Hong Kong.  After our short time at the consulate, we were driven to Guangdong’s largest bookstore.  It was like an enormous Barnes and Nobles (something like six stories).  I purchased five DVD’s about China.  Alexa says they will work in our DVD player- I hope she is right!  (Now that we are home, I can tell you that these DVDs in fact do not work in our players-- only on the computer.) We ate noodles and cold pizza in our room (who knew after two weeks in China that this would be our preference?!).  Emalie and I finally got a trip to the pool.  She loved the water and was very trusting of Sven (and me!).  She imitated Nikolas by moving her arms and even kicked.  We were so surprised!  It was definitely a positive first experience for her.  We’ll be putting her in swim lessons soon, I think!

Happy girl we squeezed into the 12-month size swimming suit we brought for her.

Our little swimsuit model.

Emalie's first swim at the pool:

Such a nice pool with a great view (it was on the 5th floor).

In the afternoon, I stayed in the room with Emalie while she napped and Sven took Nikolas back to the pool.

I didn't realize I could just stay in the room to get pictures of them in the pool!

They loved swimming because it was so refreshing in the heat.

One afternoon the door bell to our room (yes, our room had a doorbell) rang.  I answered it and one of the hotel staff handed me this panda.  As if the gift basket for the baby wasn't enough!  What a great souvenoir from the Garden Hotel!

Emalie's likes her new Panda.

Duck (head) anyone?! 

Nikolas is such a sweet big brother.  Here he is feeding Emalie rice with chopsticks.

And in an instant, Emalie found her foot.  So funny!

Learning how to blow kisses.

She's getting it!

Our little 'sweet cheeks'.

Look at those big brown angel eyes!

Now I am learning why people say, "Oh she's tough.  She's got older brothers."  Nikolas is already 'wrestling' with her.  I think we'll be saying that about her in the near future, too.

Baby's going.......

....... down!

Nighttime view from our hotel in Guangzhou.