7-29, Day 10 in China

Day 10; July 29, 2012; Guangzhou, China

I thoroughly enjoyed today.  We met Alexa (Richard’s wife), Richard, Cindy (their 9-year old) and a family from Illinois at 0930.  They drove us to Shamian Island for shopping.  With only spending a couple hundred dollars, we bought:  seven Chinese dresses for Emalie, four pairs of shoes, four ties, five silk handbags, a photo album, a chop with Emalie’s name in Chinese, a stone carving of the Great Wall, a set of five chopsticks and deck of Great Wall playing cards.  How much fun it was selecting all these items!  At the second store, the store owner’s daughter gave me a tour around the store ‘helping’ me to buy everything.  She was quite sweet.  We then went to a real Chinese market with herbs, roosters, snakes, scorpions and all sorts of ‘different’ things.  Richard said not all Chinese eat these sorts of things.  I asked him if he eats these things and he emphatically laughed and said “no”.  After the market and shopping we all went to the same Italian restaurant for lunch.  A couple from Illinois, who is receiving their daughter tomorrow, also joined us.  It was a late lunch and we were definitely pushing Emalie’s limits.  We brought her back for a short nap before dinner.  Roy (my childhood friend from Canada) and May’s friend, Andy, picked us up at the hotel at 1800 and took us to an amazing seafood restaurant.  It was more like an aquarium with fish, shrimp, crabs, lobster, snakes, sharks, alligator (dead) and much more.  We went around to each tank and Andy selected what our dinner would be.  We were served:  mushroom soup, sauteed tofu, shrimp, something like a cornish hen or duck (head included), catfish, Chinese vegetables, abalone, chow mein noodles and for dessert bean curd and sweet dim sum.  Everything was excellent!  Never have we dined like that before!  We did not speak much because he doesn’t speak much English.  We learned that he lived in Toronto before, he has three kids (11, 14 and 16), he is here in Guangzhou on business for one year and he knows May but has only met Roy once.  Yes, that’s all we know after a two-hour dinner with him!  But what a nice, hospitable man to take strangers out to dinner like that.  He wanted to drive us around the city but we asked him to take us back to the hotel because Emalie was melting down because it was bedtime.  We hope he wasn’t offended but it was for the best since we will be up very early tomorrow for our consulate appointment.  Now I’m wondering....how much caffeine was in that nummy tea I drank a dozen cups of!

Emalie's first shopping trip-- and she's sleeping through it!

She likes the stroller better when she's not in it.

Nikolas at the Chinese market.

 Items for sale at the market:

dried seahorses

tongue anyone?

dried snakes

Our guide Richard and his vivacious daughter Cindy. It was so fun to have Cindy along to hang out with Nikolas!

Deer tendons....or something like that.

I think I'll stick to the live variety in our yard-- no need to purchase stuffed ones.

As we used to say about Nikolas in this pose, and we can now say about Emalie:  "Chillin' like a villain."  Foot up and ready to cruise!

more dried snakes

Yikes...scorpions for sale....in an open tub.

turtles

The streets of Guangzhou.

Strolling through Guangzhou with our new friends from Illinois.

How sweet-- Emalie likes to hold Nikolas' hand.

Emalie didn't want to pose with the statues, but Nikolas didn't mind.

She'd rather pose with her big brother instead!

Real or models-- I don't know.  So pretty!

Emalie trying pizza for lunch.

The whole gang out for Italian, again, in China.

Who knew Jennifer had a place in Seattle, too?!

Roy and May's friend, Andy, who took us out to dinner.

And what a dinner it was:

Second child syndrome-- I never would have let Nikolas play with a shrimp!

Three coke refills later and Nikolas has a big smile on his face.  Check out all that food on the table!

A must-go-to restaurant if you're ever in Guangzhou.

Nikolas with the hostess at the restaurant.

When we got back to the restaurant after dinner, several adoptive families were talking with each other in the lobby.  We got a picture of the kids together.....with Sven.  

7-28, Day 9 in China

Day 9; July 28, 2012; Guangzhou, China

We can’t believe how impressive this hotel is.  Each hotel has gotten nicer from the one before it.  We have a living area, bedroom and unbelievable bathroom.  There is even a beautiful garden with two waterfalls that can be seen from the restaurant we ate at for breakfast.  Emalie has been sleeping well at night with the exception of the disturbed sleep after the orphanage visit.  We hope she will somehow acclimate to home and sleep well there, too.  This morning Richard picked us up for Emalie’s medical exam.  This was a challenge from the start because we woke her up early from her morning nap.  They took her photo, checker her ears, eyes, stats and skin. The doctor said that the rash on her back is heat rash but the rash on her belly, legs and feet is fungus.  She cried and screamed most of the time-- poor baby.  Richard brought us back to the hotel and went back to wait for the exam results.  Then, he helped us prepare our documents for our consulate appointment on Monday.  We then went with him to a local Chinese ‘fast food’ restaurant.  I’ll be happy to get back home and stop eating at restaurants.  Now Emalie is sleeping, Sven and Nik were rained out at the pool, and we’re all just having some quiet time. . . . .

. . . . . We had a pretty successful evening.  Emalie took a long two and a half hour nap.  I think the trip to the clinic wore her out this morning.  The rain stopped so Sven and Nik were able to go back to the pool again for another hour.  When they returned for the second time, Emalie was still sleeping!  When she finally woke up (with a little prodding from me), I spent about fifteen minutes alone in the bedroom with her.  After this time together, she wasn’t as weary of me and even let me hold her and interact with her more.  We walked, with her adjusting to the stroller a little more, to a nearby Italian restaurant (authentic, as we were told) for Guangzhou’s best pizza.  We weren’t sure it would be true, but decided to give it a try anyway.  The wait for our order was interesting.  It’s hard to keep Emalie occupied.  She’s quite the active and stubborn little girl!  We gave her apple juice, a bottle, snacks, books, etc. to keep her occupied.  Gone (for now) are our leisurely dining days!!  I have to say, the pizza was fantastic.  We each got our own small pizza and the price with drinks was only about $35.  We survived our first successful sit-down restaurant dinner-- no screaming, head-banging or crying like in the Wuhan hotel restaurant that second night we had her.  Part of the time while we waited for our food, Emalie even sat nicely on my lap.  That a first!  

We get our bonding time in bits and pieces.  I hope Richard’s right and that a slow bond for us might turn into a stronger bond.  This adoption has taught me the true importance of patience!!  After dinner, we bought toothpaste at a local store, water at 7-11 and souvenoir mugs at Starbucks.  We walked through the courtyard in the hotel garden.  It was so beautiful and peaceful.  Nikolas loved it and wanted to stay longer.  It was time to end the evening on a positive note though.  With patience and an understanding of the importance of small victories, we ended another day.  

A taste of Italy in China (Nikolas couldn't be happier!).

 The beautiful Garden Hotel in Guangzhou:

A self-portrait in the reflection of the mini-bar mirror.  Why not?!  I was actually trying to capture what high humidity does to my hair.  Not pretty.  There was no salvaging that mess!  Oh well, though, I'm a happy mommy and that's what counts!