Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Touring Guangzhou, Bonding, and Consulate Appointment

As we all have settled into our new city of Guangzhou and have learned our way around, we all have relaxed immensely. And we have seen many moments of bonding! We have thoroughly enjoyed our time here in Guangzhou!

On Sunday evening, Kameron got a big kick watching mom and dad wash socks and underwear in the bathtub. We have never had to do this before. Kameron is actually quite experienced in the art. But watching mom and dad do it (Im sure not quite how he is used to it) was certainly entertaining!

(Hearing Kameron giggle as we do bathtub laundry... It was well worth it!)

The next morning, we all seemed to be in much better spirits. There were lots of beautiful moments of bonding. 

(Watching the koi in the pond at our hotel. He seemed to warm up a bit more.)

(Running up ornate hotel staircases with dad at the Garden Hotel.)

(And piggy back rides. Goodness, aren't these two so sweet? Watching these two bond and grow closer has been my absolute favorite thing of the entire trip!)

After getting a lazy start to our Monday, and getting to sleep in a bit, we went to the Guangzhou Zoo. We toured the zoo by something like a large golf cart and saw all kinds of animals. Of course we saw Giant pandas, red pandas, tigers, giraffes and multiple monkeys (because they are Kameron's favorites). The Guangzhou Zoo is quite large. Certainly much larger than the Boise Zoo we are used to!

(On the cart, ready to experience the Guangzhou Zoo!)

(Kameron studying the map, to decide what he wanted to see the most-- The racoon and the monkeys. We thought a racoon in the zoo was quite funny! They are pests where we come from!)

(Some of the giraffe's at the Guangzhou Zoo.)

After a hot, but very fun trip to the zoo, we had a few hours to relax. Kameron really likes Dad's boots and wants a pair. No they aren't cool (he said this) but none the less, he wants a pair! He likes to put on Dad's boots and laughs as he walks around in his oversized shoes. We laughed hysterically, when he put on my shoes and they fit him PERFECTLY. Goodness gracious!

(Wearing dad's big boots. And snuggles.... These two are laughing SO hard!)

Monday evening, we got to experience the Pearl River Dinner Boat Cruise that had pretty authentic Chinese food. We had been cautioned, that in mainland China.. waiting your turn in line isn't really a thing here. In fact, if you leave any room in or around you (like even in the airport security que) MANY people are suddenly in front of you. 

(Jesse & Kameron awaiting for our boat to arrive at the port dock.)

So imagine, what getting food at a dinner boat cruise is like in China. If you guessed mass chaos with no sense of a direction? You would be correct! And this was an oval-shape oriented buffet! Oy vey! The food was good. Lots of noodles, pork bun, rice, and many meats. They also offered chicken feet. I couldn't do it. Kameron LOVES them. And I.. Well, I couldn't watch.... :)

(Picture 1. Jesse & Kameron on the dinner boat cruise. Picture 2. Kameron and Sarah on the dinner boat cruise. Our first selfie.. And he smiled!)

After dinner, we went to the top deck to see the lights and other boats on Pearl River.


Then, there was a magician. And Kameron loves magic tricks! She was pretty amazing:

(Picture 1. The lady magician was excellent at balancing an umbrella. Picture 2. She could endlessly roll a tennis ball on the edge of her umbrella)

She had Kameron help with one of her acts. He had to cut a red rope 4x and was amazed at how she had it perfectly back together, no cuts in it, in the end. The pink balloon poodle was his gift from her for being such a good sport. I was a bit teary eyed, because our shy boy was being so brave to do this! We are with a lot of great families here in Guangzhou. So many told him "good job!" And gave him high fives. We were incredibly proud of him.


After a full and wonderful Monday, we went to bed early. Because Tuesday (today) was our Consulate Appointment. And we had to be up a bit earlier than Kameron typically gets up. We all got up easily and got ready faster than our "China usual." We were all pumped and ready to do this final step.

(Up and ready for CA: Consulate Appointment Day. Complete with morning snuggles.)


There we are, ready to go into the Consulate of the United States of America. We were not allowed cell phones or electronics (not even digital watches) of any kind inside the consulate. Once inside: we had our oath taking, paperwork checking (I was sweating bullets! We had been warned to check our papers in province for any error, even a single number off--  or we would have to return to province if anything was incorrect. Oh man did they check! Over and over. My heart stopped twice when the gentleman at the consulate hesitated) and Kameron and Jesse and I had our interviews. It went well. And the nice man doing the interview was very funny, which helped lighten the formality of it all.

After we were done at the Consulate, we got to tour the Chen Ancesteral Hall. I loved this place! Such a gorgeous ornate place with calligraphy artists and any classic Chinese souvenir you could want. Kameron's favorite was the hand print artist and finding ornaments for each member of our family for the Christmas tree!

(The Chen Ancesteral Hall in Guangzhou)

(The entrance is guarded by two of these lions, which are much older than the house itself.)

(Us in front of the Chen Ancestral Hall. It is very sunny and hot here, like in the 80's, in Guangzhou. Our guide says they have "maybe 10 cold days a year." Total. It never snows here. Kameron is excited to see snow for the first time in Idaho!)

After a very busy day, we had an amazing dinner of noodles, quail eggs, buckwheat tea, potato balls and dumplings at the Jui Mao Jiu Noodle and Dumpling House. The noodles were very fresh. And the food impressively good! I've had lots of dumplings in China now, but this place had the best! Kameron liked it too. His only complaint, despite our waitresses concerns of our tolerance level, is "not spicy enough!" Our Yunnan boy, loves spice!

Afterwards, we went to a nearby store and got our boy some Chinese snacks. He asked that I take a picture. So here you have it. Kameron's snack pile:


I have to say, our boy is so sweet! He loves the little children around us. Babies and toddlers especially. He loves to feed them, play with, and hold them. We have been the lone family with our agency in Guangzhou at the Consulate Phase (and there are 14 families of us) adopting someone older than 5 years old. But Kameron doesn't mind it one bit! He loves helping with the babies and has helped us and other families navigate restaurant ordering, Chinese airports, vending machine problems, and store  shopping! He really is a remarkable young man!

Tomorrow is our last full day here in Guangzhou, which we will try and absorb every last moment of China we can! Then Thursday morning, very early, we leave for the airport in Guangzhou. We have an incredibly tight layover in Hong Kong (1 hr 20 minutes --If we arrive on schedule) and Chinese Airlines don't seem to run on time often! We have been told we may need to run to make our very long international connection in Hong Kong to the US. So please be praying for this! We are all aching to get home safe and on time to be with our boys at home! Kameron is asking constantly about when we can go home. We are all ready for home!

The good news is the TB test is negative! If this had been positive, it could have delayed us 1-2  more weeks! Tomorrow afternoon, God willing, we will have his Visa in our hands (the very last step before we get to travel home) and we will prepare to fly out the very next morning.

We have met many remarkable fellow adoptive families and formed what I know will be lifelong friendships. Our time here has been a big adventure!

2 comments:

  1. We might have snow for kameron's 1st day in Idaho

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  2. What an exciting visit! It looks as if Kameron is enjoying himself as well and clearly bonding is happening! So happy that it's been such a positive experience.

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