Guangzhou Thursday 11-3-11

Guangzhou Thursday 11-3-11

As a family of six I think its important that I mention how long it takes to get everyone ready to go out now. Minimum of 2 hours and that’s with 2 of the kids getting themselves ready with little to no assistance. But I had forgotten how long packing a diaper and toddler bag takes.
　
Today we went back to the Civil Affairs office for more paperwork. We had interviews about why we wanted to adopt and more signatures. I think Guangdong province had asked more questions than Jiangxi province did. I am MUCH happier with our guide and that makes a big difference.
　
Our guide picked us up in the van at 9:30am for the paperwork and dropped us off on Shamien Island (AKA Adoption Island). We needed to drop off some laundry. I sure do miss even the washer we had in Beijing that took 3 hours to wash one small load and one full day to line dry. With Jewel in the Boba baby carrier we walked around the island for a little while. Joseph has selective hearing just like all 4 year olds. You can say his name 10 times and he will only look once. He knows when you want him to come over most of the time he just chooses not to. Today was the perfect example. He didn’t want to hold Mama’s hand and kept pulling away from Baba or refusing to walk. So we carried Jewel and put Joseph in the Boba. It is designed to carry children Joseph’s size on your back while hiking for long distances. It was however hot and Dustin didn’t much care for the heat of two bodies. Joseph must not have minded though since he fell asleep. We stopped at a store on the island and bargained for two strollers. I had been told we could borrow them from the hotel but the hotel didn’t have any not in use. And we will need them in the Chicago airport anyway. Jewel does not sleep in our arms only in her crib so we got her one that lays down and she went right to nap as well.

Lunch was in order by then. We decided on Lucy’s which serves a kind of American food. I told E that pizza in China has ketchup most times or other ingredients he might not like. But you know him, he had to argue and insist. When the pizza came it was nothing but complaints that it wasn’t like our local pizza. It is so hard to get through to that boy sometimes. The rest of us enjoyed our hamburgers and club sandwiches. The littles even woke up enough to eat something.

Our short walk back was made much more enjoyable by the strollers. There is a high pedestrian bridge that is not stroller friendly that we had to carry them up and down. Then we were off the island and on the mainland shopping streets. Walking through the pet market and the herb market wasn’t bad although we had been warned. E didn’t like seeing the kittens for sale but mostly it was fish and supplies. The store fronts are all little mom and pop places that are as wide as a garage door and about as deep. The shopping areas are grouped together. For example, all the fish stores are together and all the hardware stores are in a row. Must make it easier to comparison shop. I haven’t found the vendors to aggressive. But after having been initiated in Beijing I’m a hard sell.

Dinner was found during happy hour in the executive lounge. I wonder what the businessmen in there having drinks think of our family? Oh well, we paid the same amount for our room as them. Actually twice as much since we have two rooms. And the girls who work in the room love us. We spent several hours with them after arriving Wednesday while waiting for our rooms to be ready. They are now our “go to” girls. We don’t have to go back down to the front desk chaos anymore. They checked us in there, helped with get the second room readied later, make copies of passports since our were unacceptable and in general are a great resource. Tonight they even helped communicate with Joseph. I think they find our family much more enjoyable than those stuffy businessmen.