Last day in Guangzhou

Today marks the last full day we spend in Guangzhou. It’s been such a great trip and whole experience that we will never forget, but we are SOOOO ready to come home. We have to take the train tomorrow to Hong Kong where we will spend one night before flying out on Friday.

I’ve been packing and it’s almost midnight and I’m exhausted so I’m going to let my pictures do most of the talking tonight. We went to the Buiyun Mountain about 20 minutes away. They have a cable car that takes you up this huge mountain and then you can spend time up there on paths and with a great view of the landscape and far off city.

There is also a bird sanctuary where you walk through this enormous area outside that is like walking through a jungle only there’s a steel cage surrounding the whole thing. You can’t really see it though unless you look hard because it’s so high up and so large in area. It’s not the most conducive place for a stroller though. There are hundreds of stairs. I’m tellin’ ya….If I have not lost some pounds on this trip, I’m gonna be shocked. The amount of walking and stairs we’ve done in the past 2 weeks is unbelievable.

At one point, before going into the enclosed area, we went to the scenic overlook and there was this teenager climbing up on the railing. I about had a heart attack……though I managed to snap a picture first…..because there was about a thousand foot drop on the one side of him. Oh my gosh, seriously?!!!

Then there was the bird show. The bird show was very……..um, boring. But it was made better by 2 things. First was the fact that Barb and I couldn’t stop laughing at the guy running the show. He had about as much personality as a rock. He would bring out a bird, it would do a trick, he’d bring it back. No smile, no ‘voila’ arms up high, nothing. He just stood there, didn’t say a word, and waited til the bird was done. It was hilarious. I was getting some serious church giggles.

The other thing that spiced it up again was, of course, my hubby. Never a dull moment with this guy, I swear. There was music playing loudly on a speaker throughout the show. It was Chinese music until all of a sudden the song, “Islands In The Stream” with Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton came on. Well, Jay must have thought it was karaoke night at the local bar because he started singing…..loudly. This was a small, small, little outdoor theater area and there was only us, Barb and Mark with the kids, and Mark’s parents, and then about 10 Chinese people…….all of which stopped watching the bird show and started watching Jason. Ya know, I never really realized just how catchy that song is…..or maybe it’s just because we haven’t heard music we know for weeks…….but the rest of us just couldn’t help ourselves and before we knew it, Barb and I were singing along too. I think Mark was probably getting into it as well, but he was mostly getting pictures of Jason…….who was now holding his hand up like it was a microphone. Oh my gosh, I’m laughing as I write this because the poor bird guy just kept bringing out his birds and having them do their tricks. At one point during the song, I looked up and the parrot was adding numbers……good stuff, letmetellya……sorry we missed that one. Between this and the ape incident the other day at the zoo, word just might spread that these American guys are a bit crazy.

Okay, so now I wrote more than I expected…but I couldn’t go to bed without telling that story. So….that was our day. We went to dinner together at Lucy’s for our last night together and then Barb and I went to buy a new suitcase so we could get all our stuff home that we bought here. I just finished packing it and I think I should have gotten a bigger one.

Day 8 with Miss Livi

This morning was our appointment at the U.S. Consulate. This is our last step we have to do before we leave. It is the part that gets us Olivia's Visa to enter America. We get the visa on Thurs. and then we leave Friday so we are almost on our way. YAY! We had to meet Lucy at 7:30 am for our 8:30 appointment so we got up at 5:45 to be sure we had time for getting ready and going down to breakfast. We got to the Consulate building about 8:00 to give us time to get through security and such. When we arrived, we noticed a very long line....at least 100 people.....going down the front steps. We asked Lucy what that was and she said it was the Chinese people trying to get an immigration visa. Mark thought she maybe meant a visitors visa, but she said no...they are wanting to emigrate to the United States. She said the line is a block long every day and most are turned down. Some try many times and they have requirements that they must meet to even apply....things like having a certain amount of money in a savings account. I suppose so they know you're not coming to America penniless. I watched the people as we walked by them with no line to wait in. I watched them watch us. I could see it in their faces. It wasn't envy....but it was like a longing. A longing to be in our shoes and come to our country. I have always tried to appreciate the blessing of living in the United States and not take it for granted, but it really hits home when you travel to a place like this. We are fortunate beyond belief.

Once inside the consulate and through security, we were brought into a waiting room with 11 other couples where we were greeted by an American woman who went through some of the formality and explanation of what we were doing there and why. She gave us one very interesting statistic.......Last year, China issued just under 10,000 adoption visas to children just like ours and over 3,500 of those were for American families. That means in the whole world, we adopt 1/3 of the orphans from China. Say what you will about greed or over abundance in the U.S.....we are a very generous and giving Nation. That made me proud.

After her talk, we all stood up, raised our right hand and took an oath on our promise to care for this child. It was a very cool moment.....I wish I had a picture, but they wouldn't allow any electronics....so we just have the memory.

After leaving there at about 9:45, we headed to Grand Buy again to do some shopping. Mark and Barb hadn't been there yet and they really wanted to check it out. The guys waited patiently while Barb and I were checking out the children's clothing store.

We took some streets this time that Jay and I hadn't yet. It was much more rustic China this time. Alleys with one little shop after another. Each the size of a walk in closet. It was almost like going to a flea market with rows and rows of things.

At one point there was a woman who wanted me to sit down to try some string thing on my face. She had a large spool of thread and she started using it on my forehead to show me. I figured it was some sort of hair removal. I let her try it for a minute, but then declined when she wanted me to sit down. I kinda wish I would have just let her do it....it would have been an experience for sure.

When we got back at about 2pm, we spent some time just playing in the room. And we took her down to the Swan room to play. That's always fun and each time, she gets more brave and ventures away from us a little more.

We were supposed to go on a dinner boat cruise but had to cancel because of the weather. It got real cold and super windy while we were out shopping. The boat would have been even colder so we decided not to go. I really wish we would have gone Tues. night after the zoo because it was a beautiful day, but that's okay. There's no time tonight because we have to meet Lucy for one more visa thing between 5 and 6pm.

Instead, we went down to the lounge area and the guys ordered some beer while the girls played with some toys on the couch. That was actually nice to just chill and visit for a while.

One full week with Miss Olivia

Today marks one week since we first laid eyes on our little girl. It's like her birth....to us anyway. We are getting to know her ins and outs, her moods, her likes and dislikes, her faces, and her laugh just the same as any child born to us. The transformation in just one week has been beyond anything I could have imagined. For the last couple days, she can't hug Jay and I enough. She tag teams between the two of us, back and forth...lap to lap, hugging us both with both arms and head laid on our shoulder. It's almost like she's saying "I'm so glad you're finally here to get me".

To celebrate this anniversary, we took her (along with the other couple) to the Safari Zoo.

It was awesome! It was unlike any zoo we've ever been too and ranked right up there with Disney's Animal Kingdom. Our guide helped us hire our driver to bring us the 45 minute drive there and wait while we spent 5 hours in the park. It cost only 200 Yuan per couple (that's 3 couples including Mark's parents) which is only about $30. Not bad. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves on this one, but I do have to mention two things. First, Olivia had her first taste of ice cream and she loved it. We were shocked because she doesn't like things that aren't warmed up. She kept making a sour face at it with each bite, but she liked it so she suffered through the cold. It was super cute.

The other thing was something Jason did. There was a monkey behind some glass and Jay caught its eye and started to kinda lean back and forth with his arms out like an ape would do. The monkey imitated him. It was the funniest thing ever and the best part was seeing all the Chinese people start to laugh and clamor around to take pictures of this big American guy playing with the ape. They stopped for a minute and then as soon as the ape looked at Jay and he started to do it again, the ape did it too. There was one part I was able to catch on tape where Jay opened his mouth real big and the ape did the same thing. Oh man, did the people laugh. It was priceless and I have a great video of it.

One of the first things we did was go on a "Safari on Wheels" adventure where you take a trolley train for over 30 minutes through all the animals.

That was just amazing. There was hardly any (and sometimes no) space between us and the animals. It was really a great ride.

We also went to two shows, one for Elephants and one for the lions and tigers.

There were several classes of kids from the local elementary school. All the school kids here wear uniform. I just thought they were so cute and it made me really miss the boys.

We saw so many animals that we've never seen or that you can't find in America. I'm so glad we did this, it was a memorable day.

We went out on the town for dinner at a Pizza Hut tonight......it's that whole 'no more being adventurous with our food' thing.....and it was sooooo good. It just hit the spot. The nightlife was pretty busy even for a Monday night in this square. It's the same place Jay and I went to earlier this week, only this time we were able to see it at night and it was lit up like Vegas.

Tomorrow we have a wake up call set for 5:45 am because we have to get ready and have breakfast before meeting Lucy at 7:30 for our consulate appointment to get Olivia's visa. It's already past my bedtime then considering. Thank you so much for all the kind comments and continued prayers. Only 3 more days, once we wake up, until we go home......I'm very ready and can hardly wait.