Medical Exam - One More Step Closer!

Today in Guangzhou, China, the three other families from our agency met us at our hotel to walk one block to the medical clinic where all of our kids were required to get medical exams for purposes of U.S. visa's to be issued to allow them to immigrate to the U.S. as new citizens. There was a room with a label that read, "Medical Exams for Adopted Children" where we waited briefly before proceeding to three exam stations, vital statistics, ENT and medical-surgical. Our very experienced guide, Molly suggested we go early to avoid the crowds, and she pegged it right as when we were done, the rooms were filled with adoptive parents and children.

For Ahn-Bao, we first saw a doctor (he had a white coat and a stethoscope) in the medical-surgical room. He listened to his heart and chest, briefly examined him and asked if he had a cough. Apparently, he heard some congestion in Ahn-Bao's chest which after a few questions with Molly, our guide interpreting, he diagnosed a chest infection and suggested I give him medicine for it, which I assured him I had. I didn't have a lot of confidence in his diagnosis because Ahn-Bao does have a cough but no fever or other symptoms, so we'll watch him carefully. I can't wait to get him back home and have him in the capable hands of Dr. Y, our pediatrician.

They then weighed and measured him, but I didn't get the details on this as everyone only spoke Chinese and they didn't seem concerned about sharing information with the parents, only filling out the forms for U.S. immigration purposes. He also had his hearing checked (by squeaking a toy off to one side and then playing a musical noise to the other ear and watching him turn his head). They also took his temperature, which he was not fond of, but they did not share any details of this either. They looked in his ears and the medical professional did assure me that he didn't have any infection. This is reassuring for purposes of flying again in a few days.

With the form complete, we were finished and we are pretty sure Ahn-Bao passed all the tests. We are one step closer to going home.

We are not alone

Today was our first full day in Guangzhou, Sunday. I have to keep asking Mom what day of the week it is (in addition to asking her what time it is, because I broke my watch on the first day of our trip when I was removing the backpack and then broke Mom's watchband the day we got Ahn-Bao when I was removing the baby backpack carrier) because Mom has the only wearable watch at this point and the days are all running together so it's hard to remember.

We had breakfast at the Victory Hotel, a fairly nice buffet with some Western and some Chinese items - the same idea as the Sofitel, but this hotel is no Sofitel. We were a little spoiled there. Ahn-Bao loves scrambled eggs but will not even look at a banana (even though his paperwork from the orphanage workers indicated that he liked bananas). Also, had some really great dim sum (a steamed bun, sometimes with various fillings) here, and Ahn-Bao usually likes that, although he can be a bit fickle about food.

It was about a 4 block walk to meet Molly and 3 other families at the White Swan Hotel. We met in Molly's room where we all received instruction on filling out the various forms required for the U.S. Consulate issuance of a Visa for Ahn-Bao to enter the U.S. as a new immigrant. We met 3 other families there who were all working with our adoption agency and who have Consulate appointments on the same day as us (1-29) or the next. One family is from Michigan, one is from Utah (I think), one family is from Eden Prairie, MN and I am not sure about the other one.

We spent about an hour and a half filling out forms with our name, address, Ahn-Bao's name and particulars and assembling the multitude of paperwork that we brought with us from home or received in Xi'an during the adoption finalization process. Not terribly complicated or hard, just critical and didn't want to make any mistakes. After the paperwork was finished, we made plans for the remainder of our stay, including official appointments and tourist activities. We then broke for lunch with an appointment to meet the group back at the White Swan Hotel at 3 p.m. for photos on the red couch (an adoptive family tradition) and to get visa photos of our kids at a nearby photo shop.

We made a plan to go back to our hotel to pick up and drop off a few things (forgot to bring Ahn-Bao's brand new passport and I needed my magical decongestant pill for a major sinus headache) and then meet Alayne and Joel and their new 3-year old daughter, Mimzie to get lunch and do a little shopping. We also took the general advice from the other families we met, some of whom had adopted before and had been to Guangzhou, to use any of the stores near the hotel that offered laundry services as they were reasonably priced and fairly reliable. We picked "Susan's" store just a half-a-block from the White Swan. She had a very small store but offered laundry. She looked at our Walmart bag of laundry and estimated about 20 RMB (around $3 USD) to launder and offered us a 45% discount and could have it ready for us by 8 p.m. the same day. Sounded o.k. so we left a bag of laundry there and went on our way (this part of the story will have an ending later).

After meeting up with Alayne, Joel and Mimzie, we found a well-known (on the internet to former adoptive families) cafe nearby called "Lucy's" that serves American food. There were many adoptive families in the restaurant and we had hamburgers and fries and broccoli (I'll post another entry to explain our newfound attraction to broccoli).

After lunch, we browsed in several of the small shops to find the obligatory traditional Chinese clothing to dress our kids in for the red couch photo shoot. The shops are fairly nice in the area, but you still need to bargain with them on price so that you don't pay full retail. We offered a lowball offer in one store for an outfit for Ahn-Bao but when they didn't come down enough in price, we said we would look elsewhere. They didn't come after us when we really did walk out and so I felt a little more confident that I had hit the low price. We found a beautiful silk outfit in another store and when I agreed to buy one other item (a dress for Kia but don't tell her), they gave me a more reasonable price for two items.

By this time, Ahn-Bao was asleep in the backpack and we made our way walking back to the White Swan Hotel. We let him sleep for another 15 minutes before we had to meet our group. We eventually roused Ahn-Bao from his nap, which he was not at all happy about, and put the top part of the outfit we had just purchased on him and put him on the couch. You can see from the photos, he hated it -- and for all the right reasons. It will be a fun story to tease him about someday.

After the red couch photos, it was off to a landing in front of an indoor waterfall in the hotel for family and group photos. Ahn-Bao was awake by this time, but since he stayed with me for the photos, he was not nearly so traumatized by the picture-taking. The group then walked to a nearby photo shop and each child sat on a stool for a quick photo to be delivered to the Consulate for issuance of their visa's.

Following this, it was one more stop in the White Swan to use a credit card to pay some of the fees for our guides and hotels in China to this point and then we were back on our own. We came back to our hotel room and worked on a couple of things, including making copies of medical information received on Ahn-Bao to have a copy at the ready in case it was required for his medical exam tomorrow -- all a part of the process and got a crib brought to our room for Ahn-Bao to sleep in tonight.

Last night, I had the idea that we could make up a bed on the floor for Ahn-Bao with a couple of fluffy blankets and an extra sheet brought by housekeeping. He did not sleep well and I couldn't quite tell if it was the bed or just the change in hotel rooms and surroundings. So tonight, he sleeps in his own crib - that should allow me to also have a better sleep.

We decided to order pizza in the room for supper and had been given a flyer by Molly for Papa Murphy's delivery that she suggested was available to be delivered to your hotel and that the staff spoke English. We decided to order a pepperoni pizza but when I tried to call the restaurant from the phone in our room, I couldn't quite figure out the code for dialing out of the hotel and eventually went down to the front desk to ask for help making the phone call. One of the bellman agreed to call and order for me and then call me when it was delivered. Very nice of him to solve my problem in this way. The pizza cost 85 RMB, or about $12 US.

We thought it would be an interesting new experience for Ahn-Bao to try pizza for the first time -- he refused. It was likely his first time to try out a fork and he was a little stymied by it at first and then intrigued to play with it, but still no pizza would touch his lips. Another day he might be more inclined.

So then at about 7:45 p.m. we decided to walk back to Susan's to pick up our laundry. We got to her store, but were told the laundry would not be done until 8 p.m. We walked back to the hotel and got Ahn-Bao ready for bed with a plan for me to go back alone to pick up the laundry. When I went back to Susan's at 8:10 p.m., the woman who seemed to be in charge said the laundry was back, but I would need to pick it up at her bigger store which was a block and a half away behind the church. This same woman had told me about the bigger store earlier in the day with the suggestion that she had lots more to sell there and I should go and look, but I declined saying then that I would look later. There were 3 girls working in the store at this time, and the owner said that one of the girls would take me to the bigger store which was close by.

I was hesitant but it was a well-lit area, there was lots of pedestrian and vehicle traffic, it was near the White Swan Hotel and there were other businesses still open nearby -- but there was that little voice suggesting that maybe this was some kind of scam. I got to the store and there were a couple of American women sitting at a table and talking with someone who appeared to work at the store and it seemed to be on the up and up. And they really did have my laundry, cleaned and folded (the pairs of socks were even attached to each other with threads to keep them together).

I paid the clerk 60 RMB (about $8 U.S.) after questioning him about how the girl who had taken the laundry had estimated the cost at about 20 RMB, to which he responded, quite politely, that she had probably not considered the cost of the individual pieces. After I paid in RMB (including getting 40 RMB in change and refusing one of his 20 RMB bills for a replacement because it looked too worn and I wasn't sure it would be accepted when I used it later) the clerk there suggested that he had a big store and I should look around and see what all he had that I might like to buy. I said again that it was late and I had family to get back to but I would return to shop in the daytime (fat chance!)

When I got back to my hotel room, Ahn-Bao had conked out asleep in Grandma's arms and is now sleeping peacefully (I'm hoping it will last all night) in his crib. We also discovered in looking through our clean laundry, that Mom's pajamas are missing and we have an extra blouse that doesn't belong to us. Maybe we'll be going back to that store after all -- and maybe it is all really a scam!

Headed for sleep and will try to fill in the time from our days in Xi'an with some additional entries when I get time again.

The Great Firewall of China

I've been reading on various blog publishing websites about the Great Firewall of China. Apparently, while in China, blogspot.com is generally blocked from viewing. I have been generally unable to view my own blog, although I can post to it. So, if anyone sees anything that looks odd or is not working on the blog, please email me and I'll try to fix it. Big brother is watching!

Arrival in Guangzhou

We have made it to the last significant stop on our trip, Guangzhou. This is the City where the U.S. Consulate is and where all U.S. adopting families must stop to obtain visa's for their Chinese adopted children. This is the last leg of our trip and we really can't wait to get home. I miss Yasmin, Elias and Kia so very much . . . oh, and Bob too . . . and Diet Mountain Dew! Now to recap the last 24 hours . . .

We got up at 5 a.m. on Saturday morning in time to enjoy the breakfast buffet at the Sofitel one more time. Mom and I loved the bread pudding most of all. Ahn-Bao enjoyed the scrambled eggs, fried rice, and dim sum, oh and the cheerios. He is a very good eater when you find what he likes - fruits, not so much.

Minnie, our Xi'an guide met us at 7 a.m. with a driver to take us to the airport. It was foggy and cold and interesting to see what happens in the early morning on the streets of Xi'an. Lots of kettle fires in front of tiny store fronts with people buying something to eat, presumably on their way to work. Street lights were out, presumably to conserve energy, something people in China take very seriously.

We arrived at the airport right on schedule, but this time we didn't let our guide leave us until we were ticketed and ready to pass through security. Our experience in Beijing taught us a lesson. Minnie was too kind to oblige and helped us secure a boarding pass without a seat for Ahn-Bao for the flight. Our luggage was checked without any extra fees (they were still pretty heavy despite having offloaded some donations and gifts for the staff at the orphanage).

We ended up seated in a 3-seat row without a third passenger seated in our row. Take-off went fine and Ahn-Bao fell asleep shortly after take-off and slept for the first 45 minutes of the two-hour flight. They served us a meal (pork or chicken and rice and some sort of pickled vegetable sort of in the form of a salad). Ahn-Bao woke up and had some snacks and seemed to be pretty well entertained until we started to descend for landing. I think the air pressure started to cause him a lot of discomfort in his ears but he had a pretty major melt-down. It was really the first time we have really seen him cry -- more like wail! He calmed enough to carry him off the plane, but not until all the other passengers thought we were torturing him in some way -- maybe we unknowingly were.

When we arrived at the airport, we headed for the baggage claim area and realized that the luggage "trollies" (those carts you get to load your luggage on) were readily available and free so we loaded it up with our luggage. Our biggest suitcase suffered damage to one of the critical wheels somewhere between checking it in Beijing and receiving it in Xi'an, so the cart came in handy.

As we exited the baggage claim area, Molly, our guide from our agency was there to meet us. Molly is quite efficient and has helped families take home over 300 children to the U.S. from China since 2004. She clearly knows what she's doing. She escorted us outside and we were greeted with much milder weather in Guangzhou than in Xi'an. It was in the 40's and overcast, but there were green plants all around indicating that the weather in general was more representative of southern China.

The weather was mild enough that we have switched from the stocking cap that Ahn-Bao wore in Xi'an to a cap that he wears on and off here in Guangzhou (see the photo above). As an aside, Ahn-Bao has a funny way of pointing at the camera when the camera is pointing at him. The photo was taken in our hotel room in Guangzhou when we tried out the cap for the first time.

Molly met us with a driver and a van who took us to the Victory Hotel here which is quite nice. The Victory Hotel is in an area of Guangzhou referred to as Shaimann Island. It is an area that clearly caters to adoptive families. In the immediate area there are shop after shop selling baby clothes, toys, especially traditional Chinese baby costumes, diapers, formula, etc. This makes for easy access to the things that we couldn't easily find in Xi'an. We checked into the hotel at about 2:00 p.m. and just hung out for the afternoon. Ahn-Bao and I fell asleep about 4-ish and Mom watched the movie, "Enough" (the one where Jennifer Lopez learns to fight her abusive husband) in English with Chinese subtitles.

When we woke up, we went down to the hotel restaurant, dubbed as having a "western" style menu. We were craving some non-Chinese food so ordered a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and fish and chips from the appetizer menu. It hit the spot, and Ahn-Bao ate a lot of fries, and even a little sandwich and fish. We also had soda, not so easy to come by here, but again, no ice.

We went to bed with an appointment for Sunday morning at 10 a.m. to meet Molly and a couple of other families at the White Swan Hotel (the traditional hotel for U.S. adoptive families, the one with the famous red couch) to start the paperwork to be allowed to take Ahn-Bao out of the country and to his new home in 4 more days!

Visit with Aunt Sandy

Those of you who have followed this blog since the beginning might remember me mentioning "Aunt Sandy." Aunt Sandy is an Australian living in China and a regular volunteer with the Xi'an CWI for the past 8 years. Sandy is also a regular on the Xi'an CWI Yahoo Group and provides lots of wonderful updates and information to waiting "Forever Families" for matched children at the CWI. She is simply an amazing woman and we had the great fortune to get a chance to meet her in Xi'an.

We were provided with address instructions in Chinese and English by Sandy via email which we then were able to provide to the taxi driver to go to her apartment in Xi'an. We underestimated the wait for a taxi at our hotel and although we were in the lobby at 4 p.m. to meet Sandy at 4:30, we couldn't get a taxi until 5 p.m. Nevertheless, we thought we were unusually brave and adventurous to travel to meet her in a city where we don't speak the language. When our taxi dropped us off, we only had to ask 3 different passersby for directions to where the apartment actually was.

Sandy greeted us warmly and it was almost as if we'd always known her. Just an amazing angel woman! She led us across the street from her apartment to meet a woman who is a foster mother to 6 school-age children who but for this fostering opportunity, would be at the institutional orphanage instead. We met 4 of the children who regularly stay there and saw how loved and cared for they are in this home. Sandy explained to us that the furnishings and the rent for the foster home are all donated and that without the private donations, these kids would be in the institutional setting of the orphanage where the opportunities are severely limited. Instead, these kids are flourishing in this kind of home-like setting. Sandy also explained that due to the upcoming Chinese holiday, she was planning to transport the kids back to the orphanage to stay through the holidays because there was no back-up for the foster mom to take time away with her own family for the holidays. Sandy suggested that the kids would be disappointed to be back at the orphanage even for a short time.

You can view the photos from this visit in the right sidebar slideshow. The two girls in the photos are matched with adoptive families who will travel to get them soon. The two boys have not been matched and although they have some special needs, they were very loving and fun children. Hopefully someone will find it in their heart to make them a part of their family soon!

After visiting this home, we went just down the street to a neighborhood Chinese restaurant for dinner with Sandy. Sandy is clearly well-known here as it is her neighborhood and she is a very engaging person who anyone who meets her couldn't help but loving. We also ran into one of her friends in Xi'an in the restaurant picking up take-out. Greg and his wife had just returned from Guangzhou having adopted a little girl from the Xi'an CWI. They are Americans from L.A. and Oakland, CA who have been living in Xi'an for 3 years. They were volunteers with the CWI, advanced to foster parenting and have now adopted a little girl to join their family of two boys.

Sandy ordered some wonderful food for us, including a plate of steamed broccoli. Our fickle eater, Ahn-Bao not only tried the broccoli, but loved it and couldn't get enough of it. Our first vegetable and glad now to have this in our repertoire. What a fun time to get to talk with Sandy and hear about her work teaching and working with children and parents. Truly a moving experience to be in her presence.

Photos to Share

No time to write anymore, but here are some photos from the past two days.

New Shoes

There are lots of details to share from the past two days, but they will have to wait because Ahn-Bao is here and hard to tear away from being engrossed in him. But here's a little something hot off the presses within the last two hours. We went to a Department Store/Mall where we looked for a new pair of shoes for Ahn-Bao. The shoes he was wearing were a little tight and I wasn't able to bring any because I didn't know what size he'd be. So we bought him some new shoes. I'm not sure from his reaction whether he will actually wear them, but they look good.