Big in China

Andy Warhol said everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.  Abigail has been enjoying minor celebrity status since we have been in China.  As we make our way through airports, public streets, tourist attractions, and restaurants, people have been constantly loving, and I mean LOVING, Abigail.  Random strangers point and smile at her.  Elderly people come up to her and tell us that she is lovely or give a universal “thumbs up” sign while pointing to her.  Parents of small children plant their kids next to her out of the blue and take their photos next to her like she is a Disney Princess at a theme park.  Elderly people walk up to her and hug her and stroke her hair, chatting away while smiling and nodding.  

The nannies at the orphanage couldn’t stop hugging her and taking her photos.  It was so extreme that we really thought people may have been mistaking her for a child star we weren’t familiar with.  Our guide told us that it merely comes down to the fact that many Chinese people don’t encounter foreigners very often and cute little foreign girls are even more exceptionally rare.  Abigail has taken her celebrity status in stride though and has been very sweet, gracious, and accommodating with everyone.  She has been quite the ambassador.  At the orphanage all the ladies told us that she reminded them of Halley Porter.  We quickly did a Google search for this star to see what she looked like, but came up empty.  After not finding anything, we asked for further clarification and they jumped on their phones to find photos for us.  We cracked up when they showed us the photo of the person they were comparing her to and it turned out to be Emma Watson from “Harry Potter” (Not Halley Porter). We took it as a compliment and we can see the resemblance if we look hard enough.  Maybe Abigail can play Hermoine in the Harry Potter prequel someday.  In the meantime, I’ll just have to get used to random strangers taking her pictures while I’m trying to take her pictures at the same time. J

March 13, 2019- Last Day in Guangzhou, visit to Shamian Island

March 14, 2019- Leave Guangzhou, travel to Beijing

Today was our last full day in Guangzhou.  With nothing to do but wait for our finalized visa for Bin, we were free to see the sights.  Our guide Simon took the families to Shamian Island for a relaxing day.  Shamian Island is a small island on the Pearl River in Guanzhou that had been developed by the British during colonial times.  The buildings were quaint, European style buildings with beautiful landscaped flower beds, trees, and bronze sculptures around the island.  Our first stop was a public park that was full of mostly retired people doing everything under the sun including singing, dancing, Tai Chi, and even playing hacky sack.

Dance group using tennis racket looking things to balance a ball on while waving their arms around. Pretty impressive!

We joined a hacky sack circle where I joined in and made a fool of myself with some really good people.  Their hacky sacks were completely different from those in the US.  They were home-made contraptions that look like darts but at the tip there was a stack of plastic discs that keep it bottom weighted.  It worked pretty much like the American versions even though it looked totally different.  I had so much fun with them that I bought one from one of the people who had just made one. 

This is a Chinese hacky sack!

From there we made our way around the park in a leisurely stroll, watching the different groups do their thing.  The kids had fun playing on a playground, and Rhonda made friends with a little brown poodle.  

Rhonda’s new friend

One of the playgrounds was questionably situated under a massive Jackfruit tree, which seemed a little hazardous to me.  Letting your kids play underneath a tree full of dangling 8-10 lb spiked head splitting bombs didn’t seem like the best decision, but hey… when in Rome, right?

This is a stock photo of a Jackfruit. The ones at the park were about half this size, but still! Am I right?

As we continued strolling around the island we stopped here and there to take pictures of the kids playing on and around the bronze statues and sculptures that dotted the public spaces around the island.  

The kids loved the sculptures

The next stop was the White Swan Hotel, which was located next to the old US Consulate building.  Adoptive families used to all stay at this hotel before the consulate moved due to the convenience. 

That's a lot of jade

Still a tradition today, there is a red couch in the hotel where newly adopted kiddos have to stop and get their photo taken before leaving China with their new families.  We managed to get all kids from our group, including Abigail, on the couch for a group photo. 

Obligatory red couch photo at the Swan Hotel- You can click on the photo of the placard to enlarge it and read more about the red couch. The best part is the reference to "Newly baked" parents 😅

After the hotel we stopped by a couple of souvenir shops before heading to a café called Lucy’s for lunch. 

This is how you celebrate your last day in Guangzhou!

Thursday we slept in and had a leisurely breakfast before packing up and heading to the airport to leave Guangzhou.  At this point we were free to head back to the United States whenever we wanted to, but we had opted to travel to Beijing for a few days to see some of the most iconic sights in China before we left.  Before saying goodbye to our guide Simon at the airport, we actually managed to finally get a photo of him with Abigail and Bin. 

Simon says “Say Cheese!”

Goodbye Guangzhou, hello Beijing!

March 12, 2019- US Consulate Appointment

Tuesday, March 12 was our last and final official appointment for anything adoption related while in China.  We all boarded the bus and headed to the US Consulate in Guangzhou to finalize Bin’s visa application and paperwork.   We weren’t allowed to bring anything inside the building other than a clear plastic bag with drinks/snacks.  All backpacks had to be left on the bus and the cell phones were kept by security until we left when they were returned to us on the way out.  We had to go through metal detectors and wand checks just like you do at the airports.  Once in the consulate, we were led into a large waiting room and given numbers.  We recognized several other American families that we had seen at various points along our journey while in China.  Apparently we were all scheduled at the same time for convenience.  A nice man named Mike gathered all the families around and introduced himself as the American Vice Consul General (I think?).  He told us all that he knew we had been through a lot on our adoption journey and it was their goal to make the remaining tasks as easy as possible for all of us.  He also told us that he himself was also an adoptive parent and so he had been through the same process all of us had as well.  The families were interviewed by the office one at a time, our paperwork was reviewed and a few questions were asked here and there.  The children played with each other in a designated play area while waiting their turns, and parents traded stories about their children and adoption journeys.  We were in the office for about an hour and a half, with our actual interview taking about five minutes.  We were asked if we had had any problems or issues with the adoption and if there had been any unexpected health issues with Bin after we received him.  We told them that everything had gone pretty smoothly and that there were no problems or issues. We were informed that once we entered the United States and presented and Customs and Immigration with Bin and his passport once we reached Dallas, he would then become an official United States Citizen.  I asked if he would have duel Chinese/US Citizenship and we were told that China does not allow dual citizenship and so once he became a US citizen he would subsequently lose his Chinese citizenship at that point.  We were also told we would receive a sealed envelope to present at Immigration in Dallas and that it should remain sealed and we should not open it.  We were then congratulated and dismissed to leave and continue on our way.   

Our only allowed photo at the US Consulate

We were free for the rest of the day after that.  We came back to the hotel and hung out in the room for a while.  Later in the afternoon I took the kids to the hotel pool.  The water was 68 degrees which was too chilly for them to comfortably swim, although Abigail submerged herself for about 2 seconds on a dare from her dad and the promise of 10 Yuan (about $1.50). It  was highly entertaining, so money well spent.  Luckily there was also a really nice Jacuzzi hot tub by the pool as well, so that’s where we spent the most time.  Bin took a while to get in, but once in he loved it and didn’t want to get out.  

Hot tub party

Later that afternoon we took a walking excursion around the vicinity of the hotel. 

 Seriously Dad, enough with the photos already...

Our official outing for the day was a lovely river boat dinner cruise on the Pearl River. It was a nice large boat that held about 100 people.  We sat in a nice dining room and had a buffet with traditional Cantonese foods; it was really good.  After dinner we headed up to the top deck to enjoy the views as the boat made its way down stream through downtown Guangzhou.  Every few minutes we passed underneath a different bridge, each lit up with colorful lights.  The buildings and skyscrapers along the river were fitted with led lights that covered the entire buildings.  The buildings next to each combined to form large video screens where animated displays played out scenes before our eyes.  The most spectacular building, and the jewel of Guangzhou, was the enormous Canton Tower, the third highest tower in the world.  It had lights that changed colors every few seconds for our viewing pleasure.

 Corn. Its what's for dinner.  In the background, our guide Simon eludes the camera yet again. 

 Canton Tower. It's big ya'll. 

 This is one of the other families in our group; ex-Pats living in Thailand at the moment

The last part of the cruise was the entertainment portion. There was a juggler and a performer who could change his colorful masks in the blink of an eye.  Balloons were given to the kids.  Abigail and Bin had the time of their lives.  It was a great time, and a great way to celebrate the end of our official appointments and paperwork.  

I’ve already noticed how quickly our corrupt American ways (kidding, sort of) are rubbing off on him already in the short time we’ve had him.  Bin has inevitably discovered the iPhone while he has been with us, and has quickly become proficient with its operation.  He even memorized the pin number on my own phone to unlock it early on, which shocked me because I never showed him.  He is extremely observant and has an obvious knack for memorizing procedures and processes.  Luckily I thought to bring one of my old phones for him to play with.  I anticipate it will be a life and sanity saver on the 14 hour plane ride back home next week.    At first he wanted to color and work in his workbooks a lot, but since discovering the iPhone that would be all he does if given the choice.  We’ve tried to limit his time (and his sister’s) to an allotted block of time each day and then we put them away in a drawer and tell them to read or draw, or color for the rest of the time.  

He also loved eating fruit at breakfast at first, like watermelon and oranges, but since his sister only wants cereal and pastries he’s already tried to ditch the fruit in favor of those things.  I have managed to still get fruit down him sometimes at breakfast by setting it at the table, even if he says he doesn’t want it.  If Abigail eats it he’ll follow suit, and he still will reach for it on his own periodically if its there.  We introduced him to spaghetti through his sister, as well as cheese pizza.  His favorite dish is still noodles and boiled eggs, but he is starting to like the pizza and spaghetti more.  When we get back home to the states I see a lot of ramen in our future.   

March 10-11,  2019- More free time

Sunday and Monday there wasn’t much for us to do but wait.  We were waiting for the TB results for the childrens’ exams, along with their final medical reports, which would be done on Tuesday.  Then next appointments we had were going to be at the US Consulate, to apply for Bin’s US Visa. However, that wasn’t until Tuesday, so we had a couple of days to ourselves until then.  Luckily for us, the agency had arranged some wonderful excursions and activities for us each day during our time in Guangzhou.  On Sunday, March 10, Simon took us all to the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall-Folk Craft Museum. It was a beautiful old museum building with stunning exhibits of culture, embroidery, ivory carvings, and historic displays.  We spent a couple of hours at the museum while Simon led us through the exhibits, explaining, the history behind them and pointing out interesting points.  

Good Morning Guangzhou!

Our bus, with our guide Simon, front right

The Folk Museum

 Ivory tusk sculpture

 A dragon holding a ball, with a ball inside, and another inside that, and another, and another... 47 total carved balls concentrically smaller, all inside of each other, all from a single piece of ivory. The display below it gives some insight into how it was done.  Easy, right? ;-)

That's a big goldfish bowl.

 Again with the pictures Dad?

That was fun

On Monday, March 11 we all went to the Guangzhou zoo.  We don’t know if Bin had ever been to a zoo before but he had the time of his life there.  He and Abigail got the chance to feed giraffes and they were even able to pet them while feeding them.  The zoo had a Panda house and we were able to view two adorable pandas while we were there.  Even in China they seemed to be the stars of the whole zoo.  They had an outdoor habitat but while we were they the pandas were inside of their house.  Luckily for us we were still able to see through the plexiglass walls in the large room.  They mostly sat around eating bamboo the whole time.  That’s what pandas do. 

 You looking at me?

 A visual representation of our bed every night

 I heard that!

That afternoon Simon arranged for a famous artist/calligrapher to come to the hotel for a calligraphy demonstration.  We were also able to buy customized scrolls from him and he painted customized words or phrases on them based on our requests.  We had one painted that said “Happy Family” in Chinese along with “Mom, Dad, Big Sister, Little Brother” and then “The Crow’s Nest”, along with Bin’s Gotcha Date; March 4, 2019. We thought it would be a great way to commemorate the completion of our family and our trip to China.  We also go scrolls for Abigail and Bin’s rooms as well.