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.