Scary food, Buddhist Temple and Visa day

Today we got Alyson's Visa so everything is official and she will become a citizen when we land in LA. Technically once we had over our documents to the LA immigration officer I think. Our appointment at the US Consulate was a little nuts. Lots of shuffling around, some instructions from an official then we all stood and said our oath proclaiming that our paperwork was accurate. Then everyone clapped and said congratulations. That was it. It's all done. Alyson's stuck with us now :-) On the bus ride back she was yelling at the window at passing cars and we were joking that she was probably begging for help and saying this is all some kind of mistake, get me off this bus and find me a different family. But it's too late now. We're forever!! :-)
She says a lot of stuff in Mandarin but some is just baby talk and some is unidentifiable anyway. A shop keeper translated for us last night that Alyson said "go home." Meaning she was tired of shopping. Uh oh. That doesn't bode well for my daughter to tire of shopping!
Oh, at the consulate there were Reuter's reporters taping our group (40 families?) doing the oath etc so maybe a clip will show up on CNN or something.

Here's a bunch of pictures from last night and today except for the Consulate stuff. They don't allow cameras. Well, unless you're Reuters I guess.

Last night we went back to the restaurant with all the creatures out front. I had rice again. Big suprise. This time I took a few pictures of some of the creatures you could choose from.

Cute girl dressed in her red white and blue since it's her Visa day.

We've had many hot bus rides in the last couple weeks.

Today we went to the Six Banyan Trees Buddhist Temple. The Monks did a blessing for the babies. It was very nice in theory but I had no idea what they were saying and it was like 200 degrees inside the temple. It's hard to embrace the moment when sweat is dripping off your forehead.

Michael and Andrew climbed the 14 or 17 stories inside the Pagoda. Alyson and I waited in the shade, not that it mattered, it's still stifiling in the shade.

Incense.

I wish this picture wasn't blurry. At the base of the Buddha, there are stacked cans of orange soda. It was the funniest thing. Maybe Buddha likes Sunkist? I can't imagine why else it's on the altar. It was in a few different places too.

On the bus ride back to the hotel from the Temple. Awww.

After our hot trip to the temple we went to our hotel pool. Alyson seemed to like it at first then she had a total meltdown. We're not sure if she really hated the water or if she was just tired an hungry.

This is the daytime view from our hotel room on the 27th floor.

I guess that's it for tonight :-)

Red couch, visa medical exam, more pearl shopping

View of the pearl river from our hotel at night
The famous red couch picture. I don't know who started this tradition but it's pretty funny trying to herd all the kids in our group onto the couch then expect them to all smile at the same time.

The Kunming girls, Alyson and Natalie.

Our Holt group.

The medical exam office for required check up before Visa issuance.

Not a happy camper.

This is just funny that there is a sauna centre since the whole city is a sauna. It is so hot and humid here, I can't even describe it. It's miserable.

Shopping for more pearls in the Guangzhou pearl market. Gen, these people are stringing yours, Michelle's and Josie's pearls.

Andrew at breakfast this morning.

The waterfall at our hotel.

Cute kid

We're in Guangzhou

We made it Guangzhou yesterday and are settled in our room at the White Swan. Yesterday was some kind of parenting test. Our flight from Kunming to Guangzhou was scheduled for 10:40. We left the hotel around 8:40. When we got to the airport with our travel mates and our guide we discovered that the babies had the wrong tickets. Our guide had to call our travel agency then run over to some other counter and fix the tickets. That got taken care of and then we discover that our travel agency never actually paid for Andrea and John's tickets so our guide tells us to stay at the check in counter and she goes, with all of our passports, to some other ticket counter and tries to get that straightened out. She comes back and says our family can check our bags but Andrea and John's situation still wasn't resolved. They told us to go ahead but we didn't want to leave them. About 9:50 and several phone calls later they get their tickets. We rush through security and guess who's the dumb *&^ that put scissors in her carry on? Yeah, that would be me. Now remember, I'm now on day 5 of a fever and probably bronchitis so I'm not all that sharp. In our packing frenzy the night before I did some rearranging and didn't realize I put them in the carryon. The good news is I'm not writing this from a Chinese prison. Actually it turned out to be not a big deal, they just confiscated them and let us go on our way.
We made the flight no problem. But it gets better.

It's supposed to be a 1 1/2 hour flight. After 2 hours they state that due to bad weather in Guangzhou they are going to divert and land in Shenshen. Um, ok. Where's Shenshen and what about the guide that's meeting us in Guangzhou? We're resourceful people, we've traveled a fair amount but the idea of landing somewhere unscheduled where we're lucky if there's any signage in English is a little worrisome. So we land in Shenshen but don't deplane. We just sit on the tarmac in the cargo area for over 2 hours. People are getting up and milling about, then without warning the plan starts backing up. None of that silly American type nonesense like take your seat and buckle up. No, we just start taxing then they say take a seat we're going to try for Guangzhou again.

So we make it Guangzhou around 4PM I think and our guide is nowhere to be found. We haven't eaten since breakfast other than some snacks, the babies are tired and cranky and I still feel like I've been run over by a semi. All our luggage made it though so we're thankful for small favors. I have the name and address of our hotel written in Chinese so we're not too worried. We figure we can get a cab or shuttle if need be but Holt always stresses that if your guide isn't there to meet you, you should call the contact and don't leave the airport. John makes the call and finds out that the guide is in the airport but has no idea our flight landed in Guangzhou. The screens all still say the flight was "alternated" so she thinks were in Shenshen.
After a little while we find her and our driver and we get to the hotel in one piece. We had dinner then crashed.
(Just a side note, I'm not a pilot or a meteorologist but the weather didn't seem that bad to me. We're pretty sure an American pilot would have been able to land in the first place. It was just a huge rainstorm.)

Today has been a better day. I still had a low fever this morning but right now, 9 PM, I'm feeling pretty good. I did have a couple Chinese beers with dinner so that may be helping :-)
We've met up with the rest of our Holt group that were all in different provinces for the past week and we got to meet all the kids and exchange stories. We had dinner at a place that has tanks full of creatures out front that you can choose from for your meal. Very interesting. I had rice again. If the scale in our hotel bathroom is accurate then I've lost about 10 pounds so far on this adventure. Being sick is part of that I'm sure as well as having to take turns with Michael to eat since one has to entertain and feed the Princess too :-) I forgot what it's like dining with a toddler. She is really doing great though. She also handled that flight and the delays really well. Being stuck on the plane like that could have been a real nightmare but it was ok, we survived.

I can't wait to really feel better so I can enjoy Guangzhou. There are all kinds of great shops to explore. Tomorrow we are going to the Jade and Pearl market so we can further hone our bartering skills and get more souveniers. I think tomorrow may be Alyson's Visa medical exam too. I don't have the schedule in front of me so I'm not sure.

Just a note for those waiting to travel to China, upgrading to the Jr suite at the White Swan is worth every penny. It is so nice to have some space. I was getting really claustrophobic in the Kunming hotel. (The beds are still like sleeping on concrete though.)

Here's few pictures from yesterday. They're out of order but I don't have the energy to fix them. Alyson has so many funny facial expressions, there's pictures of a few of them at the end.

Here's she's reading the yellow pages. We need to get her home to her proper book collection!
I know we're in China but it's still weird to see everything written in Chinese.

Done with the yellow pages, getting the newspaper out.

Hmm. Done with the paper. I'll just stash it in this cubby. She likes to hide stuff.

sleepy girl.

First plane ride.

last day in Kunming

We got Alyson's passport on time this evening so we will be leaving for Guangzhou as planned tomorrow morning. We also received 3 notarized copies of her Chinese birth certificate and certificate of abandonment.
I'm still fighting some sort of chest cold and fever so I started the antibiotics I brought and hope to feel better in the morning. We skipped today's sightseeing since I have no energy and it was raining anyway.
Alyson is doing great. She's giggling a lot and is very vocal. Her foster parents must have played telephone with her because she keeps picking up the remote and chattering into it. She coughed quite a bit last night but generally she's sleeping great. She's eating great too. There's not much she won't eat.

We're really tired and have to get up early to head to Guangzhou so I'll have to save today's pictures for another time. We should have no problem getting internet and email in Guangzhou but you never know so don't worry about us if you don't hear from us for a day or 2.

Love to all!

orphanage visit

We're all doing well. Alyson is a spitfire girl. We love her to death. She fits right in with the family. She's very much a toddler. She's a mess at meals and dressing her is just like stuffing an octopus in a sack. She's a wiggle worm and she thinks it's so funny to squirm away when we're trying to change her. It brings back a lot of memories, and a lot of back pain! :-)

We visited the Kunming orphanage today. Alyson probably only spent a few months there then went into foster care but a few of the caretakers recognized her and called her by name. She reached out for one of the ladies so she must remember her.

According to the orphange representative that took us on our tour, they are in charge of caring for 600 children. 500 of those are in foster care and about 300 of the children have CP. I'm pretty sure that's what she said but I may be mistaken on the number. We saw a group of children with CP and I got the impression they use CP as a blanket term for many disabilities.

We also saw a room with 8-10 special needs babies. They all looked healthy and just had needs like club feet or cleft lip. There were 6 nannies in that room. There was also one Albino baby sleeping in the arms of a caregiver.

We started our tour in an administrative welcoming room where we were served really good green tea. Alyson wanted to walk all over the place while we were there. She's still not steady enough to go without holding a hand but she is fast!

Do you see the mischevious grin? That's hot tea in those cans. She's a magnet for danger. Uh Oh.

One of the classrooms had some English stuff on the chalkboard.

Ready to get back on the bus.

Our hotel has a panorama lounge on top. This is the view of Green lake park from up there.

This is what looks like a poor group of apartments in the city.

In the Green Lake park

Our kiddos.

Shopping. Andrew was looking bored so the shop keeper brought out a little stool for him to sit on while Michael and I bargained for embroidery pieces.

I'll leave you tonight with this sweet little face.