To family and any interested friends:
We'll be arriving on China Southern Flight 327, Guangzhou to Los Angeles, on Friday. Scheduled arrival time is 655, but try checking a few hours in advance. You can check with Delta's web site (Delta is a partner with China Southern). You can also call China Southern at 888 338 8988 (their web site is impossible). Our flight here landed 45 minutes early and some people landed late, so we suggest checking.
We figure it will take an hout to deplane, get luggage, and clear customs and immigration.
See you then.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Last Full Day
We're enjoying our last full day on the island. Just had a successful shopping trip, the baby is down for a nap, and we're starting to think about how many more suitcases we need.
More pictures later.
More pictures later.
Another Busy Day
Wednesday night here. We're sure looking forward to coming home and seeing the family.
This morning was a brief trip to Liurong Temple, the Temple of the Six Banyon Trees. It's a sixth-century Buddhist temple about fifteen minutes from Shamian Island. The main temple and pagoda were build in about 537 and rebuilt in the 10th century after a fire. The lead pagoda is quite impressive. No, I didn't climb it -- it was very hot and humid out.
We saw Buddhist monks and some worshipers process from one temple building to another. All of the grounds were ornate and very well kept, though only two of the titular banyon trees survive.
Later the children received a blessing from a Buddhist monk. Apparently they are very fond of blessing adoptive children before they travel. Katrina tried to make friends with the temple cat, who was insulted by her familiarity.
Back at the hotel, Katrina got a massage while I tried unsuccessfully to get Elaia to nap. In the afternoon, we took a bus ride to the American consulate downtown to get the babies' visas and formally complete the adoption. Downtown is sleek and modern where the fringes of the city show their age. It was a quick trip through security to the waiting room, and then a short wait before we all stood and took an oath to take care of the kids. With that, she was ours, as far as the U.S. government is concerned, and will become a U.S. citizen upon entering the country.
Tomorrow is free for shopping and packing. I'll try to post some final pictures of the island.
This morning was a brief trip to Liurong Temple, the Temple of the Six Banyon Trees. It's a sixth-century Buddhist temple about fifteen minutes from Shamian Island. The main temple and pagoda were build in about 537 and rebuilt in the 10th century after a fire. The lead pagoda is quite impressive. No, I didn't climb it -- it was very hot and humid out.
We saw Buddhist monks and some worshipers process from one temple building to another. All of the grounds were ornate and very well kept, though only two of the titular banyon trees survive.
Later the children received a blessing from a Buddhist monk. Apparently they are very fond of blessing adoptive children before they travel. Katrina tried to make friends with the temple cat, who was insulted by her familiarity.
Back at the hotel, Katrina got a massage while I tried unsuccessfully to get Elaia to nap. In the afternoon, we took a bus ride to the American consulate downtown to get the babies' visas and formally complete the adoption. Downtown is sleek and modern where the fringes of the city show their age. It was a quick trip through security to the waiting room, and then a short wait before we all stood and took an oath to take care of the kids. With that, she was ours, as far as the U.S. government is concerned, and will become a U.S. citizen upon entering the country.
Tomorrow is free for shopping and packing. I'll try to post some final pictures of the island.
Sleep 2, Elaina 0
Elaina unsuccessfully fought sleep today.
First observe the unfortunate impact of sleep on her hair:
Next, she refused an afternoon nap. Later, she fell asleep on the floor with her teething biscuit:
First observe the unfortunate impact of sleep on her hair:
Next, she refused an afternoon nap. Later, she fell asleep on the floor with her teething biscuit:
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Peggy Gets The Last Laugh
My redoubtable mother-in-law gets a certain amount of grief for cycling through all her children's and grandchildren's names in addressing one of us. Karma watches for such things. Now I am constantly calling Elaina "Abby," and have probably done so on this blog. Peggy will laugh, and I deserve it.
Doll Face
We've seen a great many dolls here, in stores in Beijing, Wuhan, and here on the island. They fall into two categories: entirely stylized Asian dolls and more "realistic" dolls with Western features. All the Barbies are white -- every one I've seen. Every other Barbie-type doll I've seen, and every plastic baby-doll, has been white. The Asian dolls are generally very ornate or very stylized, like an Asian Raggedy Ann.
I'm not sure what this reflects. Perhaps the Western style doll is not to Asian tastes, so they don't produce Asian versions.
Mattel does, however, produce Adoption Barbie. (I'd like a version where you pull the string and adoption Babie says things adoptive parents frequently do: "For the last time, I DON'T KNOW when she's coming home!" "I AM her real mother!" "It's none of your business how much it costs!" Anyway, the White Swan gives them out to adoptive parents. Here is the latest:
I'm not sure what this reflects. Perhaps the Western style doll is not to Asian tastes, so they don't produce Asian versions.
Mattel does, however, produce Adoption Barbie. (I'd like a version where you pull the string and adoption Babie says things adoptive parents frequently do: "For the last time, I DON'T KNOW when she's coming home!" "I AM her real mother!" "It's none of your business how much it costs!" Anyway, the White Swan gives them out to adoptive parents. Here is the latest:
Comings and Goings on the Island
It's been a busy couple of days. Yesterday we took the kids for their medical checkup, required before they can be released from the country. The stroller brigade was ready:
For Elaina, the only traumatic part was waking up from the nice nap she took on the walk over. The medical exam was uneventful, except when she bit down on the tongue depressor and was strongly disinclined to release it.
Yesterday evening I took Elaina out on an second attempt at the apocalyptic boat ride. This one was far less eventful, though Elaina did not cooperate with my efforts to take pictures and my photographs are blurry as a result. The breeze on the top of the boat was refreshing until a sudden rain hit, and the lights along the shore held Elaina's interest and mine. Later, she fell asleep in my arms. I carried her from the boat back to the room that way, and when I put her down, was forcibly reminded of what I had forgotten for a few years -- when you carry a sleeping baby in your arms for half an hour, afterwards you need Advil if you want to fully extend your arms again.
Today, we did the traditional group picture with the babies on the red couch in the lounge of the Swan. Making nine babies sit still for a picture is about as hard as you are guessing. There was much drama. Elaina stole someone's rattle. I'm not sure what you call a group of babies; judging from pacification methods here, I propose "A Cheerio of babies."
Afterwards one of the other dads and I enjoyed a few drinks in the bar overlooking the river while our wives took the babies to a local clothing store to be measured for custom traditional dresses. They returned with the babies in diapers; they had left the dresses they were wearing there to assist in measurement. Apparently this was scandalous, carrying babies wearing only diapers back to and through the hotel. One would think that a place where so many toddlers wear pants designed to allow them to relieve themselves in the streets would be above being shocked by such things. I'm reminded of the dining room where breakfast is served; the servers primly drape a small cloth matching the tablecloths over the diaper bag. You wouldn't want to detract from the decor of a room where thirty babies are dropping about a metric ton of half-chewed breakfast items on the floor.
After pictures and a few drinks, we had a wonderful group dinner at the hotel's barbecue restaurant by the river. It was my type of place: you pile your plate with a variety of raw meats (steak, short ribs, and squid, in my case), hand it to the chefs, and they grill it for you in tasty sauces and bring it to your table. And they had fries. And pizza. If it weren't for the commute, I'd be back every weekend. The kids enjoyed theirselves in the evening air, which gradually cooled (or maybe that was the bottle of Reisling talking). Elaina's hair did not survive dinner intact, as usual.
For Elaina, the only traumatic part was waking up from the nice nap she took on the walk over. The medical exam was uneventful, except when she bit down on the tongue depressor and was strongly disinclined to release it.
Yesterday evening I took Elaina out on an second attempt at the apocalyptic boat ride. This one was far less eventful, though Elaina did not cooperate with my efforts to take pictures and my photographs are blurry as a result. The breeze on the top of the boat was refreshing until a sudden rain hit, and the lights along the shore held Elaina's interest and mine. Later, she fell asleep in my arms. I carried her from the boat back to the room that way, and when I put her down, was forcibly reminded of what I had forgotten for a few years -- when you carry a sleeping baby in your arms for half an hour, afterwards you need Advil if you want to fully extend your arms again.
Today, we did the traditional group picture with the babies on the red couch in the lounge of the Swan. Making nine babies sit still for a picture is about as hard as you are guessing. There was much drama. Elaina stole someone's rattle. I'm not sure what you call a group of babies; judging from pacification methods here, I propose "A Cheerio of babies."
Afterwards one of the other dads and I enjoyed a few drinks in the bar overlooking the river while our wives took the babies to a local clothing store to be measured for custom traditional dresses. They returned with the babies in diapers; they had left the dresses they were wearing there to assist in measurement. Apparently this was scandalous, carrying babies wearing only diapers back to and through the hotel. One would think that a place where so many toddlers wear pants designed to allow them to relieve themselves in the streets would be above being shocked by such things. I'm reminded of the dining room where breakfast is served; the servers primly drape a small cloth matching the tablecloths over the diaper bag. You wouldn't want to detract from the decor of a room where thirty babies are dropping about a metric ton of half-chewed breakfast items on the floor.
After pictures and a few drinks, we had a wonderful group dinner at the hotel's barbecue restaurant by the river. It was my type of place: you pile your plate with a variety of raw meats (steak, short ribs, and squid, in my case), hand it to the chefs, and they grill it for you in tasty sauces and bring it to your table. And they had fries. And pizza. If it weren't for the commute, I'd be back every weekend. The kids enjoyed theirselves in the evening air, which gradually cooled (or maybe that was the bottle of Reisling talking). Elaina's hair did not survive dinner intact, as usual.
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