We spent the majority of today on Hong Kong Island.

First we headed to the waterfront to take in the view … still beautiful.  I’ll never get tired or lose my awe of that amazing sight.  The sheer size and geographical footprint of the island skyscape is ridiculous.  Sandy was absolutely amazed.  It’s like looking at a 5 mile wall of glass.  Beautiful.

We then jumped on the Star Ferry (Claire’s first boat ride) to head over to Central.  Claire loved, loved, loved the boat.  And I love the smell of the harbor and the city … I seriously miss it.

Anyway, after hitting the island we headed up the mid-levels to see the old mission home.  When I was first here almost 20 years ago, if you wanted to head up the mid-levels you just had to hoof it.  It’s essentially traveling straight up the mountain on blacktop.  You would be exhausted and dripping wet with sweat by the time you made your destination.  By the end of my time in Hong Kong they had begun construction of the world’s longest escalator that does all of the hard work of ascending up to the mid-levels.  It is now completely done and it is awesome.  The escalator is still very steep, but makes it so much more enjoyable.

We finally made our way to the Kam Tong which served as the mission offices while I was in Hong Kong.  It is now a museum for Sun Yat-Sen.  We paid the money so I could see how they have changed the place.  The main structure of the building is the same … but the rooms have been changed to accommodate displays.  It was very cool to walk the halls of that amazing building again.  The part Claire enjoyed best was a 10 minute children’s cartoon that teaches about Dr. Sun.  It was pretty funny because even though it was designed for children it used adult vocabulary like “revolutionary uprising.”

We then grabbed some lunch and ate at the doorway of one of my old apartments (see the picture of me standing in front of a steel doorway below).  Lunch was some amazing ChaSiu Faahn … yum.

We then descended from the mid-levels and took the ferry back to TST.  We immediately headed for Kowloon Park and tried to find the kids’ park … sihngGung!  They have a great kids’ park with about 8 major “play stations”.  Claire had a great time and got braver and braver the longer we played there.  Very fun.

Night time brought us to Temple Street.  Temple Street is a very famous night market that is a must see while here in Hong Kong.  It was a successful outing as we added to our booty a little bit.  Sandy got two new rings to wear as wedding rings during workouts, etc.  … a jade one and a steel one, both very pretty.  Tom got an all-purpose tripod and we grabbed a couple of gift items.  The market is about a mile long and is lined on both sides with booths.  Plus there are shops on the outside of the “booths”.  There is about a 5 foot aisle down the middle where the crush of humanity meet in a desperate bid to buy something cheaply.  We got some pretty good deals when I started speaking Chinese and a number of vendors gave free stuff to Claire.  They thought I was a Hong Kong-er … or that I had been born in Hong Kong and so they would whisper … you’re a Hong Kong person, I’m not going to dicker with you … this is the lowest price.  Maybe it was just another game … but we rarely paid over 50% of the original asking price.

We were all exhausted after this excursion and didn’t make it back to the hotel until after 10pm.  Fell into bed and slept like babies.

On for tomorrow … Tom and Sandy discover the one thing with potential to keep them off the streets of Hong Kong.

Thursday was our last day in Guangzhou and was therefore dominated by preparation for that.  We grabbed an earlier than normal breakfast (at about 8am!, yes that’s earlier) and then started packing up.  By the way, I finally took some pictures of the breakfast spread … see below.  We had planned to head out on the island for a few more things … but a large rain and lightning storm kept us inside longer than we planned.

We finally decided we better head out at about 12:00pm or we wouldn’t be collecting the last of our laundry from Jenny.  We tried shopping first but were unsuccessful in finding Sandy a jacket as cool as mine … sorry, babe!

Our last meeting with Jenny was nice … we consider her and her husband friends now.  They were so nice to us and gave us ridiculous deals on our laundry.  As we were saying goodbye this time she asked me if I was Christian.  I told her that I was and she said, “Me too!”  That surprised me as I’ve met very few native Chinese that are.  She was born in Guangdong province and has never left China … so I’m not sure how she came to Christianity.  I thought that was pretty amazing.  She gave us a little book about Christianity in China (written in Chinese) for Claire.

We then grabbed some lunch and waited out the rest of the rain in the room.

We headed down to the lobby just before 2pm and checked out.  Our internet charges for the week came to 300 yuan (about $40 USD) … which I thought was great!

We joined two other families in the shuttle over to the train station.  Both families had brought their children with them … it was fun to talk to the kids (ranging from age 6 to 16) and the parents.  One of the families had a 12 year old boy that reminded me a lot of Seth … nice kid.  The shuttle wasn’t huge and so we were all on top of each other!

When we got to the train station the shuttle driver decided to stop the shuttle right in the middle of the street.  So as we all unloaded the bags we created a huge traffic jam in the middle of Guangzhou (for about 6 minutes)!

We then moved through security and headed up to the 3rd level to wait for the train.  Helen showed up a few minutes later with our visa and travel papers.  We took a few minutes to say goodbye to her and then she was gone.  Helen was very nice and very conscientious in helping us get to where we needed to be.

The train ride itself was fairly uneventful.  Claire did need to make one “pit stop” while traveling.  The only facilities on the train were of the “squatting” kind and I volunteered to help her … not a great idea.  I barely remember the procedure for male usage of squatters … trying to help Claire turned into a near disaster.

I got pretty emotional as we entered Hong Kong.  I lived most of my time in the areas near the Chinese border and so I pretty immediately started to recognize the landscape.  It is such a beautiful land and more importantly, holds such beautiful memories for me.  I had almost forgotten how lush and green the mountains and hills are … just amazing.

Claire had been doing great with everything until we actually stopped in Hung Hom (the station in Kowloon where the train stops).  She had been watching a movie on the iPod during the ride but we needed to put it away to handle the walk and transportation to the hotel.  She was not happy about that!  She proceeded to cry for the next 30 minutes.  Sandy felt like we should stop for some McDonald’s at the station before we tried to make it to the hotel … best idea of the day.  Claire must have been both tired and hungry because after this break … she was right as rain.

We then headed onto the MTR (subway) to get to the stop by our hotel.  Next came a ton of difficult walking and a HUGE staircase to ascend.  As we had been walking, Claire got into the habit of pushing her bag as I rolled it along.  She was giggling and having a blast doing this.  This turned into a problem, though, shortly.  After we went up about 100 stairs dragging all of the bags (enough of a workout for a year) we then had an immediate short staircase (about 5 steps) to descend.  I started heading down with realizing that Claire had decided to play the “push the bag” game again.  Next thing I was aware of was Sandy screaming for me to stop … too late.  Claire tumbled head first down the stairs and was not in great shape.  She ended up with a “goose egg” on the back of her head and in need of about 15 minutes of comfort.  Needless to say … it took us a while to get to the hotel.  We arrived in Hong Kong at about 6:30pm, but didn’t make it to the hotel until about 8:30pm … even though it was only about 20 minutes away without kids and luggage.  Oh well.

We then had the blessed experience of entering The Mira … our hotel.  It is BEAUTIFUL!  As I mentioned before … easily the nicest hotel either Sandy or I have ever stayed at.  Pictures below, although they don’t do the place justice.  The room is controlled by a “comfort computer” for lack of a better word.  We have “mood” buttons that automatically set the lighting scheme for different moods.  We have a 40 inch flat screen TV with a Sony Vaio entertainment system … TV, Blue-ray, Internet, etc.  The bathroom is amazing with a deep tub and separate shower.  The shower has one of those overhead rain simulators (Tom’s favorite … Sandy not so much).  Anyway, awesome!

Everybody was tired but I couldn’t contain my excitement.  So I headed out for a 30 minute walk-about while Sandy and Claire got ready for bed.  Hong Kong is still the awesome-est!  I came back to a bit of frustration as Sandy and Claire were unable to get the hot water to work.  The hotel staff responded quickly and were finally able to get it going … kind of.  We’re on the 17th floor (out of 18).  Apparently hot water takes a long time to travel up to us … so every time we need a shower or bath, we have to plan ahead by about 10 minutes.  That’s how long it takes for it to hit our pipes … seriously.  Oh well … with everything else this place has … this feels like a VERY minor thing.

That was our Thursday!

Wow … sorry about the lack of posts.  I NEED to catch up and post yesterday and today’s happenings before they leave my mind.  Since hitting Hong Kong we’ve gone into full tourist mode and really haven’t had time to put anything up.

Seriously busy day today (Friday) as we headed over to the island … saw the old mission home (now a museum for Sun YatSen) and went to Temple Street (famous night market) tonight.

Anyway, maybe tomorrow will be a slower day … but right now Sandy and I are both exhausted from carrying Claire everywhere.  She’s been a trooper.

Hi Everybody … officially reporting from Hong Kong! I’ll try to give a larger update here soon … but we just arrived at our hotel and are exhausted.

One nice thing … our hotel here in Hong Kong (the Mira) is by far the nicest hotel Sandy or I have ever stayed in.  We’re now not sure we’re coming back!  Just send the kids over please:)

We’ll take some pictures and post them.  The location is also ideal as it is in the heart of TST (the shopping district) which is fairly central to all the places we’d like to go.  We also feel like we’re back to full civilization … I love Hong Kong.  No really … I do.  And yes, if I weren’t already committed … I would marry it:)

Today contained our last official act for the adoption of Claire … the swearing ceremony where the parents pledge that all information is accurate, etc. We’ll get to that in a moment.

The day started with another late wake up and a quick run down to the breakfast buffet for our standard fare of … whatever we want.  We’ve mentioned this before but the buffet is ridiculous.  Claire always gets a hard-boiled egg, some congee, some ham, noodles, tater tots and about a gallon of ketchup.  She never touches the congee, ham or noodles.  Nibbles on the egg and tater tots.  Takes a spoon to the ketchup and eats it straight out of the cup.  Mom and Dad vary between a few different options with Sandy focusing on fruit and Tom on bacon.  We do have our priorities.

After that we headed out for a bit of shopping/wandering.  We visited Sherry’s in search of some more squeaky shoes with a little bit of luck.  We also bought a few other gift items for the kids and others.  Some pretty neat stuff.

Lunch was purchased from the hotel “deli” … noodles for Claire (her favorite) and beef, tomato and egg on rice for Sandy and me.  We only had a little time after that before our trip to the US Consulate so we relaxed in the hotel room where the temperature is perfectly adjusted and ready for human habitation (as opposed to outside where the temperature isn’t too bad, but the humidity is only worse at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean).  We then headed down to meet with Helen and get on the bus for the Consulate.

All of the families adopting a child 2 years or older met at the Consulate for today’s proceedings.  Most of those shared one of two buses that left from Shamian Island today.  We met a very nice lady (Julie) from Detroit, Michigan.  This is her second adoption of a Chinese child.  Her first died from complications of flu five years ago (she was 2 1/2 years old) … very sad.

The bus ride was about 45 minutes and we ended up smack dab in the middle of the financial district of downtown Guangzhou.  Very fancy and very “New Yorky” (sorry to go all George Dubya on you).  The US Consulate is housed on at least the 5th floor (there might be other offices above the one where we landed) of a high rise building.

Sadly, they took away all of our electronic equipment.  It turns out to be a fairly standard rule in embassies and consulates … trying to keep any bug “laying” equipment out of the area and also prevent any pictures being taken of consulate employees.  So we weren’t able to take any pictures or video of the actual meeting room or the ceremony.  Oh well.

So the first stage of the process involved having your child’s name called out.  You then went to a window where they quickly verified that the photos they had matched who was standing in front of them.  Check.  After everybody was done a very nice woman came out and explained the next step.  She gave a little history on the US Consulate in Guangzhou.  First, every other country processed naturalization and immigration visas in embassies … not consulates.  So why were we all meeting in Guangzhou and not Beijing?  Well,  traditionally, over 90% of Chinese immigrants come from southern China and so they made the decision long ago to move all such work down to their Guangzhou consulate.  Interesting.  She said that this facility was the 4th largest consular section in the world and also helped split the already heavy load from the US Embassy in Beijing.

Next she asked all of the parents to stand and hold their right hand up.  Sandy and I both commented later that we were hoping for something a bit more inspiring in the “swearing” process.  We were hoping for something like …

“Please repeat after me:  I do hereby swear to love and protect this child I am bringing home to the greatest country in the world.  I promise to honor my country and the constitution upon which it was founded.  I vow and solemnly swear and now and always promise to be AWESOME in every way, every day.”

Instead it went more like this …

“Please repeat after me: I hereby swear that all of the paperwork I have filled out in regards to this adoption is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.”

Uh, OK.  Yeah, it totally is.  Thanks.

To be honest, even though the swearing in itself was a bit boring … Sandy and I still got completely emotional.  It was a touching experience and I personally felt a wave of relief at having all official aspects of this adoption “in the bag”.  After four very long and often difficult years … it’s done.  We are now days away from bringing home yet another shining light in our lives.  How blessed we feel to further complete our family with this beautiful girl who for so long has been know as Wu ChunYi … but to us Claire.  How lucky we feel to know her and love her.  We continue to hope that we can be as good for her as she deserves.  She has already known so much of pain, anguish and discomfort in her life … we wish to bring no more to her.  We only hope to love her and help her prepare for a full and happy life.  And in a few short days … you will also get to meet and start to know her.

After a quick regroup at the hotel we headed out for a laundry drop off trip to Jenny’s.  The power was out in most of the shops today … so it was pretty difficult to see or purchase anything.  So it was a quick trip out and then back to the room.  We quickly had another difficult meltdown moment … we think this one was heightened by extreme fatigue … it was BAD.  She eventually fell asleep from crying so hard and long so we decided not to head out for dinner.  Instead we ordered in Papa John’s for delivery, $20 USD for a large.  I know that doesn’t sound like a lot for American pizza in China … but it’s a lot compared to what we are used to spending.  It was worth it … particularly because it was delivered.  Sandy just held Claire until she woke back up.  She was still unhappy … but once she started to eat a little bit, she got a bit better.  We then discovered a “pepperoni” game that smoothed everything out and she brightened right back up.  It’s interesting … most of our positive interaction with her at this point is game based.  If it’s “laugh-y, high energy” stuff we’re doing … it’s all good.  We really haven’t had many quiet, cuddly moments with her … hopefully those will start to come soon.  Right now during those quieter moments she keeps herself pretty independent from us and won’t talk much.

We were all feeling better after dinner and so headed out for ice cream and a walk.  We grabbed the goodies and then walked back over to the park we visited last night.  Tonight we happened to hit it when a light show over the water was going on.  The entire water front on both sides had synchronized lights and lasers putting on a pretty good show to some music.

It was then time for Claire’s bath and bed.  She delayed and delayed … which is a good thing.  It means she was enjoying the time with us and didn’t want to end.  At least, that’s what “the books” say.  So finally around 9:45pm she and Sandy fell asleep.  I followed about 1/2 hour later.

Tomorrow we head for Hong Kong … should be a pretty low key day otherwise.  It’s a 2 hour train ride from Guangzhou to Hong Kong … so we’ll prepare ourselves with iPod movies and activities!

Next report from the “Fragrant Harbor” (Hong Kong).

Today was a very boring day when framed in the middle of the rest of this trip.  It took us until 12:30pm to make it out of the hotel room … ouch!  And then it was mostly about walking the streets and shopping.  We headed back over near the Holiday Inn Shifu hotel and the LiWan Shopping District.  We picked up a very cute pajama dress for Claire (I tried to take a picture of it … but she wasn’t diggin’ that idea) and a few other small items.

One quick anecdote about our excursion.  The market is right by the Holiday Inn Shifu (named that because it’s on Shifu Road).  We jumped in quick to use a western toilet before heading out into the market.  As we were riding up the elevator to the lobby level a couple of Chinese men in the elevator started talking about us in … Chinese, of course.  The first guy said … “Is that little girl Chinese?  What is she speaking?”  The other guy said, “She’s speaking English … I think!”  The first guy then said, “English?  Is she really speaking English?”  To which I replied (in Chinese), “Yes, she is speaking English.” First guy: “Oh … ummm, does she speak Chinese?”  Me: “Yes, but she doesn’t really like to … she prefers speaking English.”  First guy: “Oh … OK.”  And then we exited the elevator.  It was pretty funny because he just really wasn’t expecting the conversation I think.

This little event reminded me of something we used to do occasionally on the mission that always cracked me up.  If we were in our missionary clothes, everybody knew we spoke Cantonese.  But sometimes on a P-Day we would find ourselves out and about in regular clothes and people would be caught unexpected when speaking about us in Chinese.  We would respond and they would always be shocked and say something like, “Oh … sorry, I didn’t know you speak Chinese”.  To which we would respond in a very quiet voice … “I’ll tell you a secret … all Americans know how to speak Chinese.  We just pretend like we can’t.  So you really should be careful what you say around Americans … they can understand you.”  Anyway, hopefully that wasn’t too mean a thing to do … we liked to think it was just cleaning up some of the more offensive comments sometimes made in mixed company.

Anyway, we grabbed some pizza for lunch, AGAIN, while there at the shopping district.  Claire, once again, loved the spaghetti.

Here are a couple of videos of an oft traveled street during our walks here in Guangzhou

On the way back we stopped at a little shop on the island that we have passed everyday.  I didn’t figure it had anything very impressive … boy was I wrong!  I was able to find the perfect jacket I’ve been looking for.  Of course, we’re not returning to “jacket weather” … but I’m going to love it next fall.  It’s an Adidas “training jacket” for lack of a better term.  A similar jacket in the States would be over $100 retail, or around $50 at Ross or TJ Maxx if you could find it.  Got it for $20 here!  Awesome.

After that we headed back to the pool for some more sub-zero swimming! WOOHOO!  Sandy has all her mental faculties about her so she didn’t really even pretend to participate in swimming in ridiculously freezing cold water this time … she was a spectator (and a brilliantly fantastic one at that).  We spent about 20 minutes collecting the leaves that were blowing into the pool before we decided to call it quits.

Post swimming meant a little more shopping and we picked up our laundry – which smelled great!  No more handwashing!   The laundry lady even gave us a break on the price because I have been helping her translate some words she can use when conducting business.

Dinner meant more ChaSiu Faahn … awesome!  After that we headed out for a stroll at the local park … absolutely beautiful waterfront park.

Also, at the bottom of our hotel is the following alcohol shop … love the name and so made a quick shot after our park walk …

After all that we decided to get some ice cream … not bad for some Chinese syutgou! Claire and Mom got chocolate and Dad chose strawberry. We had a meltdown of the non-ice cream variety when Claire said she was done for the third time and so Mom and Dad each had a bit from her cup. We continue to learn a lot about how to treat and react to her moods. Long road ahead … but we’re all making progress each day and excited for the journey.

Oh, and as a side note, remember our mention of the family in Nanjing whose little girl got sick on gotcha day from all the crying?  Well, they are here in Guangzhou and we are happy to report that their little one is doing great.  Her mother is a hoot with a deep southern accent and her sister just dotes on her.  So happy to know she is feeling more comfortable and safe now.

Hi All,

Anybody out there listening?  No comments for a few days (and we love those) so we thought you could let us know if you’re still reading or not.  So, please leave a quick comment … even a quick “Hi!” with your name is good on this post.  We’re a little curious who is still reading.  We know we’re close to returning home … but we miss you all and love even the small connection this blog provides.

Also, we’re offering a cool little gift for the most “substantive” comments for the rest of the trip.  It is a hand drawn bookmark from right here in Guangzhou!  And by “hand drawn”, I mean no brushes or implements were used in the painting of it … which you will find unbelievable.  So if you find that a suitable inducement … comment away!  Oh, and we can probably only send it to those living in the US … sorry!

Love and miss you all!

Today is our one-week anniversary with Claire.  But instead of a celebratory day, it has been an interesting day of highs and lows.  Claire has really struggled today and it’s been a bit of a sad day for us.  We won’t go into all of the details … but suffice to say, it’s clear that the attachment and bonding process still has a way to go.  Probably the saddest moment for us was when we asked her if she was happy to be part of our family and we got a definite “No” … followed by tears.  We know this is normal and that there will be up and down days … today was just definitely of the down variety.

That isn’t to say it was all terrible … after a particularly difficult time this morning we ended up having a family game of “stand on the bed volleyball” (which is played with a balloon).  Very fun and everybody was laughing.  That was the sad part, I guess.  She is having fun … but I think she still believes that we are another set of caregivers that will leave at some point.  It breaks our hearts.  Again, we know this is normal … but that knowledge is cold comfort during the tough times.

Anyway, we ate breakfast and then headed to the clinic for a follow up with the doctor on the TB test.  SUCCESS!  She’s free and clear with no need for X-Rays or anything else at this point.  Thank you so much for your prayers; we definitely felt this was a HUGE blessing for us and for Claire.  Dr. Judd … you’ll be the next stop of this kind!

Our guide, Helen, then decided to take us to the big nearby market (the one I had been searching for yesterday).  I was only a block off at one point in my search!  Darn!  It really is a great place and we were able to find a number of things we were looking for.  Some gifts for the kids and some special items for Claire that we’ll give her at special moments in her future life … 16th birthday, college graduation, wedding, etc.  We also ate lunch at a GREAT pizzeria.  29 yuan (about $4.50 USD) for a pizza and some spaghetti!  This market area is what we’ve been looking for since arriving in Guangzhou … we’ll likely head there again tomorrow.  Thanks to Helen for leading us here … it really is perfect for what we were looking for.

After that we headed back to the hotel.  I grabbed our dirty laundry and headed back to Jenny’s while Sandy and Claire went to the hotel lobby.  Sandy will have to elaborate on her experience and conversation she had while there.  I’ll give the quick-quick version.  She met a man who is here adopting (with his wife, but she isn’t here, his 16 year old son is with him) his fourth Chinese child.  They also have 4 biological children … so EIGHT!  Here’s the neat part.  The son they are picking up right now is older and is a “little person” (it’s not un-PC to call him a dwarf here).  They met him while they were adopting their 2nd Chinese child … he lived in the same orphanage as that child and just latched on to them at the time.  Long story short … they inquired about adopting him shortly after and were told it was impossible … he was “un-adoptable” due to his size.  They pushed the issue and asked what would happen to him.  The Chinese government told them that he would be placed in a home for those with mental retardation.  IMAGINE!  They protested, stating the obvious that he wasn’t mentally retarded and actually was VERY bright.  They said that was just what was done here.  At this point they really started to put on the pressure.  While picking up their 3rd Chinese child they asked if they could take the entire orphanage staff to lunch … provided this boy was able to join.  To their surprise, the staff also brought a bag with clothes for a week with them.  He stayed with them for an entire week, but had to go back after that … I honestly can’t imagine how difficult that would be.  Anyway, after that they redoubled their efforts and the government finally relented in allowing the adoption.  They were required to sign some sort of special contract in order to make it happen (probably an indemnification of some kind).  One of the really touching things he told Sandy was something to this effect … “My wife asked if we could really afford to do this, how would we pay for it and would our family be OK with it.  My response was that we will pay for it in mental anguish if we don’t do it.  Can we really live knowing that we left this child to such a future?”

Here’s the thing … we’ve had the chance to talk to numerous adoptive families at this point and there is a common thread.  We all feel “called” to it in some way.  There is a decided Christian bent to it as well.  And so many different kinds of families, different ages and stages in life, different personalities.  So many of the stories being shared with us are so compelling, in a way, our story feels so pedestrian in comparison.  We feel so blessed to have met and talked to so many amazing people!   We feel compelled to be better, to do more and to love in ways we’re not exactly sure how to yet … but we know with God’s help we can.  We love Claire so much and are so grateful for the blessing she is to us.  Hard times will come …we know that … but we also know that this blessing has been delivered to us through God’s will.  We will do our best to be worthy of it.

Shifting gears a bit … the next thing we did was a very fun FIRST!  Swimming in the (freezing) hotel pool!  It was very fun and Claire couldn’t get enough of it.  She had planned this earlier in the day and reminded us about every 5 minutes that it was on the schedule.  (We’re not kidding about the schedule.  Claire announced it this morning and in her words it  went something like this:  sun wake up, eat breakfast, talk to Helen, show doctor owie, swim).  Even though it was so cold … she absolutely loved it.  It was actually much warmer out of the water … so we made sure she had plenty of breaks warming up.  To be fair … I acclimated to the water within a few minutes … so it wasn’t “scout camp” cold.  Videos and pictures below. By the way, just to be clear … I’m pretty sure all of the “little girl” screaming about the cold water came from Sandy or Claire … definitely not from me. Are we all clear on that? I just want to make sure everybody understands that before we move forward.

So … we’re good … right? OK … on to the show.

After that we headed back to the room and Claire was able to watch her newly purchased Xi Yang Yang video (translated Xi Yang Yang means “pleasant goat”).  It’s a very funny cartoon here in China that she loves … so we bought her a small collection to take back home.  We were flipping through the channels with the remote control last night and Claire told us that she used to watch Xi Yang Yang at Baba Mao’s house (the orphanage) – so now we know what the flat screen TV on the orphanage wall was used for.  She also said Baba Mao was good at pushing the buttons on the remote.  Good for him!!  :)   We’re also hoping the video might aid in keeping a bit of her Chinese up for a few years.  Sandy then tried to help Claire paint her fingernails, although Claire didn’t really want the help and they therefore didn’t turn out great.  It literally looked like she dipped her fingers in the bottle.  She promises next time that she’ll let mom help:)

The night ended really great with a collection of songs that Sandy has always sung to the kids. Claire loved this song …

Claire we love you,
Yes we do,
Father in Heaven has blessed us with you,
When we are near you,
We love to hear you,
Whisper so softly that you love us too.
Claire we love you, we love you we do.

So that one was sung about 10 times before bedtime. She would close her eyes and sway her head back and forth. Feeling much better about things after experiences like that.

Sunday was all about walking in the muddy, rainy mess of Shamian Island and neighboring areas and playing at the nearby park (also very muddy).

We spent the first bit of the day looking in some of the local shops and met some very nice and enterprising people.  We wanted to seek out “Jenny” because of her reputation for doing laundry … and boy do we need help with laundry.  I tried to do a lot of it while we were in Nanjing … washing in the bathtub and then hanging dry.  That didn’t work great and was a ton of work one of the nights … I was up about 2 hours after Sandy and Claire had already gone to bed.  Not fun.

We were finally able to find Jenny, but it was difficult.  There is so much construction happening on the island right now … that some of the spots are a bit of a struggle to find.  She was great and her husband was very nice as well … they are a young couple … Jenny is about 24 and her husband can’t be much older.  We bought some fun trinkets and enjoyed getting to know her a little bit.  We were able to help her a bit by writing down some common English words/phrases that she wants to be able to say to her customers.  Fantastically friendly couple.

After a look around some of the shops we went to the neighborhood park to play a bit.  We met a very nice family named the Ellers and their beautiful daughters Olivia (6) and Lydia (3).  They are here picking up Lydia 5 years after being here picking up Olivia.  They are from North Carolina and one of the highlights of the day was hearing that fantastic accent coming out of a beautiful asian girl … see the video and pictures below.

Oh, and when we say “park” what we really mean is “outdoor-adult-gymnasium-with-limited-children’s-play-equipment.”  Seriously.  It is very common around these parts to come upon a “park” full of brightly colored equipment.  But upon close inspection, one quickly notices that the equipment is more of the nautilus variety (minus the weights) and is intended for adult use, though kids do play on it.   In fact, come by the “park” between 5 -6 pm and 90% of the people there will be over the age of 40.  One of the pieces even provides a fantastic back massage.  And best of all, it’s free to the public — no membership required!

We also played with a young local boy Lei Jaa Gai who really enjoyed hanging around … he is also in the video above and some of the pictures below.  He was a good kid … almost 10 years old and he really challenged my Cantonese skills.  He was a non-stop chatter box on all kinds of subjects.  I was exhausted by the end of it because it took my whole concentration trying to play with Claire and understand him at the same time.  It was fun though.  He told me all about a friend of his who had been to America and was asking about Los Angeles and all the neat things there.

Sandy and Claire headed up to the room after that and I headed out to explore a bit.  I mentioned our frustration with “island living” … specifically in regards to the food.  I was determined to find me some ChaSiu Faahn (the chinese bbq pork that I have made for many of you)!  I was successful after what seemed like two hours in the middle of crazy Guangzhou.  Below are a couple of videos of some of the sites …

I then later headed out and actually collected the ChaSiu Faahn for later consumption … AHA! (Sound of heavenly choir)  It was so nice to have some “real” Chinese food and feel like I’m actually in China.

So, all in all, not an eventful day at all.  On the very good side … Claire’s TB test spot is looking VERY good.  If she passes tomorrow … no further doctor’s visits here in China!

The rest of the day was fairly random, but very fun.  After the clinic we met with Helen to make sure all of our paper work was set … it wasn’t.  We were told before we left that all of our paper work was fine, even though some of it was four years old.  Well, frustratingly we had to redo a number of forms here instead of back home.  So what was supposed to be a 15 minute review turned into a 2 hour ordeal … aargh.

After that we took a few minutes to rest and recalibrate in the room.  We flipped on the TV for a few minutes and were pleased to view the little gem below … awesome!

After this we went to grab some lunch.  We stopped at a very good little Thai food place that turned out to be very expensive.  The dishes themselves were a bit pricey … but when they start charging for water and napkins?!  Yeah … a little weird.  It was very tasty though and I over ate for the first time this trip.

We then decided to walk lunch off by crossing the river over into the city.  We just wandered for a while and had an absolute blast.  We happened upon a little alley way that I thought would get us to a specific spot … it didn’t, but was a happy diversion.  We met and talked to a number of different people … all in Cantonese which was a ton of fun for me.  Claire then played with a number of neighborhood children (seen in the video below).  I met a 10 year old boy and we talked about Seth and America … very fun.  We spent probably 45 minutes just playing and meeting people in this little “village in the city”.  We eventually found our way out back to the main street … a fun diversion.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a little souvenir shop to get Claire some traditional “squeaky shoes” and other items.  The video below is of the owner of the shop retelling a famous Chinese phrase.  It is … “Born in Suzhou, Live in Hangzhou, Eat in Guangzhou, Die in Liuzhou”.  Basically it means … you should be born in Suzhou (where Claire is from) because that is the “Hollywood” of China where all of the beautiful people come from.  You should live in Hangzhou because it is a beautiful land of many lakes.  You should eat in Guangzhou because they have the best food.  You should die in Liuzhou because they make the best coffins from their local oak wood forests!  Our Claire is from the city of the beautiful people!

Claire also enjoyed singing at the top of her lungs while we strolled through Shamian Island.

Sandy had purchased a Chinese dress for the Barbie while at “Jordon’s Place” (the shop where we stopped) in an effort to make it slightly less offensive … ringing failure on that count as you can see below.  You see, it turns out that Barbie is a bit more voluptuous than your standard Chinese doll.  The dress has slits on either side of the body, in an effort to make the dress fit … Sandy created another, very inconveniently placed slit!  Here’s the irony of the location though.  Chinese children who are potty training wear “training pants”.  Basically what that means is that there is NO CROTCH!  Also … NO DIAPER!  So children under a certain age are open and free … “down there”.  Well, now so is Claire’s Barbie.  She fits in very well here … if she were 2 years old.

The rest of the night was about trying to find something to eat.  We’ve actually really struggled with the food options here in Guangzhou … anything good has been really pricey.  When we’re in China, we expect to be able to eat any meal for a couple of bucks USD … but we’ve been spending like $30 at each non-breakfast meal (the buffet is free).  Well we tried a Cantonese seafood place … but the service was super slow and there was nothing on the menu that gave us any confidence on Claire’s account.  So we left and went on got some fairly nasty buns with meat inside.  Oh well.  Then we headed back to the room and went to bed!