2007-01-31 TPA Arrival Home

It was quite a surprise to see so many friends and family at the airport at 6 AM 31Jan2007!  I finally did get the camera back out.  The album above shows everyone that was there.  I can't say that I would made it out to greet anyone at that hour.  You all are great!

Home at Last

Arwen seemed to like her crib and her bedroom at first, but soon started crying and just wanted to be held and carried around everywhere.  It was like starting all over again in China with her.  It was like this for the first 2 days until she realized we were not going anywhere.  Then she really started to enjoy her freedom in the house.  As you can see by the following album she is adjusting very well.

Arwen adjusting well

If you remember from my last post, I could not sleep well because all I could think of was the other Chops I wanted to get. So the first thing I did this morning was race off to Michael's Place (near the tennis courts).  It was really cold outside early in the AM.  I realized that if you want to see the locals in the park doing their excercise, dances, sword practice and fishing this was the time to be out...early.  Unfortunately I did not have my digital camera or video camera with me :(  Oh well, it was our last day so I just took it all in.
So I get to Michael's Place at about 9:00AM and wait and wait, it was now that I also realized the shop owners here are pretty laid back.  I did the smarter thing and when I got back to the hotel...I just called him on his cell phone.  All the shop owners have business cards now.  I proceeded to tell him that I wanted just 9 more chops by 2:00PM...today!!!!  Then I asked the question, "Can you do it by then?"  Of course he can.  What was I thinking, this is China!  Michael is truly amazing.  He got the order at about 10:30AM and had them done by 1:30 in the afternoon!!!!  I was nervous about it getting done, but he did and they looked great!  The granite etchings still were not ready (different store on the main street) and we still were not completely packed.  Not packed, and our largest and heaviest items to pack were not going to be ready until 2:00PM, the new porcelain dolls and a ton of granite etchings!!!! That would give us about 20 minutes to pack all our gift items and have our luggage outside our hotel room door by 2:30!!!

Caught unprepared...that is so not me.  I'm feeling really sick right about now.  It's 2:00PM and I am standing in the shop where I purchased the Granite Etchings and they are still tapping away the last few details on the last etching.  By the way, the "Precious" I mentioned yesterday was actually purchased today at the last minute by my bargaining husband while I was in the shop next door waiting for these granite etchings (I'm so confused). Yesterday he was still in the bargaining phase.  He even took my last 100RMB!!! Desparate, he was.  You should have seen the sick look in his eyes when he thought they might not go for the offer.  

Alright, finally we were back in the hotel room at 2:10PM...we have 4 large porcelain dolls packed in styrofoam boxes (one to fit in each carry-on), 13 Granite Etchings (heavy), and 16 Stone Chops (heavy).  Several CNY outfits for the girls and some other miscellaneous gifts. Our goal was to pack "all" the gift items in our carry-ons, clothes and everything else would now be in our checked luggage...except bottles and sippy cups for the kids.  Was I panicked?  Yes, and now I hear the luggage pick up guy in the hallwway picking up GWCA clients luggage...like I hear him at the room next to ours! Now he is at our door and we are madly shoving the last few items into any pocket of space we can create.  It is amazing what you can do with the power of adrenaline.  Yes!  We were all in the lobby by 2:45 headed off to take our oath at the American Consulate. 

We were told we would travel straight from the AC to get to the Guangzhou airport around 6:00PM.  Why so long?  Well it takes a long time to get to the new AC location.  It use to be located right on the island, however, for those that have BTDT, I am sure you remember being crammed into a tiny little room with "standing room only" if you did not get there first.  Well now you travel a bit of a distance to be in a much larger room that is still filled to capacity and wait and wait for at least what looked like 100 other families waiting to take the same oath.  A large room filled with crying babies.  It should have been a wonderful and emotional experience for us, but my sweetie was unconsolable and crying loudly...and her bottle was on the bus!  It was four stories of escalators to get to this room so there was no going back and possibly missing the oath.  We did not bring it in because we never imagined having to wait so long once in there.  For those traveling behind us...bring the snacks and bottles inside the AC!  Once we finally did the oath it was another long drive to the airport.  So that explains the 3 1/4 hour time slot. 
 
Once at the airport we all got out of the bus. Out of the 6 families there was only the bus driver and two dads pulling all of the luggage out from under the bus.  The other 4 dads had disappeared...I will not explain that one.  As we make our way through the different checks in the airport...I realize that we did not have some of the paperwork filled out for everyone in our party.  So here I am baby strapped to me in the baby bjorn, my clavicles feel like they are about to fracture, carrying my laptop and pulling my oversized carry-on...and trying to not loose our place in line while we are all trying to finish our forms!  Don't make this mistake.

It was very sad to say goodbye to our guide Grace, she was absolutely wonderful and her heart is truly in her work with adoptive families!  She is a sweetheart.

Anyways we finally all get completely checked through and now we are very hungry and mom and I have to pee really bad.  So I go to the nearest help desk, at least this is what it looked like to me.  "Where's the Restroom?"...a confused look..."Potty?" another confused look, "Toilet?" same response.  I am in a desparate situation and I do not have time to try and find my Chinese Cheat Pamphlet buried somewhere in the bottom of my camera case.  So I finally squated all the way down in the middle of the terminal and made a very loud and long pssssssssss sound, I'm sure at this point I probably did not have a very nice look on my face, but it worked!!!!!!!!  They pointed toward some stairs...poor mom she had to leave her walker and travel downstairs to get to the restroom (no elevator in sight in the termi9nal section)...at least they were western pottys.  China is not very disabled friendy in case you have not noticed between the airports and train stations.  Just remember you can always resort to charades for communicating! 

The Guangzhou airport accepts USD and RMB for food and last minute souvenirs.  A non edible hot dog is about $6 USD, really you could not bite through the skin...Todd thought it might have been.....  

Anyways, if you are hungry in this new airport go for the pricey spaghetti and meat sauce.  Soft drinks are $3 USD for a can....sold!  It is just as bad in the LAX airport, but at least you know it is safe food.  Sorry no pics, it was all packed up, it just was not worth it.  Just get me home.

Tonya
I don't think the others want their names tagged to this post.

Today we were told by our guide, Grace, we needed to wait in our rooms, after we had breakfast, until about 11:30AM.  She was headed to the American Consulate with our $380 USD to apply for our child's Visa. We had to wait just in case there were any issues with paperwork, then it could readily be taken care of that same day. There was just one issue for everyone in our group, it was a brand new form that the AC starting requiring. The form we had to redo was a very short one page form. Just FYI the AC has also started requiring proof of expiration dates on your I-171H documents before they will give your agency your CA.

Now the day was ours!  SHOPPING!!!  Of course the granite etchings would not be ready until 2 hours before we are supposed to be checked out of the White Swan tomorrow...crazy!  We really had not done any other shopping other than putting our orders in for granite etchings.  So we had a lot to do if we were going to bring home souvenirs for friends and family...considering we only had the rest of today to shop and tomorrow morning before checking out at 2:30pm.  I ordered some Chops, and Todd found his favorite porcelain dolls.  We already had two of the porcelain dolls from 2004.  We found four we liked, except 3 of them had small chips.  We said we would buy them once we bargained a great price "if" he could get new ones...of course he did by that evening!  I ordered a bunch of chops, from Michael's Place, he is the best on the island and has been doing it longer than anyone else on the island from what I am told.  These are carved into stone by hand.  They were ready that evening.  I liked them so much that while I was trying to sleep that night all I could think of was getting some more...but I leave tomorrow??? 

Todd also could not overcome his temptation to purchase an antique vase...and now he can't even remember what dynasty it was from!  It is very old, at least over 100 years.  He has also obtained a coin that is over 100 years old.  I refer to the vase as his "Precious" from LOTR, I almost got in big trouble when he thought it might have broken inside the carry-on because I allowed it to be placed under the bus, instead of carried onto the bus.  However, I was not told it was in that carry-on, and actually wouldn't that be his fault from not packing it well???  Probably best not to answer that question.  A photo of his "Precious" is also included in the album below along with the other souvenirs you can get on Shamian Island. I personally do not care for the portrait paintings inside the glass bottles, they are pricey. However, they would be really nice if you had the time to make sure you had a good artist.  Then they are quite amazing.  I always wonder who paints the ones that are on display???

Shamian Island Treasures

Arwen is adjusting to her new family very well...she is very jealous of her Big Sister.  She was definately an only child in her Foster Care home. We absolutely love her, she is so sweet...and very spicy...and very tiny.  She is about the size of a 9 month old, although she is 15 months old.  They did not weigh her correctly at her medical they said she was 19lbs, but she really is 17.5lbs.  A couple pounds on a little one makes a big difference.

Tonya, Todd, Aubrey and Arwen

16. Chen Family Temple 1-28-2007

Today after breakfast we met in the lobby at 10:00am to go see the Chen Clan Academy which the locals refer to as the Chen Ancestral Hall.  It was built during the Qing Dynasty (1888-1894).  It is truly a very beautiful temple.  They work hard to keep it preserved, as a matter of fact they were working on it while we were there.  It is filled with folk arts like Bone Carvings, Wood Carvings, Stone Carvings, Silk Embroidery, and cultural relics.  I enjoyed seeing this more than the Six Banyan Tree Temple which we toured during our first adoption in 8-2004.  Following this we did an hour shopping trip at the local Jade Factory.  If you want real jade, quality jade, you will pay for it, and this place is supposedly less expensive than others jade stores.  I was also told that most of the jade on Shamian Island is probably fake.  Well many families really enjoyed this store, I could take it or leave it...and I was really ready to leave it :)  I was so interested, that I didn't even take any photos. However when you are in China you are suppose to buy jade.  Something is just wrong with me.  I did think the snake soaking in a liquor bottle for medicinal purposes was pretty cool.  What was this doing in a jade store???  To entertain people like me.

17. Red Couch Photos, Hunan Travel Group Photo and play time 1-28-2007

Ahhhh, to be back at the hotel for a quick nap and then photos!!!!  While Sleeping Beauty got her beauty rest, I tried desperately to conceal the circles under my eyes.  That was a waste of good time.  What I should have done instead was take a nap! Next thing I knew, it was time to get down to the lobby. We got down there about a 1/2 an hour early so we could try to get some family photos by the waterfall...before the unavoidable crying session at the Red Couch...we had seen it before in 2004. Well, you know how it goes with kids and family photos...they are never both looking at the camera at the same time.  Then when they do look at the camera, the adults have their mouths open telling the kids to look at the camera and to sit still???  Why is that???  That is why we have Adobe Photoshop!!!  So below you can view the album of the before picture, the after picture and the two pictures that I used to paste happy faces on my kids.

Adobe Photoshop Family Photo

Tonya, Todd, Aubrey, Arwen and NaiNai