Waiting and Touring

Our time in Guangzhou has been all about doing something, then waiting. On Monday Ellie’s medical appointment was being documented for immigration, so we waited. While we waited, we did the tourist thing. We went to Shamian Island on Monday morning, which was settled by Europeans in the 1800’s as part of the trading industry. It is very strange to visit because it very closely resembles Historic Charleston, SC, with a little bit of a Chinese twist. The US consulate used to be located here, so it was very popular for adoptive families from the US to stay here. Since the consulate was moved downtown, it’s not as much the case. This is a high tourist area, so we did some shopping and bought Ellie some Chinese silk dresses for now, and when she is older. Since this area is well-known to tourists, there is a western restaurant called Lucy’s that we ate lunch at. It is decorated with movie posters, mostly from the 80’s and 90’s as far as I could tell. They served Chinese food and American food. I enjoyed a cheeseburger! After lunch we came back to the hotel. After Ellie’s nap we went across the street to walk around the mall across the street from the hotel. Tom and I used to go walk around Hanes Mall as newlyweds. We didn’t buy anything usually, it was just something to do, so we are pretty used to window shopping. The window shopping at this mall was much more extravagant than we are used to. Stores included Armani, Saint Laurent, Cartier, Tesla, Alexander McQueen, and others. It was fun to look at the high end designs. Tom enjoyed sitting in the Tesla, his dream car. I enjoyed looking at the Lladro art. 

On Tuesday the medical documents were ready, so we, and several other families, attended our consulate appointments at the US consulate. As I have said before, all adoptive families from the US must visit this particular consulate. What is new that I learned is that anyone wishing to immigrate from China to the US must go through this consulate. Even if they live right next to the US embassy in Beijing, they still have to make the trip to Guangzhou to obtain the immigrant visa. We were not allowed to take cell phones into the consulate, so we took a family picture just outside. It was really nice to see American flags around. It’s one of those things you don’t realize you miss seeing until you see it. There were about 14 families in a DMV type lobby with two rows of chairs and a small play area for the kids. It was nice, but very noisy! The employees sit behind bank teller type windows and use a terrible PA system to speak to you. The noise from the lobby makes it even more difficult to hear. They had one representative from each family come up and together we were all given the very general information. We were told what the process will look like when we go through Immigration at the Port of Entry in the US. We were told what documents we would be given and to NOT LOSE THEM. We were told a bit about the process we would need to complete once home, such as obtaining a social security card for our child. They let us know some other things as well, like about the implications of trying to use our child’s Chinese passport for travel after they are a US citizen. They again told us not to lose the documents we would be given before leaving China. Tomorrow we will receive a sealed brown envelope. We were told that if the envelope is tampered with, Ellie could be refused entry into the US. Since these documents can not be mailed, our only option would be to turn around, fly back to Guangzhou, and have them reissued. Apparently this has never happened to an adoptive family, but it has happened to other people trying to immigrate. We will definitely protect the brown envelope. After we were given the general information, we all took an oath together. This is not the citizenship oath, this was to affirm that everything we have submitted already for our child’s visa and everything we will tell them during the interview is true to the best of our knowledge. After this, each family was called to the bank teller like window individually. We were asked if we felt the medical condition portrayed in Ellie’s file was accurate compared to what we saw when we met her. We were asked if she had ever been to the US. We were asked a few other quick questions, and that was it. We left her Chinese passport and a few other documents. Tomorrow morning our guide will pick them up and deliver them to us at the hotel. The next step in this process is for Ellie to land on US soil, go through Immigration in Newark, and she will officially be a US citizen! I passed through the Newark airport a few times in college going to and from India and Nepal. This is where I saw the skyline of New York City for the first time. I never imagined it would be the place my Chinese daughter would become an American. 

On Tuesday afternoon Ellie napped, Tom went for a run, and then we got ready to go on a dinner cruise on the Pearl River. The Pearl River is the 3rd longest river in China. It is not named this because it has pearls, though this area is known for its pearls. It is named the Pearl River because of it’s role as the “silk road on water” during the time of high trade by water in this area. I have mentioned the vast number of people in the cities in China, so, as you might imagine, in order to house all these people, there are a lot of really tall buildings. Many of these are lit up at night, almost Times Square style. The buildings and bridges along the river are no exception, so they make for an excellent view from the water at night. The dinner was alright. It wasn’t the best Chinese food we have had, but it was ok. The view was great. There was also a juggling show and Ellie got to participate! The juggler spun a basketball on her little finger. She didn’t know what to think about it. 

Wednesday was another day of waiting, this time for Ellie’s immigrant visa, so we did the tourist thing again. We went with a few other families to check out the Safari Park. This is a larger theme park just outside of Guangzhou. It’s hard to describe, maybe similar to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, though not quite to that level. The Safari Park’s claim to fame is that triplet pandas were born there three years ago and are doing well. It seemed a large part of the park was centered around this. There was a “safari” where we took a tram through a savannah type area. It was sort of like the Kilimanjaro Safari ride at Disney, except also very different at the same time. In addition to the trams driving through, there were also personal cars. Some of the animals could pretty much wander right up to the cars. We saw hippos, giraffes, lions, white tigers, deer, brown bears, black bears, elephants and more. After the safari we were able to walk to see several other exhibits, including the koalas, pandas, white tigers, snakes, and others. For lunch we had burgers shaped like pigs. The eyes and nostrils were made out of chocolate syrup, which didn’t taste too bad on a burger. When we walked up to the baboon area two employees were starting to feed the baboons. There were no patrons around, so she gave me a handful of the peanuts she was feeding them and showed me how to toss them to the baboons. They were able to catch them in their mouths. It was fun! The employee also showed us which one was the baboon king. The park just opened a gondola system that stretches the length of the park. We had a little extra time so we rode this to the far end of the park and back. It was fun to look down and see the animals from another perspective. It was also breezy, which was nice because it was SO hot. We got back to the hotel around 4:30, so we rested and then went to our favorite local spot one last time for dinner. We have probably eaten at this restaurant, and ordered the same thing (braised noodles with pork ribs), about four or five times. One of the draws of this place is they will give Ellie a steamed egg for free. Finding food in a restaurant to feed a toddler can be challenging, add the language barrier and it’s nearly impossible. We learned where to point on the menu for the free egg, so half the appeal of this place is the ease of ordering. That and it’s a short walk from the hotel. 

Tomorrow we will meet our guide to get Ellie’s visa and board a van which will take us to Hong Kong. It is prohibitively expensive (and less reliable) to fly out of Guangzhou. So even with paying for the three hour van ride and a hotel in Hong Kong for the night, we still save money by adding this leg to our trip. We have been counting down “sleeps” with Graham. Only two more sleeps (for him) until we see our boys! 

Ellie has been doing much better with attachment with me. She really turned the corner yesterday. As long as she isn’t too tired/grumpy, she will let me hold her even if Tom is around, she woke up from her nap early and let me rock her and put her back to sleep, she has played with me more, and she even let me feed her a bottle! She still prefers him over me, but we are definitely making really good progress and I am so thankful! Thank you for your prayers! Please pray for safe travels tomorrow to Honk Kong as we get closer and closer to FINALLY bringing Ellie home!

At the US Consulate!