Thursday

On Thursday, we had our US Consulate appointment. This is where we take an oath and then they approve her Visa to come to the US. This is the appointment that the whole trip is based around. It was fairly quick and painless! We had the rest of the day free. We came back and got McDonald’s for lunch and then we walked around the shops at the hotel and explored. We took some pictures of some the places around the hotel. For dinner we tried the hotel buffet and discovered we should just stick to the breakfast here. It was ok but not a whole lot we would eat. It had a lot to do with us not being adventurous but we are being picky. On Friday, we will get our Visa from our guide and then take a van to Hong Kong where we will stay the night. We will get up Saturday morning and fly home! We can’t wait to see everyone. Especially our kiddos!

Wednesday

Today we had the medical exam. This is what we have to do as part of Lucy’s US Visa. Lucy does not like the doctor at all. The minute he walked in she screamed. There were 3 screenings we had to go to. First, they did her weight, which at 7.8 kg. They also did her length and temperature. I am not sure about her length. Her temp was normal. The next station they called ENT. However, when he walked in she started screaming so her exam was brief. Last, we went to a doctor that measured her head and examined her briefly. Once again, it was quick due to the screaming. Once we were given the ok we then left to do some shopping. We went to one shop and then a pedestrian street mall. We hated we didn’t take our camera because it was really cool. It was made to look like a New York street with lots of shops on each side. We bought another piece of luggage to carry home our souvenirs.  It cost us about $17 US dollars.  At the end of the street was an area made to look like Times Square! Again, we hated not to have our camera on us for that!  We also got to experience a gas station when our van filled up with gas. It was interesting because it was a full service station that appeared to have mainly women filling the gas tanks.Wednesday was a busy day but good. We enjoyed another dinner of McDonalds.

Monday and Tuesday

On Monday we had a free day and spent the day in our room. We ventured out to the playroom and discovered Lucy likes the walker! She flew around the room and had fun exploring. We ate snacks in the room for lunch and then ordered our usually pizza for dinner!

On Tuesday we packed up and flew to Guangzhou. Lucy did well on the flight but the 14 hour one on the way home will be interesting. We had something funny happen after our flight here. A Chinese lady come up from behind us and was saying something about baby and not crying on flight. Then she looked at Lucy and said, “That baby Chinese, where her mama?” We tried to explain the adoption thing to her. Thankfully, a stewardess was able to translate to her. She then smiled and said, “Good!” It was really funny!

We are now in the China Hotel and had McDonald’s for supper! So all is well with the world again! This hotel is much more visitor friendly as far as location and area. We walked in the lobby to about 10 American families with their Chinese babies! We feel much better tonight then we have all week. Our next few days are busy with appointments. Tomorrow we go to the medical exam. That should be fun!

 

 

Sunday

 

Today was another sightseeing day. We went to a park and an art museum. Just so you know I don’t exaggerate about the heat. My camera lens fogged up from the heat and I couldn’t take pictures! The hear again was unbearable and I think the babies were as miserable as us. The museum was air conditioned so that helped for a while. I really feel sorry for our guide because she is trying hard to entertain us but we are so hot everywhere we go it is hard to get excited about what we are seeing. I must have done a good job at asking questions and sounding interested because later our Kentucky friends said they were glad I knew what to ask and was interested in the art! Ha! Anyway, we got finished fairly earlier and went back to the hotel. We decided to venture to the corner market for some drinks and check out their items. I got some chopsticks for all my students in my class! We then ate a decent meal in the hotel. I got a ham sandwich and Allen tried fried rice. He got it plain and it was not so bad. The sandwich was edible so we got a meal in. Our waiter spoke a good bit of English and he struck up a conversation with Allen after lunch. He was asking why we were here and where we were from. He was very nice. At the end Allen said he either said you have a beautiful wife or you have a beautiful city (they discussed where we were from). Allen said he just said yes and smiled! I will say for the most part people here are kind and they do smile when they see us with the babies. Most of the elder women get very excited and some come touch them and say things. They seem very happy for the babies. We also got a few couples who said things to our guide while out about pretty babies and lucky babies.  The hard thing here is there are people everywhere you go and mopeds, bikes, cars, taxis and buses. It is crazy busy all the time. I couldn’t imagine driving here! Our friends from England left this morning and we hope to see them at our next stop. We are going to order a pizza with our Kentucky friends tonight. Tomorrow (Monday) our guide will pick up Lucy’s passport and bring it to us. This is what we have been waiting on! Then Tuesday we will fly to Guangzhou. We will be there until Friday then we will take a van to Hong Kong and stay the night before our flight on Saturday! Please ignore all typos! I am emailing these to my awesome brother who is posting on my blog for me. I don’t have the energy to go back and proofread!

 

 

 

Saturday

Today we woke up to our usual breakfast in the buffet downstairs and then met our guide at 9 am for some sightseeing.  We went to the pavilion for some sightseeing. It is a beautiful structure. However, when it feels like 115 out you really don’t pay much attention to the details. I can say it has 89 steps that led up to it because we walked them and then six more flights to get to the top for music and dance show. We also got to purchase some small souvenirs for home. After we left there we went back to the hotel for the afternoon. We decided to not eat lunch and just snack in the room. Our guide wanted to take us to eat at a Chinese restaurant so we met her at 6 for dinner. We went to dinner with our friends from England and Kentucky. I was hopefully that we would find something good to eat. So far there has not been much here that tastes good. Papa John’s pizza has been our saving grace! However, I could tell the minute we walked into the restaurant I was in trouble. The smells here are different and they burn a lot of incense here and it is really strong. I tried several of the dishes but I could not eat them. Our guide ordered for us and asked for no spice. She said in Nanchang they like their food very spicy and most westerners don’t like that. I just can’t get over the smell enough to eat most things here. It has been really hard. Allen tried a few things and ate a little but we are missing the taste of foods at home! Lucy enjoyed everything and we haven’t found much she won’t eat! I am thinking she will be growing into her 12 month clothes by the time we get home! We got down with dinner by 7 and were in bed by 8. Our bodies are still not on the right time. We often wake up at 4 or before and have a hard time going back to sleep. Lucy is absolutely perfect and we couldn’t ask for better! She is funny and into everything. It is rough containing her in the room and she gets restless and we have to go walk just to get out and about. She eats well for us and seems happy. We are getting lots of grins and giggles from her. It is rough being away from the kids, our family and friends and the familiar things of home. But we would do it again to bring her home! It is worth it and I know we don’t have anything to complain about it.  We have made it here a week and will leave Nanchang on Tuesday to go to Guangzhou. We hear it is better as far as places to go and food. Our hotel is in a busy spot and it is not easy for us to venture out on our own much. We have gone to the corner market for drinks but that is about it. We are hoping our next stop will be more comfortable for us!

 

 

Friday-Day In

Today we had no business and spent the day in our room and at the hotel. We decided we were not going to sleep all day because we really needed to try and do something. So we opened our curtains and tried to sit in the chairs and not the bed. It worked and we stayed up a good part of the day. Lucy slept a good bit but also played a lot more today. She had fun playing with her stacking cups and toys. We decided to order room service in because one of the other couples had an appointment and the other had a sleeping baby at lunch time. We ordered plain fried rice with fried egg and French fries. The rice was actually pretty good and we ate it and so did Lucy. Of course, we have not found something she won’t eat except for formula. After lunch Lucy decided she wanted out of the room so we went and walked around the lobby of the hotel. We looked at fish in the pond and strolled around. She does well in the stroller and likes to be out. We then came back to the room to nap. Allen walked to the corner store with our friends from Kentucky while she and I napped. After our naps we got up and played some more in our room. Lucy snacked on her favorite snack and ate some applesauce. We then went down to the lobby to call in pizza for our group. We met in the play area again and had more fun with the other couples. It is nice to have someone to talk to and share this experience with. On Saturday, we are headed to a pavilion for some sightseeing with our guide. Hoping it is not too hot but will be glad to get out of the hotel for a while!

Things about Lucy:

• She loves to eat about anything. So far she likes-puffs, corn curls (Chinese snack), eggs, fried rice, watermelon, applesauce, prunes and pizza (LOVES)!

• She is starting to babble and talk to us a lot.

• When she smiles she has two dimples on both sides.
• She can crawl and walks a few steps when holding on to our hands.
• She observes us all the time and likes to have one us in her sight!
• She finally liked her bath last night!
• She does not like to have her diaper changed or her clothes changed!

I am typing this at 5:48 Saturday morning here. Allen and I have been up since around 3:30.It has been hard getting our bodies to adjust to the right time! A week from today we will be flying home! YAY!

Thursday-Notary, Park and Temple

We started off Thursday with our usual breakfast buffet in the hotel. We had toast with jelly, cornflakes and got adventurous and drank grape juice! After breakfast we went to the notary to have some documents notarized. Then our guide, Alicia took us to a park. The park was filled with people doing lots of different dancing and movement. There were lots of elderly people doing tai-chi and other dances together. We also saw people playing musical instruments. It was interesting to see but very hot. After we left the park she took us to see the Buddhist temple. They were having a ceremony for a festival the next day so we just went through quickly. Many families talk about having a monk bless their baby as part of tradition but we did not do that. Our guide was very respectful of our beliefs. We finished early and she offered to take us somewhere else because it was so early but we told her we were fine. As I mentioned, we are travelling with a father and daughter from Kentucky and thankfully they feel the same as we do and the heat is just too much for us and the babies. So we returned to the hotel early. We spent a lot of Thursday sleeping. We ate snacks in our room for lunch and just stayed in. On Thursday night we had a pizza dinner with our friends from Kentucky and our England friends. It was nice to get together and talk to one another. It is interesting to learn about the difference in England and the US! We ordered pepperoni pizza and it was a lot like home. Lucy is still doing awesome! She had her first poop! I know TMI but it is an important event we have been waiting on! She is comfortable with both of us and just must have one of us in her sight. We have noticed that she plays well with the other babies and probably the most outgoing and adventurous! We can’t wait to see her and Madison together! Should be interesting!