WE ARE IN
GUANGZHOU!!!
Today we left
Nanchang. It was bittersweet for most of us.
I woke up in the middle of the night with a
stomach ache so I pretty much laid awake all
night wondering if it was going to affect our
day. So this made me pretty tired and pretty
emotional!!! It was very hard to say goodbye
to James and Jackie (our CCAI Reps). They
have been our lifeline since arriving in
Nanchang. Our every want and need was taken
care of with military precision and timing.
our appointments, our meals, our flights, our
tours, everything. They were there when we
all received our babies. I cried when we said
goodbye. We all feel we were very lucky to
have met such wonderful people. A lot of us
were also sad to be leaving our daughters
province. We flew from Nanchang to Guangzhou
on China Southern airlines. This was the MOST
TURBULENT flight we have ever been on. Even
Brandon was worried. However, he didn't
mention that to me until we were OFF the
plane. In the last 10 minutes of the flight
the gentleman behind us threw up in the
aisle. We originally thought he was just
making the ever popular hawking noise.
Brandon turned around and then immediately
looked at me and exclaimed "Your NOT going to
believe this." Then, instead of cleaning it
up, the flight attendants threw newspapers on
the floor. CHARMING!!! I kept my nose in
Kiah's sweet smelling hair. Much rather smell
the Baby Magic hair wash then anything
else!!!
We landed in
Guangzhou and met our new CCAI Reps Kathy and
Bruce. We had a 50 minute trip to the White
Swan Hotel. The White Swan Hotel is a 5-star
hotel on Shamian Island in Guangzhou. It is
very beautiful and FULL of Americans adopting
Chinese babies. In fact, that is about all
you see here. We had met several couples from
our DTC group already. We quickly realized
that things were much different here. Normal
food and drink was easy to come by. Everyone
here speaks English. We were joking calling
it the United States of China. We realize
that in Nanchang we were in "real China" where
here it is so modernized!!! Don't get me
wrong. we are happy to be here!!!
After we checked
into our rooms we rushed downstairs for
lunch. I had a Sirloin Steak sandwich on
foccacia bread and Brandon had Lasagna!!!
How's that for American food!!! Our bags were
then delivered to our rooms. We hung out for
awhile and then met Kathy for our first
official appointment. We went to get all of
the babies Visa pictures taken. We then
strolled around Shamian Island. There is SO
MUCH shopping here. All of the stores cater
to Americans adopting. We spent A LOT of
money this evening. We then went back to the
hotel restaurant and had another great
dinner. Chicken Fajitas and Cheeseburgers!!!
Tomorrow we have
Kiah's official Visa Medical Examination at
9am. Then we have a 2 hour meeting to
complete the paperwork for the Consulate.
We wanted to say
CONGRATULATIONS to the Battlefield High School
JV Cheerleaders for getting 2nd
place in their competition on Saturday!!! WOO
HOO!!! We knew they could do it!!! They are
awesome!!!!
We are one step
closer to coming home now. Less than 1
week!!!
Love to Jake and
Katelyn!!!
Love from the
White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou,
-Nicole, Brandon
and Kiah!!!
