Sunday,
October
24, 2010
Who would have thought there was actually blue sky above
Guangzhou? That is however what we woke up to this morning. We
had gorgeous blue skies and the temperature was near perfect so
after that incredible White Swan breakfast, we wanted to head
outdoors as quickly as possible.
Do any of you Chinese adoption veterans remember the smell
inside the White Swan? It's a sweet fragrance combined with
cigarette smoke and a little bit of a dewy edge from years of
having an indoor water feature. Once in a while at home we will
catch that smell somewhere and it has the effect of taking you
back instantly. Maybe it's because of the enormous emotional
impact of adoption, but the impressions you get in this place
are so significant as to be permanently etched on your mind. The
other big impression is the breakfast. Nothing's changed. All
the same food is still there at all the same food stations, and
it's still great (with the exception of anything dairy). What is
different for us though is that we were the ONLY adoption family
in there this morning, and the place was packed with this trade
fair going on. More adoption families will be rolling in
throughout the week, but we were it until the Perrys arrived
this afternoon. Sitting at breakfast near the window to the
Pearl River, we reminisced about good conversations with other
families last time that have since become new lifelong friends.
It isn't war, but it certainly does create a Band of Brothers
kind of effect. We all went through the same procedures to come
out with new additions to our families that have enriched our
lives (and theirs) in so many ways. If you're reading this and
you will be traveling to China for the first time, don't take
this element of it for granted. Get to know people as well as
you can and thoroughly enjoy each other. After the fact, make
sure you're on Facebook or something where you can keep in touch
all the time. It has been very satisfying to the soul to watch
our daughters grow up, even if from afar. Some of us have even
traveled to visit each other since the first trip and we're
planning a bigger reunion next summer.
Out the door we went. The first stop was the chapel on the
island to see if it would be possible to go to Mass in
Guangzhou. The chapel itself is beautiful but unfortunately it
is also closed for renovation. We tried to find any Religious we
could but there was nobody in sight and all the buildings were
also under renovation. They must have been temporarily
relocated. A Rosary a little later in the evening would have to
suffice today.
We pressed on and explored the newly renovated island. With the
exception of the chapel, pretty much all the construction is
done and the island looks great. We're bummed that La Dolce Vita
is closed, but everything else seems intact for the most part.
Most importantly, Cow and Bridge is still there, as is Starbucks
and Jordon's. Lucy's is an institution and it's of course still
there. The Station has changed hands and is now something called
the Orient Express, but we have yet to try it. The green space
down the center of the island looks fantastic and all the
gardeners were out pruning and shearing. As usual, there were
the ubiquitous bridal photographers out snapping photos of young
couples in their rented outfits. In an international district
like Shamian Island, there are no end of interesting backdrops
for photo shoots. I suppose that's why they're here, as well as
why they do the model shoots here too. We found one of those
going on today also.
We walked down to the end and then headed back along the river
through People's Park. The temperature was so pleasant that
there really weren't any swimmers this time. We'd become
accustomed to the unusual sight of people stripping down to
their skivvies and then cannonballing off the seawall into
arguably one of the most polluted rivers in the world. Today
there was only one lone lady washing her feet at the bottom of
the steps. It was morning so of course there were all the
community activities going on. A group of boys ages 5 to 92 were
practicing martial arts. Random individuals were performing
their daily Tai Chi. Then there was the large group doing their
ballroom dancing in the open area near the river's edge. These
people and these sites have become something we are quite fond
of. The locals are incredibly nice and incredibly extroverted. I
think part of why they hang out down here is to practice their
English. We would get parents frequently telling their children
to say hi to us in English. Once they did, they got a big laugh
out of us saying hello back. Cute kids transverse any language I
guess.
After rounding the corner back toward Lucy's, we ran into
several groups of people playing "hacky-bird". At least that's
what we call it, but it's the Asian version of a hackysack. It
has a leather bottom with a bound stand of feathers sticking out
of it perpendicularly. Around the stems of the feathers it has
several plastic washers to give it weight. In some ways they
actually work better than a hackysack. We were beckoned by some
locals to come over and join their game. Gavin was in Heaven
because he'd been wanting to try. There was kind of a leader in
this group and he was pretty much the Jackie Chan of hacky-bird.
That thing would disappear over his head, only to be kicked
right back over off the flat sole of his shoe without even
looking. He'd get tricky with it and clap his hands for show
whenever he'd do it. So there we stood, for more than an hour,
just playing hacky-bird with the nicest Chinese people you'd
ever meet. No one could understand each other at all, but my
son's life will be forever changed by this little event.
It had warmed up by now and Gavin was drenched in sweat. That
meant a Slurpee was in order. There are two Seven Elevens on the
island. The one next to the White Swan does not have a Slurpee
machine that we saw. The one down by the international clinic
does. It took us a bit to remember where it was but Gavin got
his Slurpee. We tried to pop in to Jordon's place, but it was
Sunday and since he's one of the few Chinese Christians, he was
out for the day. Good man. He told us last time that he likes to
go up to White Cloud Mountain with his family on the weekends.
Back at the hotel we settled in for a little relaxation in the
room. Our plan is to eat the free breakfast in the hotel,
protein bars and other snacks that we brought for lunch, and
then out for dinner on most nights. We want to beat the $80 USD
per diem that Holt suggests because that's just too much. April
and Gavin laid down for a little bit and I caught up on email,
etc.
The Perrys got in around 5:00 from Beijing. Raymond had brought
them in from the airport as he had done with us the night
before. Leda gave us our red book and badges from the
orientation they'd attended in Beijing. We didn't attend it this
time because we'd already done it last time, and it would have
cost us nearly $2,000 to do the Beijing leg. We elected to do
Hong Kong afterwards instead. While they got settled into their
room, we ventured out again to sit and look at our red book.
Because of the Journey of Hope program our daughter is in, we've
stayed pretty well updated. There wasn't too much that was new
to us in the book so it was a quick read. Last time, everything
in the book was new to all the families so it was a very
exciting experience. That experience in Journey of Hope is just
replaced by periodic emails you get with photos, questions, etc.
We headed to dinner at Cow and Bridge. This is a kitschy,
pan-Asian, mostly Thai restaurant located on the city side of
the island by the false river. The menu is like Cheesecake
Factory, having probably 20 pages of stuff to choose from. Some
of it is plenty nasty, but there are lots of tame choices too.
Todd and Leda's boy Taylor even got some Thai style french
fries, which were a lot like…you guessed it…regular french
fries. Now, April and I have never actually met Todd and Leda.
We've just become friends through the adoption process, Facebook,
etc. We were leap-frogging each other all through this new Hague
process, wondering if by chance we might travel together. Thanks
to the Autumn Festival, it happened. In the end we were about a
week behind them and getting nervous that we'd travel much later
than they would. Because of the festival, the Chinese government
was taking a week off (it's like Thanksgiving in China). They
therefore wanted to get as many processed as possible and ours
was in the batch. Lo and behold we were given our travel
approvals the same day! So he we all were, never having met each
other but having a great time as if we'd known each other for
years. Because of the language barrier with the restaurant
staff, there was plenty to laugh about too. It is so great to be
here, but even better if you can enjoy it with other families.
Well, that's it for now. I know some won't endeavor to finish
these posts all the way to the end, but we learned last time
that people really appreciate the detail so they can prepare for
their own experiences. The main reason though, is that this blog
is a chronicle of events for Gemma. We want to patch as many
holes for her as possible and if that means spending a little
extra time with the detail, it's a labor of love worth doing. |
Beautiful blue skies over Guangzhou
Oops! Candid shot while getting ready for the day.
(She's still
beautiful!)
Looking down the center of Shamian Island
Practicing martial arts
Morning Tai Chi
Practicing ballroom dancing
A little boy with his snappy "good luck" haircut
A very friendly local with her son
Playing "hacky-bird" with some locals
 |
