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China Time:

 


Travel Date: 1/22/2009
Subject: Last Day in China

What we did today:
This auspicious day has come and is almost gone. The princess is bathed, her teeth are brushed, she is tucked in bed watching a Dora movie, and now we need to pack up our bags. At 5:30 am on Friday we need to be totally packed and ready to check out of the Asia International Hotel here in Guangzhou.

Our group took one more group picture together at 10:00 am today. Last time in the park we were missing one family and then we missed another again today. Many of the kids were dressed in traditional Chinese silk outfits for this picture. Keziah Huidong’s outfit was one we purchased in her province. She looked so cute in our room. I even managed to catch her long enough to put barrettes in her hair. Then we went down to the lobby to wait for all the families to gather.

All that cuteness stayed upstairs in our room. Once we were in the lobby, she went wild. She played for a few minutes with some of the other kids until the lobby security told them to stop pushing and chasing one of the kids in a stroller. Now with nothing else to do, she had to resort to pushing all her parents’ buttons. She dashed for the open door to run out of the lobby, she tried once again to pick the tiny mandarin oranges from the decorative plants in the lobby, and then she discovered a secret passage under a staircase into the lobby bar area.

Enough was enough so Christopher picked her up and held her. The child who has begged, whined, and thrown fits to be picked up was now screaming and crying hysterically again because she was being held. These weren’t little screams…they were blood-curdling screams. When Christopher was worn out, I got to take over just in time for pictures. Little Miss Attitude didn’t want anyone near her, especially her Baba.

After all this fun, we still had a full day ahead. We needed to make a trip to the Carrefour again. Caleb, our oldest, is studying Chinese in high school, and with Monday being Chinese New Year his class is having a special food day. “Mom and Dad, can you bring me back some real Chinese candy?” How hard could this be? Just ask the front desk for a little card that has the location we want to go to and the hotel’s address so we can get back. We asked three different people, “Carrefour…grocery store?”

Well, we ended up in a shopping area, but no where near the Carrefour. Now what do we do? I wasn’t feeling brave and didn’t want to waste all our time so we got in another taxi. We remembered that the Carrefour was near the Chen Family Museum we were at yesterday, and this was one of the choices on our card. Yeah! We made it. We finished our shopping and even made it back to the hotel in only one taxi.

Lunched at KFC again, but our girl threw another fit when we left KFC because we didn’t buy her ice cream this time. Now we needed to get ready to go to the American Consulate for the official ceremony and final step before we would receive her visa.

This much anticipated event was really more of a non-event. There are no pictures because we could take nothing in to the building. No cameras. We step forward with a copy of her passport and each of ours just to verify that we were who we said we were. Then we waited some more. Big ceremony! “Raise your right hand. Blah blah blah…Do you swear that everything you have submitted to the US government about this child is true and accurate?” “I do,” responds a room filled with adoptive parents. Done. Here’s your packet of papers that you can’t open until it is handed over to immigration officials in the US. Good-bye. It was the first time both of our AWAA groups have really been together because we’ve always been at separate hotels.

Now the good-byes began. Two of the nine families in our group left immediately for the airport. Of the remaining seven, six will leave for the airport early tomorrow morning, and one will remain behind to fly to Beijing for a few more days. Of the six, five of us will spend the day at the Shanghai airport waiting for our evening flight to Chicago. Already there is talk of getting back together for a reunion. Of course the choice location is near a family in Florida as opposed to the family in Fairbanks, Alaska. We also know that it will be hard on all the kids to be apart. They have all become close too.

For our last dinner in China, we went back to the Italian buffet. Not very Chinese, but familiar and easy for dinner. What did Keziah Huidong eat for dinner tonight? Virtually everything was refused, except for a roll, a watermelon slice, two oranges, and some shrimp. Not just any shrimp! Not just with the tails! These things still had eyes! Christopher and I hoped she knew how to eat these things because we weren’t excited about touching them. So just how many did she eat? Take a good guess first…how many could you eat?

24! Yes I typed that right and we counted every single one. She even refused cake when we offered. She just wanted more shrimp.

One sleep left…if I get the suitcases packed quickly…then my little girl will leave behind the country of her birth. We tried to have our guide talk to her about the travel plans tomorrow, but how do you explain to a six-year-old that her entire world which has already changed so much will change even more than she can imagine?

Photos... (click image to enlarge)



Final views out our hotel window





All dressed up



Our Asian Princess



Throwing another fit



How loud can I scream?



AWAA Travel Group 142B