Sunday, January 28, 2007

Today I have decided that there are just too many photos of Becca posted on this website. I know you all are getting tired of seeing photo after photo of her so I'll just post one more photo today and the rest of the trip will be of Guangzhou. Just kidding! I can hear Cathy Martin screaming and yelling at me, "What's wrong with you???"

As noted yesterday, we are now in Guangzhou at the White Swan Hotel. This hotel is on Shamian Island next to the Pearl River. Guangzhou is considered a large city with over 10 million people. There are about 15 large sized cities in China. Hefei was considered a medium city with 3 million; about 25 medium sized cities are in China. The reason we are in Guangzhou is because the American Consulate is located in this city. Every American family adopting a child from China is channeled to Guangzhou to do the appropriate paperwork for their child's visa to enter the United States. And many families stay at the White Swan Hotel because it is next door to the American Consulate. Last year, however, the Consulate's adoption department moved across town. Our agency decided that we would still stay at the White Swan Hotel due to its elegance and familiarity with American families; there also is a traditional aspect for adoptive families to stay at this hotel. I've been told that there are presently over 200 American families staying at the White Swan with their adopted child.

Unfortunately, with so many Americans around, the cultural aspect of our voyage has been diluted. One can see a vast difference from our child's finding province and this one. Guangzhou is China's doorway to the rest of the world and this connection is reflected by so many European influences. The buildings are architecturally similar to areas in Europe, and many of the Chinese people here speak English. Walking around Shamian Island, it almost feels like I'm in Chinatown in San Francisco, Chicago or New York and once I return back to the White Swan, it's like I'm still in America. This is nice and refreshing for most adoptive families here, but I do already miss the culture that was left behind in Hefei.

This morning we started out with breakfast at the breakfast buffet in the River Garden coffee shop in the hotel. About 50 tables were filled with American families and their adopted child; I didn't see one Chinese adult in the entire restaurant. The buffet was delicious. After breakfast, we all met to have our children's photo taken for their visas. We headed to Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church (they have 5 Christian churches in Guangzhou, 2 of which are Catholic) only to find out that we missed the only Mass of the day - we were given the ending rather than the starting time of Mass. We did learn that Christianity can be openly practiced by the Chinese in China - the restrictions on religious freedom were lifted several years ago. In fact, our guide Lina is Christian.

The rest of the day we spent walking and shopping around Shamian Island. For the FAPs, several "conveniences" of home are within walking distance from the White Swan Hotel. Beatrice's, the friendly community store, has diapers and wet wipes as well as beverages, snacks and toiletries. Lucy's, the American style restaurant made famous by adoptive families, is nearby. We also learned that there are massages available close to the hotel with a 75 minute foot, head, neck and shoulder massage costing around 12 dollars. So, after you get muscle spasms from toting the little one around with your Snugli or Baby Bjorn, you can then relieve the tension with a nice, inexpensive massage. Laundry is also inexpensive at the shops around the hotel and the clothes are so nicely wrapped with same day service; they even provide you with a free stroller for the duration of your stay. And the deals are phenomenal; though you have to be willing and ready to bargain. Most of the salespeople on the island will try to pressure you into a sale. I personally don't like to bargain as I really don't know what all this stuff is worth - I guess it's worth what I'm willing to pay for it. One way to bargain is to lowball their price - if they say the price is 100 Yuan, you can counter with 25 Yuan and then meet in the middle at about 50 Yuan. Or, you can act interested in your item and then inform them that it is too much at their asking price and simply walk away. They will follow you with a lower price. We did buy Becca several "squeaky shoes" at $2.50 a pair.