Shamian Island and our last days in Guangzhou

Tuesday through Friday were essentially free days for us in Guangzhou. 

On Tuesday we stayed around the hotel and enjoyed taking our time at breakfast and playing on the playground that was in our hotel. In the afternoon our guide delivered Milo's visa paperwork to us. His citizenship paperwork came in a brown envelope with strict instructions to guard it with our lives and not to open it.  It felt really good to be done with the official parts of our trip and to know that all the paperwork we had slaved over for the last 18 months was correct! 

On Wednesday our guide took us shopping and to Shamian Island. Another adoptive dad and his son who were also using our guide joined us as well. Spending time with other adoptive families was one of the best parts of our trip!
Shamian Island has a really interesting history. Until recently, the US consulate was located there and it is still the location of the Polish consulate. It also used to be where almost all Americans adopting children would stay. I have read so much about Shamian Island while researching Chinese adoption, it was amazing to finally be there! I've heard many people say it feels like New Orleans and having recently been to New Orleans ourselves, we had to agree! It was very peaceful and felt like a different world compared to downtown Guangzhou.

Shamian Island is a very popular location for weddings and fashion photo shoots

For lunch our guide and driver took us to a traditional Cantonese restaurant on the island and it was easily the best meal we had on this trip. It was really delicious and included a chicken dish, a seafood dish with tiny whole shrimp, noodles, a broccolini dish and steamed egg for Milo. Brian also got to enjoy a Chinese beer!

Thursday was our last day in Guangzhou. This was a tough day for Brian and I. We were missing our pets, family and friends at home, but we both agreed that we weren't ready to leave China. We knew this was a once in a lifetime experience and we weren't ready to see it end. So, we decided to explore as much as possible and really make the most out of our last day. 
In the morning we went to Yuexiu park, which was right down the street from our hotel. We were really lucky that both cities we visited had amazing parks with tons of trees and walking paths. Yuexiu park is located on 212 acres and has a lake, amusement park and is also home to the Five Ram sculpture. As CSU Ram fans we knew we couldn't miss that! The sculpture has a lot of history behind it, click on this link to learn more about the legend of the Five Ram sculpture. 

We think that people make wishes on those red cloths and throw them into the tree. It looked even more amazing in person!

That afternoon we took a taxi to a different part of Guangzhou where the Garden Hotel is located. Many adoptive families stay at the Garden for it's great location, so we decided to check it out. We stopped by a Target like store called Aeon and spent a lot of time checking out the cool and different products. We would have bought a lot more if we weren't already panicking about how heavy our suitcases were going to be. 

Our long trip home started bright and early on Friday morning. More on that to come!




 

The cutest new American and a cruise down the Pearl River

Monday April 28th was the day that our entire trip had been based around, Milo's United States Consulate appointment. Children adopted internationally from China are not allowed to keep dual citizenship, so this appointment was to ensure we had done all of the proper paperwork for Milo to become an American citizen. When we travel home, Milo will use his Chinese passport for the first and only time and he will be an American citizen from the moment our plane touches down in Seattle.  

We had to get up bright and early for this appointment, not something we were used to during our time in China! Milo wanted to dress up for the occasion and he looked so cute in the bow-tie that our friend made for him!

So sleepy!

Our guide and driver picked us up at 7:30 am from our hotel. We stopped to pick up Milo's medical exam paperwork and then walked over to the consulate. The US Consulate had recently moved to this location and it is in a beautiful part of downtown Guangzhou with lots of trees. Cameras are not allowed inside the Consulate, so we were only allowed to take a picture outside. Once we made it through the metal detectors and up a glass elevator, we met up with a few other adoptive families who had the same appointment time. We did our best to keep the children from having meltdowns while we waited for our numbers to be called. Imagine bringing your toddler to the DMV and you will understand how much fun it was! Brian and I took an oath on Milo's behalf and in about 20 minutes we were done. It was kind of anti-climatic considering how long we had waited to get this appointment! 

 

That evening we once again met up with our new friends to take the Pearl River cruise.  The cruise lasted only a few hours, but was one of the highlights of our trip. Guangzhou is lit up beautifully at night, it's an really cool way to see the city. 

The huge tower in the above pictures is the Canton tower. It was the tallest building in the world from 2009-2011 and has now moved to 5th tallest (the current tallest is in Dubai). 

This day turned out to be one of the most meaningful days of our trip (behind family day of course). We both ended that day feeling so incredibly blessed that we had been given the opportunity to adopt our amazing son and spend two weeks in his birth country. Every day it seemed that Milo trusted us a little more and it was so much fun to see his personality shine through. 

At this point in the trip, our official adoption related duties were over and we were able to spend the rest of the week sightseeing and enjoying our last days in China. We will post on that next time!
  

Weekend adventures in Guangzhou

We arrived in Guangzhou around 8 pm on Friday evening. We were picked up at the train station by our terrific driver who we would have for the week. It was a little funny that he didn't need a sign with our names on it to find us, he just knew that the tall white people with the Chinese baby must be us! He drove us to our hotel, the China Hotel Marriott. We checked in and the staff couldn't have been nicer! "Why yes, we would be glad to upgrade you to a suite for free. We also have a free breakfast buffet and free happy hour with free cocktails. Oh and wifi is free!" I knew this must be our reward for surviving the first week! We loved Changsha for its authentic Chinese experience, but we loved Guangzhou for feeling more like home. The executive lounge meals included Chinese options (for the brave eaters like Brian) like steamed squid and dumplings, and about any American breakfast item you can ask for (which made me happy!). We were also able to save money by eating dinner at the happy hour most nights. The China Hotel is popular among adoptive families and we can definitely see why!

Saturday morning we met our guide and driver (and another adoptive dad and son who also used our agency) to get Milo's medical clearance. This was required prior to his consulate appointment so that the USA knew that he was healthy enough to immigrate.
There were many other adoptive families at the medical office. It was heartwarming to see so many kids of different ages and special needs be getting forever families.

Milo passed his medical check with flying colors. He was 18 lbs and 29.5 inches, just a tiny guy!! This explained why he fits in the 9 month clothes we brought! Another amazing thing we learned that day was that Milo did not have a cleft palate! His referral paperwork stated that he did, but we hadn't had a chance to get a good look in his mouth.
Poor Milo hated every second of his medical exam, but luckily it was quick and because he was under 2 he didn't have to have bloodwork, vaccinations or a TB test like some of the other kiddos.

Sad face!!

The rest of the day we played around and enjoyed our giant hotel room. That night we decided to venture out via taxi to meet some new friends for dinner. Ashley and I met on a Facebook group for folks with a similar adoption timeline as us and I was so excited to finally meet her and her family! I felt like we were already good friends after chatting for so long! Their hotel had some shops near it and we walked to Pizza Hut for dinner. Even though we felt a little guilty for not enjoying some of the amazing local food, it was great to eat something familiar and spend time with people who understood the crazy ride we were on. We also chatted about the next day's adventure, which was shopping with a local guide we hired based on the recommendation of many adoptive families.

That night was the first night Milo slept the whole night without waking up crying. It was so nice to get a full night's sleep (although he was still sleeping with us so we were still woken with a kick to the ribs or a heat producing baby rolling against us) and have him wake up with a smile!
Ashley, Evan and their sweet new daughter Ellie met us at our hotel to meet our shopping guide, Ann. The first part of our adventure was a subway ride. We had heard good things about the subway in Guangzhou and they were right! It was fairly easy to navigate (although we did have Ann telling us which ticket to buy and when to get off), clean and safe.

Our first stop was a park where a jade vendor that she knew met us with many different choices of jade jewelry.  After that she took us to the toy market and pearl market. The shops there were amazing! They were in GIANT mall like buildings with hundreds of stores each in a tiny space no bigger than a closet. We were so glad to have a guide as I don't think we would have been brave enough to shop there without her! Some highlights of our purchases were some traditional Chinese silk outfits for Milo for the next few years, matching jade dragon necklaces for Brian and Milo and some beautiful pearl jewelry for myself, family and Milo's future wife.

Shopping for jade in the park

Pearl market

Ashley and I feeling very glamorous while picking out our pearls.

Seems legit right?

Some of our purchases:

This is a hand carved stamp that says our last name in English and Mandarin

These came from that scary dungeon shop!

Brian's jade koi fish necklace and my jade circle necklace

We were once again so thankful for the carrier that Brian's cousins gave us and that Milo loved it because he was happy in it the entire day as we ran all over Guangzhou and even fell asleep for a while! The only downside was it was hot and humid, so Milo and I definitely had a bonding experience sweating on each other.

After some much needed showers, we met up with Ashley and her family again for dinner and some play time at the playground in our hotel. Their daughter Ellie was full of smiles and it was fun to watch her with Milo! Although Milo still wasn't quite sure how to play with other kids, Ellie had fun trying to teach him!

Next up is our Consulate appointment and the Pearl River cruise!
Also, for any future adoptive families reading this, you must shop with Ann! It's an experience you won't forget!