journey9

Day 10 � Guangzhou

Today is a free day. After our normal morning ritual of a bottle and diaper change for Grace and showers for Jude and I, we head down to the breakfast buffet that is included in our room price. The dining room is beautiful, with full floor to ceiling windows that look out over the Pearl River. The Pearl is very dirty but is beautiful nonetheless. Breakfast at the White Swan is amazing. Since Guangzhou is the location of the U.S. Consulate through which every U.S. adoptive family must pass through to get Visas for their children AND the White Swan is just a few minute walk from the consulate there are babies EVERYWHERE. It is quite the scene. Most every table in this large dining room has Caucasian parents with their adorable Chinese children (not all of them are girls).

After breakfast we wander through the lovely shopping gallery in the hotel and check out the grounds, including an outdoor pool complete with a waterfall. I had planned to do quite a bit of shopping since there are many shops in the surrounding area that cater to all the adoptive families, but I�m starting to feel worse (very bad sore throat and congestion) so we decide to just take it easy today. We wander the streets of Guangzhou and play with Grace. We have dinner at Lucy�s (another adoptive family institution). It is a short walk from the hotel and �specializes� in �American� food. Dinner was edible and again almost every table included American parents with their Chinese children. There was quite a bit of table hopping as everyone ooh'ed and aah'ed over each other�s new family members. After dinner its bath time and off to bed for everyone.

Day 11 � Guangzhou

Today started out interesting. Both Jude and I woke up with black tongues. You could literally rub a towel over our tongues and it would be covered in black. Jude felt fine, and it eventually disappeared (it took a couple of days) so we didn�t worry about it (it turns out this is from eating lots of Pepto Bismol). We again had our breakfast buffet and then met Mrs. Liang at 10:00 in the lobby to get Grace�s picture taken for her Visa. The first establishment we went to had the photographer on the landing in a stairwell. After trying, unsuccessfully, for quite awhile to get a picture taken, we went to another place. This place seemed to have more experience at this and was set up to take baby pictures (the other appeared to be geared toward adults). They got the picture within seconds. Grace is screaming in the picture (so attractive!) but we got it!

After getting the picture Mrs. Liang took us to see the Chen Clan Academy. It is a large compound that used to be a family home (the Chens) but is now set up as a museum of sorts. The architecture was amazing and the contents interesting. As we got ready to leave a very noisy and wet thunderstorm descended. Everyone waited for the storm to break and then we returned to the hotel.
After lunch and a nap, we decided to get some shopping done. Again, while I wanted to buy lots, I ended up buying very little. I just can�t handle the �enthusiasm� of the shop clerks and the idea that I have to bargain for the things I want. It was fun, though, to finally see so many of the shops I�d been reading about for so long on the internet.

Dinner again at Lucy�s where we finally ran into one of our May DTC buddies. It was great to meet Abby and her new daughter Hannah before they left for their home in Alaska. Once back at the hotel we give Grace her bath and we all go to bed.