Dr. Visit

Today we got up, took in the free breakfast buffet.  The buffet here is more western than our "western buffet" was before.  Heather finally got some scrambled eggs, Lora finally got a hot-dog that tastes like a hot-dog, and we all finally found some bacon that was cooked until crispy.  After breakfast we went to the outdoor dining area to see the fish pond.  The hotel has a very pretty garden out back and a big [artificial] waterfall.  We fed bread to the fish.

After breakfast we met our guide and the rest of our group (All the families adopting from our agency have met back up here for our final appointments.  Actually, all the families from EVERY agency have met back up here and have all the same appointments at the same times and same places that we do. Yaayyy....) and headed to the province's International Travel Medicine Clinic for basic checkups.  After a lot of waiting we finally saw the Dr.'s and got a TB test, they all said Joshua is just fine.  The orphanage said they had performed surgery in September to correct his hernia and you can clearly see the scar.  We weren't quite convinced that they fixed it entirely so we asked the Dr. here about it.  He confirmed that it was either unsuccessful or incomplete, either way we would probably have to redo it when we got home.  And here I just thought my son was the manliest man on the planet...

It was interesting seeing all the other families.  So many of the kids are clearly "special needs" children.  Others have had to wait a long, long time.  One lady in our group has finally gotten her daughter after waiting for 7 years.  The kids are adorable though and it is exciting to see so many people loving on their new children.  It's a real great atmosphere.

After the Dr. visits we toured New Guangzhou which is an area that was rice patties 14 years ago.  Apparently the powers-that-be decided to build a city where there wasn't one before which is strange because the whole area around here seems like one enormous city.  At home we have planned communities but they don't include 600m high towers and two identical office buildings over a quarter mile high, mega-stadiums, opera house, libraries, museums, 50-floor apartment buildings and a sub-way.  China takes its construction projects very seriously.

After the tour, we went to a local restaurant for some dumplings and Cantonese dishes.  Joshua decided that was a good time to go to the bathroom so Heather got to help him use the only squatty potty we've seen in Guangzhou.  When she washed his (and her) hands she found that the sink drain just dumps on the floor.

We went back to the hotel and played a bit.  We all had a good time together.  We had the rest of the day to ourselves but our guide said he would meet us in the lobby at 4:30 and take anyone that wanted to go to a nearby supermarket.  Instead of dragging the kids out again we decided that I would go by myself and get a few essentials.  As I was leaving Joshua started getting upset that I was leaving, kinda broke my heart a little.  We decided it wasn't wise for me to leave if he was going to be upset about it (hate to disrupt any positive progress) so we packed everyone up for a trip to the supermarket.

This market was big but it was as-if it was stashed away in all the leftover spaces in the basement of some big apartment high-rise.  A little bit of stuff here, go through a short hallway, a little more stuff there, down a ramp, more stuff, up a ramp, more stuff, through a corridor, more stuff, etc...  Bought some drinks and some chips.  Heather wanted some Sour-Cream Lays Potato chips.  Came home with chicken Cheetos, lobster-n-cheese flavored chips, chicken-flavored Lays, and we did find some plain "American Flavored" chips.  Sometimes I feel like the US is being kept in the dark about all the flavor options that are available in the world.  I'll let you know how the chicken Cheetos turn out.

Came home and had a good time with the kids playing some more.  Lora wanted some goldfish, which meant Joshua wanted goldfish (He's a food-aholic.  Any time he sees food anywhere, any time, he wants it.  That's typical of orphanage children to be that way for a little while).  I told him he had to kiss me to get a goldfish cracker and I demonstrated with Lora which actually works because she can understand what I'm saying when I say "no goldfish without a kiss".  He got the idea and gladly gave me a kiss to get a goldfish.  Repeated that a few times.  A little while later he dropped one, I picked it up, and without me asking he started trying to kiss me so that I would give it to him.  All through the day he has relaxed more and more about being not-glued to Heather and letting me play with him and be close to him.  We spent a lot of time together tonight.

Right before bedtime he fell off the end of the couch and bumped his head on the end table.  It turns out he broke the skin a bit and bled a little...made a bit of a knot on his head.  He cried a bit but was pretty good to shake it off and keep on trucking.  Everyone's in bed now and I'm on my way.  Been another good day!

As it turns out, my original impression of Guangzhou was about right.  As far as I'm concerned it's an East-meets-West kind of city.  Still not home but a lot more familiar.