Day 12 – Submit Citizenship Documents & Take Oath at ACS 8/30/11

This morning we went for our appointment at the American Consulate to submit the citizenship documents and visa application. It was on the 5th floor of this office building that was poorly air conditioned. We had to show our passports first and then go through security. We were not allowed to take any electronic devices into the building. So we had to leave our cameras and cell phones on the bus with the driver. Once we were in the adoption/immigration area we waited for a few minutes and then a lady came up to one of the windows which looked like enclosed bank teller windows and they were all numbered. She gave us some instructions about the process and then we raised our hands and took the citizenship oath on the behalf of our children. Next we had to wait for our individual family interviews and the review of all our immigration paperwork and visa application.

My appointment to get a new vaccination waiver form signed and notarized was at the same time as our other ACS appointment. Fortunately the windows for the adoption unit were right next to the windows for the Citizen Services Unit. They called my name for the notary appointment so I went up to that window. They had me show them my passport and print my name on the new waiver form. She kept the form and my passport and handed me a piece of paper and told me I had to go way down the hall to this other window to get a receipt. They had already started calling families one by one to come up for their interviews, so I ran down the hall to the other window, got the receipt and took it back. The lady took the receipt and told me to take a seat and wait. I’m thinking this is going to be interesting, she still has my passport and the waiver form. We needed both for our interview and paperwork processing. I’m praying that I get them back before it is our turn for the interview. God worked everything out as we were one of the last families called to go up. In the mean time I was called me back up to the notary window. They had finished filling out the form and I signed it, they notarized it, and I got both it and my passport back.

Once all the families had finished we went back down to the lobby to meet Simon. We will stop back by the Consulate on our way to the train station tomorrow. Simon will go in and get our children’s visas and two sealed envelopes for each family. These have to stay sealed until we land on U.S. soil and give them to U. S. Immigration. At that point our children become American Citizens!

From the consulate we went back to Shamian Island to take the red couch photo at the White Swan hotel. This is kind of a tradition for all the adoptive families to do. All of the kids were kind of cranky this morning so it was kind of a challenge to get any photos taken at all. After the photo sessions we did some more shopping on the island. We were trying to find some more gifts for Jacob and Ellie to give to them as they get older so that they have some items from their homeland. We stopped at Lucy’s for lunch. We ate there a lot when we were here the last time. They serve Americanized food like club sandwiches and cheeseburgers. On the way there Jacob and I had our picture taken with this handsome Chinese woman walking her dog (ha haJ). After lunch we finished our shopping and Jacob of course wanted all of the toys in the shops. Especially since the shop keeps kept handing them to him hoping we would give in and buy them for him. When it was time to leave it took us forever to get a cab to take us back to our hotel. Every time a cab would come by it was already full of people or it just wouldn’t stop. After about 20 minutes of standing in the sun we finally got one and made it back to the Garden Hotel.

We spent the rest of the afternoon trying to get organized and get most of our packing done since we are leaving for Hong Kong tomorrow. We decided to go to McDonalds for dinner as it is next to 7-11 and we needed more water. This McDonalds is much different than the ones at home. There was a hostess lady who found a table for us and brought a menu over to help us order. We told her what we wanted then she went up to the cashier and ordered for us in Chinese, and brought the food to our table when it was ready. She even brought Jacob a mini ice cream cone when we were done eating.

On the way back from McDonald’s we stopped by a little luggage shop just off the main street and got a little backpack for Jacob for about $7. We needed something to put his toys in to take on the plane with us. When we got back Jacob got a bath and I took advantage of that time to try and get some blog entries done before bed.

Day 11 – Medical Clinic Results/Pearl and Jade Market 8/29/11

This morning we had a free morning so we slept in a little later. We went down for breakfast and all Jacob really wanted to eat this morning was the rice noodles. The boy just loves the noodles. After breakfast we stopped by the United Airlines office to confirm our flight home. Then we went to get water and purchase an extra suitcase for our trip home from a little shop by the hotel. They actually had a booth selling Tupperware in the middle of this mall area where we bought our water. There is also a McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, and a Subway in the same building. We would have loved to had any of these close to us when we were in Guiyang!

In the afternoon we went back to the Medical Clinic to get the results of the TB tests. Praise God Jacob’s turned out just fine. The bump was too big for one of the other couples in our group who adopted a 9 year old girl. So their daughter had to have an x-ray taken, but she was just fine and had no evidence of TB in the x-ray.

After the medical clinic Simon took us to the wholesale jade and pearl markets. It was like a 7story circular indoor mall crammed full of mainly jewelry and clothing shops. We walked around looking for a toy store but couldn’t find one. We are desperately searching for quiet toys that will keep Jacob occupied on the 14 hour flight back home.

In the evening we went for a dinner cruise on the Pearl River. It was a very nice cruise. The views and the lights were spectacular. They light up all the bridges at night and we cruised by the Soccer Stadium we visited yesterday and it was all lit up with different color lights. Everything was great about the cruise except the food on the dinner buffet. I passed on a lot of things like the chicken feet and the prawn with heads and legs still on. So when we got back to the hotel Trish and Jacob went on up to the room while I made a trip to McDonalds. I love English bulldogs and much to my amazement on my walk from McDonalds I saw a Chinese Man walking an English bulldog. I didn’t have the camera but I did have the video camera in my pocket so I had to take a short video of him. Along with my double cheeseburger meal I brought back an Oreo McFlurry for Jacob. This was the first time we had given him ice cream and he loved it. He wouldn’t hardly let mom get a bite of it. We talked to Ellie on Skype before going to bed. Thank goodness we have been able to talk to her on Skype every day since we resolved our electrical issues in Guiyang. It would have been very hard to cope if we hadn’t been able to because we miss her so much. We are thankful we will be heading home in 2 days. Jacob was too busy rearranging the stuff in the desk drawer to talk to Jie’ Jie (big sister) Ellie tonight. Tomorrow morning we are off for our last round of paperwork and legal stuff when we submit the visa, citizenship, and immigration documents at the American Consulate for Jacob.

Day 10 – Yue Xia Park/Flower City Square & Soccer Stadium/Prepare Visa & Immigration Paperwork 8/28/11

Today after another wonderful breakfast we headed out to the Soccer stadium and park via our bus. This is a new part of the city that was built in just the past 15 years. It had previously been just farmland. The first thing we saw was the new soccer stadium that is also a pool. The floor of the stadium can be filled or drained in a matter of just minutes. It is right on the Pearl River and is built to resemble a boat sailing up the river. The really tall tower next to it is a television tower and it is the tallest one in the province. This stadium was built especially for the 2010 Pan Asian games which Guangzhou hosted.
We then went to walk around Flower City Square which was across from the soccer stadium. We marveled at all the unique architecture of the buildings. The opera house resembled a spaceship. The library resembled book pages. According to Simon the open circle at the top of one of the buildings was for fungshui (sp???). It allows the rain to fall through the circle to the ground below and Guangzhou is called the city of rains. Simon told us about the apartment complex he lives in. He said there were 5,000 families living in his building alone. He also told us all of the buildings here are connected underground and there is a subway system that runs from one end of the new construction area to the other. Also, the A/C for all the buildings is supplied by one large factory and then pumped underground to all the buildings. This area also has its own grocery stores, medical clinics, restaurants, schools, and theatres. It is sort of its own self contained little city. We then ventured onto the 5 goats park to see the 5 goats statue. We did this the last time we were here with Ellie so it wasn’t too thrilling for us, especially in the extreme heat. We stopped and got the kids pineapple popsicles as a treat for them. We got Jacob one of those little personal fans that was shaped like panda bear and he loved playing with it.
Later that afternoon we went to the 30th floor of the hotel to fill out our paperwork for the visa application and for our immigration appointment at the American Consulate. Trish had to sign one paper and then I could do all the rest of the paperwork myself. She took Jacob down to the children’s playroom on the 6th floor to play. Since we were the only I-600 Non-Hague adoption family Simon helped the other families fill out their paper work first. And then I stayed and he helped me fill out all our paperwork. We filled out some paperwork common to all of us first and that was when Simon discovered that we had misspelled Jacob’s Chinese name on the vaccination waiver we had filled out and notarized at home. I had to make an appointment online with the notary at the consulate to have a new form filled out and notarized. The appointment was at the same time as our visa and immigration appointment.
In the evening Simon took us to an authentic Cantonese restaurant just down the street from our hotel. He ordered everything for us and the food was very good there. The only thing to drink was regular soda, no diet, and beer. So I had to drink beer. It was called Harbin and was actually very good. I may have to try and find some back in the States. I have noticed that beer is actually less expensive than soda over here.