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.
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.
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