Day 13 – Visa Day/Depart on Train for Hong Kong 8-31-11

Today was an exciting day as we were able to pick up Jacob’s Visa and depart for Hong Kong, the first leg of our journey home. After breakfast I made another trip to the Trust Mart to get more Pull-Ups for our trip home. It only took 10 minutes this time since I now knew where it was. When I returned I took Jacob for a walk around the hotel so Trish could finish packing everything. We visited several of the floors we hadn’t been on yet. One of the floors had a really nice restaurant. One of the other floors had the Sauna/Spa, the health/fitness area which also included an indoor pool, a reading library, a wine tasting bar, and squash courts. Unfortunately we were not here in this province long enough to enjoy any of these things. Next, Jacob and I went outside to explore the outdoor garden. This was a beautiful peaceful area with a waterfall, a stream, several coy ponds, and several sitting areas. There was also a building that looked like it was used for having private dinner parties. The garden was so peaceful that Jacob fell asleep about ten minutes into our walk.
When we returned to the room momma had everything packed and we still had about an hour and a half before the bellboys would be picking up our bags at 2:30 pm. We played for awhile and Jacob finished off his little cartons of milk he still had. Once they picked up our bags we went to the lobby to meet up with Simon and the other two families in our group who were taking the train to Hong Kong that night as well. We stopped by the American Consulate on the way to the train station so Simon could go in and pick up all the Visas and U.S. Immigration packets for us. We all waited on the mini-bus while Simon went into the Consulate. The police kept making the driver move so we circled the block about four times. We were starting to get worried that the paperwork wasn’t done yet, or that there was something wrong with one of our packets. Finally Simon appeared and everything was fine with the Visas and our immigration packets, praise God!
Next stop was the train station, and little did we know of the adventure that was still awaiting us there. We get off the mini-bus and we have to pack all of our bags and our kids ourselves. For us that meant 2 large suitcases, 6 smaller carryon bags, a stroller, and Jacob. We had to cross a busy road (which we did as a pack to avoid getting hit by the taxi cabs) to the station entrance where we waited in the lobby while Simon got our tickets for us. Then we had to take all of our bags and our strollers up this really long and steep escalator to the next level. If one of us had slipped and fell, we all would have gone down. Thankfully, we made it safely to the second level waiting area. We had to wait for awhile before we could go through customs. Simon had us check all of our children’s Visas and other paperwork while we were waiting. The brown immigration envelope though had to remain sealed unto we went through immigration in Chicago. Jacob had a photo op with Simon before it was time to say goodbye and go through the security checkpoint and customs. Everyone made it through without issue and we entered into the waiting area for boarding the train. Of course our train was delayed about twenty minutes, so more waiting.
The train was supposed to depart at 5:56 pm, but didn’t board until about 6:17 pm. There was a huge line for boarding so our group decided to let the big line go on through first before we tried to go through with all of our bags. And, guess what we encountered when we go up there. You got it, another long escalator down to the train platform. We made it down without incident and located our train car. We thought there was supposed to be compartments under the train we could put our bags on, alas there was not. So after feeling like I had wrenched my shoulder out of its socket I managed to get all of our bags onto the train and down the aisle. Fortunately, the 2 seats behind our group were not filled so the first two families were able to stack their luggage there. Then one of the other guys helped me to get ours into the overhead compartments.
Finally, we were underway. They passed out bottles of water to us which we gladly took. Later they also handed out what looked like chicken legs from a large plastic container. We declined those even though we hadn’t eaten since breakfast and were starving. Jacob had his snacks and drinks so he was doing okay, Mom and I, not so well. We were thinking at least the train ride was only about an hour and 15 minutes so we would just get something to eat when we got to our hotel in Hong Kong. We were wrong again. The train ride was over two hours long so it was after 8:30 by the time we got there. There wasn’t a whole lot to do or see other than run down industrial buildings and farmland along the way. It was very hard to keep Jacob entertained when he just wanted to get up and run down the aisle.
We finally arrived in Hong Kong; at least we hoped it was Hong Kong since we didn’t see any signs that said it was. It seemed to be the last stop as everyone was getting off the train. Again, we waited for the other passengers to get off before we tackled getting all of our bags off. Since Hong Kong is not part of mainland China we had to go through customs and security again when we got off the train. After that we went to the currency exchange counter to change our Yuan into Honk Kong dollars to pay for our cab and for food that night.
One of the other families was staying in the same hotel next to the airport that we were. So, we were hoping to get a van type of taxi we could share. However, we were told that there weren’t any of those available. But, there was a large taxi boarding area outside and we could each get a cab easily. The other family got their cab first and we eventually got one too. We had been told that all of the cab drivers spoke English in Hong Kong. This was not true. Our driver had to call his dispatcher and have us tell them where we needed to go, and they then translated it into Chinese for him. The driver finally finds a brochure he is looking for, all while he was driving, to show us and points to the name of our hotel in English and Chinese with the address by the airport. We both expel a sigh of relief and we are soon on our way towards the airport. By now it is almost 9 pm. We are thinking we will be there soon and in our hotel room. We were going to meet up with the other couple when we got there and get something to eat and see how the hotel was connected to the airport so we could easily get to where we needed to go in the morning. Again, we were wrong. We managed to get possibly the only cab driver in Hong Kong who didn’t seem like had ever been to the airport. We got to the airport just fine in about a half hour. But, when we got there he couldn’t figure out how to get to our hotel. We could see it and passed it several times. We must have circled around the airport at least six times. He even stopped and asked 4 or 5 people, some of them other cab drivers, how to get to the hotel. We took some of the same roads more than once. I guess he thought there would be a different outcome the second time. Eventually, he stumbled onto the correct road and we made it to the hotel.
There was what we presumed were bellboys outside the hotel who took our bags and put them on a cart. They gave us a receipt with a number on it and told us our bags would be in our room when we got there. So, I was trusting that these really were the hotel bellboys (they had tropical shirts on and not uniforms), and let them take our bags. We step inside and I asked the concierge where we needed to go to check in and whether our bags really would be there in our room. He assured me they would and said we needed to take the elevator to level two to check in. Of course, when we get there the line is extremely long and we have to wait about 15 minutes to get checked in.
We finally get up to our room and our bags are not there yet. This was a little disconcerting. We waited another 5 minutes or so, still no bags. Trish is really troubled by this so she calls the concierge who again assured her they were just busy and they would be there shortly. We wait another 5 minutes and then I went back down to talk to the desk clerk who had taken my luggage ticket when I checked in. I also needed to get another room key since they only gave us one and you have to have one to operate the elevators. She called the concierge to check on our luggage as well, she gives him the number, she laughs a little while talking to him, then tells me our bags will be to our room within the next 10 minutes. I go back to the room to tell Trish the good news to find that our bags had arrived about 2 minutes after I left to go down to the front desk. Now I get the desk clerk’s private joke. I’m sure it included the phrase “stupid American’s”, LOL. My next mission was to find some sort of fast food as it was now after 10pm and we were starving to death (ok, maybe a slight exaggeration.) I was told in the lobby that there wasn’t any fast food in the hotel but if I crossed the sky bridge to the airport there was a Burger King in the airport. That sounded really good to me. On my way over I ran into Bill, (the husband of the other couple we were to meet at the hotel, and his new adopted daughter) scouting out the airport situation. I was able to let him know what happened to us. He said they were worried about us and thought we had been kidnapped or something. I assured him we were just at the mercy of an inept cab driver. Anyway, I finally found Burger King, took the food back to our room, we ate, and then crashed about 11:30 pm. All we wanted to do was just get up the next morning, get checked out, eat some breakfast, and find our gate area at the airport.

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.