Consulate Paperwork and an Italian Dinner

Today is the day that our guide will deliver a bundle of paperwork to the US Consulate to begin the final stages of the process. We woke and ate breakfast, but since we went down a bit late, we had to hurry as we were instructed to stay in our hotel room from 9:30 AM in case they called with questions or whatever. I took Shan-Shan and Max to the room with me while Julie and the girls finished breakfast and then stopped by to send email. We hung out in the room until almost noon before the call came that they were done and that we could pick up our paperwork in the guide's hotel room.

We picked up our paperwork and were told that tomorrow was the oath taking ceremony in the consulate and that we needed to be in the hotel lobby at 2:30. We dropped off more laundry as we still have five more days before we come home and this will help us avoid needing to do laundry in Hong Kong (we hope!). We hung around the hotel room for a while before venturing out for a walk in the area close to the hotel. We came across the "Museum of the Mausoleum of the Nanyue King" which we read about in the Fodor's guide and decided to check it out. This tomb from ~100BC was found when the hotel we are staying in was being built in 1983. The tomb had not been raided and they found over 10,000 artifact inside and was one of the best preserved tombs found. It was pretty cool except we were being followed by someone who was a bit more interested in Veronica than we liked. We shifted roles and kept her extra close just in case. Way better to be safe than sorry. The kids enjoyed exploring the tomb, which was left intact at the site and was neat to see.

We finished off our excursion "around the block" by taking in the sites and scenes of Guangzhou. This is a pretty city with flowers and greenery seemingly everywhere and the air quality is light years better than Beijing and Xi'an. Not sure if it is so close to the Pearl River Delta and the South China Sea or what, but is just is. We came across a wet market where there were tubs of fish, eels, crabs, lobsters and sadly, ducks waiting to be bought. Talk about fresh food huh? We came back to the hotel and the two younger ones took naps while the rest of us read, watched movies or played chess.

We woke up the kiddos and Shan-Shan was definitely not in a good mood. This should make for a fun evening. We decided we were going to Lucy's a popular adoption/tourist spot on Shamain Island. While waiting in the line for the taxi, another adoptive family in our group mentioned that they had a bus taking them to a place called, get this, "Italian Restaurant" pretty creative, right? We joined in and eight families went in total. Shan-Shan had the usual reaction on the bus, crying and trying to get away/out of there. They had a buffet(see a recurring theme here) and we all enjoyed some food that resembled food from back home. Not exactly awesome food, but considering it is a Chinese Italian buffet, not bad at all.

While at the restaurant Julie took Shan-Shan to the restroom to change his diaper and apparently he gave her all kinds of grief. He has some innate fear of bathrooms, regardless of where they are and what they look like and if the water is running or not. We can't figure it out but he really get riled up. Hope it wasn't some traumatizing potty training or something that will take a long time to sort out. Anyway we went back outside and hailed a cab, which was a ton easier than I thought it would be and headed back to the hotel. Again, Shan-Shan was not a happy camper and wanted to get out and cried. This should make for an entertaining plane ride home as well as car ride from the airport. Keep in mind that he hasn't been strapped into a chid seat this whole time, just being held while we drive around. If you think that's bad, you should see the little ones clinging for dear life on the back of motorcycles and bikes. There is no safety seat law here in China.

After the scene in the cab, we decided that since he was in a crappy mood, we'd give him a bath to cap the day off perfectly. LOL! He reacted as expected but didn't try to get away just wailed in the tub. Afterwards he wanted nothing to do with me but also didn't want me to put him down either. Complex little guy isn't he? Julie went downstairs to send email and I kept on eye on the kids. The older three did fine but Shan-Shan was mad at me all evening. Eventually we put him to be and as I write this he has been in the bed for almost 30 minutes and has not gone to sleep. He is probably plotting a way to give me a bath in a bus as revenge as that would be one of his worst nightmares right now. LOL! All you can do is laugh about it and help him get over his fear and phobias. Who knows what he has seen the last 2.5 years.

Tomorrow we'll take him to the US Consulate to become a citizen so that should be cool. We are bumming that they don't allow cameras in for the ceremony though. Oh well, can't fight the government can you? Time to hit the hay.