Guangzhou

We spent our last day in Zhengzhou packing. We went to a restaurant inside the hotel for lunch and found there were no tables available. As we stood in front of the restaurant deliberating on what to do next, a Chinese woman approached us and cooed at the kids—thankfully, not a rare event. (We clumsy Americans in China suffer from low self esteem. Language and culture barriers make us feel inadequate and our defense is turn inward; we are the vast minority in this country of 1.3 billion. This low view drives us to McDonalds, Wal-Mart, and Pizza Hut at an unusually high frequency. Chinese passersbys who fawn over our children are just the right antidote…lends strength for the trials of parenthood.) The women spoke to the hostess of the restaurant who translated for us…”Ms. Du has some American friends who have adopted children and she would like to invite you and your children to join her family for lunch”. We agreed, and luckily another patron of the restaurant spoke very good English and spent his lunch hour visiting with us and translating. Here’s what we learned: Ms. Du helped open a hospital in Zhengzhou for special needs children and orphans. She wanted to express her gratitude to us for adopting Chinese children. The economy has made the past year difficult at the hospital and she has lost financial support and supplies, but she is determined to continue her efforts. We shared our life experiences, a lovely meal, and tears of joy and understanding. It was amazing and very touching.

We arrived at the White Swan hotel in Guangzhou around midnight with two sleeping kids and no luggage (the luggage truck was stuck in a traffic jam). We called housekeeping for a toddler mattress and ended up getting two towels. After more deliberate communication Eliza’s mattress was delivered and we could at least lie down (cheers for the tip, Nicole). About an hour or so later the luggage arrived. Kids were awake at 7:30 this morning…Kyle and I laid in bed and directed traffic from there.


After breakfast we walked to a little store for Visa photos and then to the adoption medical clinic for Finn’s physical. He is such a good kid. He really did well with all the poking and prodding. He was a bit confused on what to do with the tongue depressor, though Eliza and a bystander did their best to show by example. Turns out FInnian has a pretty good fever. There was some debate at the adoption medical clinic as to whether he needed antibiotics or not. The final verdict was no antibiotics, just Tylenol and Ibuprofen. A few hours later he was still feeling puny. We took him to the doctor here at the White Swan and he was diagnosed with bronchitis and a left ear infection. All I can say is…if he is this active with an ear infection and bronchitis…wow, watch out! So the doctor visit, four days of antibiotic, cough suppressant, mucous thinner, and baby aspirin cost us a whopping $40.00. China heath care A-OK.

The next two days are for exploring and we intend to take advantage of our time and maybe get some relief from the Summer heat at the swimming pool.