Day 7 - More Shopping

Today we really did have a day off.  We could have gone on a tour of a local Buddhist temple and the Chen House, but we decided to opt out of the organized activity and return to Shamian Island for a bit more shopping.

We started our day slowly by simply not getting up early.  Yeah!  Literally, the alarm went off, I got up to turn on the computer so my girls could Skype at 7:30 and then I went back to bed until they did.  And even after that we just took things slow.  So slow in fact that we were almost too late for breakfast since the breakfast buffet closes at 10 am.  We made it in though and happily gobbled up some fruit, eggs, yogurt and other yummy things before heading out to catch a cab.

To make things easy we took a cab from our hotel, the China Hotel, to the White Swan Hotel which is located on the island right at shopping central.  Once we arrived Jack immediately led us back to the fish that he so greatly enjoyed yesterday.  After spending some time there with the fish we headed back to the little shops to knock out a bit more shopping.  We really haven’t done a lot of gift and souvenier buying until now so both Katie and I had a list of things we were hoping to acquire.  After a couple hours of walking and looking we were both fairly successful and we called it a day so we could get Jack back to the hotel in time for a good nap.  And may I just add in here now how proud I am of Katie as she was willing to put her life on the line by stepping off the curb to wave down a taxi – a feat that should not be attempted by the faint of heart at anytime here in China.

Our cab ride worked out perfectly and we arrived back at the hotel in time to grab a late lunch from the neighbors – McDonald’s.  And let me just say that in and of itself was quite the adventure.  We have been in this McDonald’s twice before, once to grab a snack after arriving here in Guangzhou late at night and a second time to get ice cream last evening.  Both times the McDonald’s was fairly empty and we were able to get in and out in just a few minutes.  Today , however, I learned that lunch time at McDonald’s is not the same as the after dinner hours.  When I walked in the door I was met with lines streaming from every cash register all the way to the door.  The place was packed and literally buzzing with the sounds of Mandarin.  I was successful in acquiring lunch, however, and we enjoyed  a nice little picnic in our room.  Followed by a nap!  Hurray!

While Jack slept I went to meet with our guides and other parents to fill out the paperwork needed for the US Consulate.  Some of our families have their Consulate appointment tomorrow which will allow them to head home as early as Tuesday, and other families have their appointment on Tuesday or Wednesday.  Ours is on Wednesday due to Jack being “older”.  Typically the infant appointments are done early in the week with older children going on Wednesday or Thursday mainly due to the fact that children over 2 years old require a TB test which is given on Saturday and not read until after the weekend.  The paperwork is fairly straightforward –name, birthdate, etc. for parents and child – along with organizing all of the other adoption items that need to be submitted – birth certificate, adoption decree, passport, etc.  Needless to say the meeting was fairly short so I was soon back in the room.

Thankfully Jack slept the entire time I was away as we were not exactly sure how he would react to my being gone when he awoke – he loves Katie but likes to keep me in his sights.  He woke up about three minutes after I walked in though so all was well.  And he quickly had me sitting on the floor with him building the knock-off brand Lego-type airplane we had purchased today on the island.  It went together fairly smoothly and when I was done I got a beautifully spoken “Thank you” from Jack’s sweet self.   I had jokingly told him I should earn some major Mommy points for choosing this particular undertaking as our first mother-son creation, but hearing him say those two simple, ENGLISH words made my day so no other brownie points needed.

 Well, after Jack played with his lego-type airplane, jeep and boarding staircase for a while we headed out to find dinner.  Neither Katie nor I were really desiring the McDonald’s plan again so we figured we would explore a bit.  We had a seen a sign for “Food Street” earlier in the day so figured that might be a good place to start our dinner hunt.  Unfortunately, Food Street turned out to be the name of a hotel restaurant, not actually a street full of food sources, so that was kind of a bust.  Not giving up, however, we headed to the other side of the hotel building and walked through the “Shopping Arcade” in search of dinner fare.  Surprisingly, this came by way of Starbucks.  Yep, Starbucks.  We didn’t purchase any coffee but we were able to acquire a chicken ceasar wrap, a ham sandwich, a fruit cup, a scone and two pieces of chocolate cake.  I won’t share how much that total bill was as it was a bit more costly than a trip to McDonald’s, but it sure was worth it.

And after that we just settled in for the night. We brought our food back up to our room and turned on the TV in hopes of finding something entertaining.  After a few minutes of watching some man try to convince the viewers that a man killing electric eel was on the prowl in a South American river we decided maybe we should keep flipping the channels and ended up watching “China’s Got Talent.”  Granted neither Katie nor I have any desire to watch any such show in the States, but given our choices this was definitely the winner of tonight’s selections.  Interesting might not be the correct descriptive term, but it was definitely different. I can honestly say I  have now seen someone perform Chinese rap music, a woman play the piano with all of her fingers missing from one hand, and a 50-year-old Chinese woman dance to a Michael Jackson medley.  As I said, definitely different.

And now it is 11:41 p.m. and I should have been in bed long ago.  Jack is finally asleep after rolling around, talking to himself, challenging me to make him stay in bed and keep his head down, trying to sneak toys in and out of his bed, and doing whatever else he could think of to keep himself awake until 10:55 so we’ll see how that all plays out in the morning.  Right now, however, I am the only one up so I am going to head to bed.  I won’t get this posted until tomorrow, but at least it is written and ready for pictures and posting.  Whew!  One more day that I am not behind and needing to catch up on.  Yeah!