We are still here! I am sure some of you might have been worried as the last post said we were flying to another part of China...and then you didn't hear from us again! Once again we had some Internet trouble...and we are now up and running, hopefully until the end of our trip here in China. We are now in Guangzhou China...this is the US part of the trip. We just had our health physical (well, Taryn's physical!) and we get her US visa here as well as meet with the US Consulate where we say our "vows" to never abandon Taryn among other things (I don't really know what we "vow" to do... I will have to inform everyone after it is done...Tuesday.). We arrived here at 5:30 pm yesterday (Friday) and it is now lunch time on Saturday (all of you at home are hopefully sound asleep!). We totally missed talking with our boys yesterday, and I know they like to read the blog and look at pictures...so I was feeling the "mother guilt" all night and couldn't wait to get our "adapter" from the hotel to get some pictures posted for them (and you all!) to have!
We are now staying at the Victory Hotel...is was built in 1860...and, you can tell! It isn't bad...the rooms are huge! Our guide says it is a 4 star hotel and not a 5 star (as the White Swan is...which is the other popular hotel for adoptive parents!). I don't want to complain because there are a lot of great things about this hotel...the surrounding gardens are beautiful. The hotel room has a veranda with a panoramic view of the cobblestone street, shops, and gardens below(many couples come to these gardens to take Wedding pictures. We caught an adorable couple today and felt like the "paparazzi" taking their picture...but did it anyway!). We have very quick access to Starbucks, McDonald's (the boys would like that!), Subway, AND "Lucy's Bar and Grill" (the one "famous" American restaurant here in China!). We had Cheeseburgers and fries for dinner (and a beer! A real one!) TONS of shopping everywhere...this is the place to shop because everyone caters to us adoptive parents. They bargain on everything (we just bought a hand calligraphic name print and 6 embroidered bibs for our darling slobber girl...for 9 US dollars!!!) Dude...I am LOVING' this part of China!!! The down side of the hotel (and you KNEW I was going to have to mention it!) is that the rooms are so old they smell "musty" and are kind of "damp"...lovely huh! There is really nothing that can be done about that short of switching hotels and that can't happen! So, I guess the good outweighs the bad, and in China...that is all you can ask for! We actually both think our boys would have liked Guangzhou...if they had survived the other parts of China without killing each other!!!
So, we are doing well. Taryn's physical exam was hectic (as everything related to the adoption has been!)...they really don't look very closely at anything...and I just checked "normal" for all of the questions they asked! Even though, we DID have to start her on Zithromax yesterday. She started having a fever on Thursday night (101.5) and then Friday morning she woke up with the same temperature. I am about 90% sure it is her ears as she has been pulling on them all week...which we assumed was teething because she didn't have a fever. Now, 2 doses later, she is doing fine! I will have her ears checked when we get back to the US. The antibiotics last through Tuesday and we leave on Wednesday. Steve has been battling a cold as well...luckily, his nurse wife packed an entire pharmacy of medicine to cover EVERYTHING that could possible happen! He is starting to feel better. Because I missed a day...I could go on and on...but, I will stop for now! We miss you Wesley and Garrett...Taryn is ready to play!!!!
If I remember correctly our room at the White Swan smelled a bit musty as well. I think the humidity level in Guangzhou being right there on the water is super high. And our room wasn't all that exciting. I would have rather stayed at The Victory, paid less and had a bigger room. Oh and buy a zillion pairs of squeeky shoes and an extra suitcase for everything (I paid like $12 for a suitcase) and about $35 for 11 pairs of shoes in various colors and sizes and wish I had bought more. Especially black, brown and hot pink...she can wear those with everything and they're like $3 a pair in China as opposed to much more even at Target for a little pair of shoes here. Happy shopping!
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