Welcome to Guangzhou!

We are in Guangzhou at the White Swan. We arrived at midnight (last night) after a flight delay out of Xi’an. Our day yesterday was fairly uneventful, except for all of the smiling our little girl did! She really smiles for Sara and Lauren, a few for daddy and one for mommy. The girls will smell her feet and say “ooh, Ally has stinky feet” and they will make a funny face. She will giggle and smile. It’s just the cutest thing. When we left the hotel, Sally took us to lunch and then to the Xi’an History Museum. It was simply fascinating to see history from over 3000 years ago. Most who know me, know that history is not my favorite, but I had never seen anything like it in the states (obviously)! Our uneventful afternoon and ride to the airport was a memory that I will always cherish. We had to wait around for a long time at the civil affairs office (for her passport). When the officer didn’t come, we had to go to the police station and wait some more. Once we got the passport, we were off to the airport. All this time, as we waited, Sally asked the girls what they wanted to learn to say in Chinese. In Lauren’s usual style, she came up with the most unusual requests! She asked for the Chinese word for gopher (I have no idea where that came from)! Sally didn’t know what that was, so S and L acted it out! She started laughing. The funniest thing was when Lauren asked her how to say “toot” (yes, you know what she means)! Sally, again didn’t know the English word toot, so Lauren had to act it out, by making a sound with her mouth and then acting like it smelled bad! At that point, Sally lost it! She was laughing so hard she couldn’t even talk. She tried several times to say it, but continued to laugh so hard! We hated to say good bye to Sally and to Xi’an, knowing that we were leaving Ally’s birthplace. I had a few tears in my eyes as I told her good bye. Our flight was delayed and they changed the gate. Again, it was eye-opening to have to function without the benefit of understanding the language. Luckily, we made it (we were on the same flight as another family with their new daughter). The flight was fine; Ally was great and it didn’t seem to phase her. Since it was late, she did fall asleep for about an hour on the flight. She laid across S and L’s lap for a while, and when she got a little wiggly, I picked her up. She slept on my shoulder for a little while, but couldn’t get comfy, as she wanted to stretch out. Our flight arrived in Guangzhou at 11 PM and we were all tired. Our new guide, Jophy, was there to pick us up and we were off to the White Swan Hotel. We pretty much went right to bed. Our rooms are next to each other, but not connected. It’s a bit of an inconvenience because the girls both want to sleep in the room with Ally. This morning (Saturday), we enjoyed another big b’fast buffet here at the hotel. The hotel is nice, but the rooms are nothing compared to the Shangri-La in Xi’an (their beds were like the “heavenly beds” at the Westin); these are like boxes and the rooms are small. I think the big attraction to the White Swan is the location (walking distance to shopping), the famous red couch (which was just a red velvet sofa in a small welcome room), the “coming home Barbie” that is given to each family. It is cute, a blonde mom with a Chinese baby (made by Matel). It is nice to see so many families with their new little ones. It appears that all of the adoptive children that are here now are special needs children, and we have seen more boys than we expected. In fact, of the four children in our Hope group, Ally is the only girl! I had to do about an hour or so of paperwork this morning while Daddy and his girls went to the play room (here in the hotel). We then took her to a medical exam where we were once again told that her heart sounded fine, by 3 pediatricians. Every time I hear that, I’m so thankful that our many prayers were answered! Ally really is starting to open up and smile a lot. Sara and Lauren got her to run and play with a ball in there. She just laughed and smiled, giggles even. It was just too cute. So sweet to see her smile and hear her laugh. She still has moments of withdrawing from us, but not like earlier in the week. We joined another Hope family (also from Lawrenceville) for lunch at Lucy’s Diner (American style!). Ally was asleep in her stroller at first, but woke up to help me finish my quesadilla (not quite like home, but good enough!). Again, we had to monitor her intake a little! We did a little shopping and are back in the hotel now, eating a little dinner, and about to get ready for bed. We got a couple of little bi-lingual picture books for Ally. We are trying to get her to share and she is learning. She would hold all 4 books and really think about giving one to Sara and Lauren, but when she saw that they would give it back. She just smiled and handed me a ketchup packet and said something the sounded like “thank you” – of course, that’s what we heard!!! It has just been amazing to see her progress. She is very concerned about keeping all of her “stuff” nearby – whether it’s food or her cup or a toy. Ally started giving each of us KISSES today! What else needs be said about that? Guangzhou looks like a min-Vegas at night. Our view of the river and city is pretty amazing. Maybe I mis-spoke before about the hotel. Other than the rooms, it’s very nice!