Consulate day and pictures of the children

Monday, September 13

 

Summary: Our guides took our paperwork to the U.S. consulate this morning, and there were no problems.  This afternoon we were bused to a shopping district where we and the other families ate lunch, did some shopping, ate dinner and took a taxi back to the hotel.  Tomorrow we go to the consulate in the afternoon for an oath taking ceremony, and then Wednesday we get Alexis' visa for travel to the U.S. and leave Guangzhou for Hong Kong in the evening.

 

Details: Alexis slept late this morning, so we may need to get her to bed earlier.  We had breakfast and then had to be back in our rooms at 10:00 to be ready for a phone call from our guides if any clarifications were needed.  The guides went to the U.S. consulate on our behalf and processed all of our immigration paperwork.  Fortunately, the consulate appointment went fine so now we just wait for the consulate to prepare Alexis' visa for travel to the U.S.  It should be ready by Wednesday afternoon, at which time we'll take a van to a hotel by the Hong Kong airport for two nights stay.  Thursday we'll do some sightseeing in Hong Kong and then we'll fly home Friday.

 

While Malcolm manned the hotel room during Alexis' late morning nap, Marilyn took a walk to the park with Janet, one of the family members here.  Marilyn really enjoyed the walk and will take Malcolm and Alexis back there to see the park.

 

At 1:00 pm our guides had a bus waiting to take us to an island in the middle of Guangzhou (surrounded by rivers).  On the island is a famous hotel called the "White Swan Hotel" where, unbeknownst to us, many adoption groups take pictures of all their adopted children together on a red sofa in the hotel.  We spent about 30 chaotic minutes propping the children on the sofa for various pictures.  We got a pictures with all the children, with the five Jiangxi children, and with Alexis' foster home friend Mya, among many others.  It was fun to see all the children at one time, ranging from babies to a 13 year old.  Alexis held up quite well through all the commotion, only going into tears once.

 

After the group photos we grabbed a quick lunch at Subway and then did some shopping for small items.  Marilyn negotiated hard and well after putting up with lots of overly attentive shopkeepers.  We joined some other group members for a rest in the hotel lobby and Alexis got a short nap, and then we had dinner at a local restaurant and took a taxi back to the hotel.  We thought Alexis was ready for bed but, as usual she proved us wrong and is still fighting sleep as this is typed.