Loving Guangzhou

October 17, 2015

Ahhhh . . . Guangzhou.  This is an amazing city of 13 million people.  There is never a dull moment!  Can you believe there are areas of the city where people pay 40,000 RMB (about $6,500) per square meter for apartment space?  It's insane!

Today we woke up after the best night of sleep we have had since getting to China.  China Marriot, we love you!  Isaiah also had the best night sleep he has had with us so far.  He only woke up twice and was able to go right back to sleep.  This means that Mommy and Daddy were able to get some much needed sleep as well!  Mimi has an adjoining room so Zeke continued his sleepover adventures. :)

After breakfast we met Helen (our guide) and four other families adopting through AWAA.  It was medical appointment time (a US government requirement).  This is a cursory medical check and the report created today will go into our Consulate packet that is needed for Isaiah to become a US citizen when we land in Seattle on Thursday.  Isaiah ROCKED his medical checks!  We were amazed that he went through them without any tears.  Tears have been his main emotion since last Monday.  There were four different stations he had to go through: ENT (ear, nose, throat), greneral check-up, weight and height, and TB test.  We even saw some smiles while we were waiting our turn.  76 adopting families were being processed through the medical center today!  It was BUSY!  Thankfully Helen is AMAZING and she required us to get up early and get moving so we were one of the first ones in line.  Zeke and Mimi stayed at the hotel and explored while were were busy with the medical appointment craziness.

Isaiah has seemed much more relaxed today (not needing to be held every moment, willing to walk - when told he has to - and WAY less whiny when he doesn't get what he wants) and does not have the same reaction to this hotel room as the one in Guiyang.  Who knows why but we are happy about this development.  

We returned to the hotel after our busy morning and had the rest of the afternoon and evening to ourselves.  Mimi treated herself to a pedicure at the spa, Daddy took Isaiah to the play room in the hotel, and Mommy and Zeke hung out in the room.  Later we walked across the street and through one portion of a HUGE park to find a restaurant Helen recommended we try.  We saw a beautiful lake and some little turtles that were for sale.  Stripes even got in on that action!  We went to the same park when we were here two years ago but it was so hot we only saw a small portion of it.  We will definitely go back and explore more of it before we head home on Thursday.

The restaurant we ate at was amazing!  Isaiah is an EATER!  We were surprised when he picked up the chopsticks and was actually holding them correctly (a little long for him).  Zeke was our tea drinker.  I think he played a little too hard today though.  We had to move him to the stroller partway through our meal because he was about to fall asleep in his food. He passed out! ;)