Out Last Post From China

Thursday, April 10th
Today’s Bobo’s birthday. It all started at about 4:45 a.m. this morning when we got our wake up call. Then again at 4:55 a.m. when we got our second wake up call. We had all our bags (a total of six checked and two carry ons) out in the hallway on time. The kids (all three) got up, got dressed, and walked downstairs.

Our guide got sick last night, and so we had someone else take us to the airport. She was very nice, but it was kind of a bummer that we didn’t get to say goodbye to Grace. After checking in, we had a short 30 minute flight to Hong Kong. Everyone slept (including K.T.). We barely got a wink before we landed.

We had to get all of our baggage and go through customs. Once done with that, we found a nice counter where they told us to catch a cab to the Disney Hotel. We were walking toward the cab section wondering how many trips or cabs it would take to get all of our stuff to the hotel. (You see, the cabs in China are like Volkswagen Rabbits!).

This guy started talking to Bobo, and Bobo started following him. I started praying – I’ve heard stories about people that disappear because they go with non reputable cab people. Luckily this guy had a big van that fit all of our luggage, and we landed safely at our hotel with only a scolding that we were spending way too little time in Hong Kong. (Does he not realize that we’ve been gone for 3 weeks?)

We checked into the hotel, threw our stuff in the room, caught a shuttle, and were off for a day of playing. The girls dearly loved it. Hong Kong Disney is much smaller than Disney Land California, but the lines are also much smaller!! I don’t think we waited over 10 minutes for a ride.

We came back to the hotel around 7 p.m., and were surprised to see that they had upgraded our room, and so we could see the firework show right out our window. We went downstairs for dinner at Chef Mickey’s, then it was upstairs, baths, and now all three kids and Bobo are sleeping.

Tomorrow morning, we have to be at the airport at 9:45 a.m. to catch our 11:45 a.m. flight. Hello Colorado, here we come! Hope to see you all soon!

Goodbye Guangzhou!

Wednesday, April 9th
Today was our last day in Guangzhou. We had to pick up all the stuff that we’d custom ordered, and then went to the U.S. Consulate for our swearing in – with about 100 other families. The entire adoption trip is planned around the consulate appointment, so it is a bit of a let down when it is so depersonalized, and only officially lasts about 10 minutes.

They had moved the consulate to about 30 minutes away, so we had quite a bus ride in rush hour traffic to get to the appointment. K.T. decided that he was going to throw one of his tantrums on the way home. It lasted until about 10 minutes ago – that boy has some strong will!

When we got back to the hotel, the travel group went to Lucy’s (an American place here on the island). I had a good old hamburger. It was our official last night together. Since tomorrow is Bobo’s birthday, the girls bought a cake, and we had a mini birthday festivity there at Lucy’s. We have to lave our luggage outside tomorrow morning at 5:00 a.m., then it’s off to the airport at 5:50. Each of our flights leaves within 1 hour of each other.

I think the best part of Chinese adoption (besides the kids) is the friendships that you make with the people you travel with. The two families that we spent time with on this trip will always be a special part of our lives, even though we are from different parts of the U.S. I hope that our boys maintain relationships into the future, and keep each other close at heart.

Tomorrow it’s to Disneyland Hong Kong, then Friday is onward home. After a short layover in San Francisco, we’ll be back in Colorado by rush hour!!! (of course, there is that pesky time difference. (It just sounds so much easier saying we leave at 11 a.m. and get to Colorado at 2 p.m.)

We aren't grounded anymore!

Tuesday, April 8th
Well today was a quiet day here in China. We really didn’t have any outings planned, we felt like kids in trouble (we were grounded and couldn’t leave our rooms), to wait for problems with our paperwork. Luckily, there were no problems, and we only had to stay in our room for about an hour or so. K.T. napped while we were waiting, and Alyssa, Mikaela, and Bobo had some K.T. – free time at the park.

Afterwards, we played in the hallway with the other kids, and then we and another couple went to a yummy Chinese place across the street for lunch. (I know, eating again!)

This evening our guide arranged for a dinner boat cruise. The cruise was fun, and just the right length. The food however was a bit unrecognizable. I got what I thought were some kind of meatball – not quite sure what that texture was, but I’m pretty sure it had nothing to do with meat!!

Bobo just came back to the room after taking the laundry down. He got propositioned inside the 7-11! Place to go to pick up chicks (or prostitute in this case) when in china – take note!

Tomorrow, we’re off to the consulate to take our oath, then back to the room to pack and surprise Bobo with a birthday cake. He doesn’t know about it. It was the girl’s idea. We’ll buy a yummy cake at the local bakery (just outside the hotel) – I know, more eating.

It’s up early Tuesday morning to fly to Hong Kong. Then we’ll go directly from the air port to Disneyland. We’ll spend the night there, then off to the hotel Friday morning for an 11 o’clock flight. We’ll back in the states at 2:50 p.m. Friday.

I’m not sure what internet access will be like in Hong Kong, but will post again tomorrow night if able.

Four more days!

Monday, April 7th
Another day in China. (Can you tell we are really wanting to come home? Three weeks is a long time!) Our big adventure today was a trip to the pearl market. It was actually like a six story mall, but all of the stores sold pearls.

Once we got there by taxi, which in China is always an adventure, we were told to make sure we had all of our valuables hidden. (Try to hide your valuables in a very large mall, with a lot of people watching you, and three kids!) We got a couple of really good deals at a little shop on some fresh water pearls.

We then got our “red couch” pictures. I don’t know why they are so popular, but they have a couch on the 2nd floor of the hotel which happens to be red. It somehow became a tradition for all of the adopted children to get their pictures on that couch. Now they actually scheduled a specific time in your tour to meet on the second floor and take that special picture.

We took the kids to the playground by the local elementary school. They seemed to have fun, but it is about 75 degrees here with 250 percent humidity. Poor little K.T. broke out in a heat rash all over his face while we were there.

Our food story of the day: After we finished at the playground, we stopped and let the girls get some Popsicles. Mikaela picked a wrapper that looked like it had cherries on it. When we opened it up, it seemed to look like strawberry ice-cream. We’re walking along and she’s eating it with no problem. Bobo asks for a bite, and gives me a look saying ‘that stuff is pretty nasty’. So, I asked Mikaela for a bite as well. Turns out, it was a kidney bean Popsicle. No joking!!! A couple nights ago, we ordered ice-cream at a restaurant, and there were kidney beans at the bottom of the glass, but we just thought that was a cheap way to hold the ice-cream up so they didn’t have to fill the entire glass with the good stuff. Turns out, they think kidney beans are here to be made into ice-cream! Needless to say, I told Mikaela she didn’t need to eat that anymore, so she ate my chocolate truffle ice-cream instead.

We finally learned how to Skype with dad at home. He was very happy. He got to see all the kids as well as our hotel room. We talked for nearly an hour. We’re planning to keep doing it until we get home – how I wish we’d been able to figure it out before our last week here!

Bobo stopped on the way home (from dinner of course) to tell the laundry lady that she’d lost a pair of his pants and one of my shirts. He came back, and said the cops were there, and they were shutting her down. Also a couple of other businesses on that street. (So much for our missing clothes!)

Tomorrow our big event is to be in our rooms from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in case we have any problems when our guide drops off our consulate paperwork. Wow! What excitement!

Speaking of guides, we got into the elevator today and saw the lady who was our guide for our entire trip with Alyssa. Imagine, us knowing one person in all of china, and actually running into her on an elevator! We were so excited to see her! She has been the best guide we’ve ever had, by far.

More shopping and eating

Sunday, April 6th
It was a quiet day in China. We got up early, had a quick breakfast, and then headed off to K.T.’s physical exam. All went well, except they thought they heard some congestion in his lungs, but he didn’t have a fever. They passed him, so everything turned out okay.

After the physical, we tried to attend another Christian service here – this time it was part Chinese and then English. The church was pretty small, but very hot, so we got through just the first song, before the kids and I decided it was too hot. We came back to the hotel, and K.T. took a nap while the girls had “quiet time”.

When Bobo came back to the room, we took quite a walk. We ended up at a cute little restaurant that was in a train car. We had some spaghetti, some pizza, and wonderful fried cheese. We took a walk afterwards around Shamian Island – just to try to walk off a little of all the fat that we’d eaten.

Our experience at the White Swan has been somewhat different this time. Maybe it’s when they see three kids, but they kind of sit us to the side in the dining room; I got yelled at for exchanging too much money at a time; and they told Bobo that he couldn’t sit down near the waterfall. That’s never happened before. I think the White Swan will be getting a letter from us once we get home.

After more quesadillas for dinner, a huge fit by K.T. because he thought he needed more food (after he’d eaten a big bowl of mashed potatoes and two plates of spaghetti, not to mention an entire carton of milk), and foot races between the girls and Phil (a really neat guy in our travel group), it was back to the hotel for baths.

If you think about it, please say some special prayers for K.T. I think he’s teething (even though he already has more than seven teeth!). He has chewed through two nipples on his baby bottles, and he’s working hard on the third one.

Tomorrow it’s off to the Pearl Factory and then red couch photos. Only three more days in Guangzhou, one day at Hong Kong Disney, then the tremendous plane ride home. Yeah, the trip has gone fast, but I think we’re ready to get home!

Out last Saturday in China

Saturday, April 5th
Okay, it’s been another day of eating here in Guangzhou. If this trip is any indication, I’ll have to get a second job just to feed him. That boy can pack away the food! He probably already weighs more than Mikaela does.

We went to the Beijing Zoo today. Would you believe that in the biggest zoo Beijing, there was one panda bear that was 70 years old. Apparently he’s awake only 2 hours a day. Our luck was that he of course was napping when we got there.

In the female lion’s cage, we got extremely grossed out. We were watching her and we saw something the size of a small dog running across her cage. Out of the cage comes a giant rat!!! Our guide wasn’t even phased by it. The lion just kind of gave the rat a look as if to say, “I could eat you if I wanted to!”.

We ate American food twice today at Lucy’s. Alyssa and Mikaela both love the quesadillas there. Tonight I ordered Bobo’s food for him. (He didn’t want to decide.) He says he owes me. I ordered some seafood dish with rice. The seafood came out very gross, there was octopus and squid, and the shrimp still had their heads on them.

We found a great little shop here on the island that all the proceeds go to the orphan children of China. They had beautiful stuff.

We’ve been invited to church tomorrow (something that was unheard of when we visited China before). So we have a very early morning with K.T.’s physical at 9 and then church at 10:30. Our afternoon is free, so we’ll see what adventure that holds.

Alyssa is feeling better, and only has one more day of medicine. She says her throat still hurts, so continue praying for her.

VISA Paperwork Day

Friday, April 4th
After about 13 hours sleep – by all of us in the room, we started out with a late breakfast (if you can call 9 a.m. a late breakfast). The buffet here at the White Swan is marvelous – we did not see one ear of corn!!! They actually served some great fruit – star fruit, bananas, watermelon, fresh pears, and this great cherry yogurt thingy. (I brought one for myself, and by the time I got back to the table, Bobo had fed the entire thing to K.T.)

We got Alyssa in to see the doctor here at the hotel, turns out she has a bad case of tonsillitis. The doctor was very nice, and Alyssa got some antibiotics, strong vitamin C, and an herbal Chinese medicine to help make the inflammation in her tonsils go down (they said her tonsils were very big).

K.T., Alyssa, and I stayed in the room this morning and watched Scooby Doo. Then we headed out to a Chinese place across the street for lunch. We had some noodles, and some great mango turnover sort of dessert. Yum! This afternoon I completed paperwork with Ms. Grace (our guide here in Guangzhou).

Then it was off to the Cow and Bridge Thai restaurant for dinner. (Does it sound like we eat all the time? Because to me it sure does – and it seems like it too!) The food was delicious – fried rice with pineapple and shrimp, Thai noodles, and a Chinese banana split.

We’re trying to get to sleep now, because tomorrow afternoon we’re off to the ZOO!! Supposedly there is only one Panda bear, but it’s the first panda bear we’ve seen in China.

One Step Closer

Thursday, April 3rd
We’re on the downward stretch!!! We finally made it to Guangzhou at about 5 p.m. We were originally scheduled to get here around 1:50, but our flight got cancelled, then postponed, then we had some air traffic thing that we had to sit at the gait for another 30 minutes.

Needless to say, it’s been a long, tiring, and wet day for the Pecoraro family. Bobo had his second dose of K.T. poo on the plane today. Mikaela poured her 7-up all over her, and then we went to the bathroom to wash poop off my hands, and the sink sprinkled all over my pants.

If you can, please say a prayer for Alyssa, she’s had a fever all day, then the chills, and she’s just exhausted. Another guy in the group had something similar yesterday, but now it is over. Hopefully it won’t go through our group. I just pray that we’re all healthy next week to come home.

Well tomorrow we’re having an “off” day. We were supposed to go on a tour, but we’ve already done it two times. I think we’ll just sit this one out.

Out last day in Hangzhou

Wednesday, April 2nd
We went to the Notary Office early today – we got official paperwork – K.T.’s birth certificate, notarized adoption papers, and our notarized adoption certificate.

The rest of the day was basically a free day since it is our last day here. We packed up the majority of our stuff, then went for a walk to McDonalds for dinner (it was Mikaela’s choice). Afterwards, we found a Toys R’ Us. We got the girls a couple of year of the rat Barbies, and K.T. thought he’d made it to heaven. We had to pry him out of the store. We did a little more shopping, then came back to the hotel to finish packing and have “quiet time”.
Mikaela wasn’t feeling well, so Bobo took Alyssa for one last shopping excursion at West Lake, and Mikaela, K.T., and Mommy stayed in. We were visiting with one of the other families in the hallway when I heard a door close – yep, you guessed it. Mikaela locked us out of our room – Bobo wasn’t there, and we didn’t have any shoes on. We talked downstairs barefoot to get another key. It just so happened that a large group of business men were checking in at that time. Great!!

We went to KFC for dinner tonight, and I ordered K.T. some mashed potatoes – let just say I’m glad the mashed potatoes at home don’t have to be eaten through a straw!! Besides, that, they tasted awful.

We stopped for the water show on the lake on the way back, and the kids just got out of the tub and are in bed. Bobo is walking K.T. in the hall to get him to sleep.

Our flight from Hangzhou got cancelled tomorrow morning, so now we fly out at 1:30 p.m. We’ll be in Guangzhou this time tomorrow night. One step closer to home!!!

K.T. had his best day yet today. He only cried for a total of 1 ½ hours, and it was because he ran out of orange juice and his mean mother tried to give him milk instead.

No-No does not mean the same thing in Chinese

Tuesday, April 1st
We were so busy, we couldn’t even pull an April Fool’s joke today – or maybe it is we are so exhausted that we FORGOT to pull any April Fools jokes today.

We started out the morning with the hotel’s Western Buffet. I’m not quite sure where they got Western—they serve corn on the cob, stir fried tofu, German potatoes, New Zealand butter, noodles, fried dumplings, steamed bread, cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, yogurt, uncooked oatmeal, sliced cheese, taro root (haven’t tried that one yet), fresh fruit, and breads. One morning they even had chili spaghetti. All I can say is – “Only two more days at this hotel”.
Our group leader Rebecca took us to an older part of town. It was actually quite interesting, and we were able to pick up some great trinkets. They had pictures made out of bamboo reed, official Olympic coins, and other local specialties. We even got to visit their “modern day” pharmacy – something in a Buddhist temple motif with all types of natural medicines. It was interesting, but give me Walgreen any day.

I think K.T. must believe that “no-no” is his name. It seems like all we say to him. He’s into everything, and has quite the temper when he doesn’t get his way. He’s very loud when he’s angry – our neighbors can hear him through the hotel walls. We found out tonight however, that no-no means baby in Chinese. So he probably thought he was cute when he was being a little pill.

We went out to a local “fast-food” Chinese – it was basically steamed dumplings and wonton soup. I walked across the street to McDonalds for Mikaela some chicken nuggets. Alyssa is in heaven with all this Chinese, and the little man will eat whatever is put in front of him – sometimes we’ve had to cut him off, because I don’t think his stomach can take that much.

We took an hour walk this afternoon around West Lake, then had dinner at Pizza Hut. Gene and I had seafood pizza – octopus, squid, crab, shrimp and all. (Okay, I picked some of it off!)

This evening, we went to a “combination” show. There was kung fu, ballet, aerobics, dancing. It was quite beautiful, and the girls just sat mesmerized. K.T. was even good for most of it.

Tomorrow morning it’s off to the notary office for our final paperwork here in the province, then I don’t know what else is in store.