Taylor just came out of the bathroom to inform us that FINALLY her hair straighener is working!! We have waited anxiously all week for this day, one that rivales that of actually getting Caleb. It has been a long time coming, but the pictures of tomorrow’s “free” day should be spectacular!
Cameron
We arrived this afternoon at Guangzhou after an uneventful plane ride. Caleb did PRETTY well on a three hour flight, but I’m still not sure how well he will handle going trans-Pacific/Aortic! I felt like I spent half of my time keeping him from kicking the seat in front of his, lowering the tray, raising the tray, lowering the tray … And, it isn’t easy doing all those things when you can’t speak Chinese and explain to him WHY he shouldn’t be doing those things.
I forgot to post this picture from last night of Caleb and Kelly watching a movie together. He is starting to really warm up to her.
At the airport, we were blessed to have a kids play area. Caleb (and Brittany) were able to burn off a little energy before the flight. I hate to be partial, but Caleb WAS by far the cutest kid in there (excluding Brittany of course).
Then, Caleb boarded his first plane ride. The kid is a rock. Nothing scares him. Everything is a new adventure. Our guide asked him this morning on the drive to the airport if he liked America. He said no, but then said he has never been there, but is going to go there and will probably like it. Funny kid.
We landed in Guangzhou around 3 o’clock. This is a city of about 9 million people and they are preparing to host the 2010 Asian Games in November. This is a pretty big deal for this city so EVERYTHING is under construction. Our new guide, Connie (not Kendel) told us that the government has said that all construction must be done by September, so everywhere you look buildings are being remodeled. It was interesting in that in all the other cities we have been in, there has been a ton of new construction. But, on our drive in today, it appeared that here all the buildings are getting new facade’s and I saw very little new construction.
Connie informed us that because it is Labor Day this weekend, everyone is on a three day vacation. We were supposed to go tomorrow morning and get Caleb’s physical and immunizations. But, the clinic will be closed. They have agreed to open on Sunday so that the TB test can be done on Tuesday morning. So, that puts us a day behind, which is a little concerning. Connie told us that she already talked to the US Consulate and they understood the situation and that the day delay would not delay us over all. Let’s all be praying that is the case!
We are staying on an island in the middle of the city. If anyone is familiar with Govenors Island in New York, it is kind of like that, although there is car access. The island is very “resortish” and, combined with the tropical environment of Guangzhou, it will probably be a very beautiful place. I say that because, as with everything else, the entire island is under construction. The streets are all torn up and it is very congested and there are workers everywhere!
There are basically two places on the island that people adopting children stay. And, because so many people who are adopting children stay here, there are more people who speak English and there are several places to eat. That is good, but the prices are more expensive, so you have to take the good with the bad. This area is basically on the same Latitude as Puerto Rico, so it is a very warm, humid environment.
I mentioned there are two places people usually stay. One is The White Swan and the other is The Victory. The White Swan is extremely well known and has a tradition of having adoptive children sit on a white couch and get their picture taken with a special Barbie doll that is provided. Well, Caleb would probably rip the dolls head off anyway, so we are not staying there. We are staying at the Victory, which we are told has bigger rooms, and we were not disappointed.
Through that opening in the wall is our sitting room.
It is a very large and comfortable room. And it has a pool that does not require goggles or a swimming cap!
The view from The Victory roof isn’t too bad either, even though it looks down on some of the more unfinished areas of the island.
After we checked in we went for a little walk around the island, heading to a restaurant called “Lucy’s.” Our guide, Connie, told us it was a place where many American families liked to eat. You can see a lot of what reminded me of the French Quarter in New Orleans here.
And, in the middle of all these nice buildings, more construction.
We arrived at Lucy’s and ordered. The food was OK. We are so ready to have a REAL meal, but this wasn’t it. Between that and Taylor and I not being able to figure out that “Linguini” is not the same thing as “Alfredo,” we were underwhelmed with Lucy’s. But, it was still decent food and Caleb seemed to enjoy it!
Brittany was able to enjoy some chicken wings! It wasn’t BW-3, but I think it was still pretty good!
Caleb tends to put his mouth down by his plate and “scoop” all the food in. We are working with him on this, but sometimes you just can’t get it in fast enough without the “scoop!”
I think Kelly finally gave up!
After dinner we just walked around the island a little and looked at the sights.
You like how I got that trash can in the last picture? Not every photographer could set up the scene quite as nicely and include such an ugly item. I am talented.
Below is what we have been told is a very nice Italian restaurant. We will see ..
There is a park right in the middle of the island that has places for kids to play and places for adults to work out. It is a little worn, but still a nice diversion! And, it is right up the street from our hotel!
See that bar above Caleb’s head on the shot above? He walked right into it TWICE and would have hit it a THIRD time is Kelly wouldn’t have stopped him! I thought he was pretty smart, but maybe not …
Tomorrow is a “free” day for us. I have NO idea what we are going to do with a free day. I will let you know.
Cameron
Before I blog about this afternoon, a few thoughts. First, on the lighter note:
On a more serious note, I have been so impressed with how Caleb has progressed in that last couple of days. On Monday he was an crazy kid with about no self control. I wasn’t sure if we were EVERY going to get him to sit still and control himself. But, by today, he was doing so much better. He held my hand through most of the part and rarely tried to run off. The couple of times he did, he stopped when we called him. He now sits in the restaurants, rather than yelling and standing on his chair. And, he has learned to whisper in the elevator rather than talk at the top of his lungs. It was so cute tonight when he pulled Brittany over and was whispering in her ear as we went up to our room. She has no clue what he said, but at least it was in a civilized voice. I am truly amazed at how far he has come in just a few short. days.
This afternoon Caleb and Brittany were playing and he fell and hit his head on the table. Kelly was able to give him some of the motherly comfort that she is so good at giving.
That said, we went to a four-story mall tonight. He LOVES escalators and he was dragging me around from one escalator to the next! I felt that I was taking Hershey, our month’s old dog, for a walk! It was exhausting… As we left the Mall, here was the view of all the bikes and scooters that greeted us:
As I told you yesterday, we have been looking for a park and, in the end, there was one a block away from our hotel, jut in a direction that we had not been going! It is called the “People’s Park” and it was quite nice!
The park is surrounding a large lake with paddle boats.
There are walkways and bridges all through the park that are very ornate and beautiful.
As is typical, people gather at these parks to play games,
practice their drumming,
and exercise.
They also play this game (? I guess?) where they have a large top and they hit it with a type of whip that keeps the top spinning.
I have no idea what it was called, but there were a TON of people doing it!
In addition, I guess this was the park to have your wedding pictures taken, because that was a pretty common occurrence while we were there!
OK, quick note on the way the Chinese people dress their babies. First, it was almost 70 degrees out today and they still had their kids dressed up in snow suites. However, these suits have an interesting feature. There is a slit cut in the back. This allows the little kids to go to the bathroom without taking everything off! Unfortunately that means that they don’t wear any underwear, so their bare bottoms are hanging out. Taylor says that is OK because everyone’s bottom looks the same anyway. I think she may need some counseling when she gets home.
The park had many interesting items like sculptures and buildings that all surrounded the lake.
However, what interested Caleb the MOST was the paddle boats. He was bound and determined that he was riding one of those boats. So, we gave in! A very, very nice lady at the boat talk kind of took us by the hand and showed us what we needed to do to rent them. We thought $100 (about $15 US) was kind of a lot for these people to pay! It wasn’t until we came back to the dock and she walked us through the process that we realized that the $100 was just a DEPOSIT and we got $75 of that back. So, $2.50US for a boat ride was very, very reasonable!
We all piled into our “duck” boat with Taylor and myself providing the power!
It didn’t take long before Caleb wanted to “drive” …
… and then wanted to peddle. He ended up peddling by himself for much of the ride.
Brittany ended up doing much of the navigating, including taking us through this treacherous area twice!
Kelly and Taylor excelled at looking pretty!
Unlike this guy, whose picture I took earlier in the afternoon. However, I just LOVE the faces of these people. I wish I had an afternoon just to go out and take face shots. But, I’m not here for the photography!
After we got off the boat, we went looking for where they were flying kites and ended up in another park that was next door to the “People’s Park”.
A lot of people where masks here. I’m not sure if it is because of the pollution, concern about avaiary flu (sp?), or the pollen from the poplar trees. Maybe it is a combination of both.
Brittany and Caleb had a good time.
The park was preparing for a big festival this weekend.
In this park, we found an older gentleman who was selling the tops and sticks that we had seen previously. He LOVED Brittany and spent a bunch of time with both her and Caleb showing them how to do it.
Do you think there may be a little hockey in Caleb’s future?
In the end, I paid the guy $1.50US for a stick and a top … and a little plastic toy that Caleb liked. But, he was a nice guy and I didn’t mind!
That about raps it up for today. Tomorrow we head to Guangzhou, the last trip on our journey!
Cameron
I am going to break today’s blog into two parts because it was a pretty busy day with a ton of pictures and I don’t want this blog to get too long!
As promised, Brittany tried her fish heads this morning, after having a couple of helpings of Duck Neck. OK, not fish heads, but complete fish with heads still attached.
She was NOT real sure about eating this thing, though.
But, in the end, she said it actually taste pretty good. I noticed she didn’t go back for a second helping.
Tay tried her hand at chop sticks. It was kind of sad ….
We left the hotel this morning and traveled to a Buddhist Temple which was about 40 minutes away. On the drive, Caleb kept our guide and driver in stitches as he talked a blue streak. It is nice to have someone who understands WHAT the little guy is talking about all the time! Do you have ANY idea how embarrassing it is to be in a crowded elevator with Caleb rattling off a mile a minutes and everyone knowing that THEY know what he is saying but YOU have no clue?
Anyway, as soon as we got into the van, Caleb told the driver, “You are a good driver. I fell asleep in your van yesterday.” Then, later, he regaled everyone with a story about tiger’s and lion’s which he personally experienced but then later admitted it was only when he went to the zoo. He has quite an imagination and I am sure that Mia and he will be able to think up many exciting adventures for Kelly and I to unwillingly participate in!
When we got to the temple, they were having some sort of authentic dance presentation, complete with a fake emperor and emperess. The costumes were pretty cool and we stayed out front and watched the entire procession before we went in.
Here are the girls in there pretty skirts. However, it was later in the day that I started paying attention to the fact that NO ONE has bare legs here! We may not be seeing any more skirts in this trip. (FYI, Taylor made Brittany’s skirt.)
Glamor girls …
There were several small children at the presentation.
Then, after the dancers, the emperor and his court came into the temple.
Here is the emperor and emperess.
Inside the temple, there was an area that you could lay a gift if you wanted to have a child. I’m thinking that I pretty much laid MOST of these gifts out there!
These are shingles that you could pay for and receive a blessing. Hmmmmm ….where in our history have we heard something like THAT before????
Here is the crew in front of just one a numerous temples on the land. There must have been 50 – 60 acres that were covered by all the buildings.
This is still an active temple and people do come here to pay their respects and give an offering.
Below is a carving done completely in wood. It is hard, in picture form, to catch how amazingly intricate the carving was. This is a god with all kinds of little gods surrounding her. I have no idea how long this must have taken to complete.
The entrance to one of the main buildings.
Brittany and Caleb bonded a little on this outing! I guess that is what the outings are for, huh?
Huh?
Kelly and Taylor … ladies in red…
Another statue of a god. One side faces South and is happy (I think) and the other faces North and is angry. Don’t ask me why …
All the buildings were made without the use of nails. The wood was slide together in a locking manner. Then, that wood was painted. This lead to some really pretty woodwork.
OK, so this next statue was carved completely out of wood and had to be at least twenty feet high or more. It amazed me how much time people would spend on something that is, quite frankly, meaningless.
Here is what typically happens when we are out. In the first picture, our guide, Robert, is telling everyone about the next building. Caleb is listening until he sees me, then it is a bee-line straight towards me, usually so he can ask me to show him the picture of himself that I have just taken.
In front of each of the temple buildings is an incense pot where you can light your incense as part of your sacrifice.
I thought the wooden god was impressive, but the next one blew the wooden thing away. This statue is 22 METERS high! I hope you can see how intricate it is. They made it by building up an earthen tower that was over 22 meters high. Then, workers dug down into the earth and made a form from the inside. Once completed, they filled the form with some type of material (I don’t remember what) and when they broke away the earth, this is the statue that was left. Robert said it took 30-years to make this thing. I’m thinking he MAY have pulled that number out of the air, but it definitely took a VERY, VERY long time. In the end, more wasted time ….
Here is a few from the top of the big statues building looking back on a part of the park.
All the rooftops had this ornate soldiers and dragons along the roofline.
Here is our little group, standing on a bridge high up in the air that was made almost 2,000 years ago. Makes you feel pretty confident!
All along the side there were these support buildings. I think they used some of them to restore pieces from the temples.
Along the roof line of all the buildings is just a ton more carvings, etc.
This statue was a gift from the emperor (I have no idea which one) to his mother-in-law. I hope my mother-in-law isn’t expecting something like this. It has 1,064 budda’s carved into it. They brought it into this building in the winter by building a ramp out of the ground, covering it with water, waiting for it to freeze, and then they pulled the statue up into the building. Pretty smart!
Out behind the temples there was a park that some rich guy had donated.
Caleb and Kelly at the top of the rock structure.
Brittany posing.
On the way out, there was a large pond that was feed by a spring. It was full of Coy fish, which we took a few minutes to feed.
A few final shots as we headed out of the park.
I will fill you in on the afternoon activities in the next blog.
Cameron
I didn’t get a chance to put these pictures up last night. Lazy I guess. Caleb got his first taste of Play-Dough yesterday afternoon. He enjoyed playing with it.
He and I wrestled for awhile yesterday afternoon. He about wore me out. He wanted me to do it again this afternoon and how can you say no to such a cute little kid??
We went for a little walk before dinner. Here are a couple of pictures off the main street.
Brittany did a little shopping in the Nike store … not! It was super expensive!
Here is the base for ANOTHER huge sky scraper.
And a view of the busy roadway.
A busy town like this actually has bike lanes on each side of the main road, which I’m sure makes it much safer for the riders!
I’m including this picture because the guy doesn’t want me to take his picture. Really? After all the people who have stared at us and taken our picture, you think a little hand wave will stop me???
These two guys were yelling at each other about the price of his fruit.
We had dinner at Pizza Hut, which is most Asian countries is more than just a Pizza Hut we would have at home. They have a full menu with about anything you can think of on it. Here were our fru-fru drinks, without the umbrellas. I would have liked umbrellas.
And, a shot of our pretty much American pizza.
We came home and watch a Chinese version of Kung Fu Panda that we bought on our walk. Taylor and I enjoyed reading the subtitles in English, but Caleb was a little too tired to really appreciate the humor!
I will post the pictures from today a little later. We are heading up the street to a park. We have been looking for a park for days, only to find out that it is about 1500 feet up the street in the ONE direction we have not yet gone! Nice …
Cameron
What a difference a few days and a few hundred kilometers can make! (Like that kilometer talk? I’m becoming international in my daily conversation!)(Funny, huh, Hannah????)
The Great Wall of China was pretty cool in Beijing, but it was SO different here in Shijiazhuang City (looks like I just threw a bunch of letters together, huh?)(Funny again, huh Hannah???). Beijing was VERY touristy and almost sort of “perfect.” And, we went there on a Saturday so there were a ton of people. It was cool because of how far you could go up the mountain as Taylor and I found out, becoming Chinese hero’s and all.
But here in Shijianzhuang City, it was very authentic. Everything LOOKED a couple thousand years old, like you had gone back in time to see it when it was in use. Even down to the ruts that were made by the wooden wagon wheels as they carried supplies through the interior of the wall. You also were able to walk through all the passageways and tight stairwells that made up the inside of the walls. I thought the experience was a lot better here than it was in Beijing. Plus, for most of the morning, we were the only ones there, so we got a lot of personal attention.
I’m sorry that there are going to be a TON of pictures again, but there were so many things to see that I had a hard time narrowing it down.
The day started with our first breakfast at the new hotel. We had visions of a Western breakfast, but in the end it wasn’t much different! However, we did see TWO caucasians at breakfast, which helped us now that we were not alone!
Brittany thought she had SCORED with a bowl of Cocoa Puffs!
Unfortunately, it wasn’t as good as she was expecting… Taylor enjoyed her morning cup of tea!
And her piece of chocolate cake! Really, Tay? For BREAKFAST??
Taylor challenged me to try the Duck Neck. Seriously. It was right below the whole fish with eyes and all. Just what you were looking for for breakfast, huh? Anyway, I got one and ate it and, quite frankly, it was pretty good. Spicy but good. Not to be out done, Brittany ate one, too! When we told our guide later he looked at Brittany with nothing short of admiration! Tomorrow she is planning on trying the fish with the eyeballs, but Kelly has said that she won’t allow that at our table!
We arrived at the Great Wall around 10:00, after a LONG drive from the hotel!
You are kind of in luck because I just noticed several pictures didn’t upload, but I’m tired of fighting with the internet connection (and Brittany is bored and wants to play Webkins) so I will skip ahead!
You can imagine below that if it was THIS tight for Brittany, how tight it was for me!
There was a section where they had a display chronicling all the kingdom’s of China and their emperors.
Taylor shows us all her muscles!
Brittany makes new friends…
Here are the very STEEP stairs you had to go up to get to were the above pictures were taken.
And the room at the top of the stairs.
The guide SO wanted me to take this picture. I have NO idea why…
Brittany man handles a canon for the Chinese army! She thought Jacob might like this.
Kelly, Caleb, and Taylor …
Here is the family at the top of the part that we were allowed to view today. We are not sure if we had to stop this high because it was a requirement of the park or if our guide was just tired of us. It could really have been either one!
Kelly at one of the external entrances to the wall were scouts could come and look for advancing enemies.
This was a common view. We would let Caleb’s hand go and one of us (Brittany in this case) would have to chase him. By this time of the day we had gotten smart enough to have a blocker down-field (Kelly in this case).
Caleb is enjoying riding on my shoulders.
Brittany and Caleb play “peek-a-boo!” I think we may be TOTALLY tired of this little game in the near future as Caleb likes to play it all the time!
A courtyard where we finally were allowed to let Caleb run. Until he found the opening to the stairs that lead down to the drainage tunnels. That ended his freedom for the morning.
The Chinese made these huge tunnels under the wall to divert water out during heavy rains. I’m not sure how they protected themselves from the enemy advancing through these tunnels, but it was pretty cool. I guess the tunnels probably ran back into China and away from the Mongolians?
That is it for today. We were not supposed to go back out to the Great Wall today, but it was definitely worth the $80 it cost for the day! Tomorrow we head out to a temple somewhere. More pictures to follow.
Cameron
Today was a pretty good day. The hotel change, some slightly more familiar surroundings, and a dinner that, while not as good as back home, sure was close for this area of the world. We were talking today and realized that, in the city we are currently in, which is a medium sized Chinese city of eight million people, we have not seen ONE other caucasian. Wow … that is very strange. In fact, we have seen NO other nationality except for Chinese yet! And, since we noticed that, I have really been looking out to see if I can find someone different and as yet I have not.
This afternoon Kelly pulled out a puzzle for Caleb and he took to it immediately! He probably worked on that thing for an hour, taking it apart, putting it back together! He seems to have so little focus and then you give him some opportunities to focus and he does great. Earlier today he played by himself for probably 20 – 30 minutes. Here he is working on the puzzles.
This afternoon Taylor and Brittany started playing “I’m gonna get you” with Caleb. He loved it. He would try and sneak up on Taylor and then, when she would go after him, he would come running back to safety with me. It has been SUCH a blessing having those two girls here with us. I don’t know what we would have done without them. After our walk this afternoon, Brittany insisted on serving us all tea and did a wonderful job. I could get used to this kind of treatment!! Here are several pictures of the kids wrestling around this afternoon.
We quickly found a mall next door to the hotel with a great grocery store in the basement. Has anything that we might want to have to get through our hungry times. I was able to find Diet Pepsi there, which is very hard to find here as not many Chinese NEED diet pop. Well, they don’t need regular pop either, but you know what I mean. This society is so thin. I honestly hate watching them eat at KFC or McDonalds just because you know what the eventual outcome will be. We are glad to see the comfort food, but it would be better for them as a society just not to have it here. This is the escalator down to the grocery store. For some reason I didn’t take a picture of the actual store itself. Next time we are down there I will do that.
We went out for pizza tonight at dinner at a Western Steakhouse. The food was acceptable. At least it wasn’t Chinese!
Yeah, I know … I talked about how bad the food is for these people and then I show a picture of my own kid drinking a Sprite. Oh well … I’m a hypocrite.
We had noticed earlier in the day that when Caleb was jumping off the window ledge into our room (yes, he is much like Luke), he was saying “1 – 2 – 3.” Obviously, he has had some sort of education already. At dinner, he was getting a little restless, so we gave him a pencil and a piece of paper. Next thing we looked down and he had written his English numbers, 1 – 11, just a plain as could be! I’m not sure if you can see it on this picture:
We thought that was pretty impressive, so Brittany, being the educator of the group, decided to write the alphabet on a napkin and gave it to him. As soon as he saw it, he started saying his ABC’s all the way through … no problem. Brittany started handing him pieces of paper with words on it and he copied them in quite good penmanship … maybe even better than some of my older kids! I am going to drop him off in front of a piano one of these days. I’m sure he can play that, too! You will be seeing us on Good Morning America int he near future!
Night time is the worst time for Caleb. He gets tired and then starts thinking of his foster family and has some quiet emotional issues. Kelly and I sat with him tonight and helped him work through some of them.
Poor little guy. He ended up crying himself to sleep a little bit. Even though he doesn’t show it during the day, I’m sure this has to be hard on him! He is such a happy little guy, you hate to see this.
Cameron
Not only is the new hotel more comfortable and better situated, within walking distance is a McDonalds and a KFC! Seriously! Foods we don’t tend to eat every day as a family, but they sure are a welcome sign here in the middle of this busy city.
We had a chance to stop in a few shops today to see if Taylor can find earrings and Kelly can find a tea pot.
Nice eyes, Taylor. That is how crazy people look.
Here is a picture of the new, better hotel! We made to move in order to have a pool available, and this place certainly DOES have a nice swimming pool. However, they require that if you use the pool, you have to wear a cap and goggles, which they do have available for purchase. The total cost for the five of us to be properly outfitted would be about $150. Oh well … at least it is a better hotel. I’m not sure our guide would appreciate another move! One of the really nice things about this hotel is that they filter their water! This is the first place we have stayed in China that has potable water in the room. I don’t think we are quite brave enough to actually DRINK it, but at least we do not have to use bottled water for our toothbrushes. THAT is a pain…
While the streets here are not NEAR as congested as those in Vietnam, you still have to play a little dodge-bus at the intersections.
This is the first place I have been where they have these little DJ stands set up. I believe they are selling dance mix-CD’s.
Here is that beautiful sign that so symbolizes home!
We let Caleb have his first taste of McDonald’s ice cream.
He offered to switch cones with Taylor so that they could try the other person’s. For some reason Taylor didn’t want to share!
Caleb tried Coke for the first time:
He had QUITE the reaction!!
We thought that we would try and get him down for a nap. No such luck…
Tonight we are going to head out and get some pizza for dinner. Even if it is awful, I think we will think it is wonderful!!
Tomorrow we head back out to the Great Wall of China. One time just isn’t enough!
Cameron
Just a quick update. We have moved to our new hotel and it is SO much better than the previous one. The room is a little bigger and it is in a much better are of the city. We look out on business district that seems to have a lot of places to eat and, much to Taylor’s delight, it looks like we may be right beside a mall. There is always a risk switching hotels because you don’t know if the place you are going is going to be better or worse. This time, it worked in our favor and should provide a pleasant rest of this week. Thank you to our guide, Robert, how made this happen. He has proved his worth!
Cameron
We are getting ready to switch hotels, so I am making this quick. The swimming pool is broken here so we are getting a different hotel. Irritating forigners, huh????
Last night, Caleb was tired and ended up getting a little homesick for his foster home. It was kind of sad, but at the same time comforting to see the emotions there.
But this morning, he was all smiles again.
Here are pictures from our walk around this morning.
Our hotel … the one we are leaving
