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