Appointments and new friends

Okay, some catch-up from yesterday. We did the second most important thing on our trip. Starbucks. I got my city mug and a mocha. Wonderful. Tastes the same with the same high price. Still a bit of home is nice. Apparently, nearby Starbucks was also something of value. The Bell Tower and Drum Tower. They would strike the bell (daylight) and drum (nightime) each hour. The Bell tower also had performance of various traditional musical instruments. We of course climbed up to the top.... whereas our guide mysteriously disappeared once we started up and reappeared once we got to the bottom.... Fun fact. They moved the tower to the center of the old city following a major earthquake. They believed that the dragon underground was causing the earth to move and by stricking the bell tower they would prevent further damage.

We started today off with a bang.... the wonderful medical circus. It starts with a photo for the visa and this year Josiah did great, as opposed to Olivia screaming last time. Then off to the medical appointments full of pushy guides and quick medical exams. A ton of hurry up and wait. We got off to a later start, 9:30 and therefore were planning on it taking a couple of hours. However, we just beat out a couple of other adoption groups so we were one of the first ones through.... only took 2 hours. Josiah and Joel did great amidst the business, in part to Joel's DSI... but still it was pleasant. After the weighing, measuring, poking, and prodding, those families with Hague adoptions (which we are) got the privilege and honor of making up the missing immunizations. So five shots, 1600 RMB, and one screaming child later, we were out of there. Ironically, our attending physician will still recommend new shots when we get back.... meh, insurance is nice to cover the cost, but not the screaming (I am already busy at work that day somehow).

Glad that is over.

Unfortunately, the whole island is under construction due to the "beautification" project as the result Guangzhou holding the 2010 Asian Games. Seriously, every building has a scaffolding and green mesh cover, the streets are torn up and barely walkable. Our view out the window is... well.... green mesh...oh well.

We did learn that the park down the main street is still functional, Joel and Josiah can attest to that. It was hilarious to watch big brother run from one play item to the next, with laughing little brother trying to catch up. Even more funny was watching the Chinese people watching us and taking our pictures when they thought we were not looking.

Slides are fun we discovered. I taught them a bad habit though of climbing up the slides and not doing it the proper way by climbing the up stairs.....ooopppps.

We had lunch with another family at an italian restaurant, pizza and ravioli's. Wonderful, but the price was steep steep steep, our most expensive meal yet. Still it was a nice change. We made up for it with a carpet picnic for dinner of PB sandwiches and noodles. Still yummy.


Oh and I corrected the link to the pictures. I set it up as public first and pasted that link in, then changed it to unlisted and forgot to change the link. Should all work now.

We made it to Guangzhou

We are in Guangzhou.  Finally got to our hotel, it feels like we are in a palace compared to our last hotel.  Didn't realize how rustic and small our last hotel room was until we get into ours here at the Victory.  We could live here for weeks!  Will be nice for our week stay here.  Josiah did OK traveling.  He cried off and on the entire 1 1/2 hour flight (saw more tears than the entire past 5 days), but we all survived.  Tomorrow morning we have Josiah's medical appt.  It will probably be a long morning, followed by paperwork in the afternoon.  Please pray that Josiah is not too traumatized by the medical check up and that he will not need too many shots!  Well, off to sleep in our SOFT KING SIZE BED!!!!!  Looking forward to my most comfortable night sleep in a week.  I'll post pictures tomorrow and tell more about what we did today.  I'm on the hotel's computer (in our room!), but don't want to download pictures to this computer.

 

Hannah and Olivia, have a great weekend at Nana and Grandpa's house!  We love you and we will miss Skyping with you for the next few days!

last day in Xi'an

We found out that the picture link might not be working.  Sorry if this is the case!  We are trying to post more pictures to the blog now, so that should keep all you happy!!
 
Yesterday, we had a free day, and laid low most of the day.  We hung out at the hotel and took a few walks around the area.  Josiah enjoys being in the hotel room, probably because we allow him to walk around as opposed to being trapped in the carrier!  On Wednesday night we went to a fountain light show.  It was the most magnificent, huge fountain show that I have ever seen.  Puts Las Vegas to shame!   Then yesterday (Thursday) we tried to find a Wal Mart on our own.  We asked the front desk and they put a mark on the map where it is.  Well, we walked that way, even past where they said it was, and couldn't find a Wal Mart. (Something must have been lost in translation!)  Oh well.  We found what we needed at a local mini-mart after we came back (tape to fix our huge tear in our suitcase, a razor for David, and some Oreo's!)
 
It was really nice to have a day on our own.  Josiah took a 3 1/2 hour nap which I think he really needed.  Before the nap, he pitched a huge fit at our favorite dumpling restaurant.  I had to leave for a while with him until he calmed down.  After the nap, he was much happier.
 
Today, we have the morning free.  Then we are checking out of the hotel and going to visit the Bell Tower, picking up Josiah's passport, and heading to the airport to fly to Guangzhou.  We will be sad to say goodbye to Xi'an.  It has been a great week.  We are looking forward to the day when we can bring the whole family back and even visit the orphanage in Hanzhong.

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all our picts

For those who are interested, I have posted all of our unedited and unreviewed pictures to
here

Terracotta Warriors

Today was our big Xi'an tourism day.  We started touring at 9:30 and got back at 4:30.  It was a very long day, but we were glad to see so many sights.  We first went to a factory where they showed us how they make replicas of the warriors and other items.  Then we went to the Terracotta warrior museum.  It is amazing to see an archeological dig that is still in process, and the statues in the dig were dated back to the Qin dynasty in 210 BC!  We learned a ton about the history of ancient China today. 
 
Then we went to a chinese restaurant, and of course enjoyed the food!  After that we visited a silk factory and learned how silk was made - very interesting.  We were even talked into buying a silk comforter (but we are happy with this purchase, cause our comforter is so old it needs to be thrown out!)  Then we made our way to some hot springs (I can't remember the name)  This is where many emporers came to bathe.  We are enjoying learning so much about history and seeing it with our own eyes.
 
Josiah did pretty well today, considering he was stuck in the carrier for most of the day.  He is showing us more of his personality and even threw a temper tantrum for us.  It was getting late for lunch, he was hungry and tired, so I don't blame him.  He threw a toy on the ground, David took it away, and we saw real tears!  It only lasted less than a minute, but was good to see that he is feeling comfortable enough around us to throw a tantrum!
 
Tonight, we decided to reward Joel for his GREAT behavior today by bringing him to Pizza Hut.  He's been pretty good about trying the Chinese food, and hopefully he will like the Chinese version of pizza.  Then we are going to go to a fountain light show thing that is supposed to be great near our hotel.  It is really really cold here today, so we'll need to bundle up a lot.

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Xian and the Pagoda

Ahhhhhhh. A day of relaxation. We were only with our guide for two hours today so we had tons of non-scheduled time. Just what we need to pull the family together. We rolled out of bed this morning around 7 and heading down to the lobby to skype with the family back home before Joels favorite meal of the day, breakfast. What a wonderful ability to be able to see (webcams rock) the little girls back home. They got to meet Josiah over the web... aren't we just the family of the 21st century? Don"t ask how many computers are in our house.... lets just say with Josiah, living breathing human beings now outnumber the computers.

Our hotel is close by to the Wild Goose Pagoda and a huge park area so adventures abound for us. If you havent noticed yet, we like to "get lost" and "figure it out as we go". I mean seriously, who goes to the Great Wall with no guide, no ability to speak Chinese, and then to do it the native Chinese way by going by bus? Yah thats us. So today we wondered around the new international area, only to discover about 75% was still being built. But we discovered a gem in the area (and I think the place next door (hot pots) will be the same, but tomorrow will tell. Seriously, if you ever come to Xi'an you must try out Lilly Dumplings. The manager/owner spoke enough English to explain the basics of our choices, so we ordered boiled pork dumplings, followed by duck steamed dumplings and vegetable egg steamed dumplings. Pork dumplings....Heaven in your mouth..... yes it was that good.... I am pretty sure all the workers ( yes there were 6 of them and only us in the whole place) thought I was insane given the expression on my face.... Josiah downed them too... Joel wasn't so sure about the pork part, so he just picked it out and ate the shells...... THEN came the best, seriously the best, combination of flavors that my tongue has ever had the privilege of tasting... duck steamed dumplings. Ooppss... I just drooled on the keyboard..... The vegi's were surprisingly good too. The manager asked what we thought. Delicious. Which she translated and told all the workers who sighed and smiled. All total we had about 40 of them.... Joel ate three...... so yah we were stuffed.

Fortunately the next item our list was nap time. Recall how I started this post? Ahhhhhh. Yah baby.

At 3:00 we met our guide, Shelly, and headed over to the Wild Goose Pagoda. We learned that this was the study/home of the first monk to introduce Buddhism into China. He did this by traveling to India and studying for 7 years and returning to China with his translations. The emperor then built the pagoda. There were 3 versions over the years, first was 4 levels out of earth. That eroded. So it was rebuilt again out of earth but 7 levels. That eroded. So it was rebuilt again with bricks this time and was 7 levels. The one we see today is this version. It is slightly tilted due to the fact there was an earthquake about 600 years ago and it was only one of three buildings that withstood the quake. It was named Wild Goose due the legend summarized here. After seeing and hearing about the Pagoda, it appeared we were leaving, but April was like.... "Um.... can we go up it?" Our guide looked at us funny and said yes. So off we go. We had to twist her arm to come with and later found out that many of the other families she guides for don't want to climb it. As my wife always says...."Its there so lets do it. We are only here once (albeit this is our 4th trip to china..... ). Are you ready?" To which my verbal response is and will always be " I was born ready." (independent of what my brain says...) Off we go to climb 7 levels which got narrower and smaller and tighter and skinner as we went. Have I mentioned I am not short? Still, worth every moment and provided an awesome view of the city from 4 different directions. I think our guide enjoyed it too as she kept looking out all the windows.

Josiah's personality is starting to come out. Its a strong one. He likes what he likes and wants what he wants. Fortunately no major issues so far. I think tomorrow will be interesting.

As tomorrow we are off for 5-6 hours of viewing the Terracotta Warriors and a Hot Spring. Packing a lunch. Packing duct tape... wait did I type that? I must be tired and my filter is turned off. Seriously though, I think tomorrow will be a good test of our family and how we relate to each other.

Finally, I figured out the picture issue so here are some. Also thanks for all the comments, April and I love to have the interaction.

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