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.