There was a beautiful rose garden with hundreds of fragrant roses, and then this interesting choice of decoration was placed in the middle of all the fresh rose bushes. Huge fake rose arches lined the pathway between the rose bushes. I'm not quite sure why, but nontheless, there they were.
On Monday we toured a botanical garden here that was lovely. The sun was out and boy was it humid. I am not kidding. It's like Dallas in July. Even our giude who was raised in Beijing and is Chinese, says Guangzhou is green and beautiful but too humid for her. The entrance to the gardens looked like we were entering an aquatic theme park. We strolled around for a bit but it didn't take too long before our entire group was back at the entrance again sitting down waiting on our bus driver to open our air conditioned bus. While we sat and fed our babies waiting for our bus, all the locals were staring at us and reading our cards which explain in Mandarin, basically, that we are adoptive parents and appreciate their country for giving us our daughters. We are definitely stared at a lot by the local Chinese. I'm not sure what they think of us holding Chinese babies, but they are sure curious.
We spent some time getting our paperwork in order for our consulate appointment on Tuesday. That's when we do a short interview with the U.S. consulate to get her visa so that when we land on American soil she autamatically becomes a U.S. citizen. It's the last step in our adoption process, and as soon as we are handed back her passport with her visa inside, we can get on an airplane back to the states. Whew! Three weeks is a long time to be away from our son even though I'm sure he's been having a blast with his Grandma and Grandpa.
We ate lunch again at a local Chinese restaurant. Yummy green beans, zucchini, and broccoli. Again, some differences in our cultures are evident as we eat our meals. I just can't get used to the fact that napkins just aren't a big thing. We have to ask for them and then they are so very tiny that we need tons of them. It's funny how tiny they are and are specially wrapped up in a decorated plastic wrapped bag like they are a gift to be opened. Also, the service is sooooo different. We are very spoiled with service at restaurants in the states. I do miss it, I have to say. I'm missing simple things like clearing off excess plates not being used, or filling up glasses with water when they are empty or not having to wait for ten to fifteen minutes after sitting down to get water or order. I will say there is plenty of hot tea being served quickly.
It's funny how we are overeating also, because we don't know how to pace our meals. Food is brought out to us after being ordered by our guide. It is brought out dish by dish, and the entire table shares each dish by spinning it around on a huge lazy susan. We never know how many dishes are going to ultimately be served, and just when we are full, another dish is brought that looks tasty.
We spent some time getting our paperwork in order for our consulate appointment on Tuesday. That's when we do a short interview with the U.S. consulate to get her visa so that when we land on American soil she autamatically becomes a U.S. citizen. It's the last step in our adoption process, and as soon as we are handed back her passport with her visa inside, we can get on an airplane back to the states. Whew! Three weeks is a long time to be away from our son even though I'm sure he's been having a blast with his Grandma and Grandpa.
We ate lunch again at a local Chinese restaurant. Yummy green beans, zucchini, and broccoli. Again, some differences in our cultures are evident as we eat our meals. I just can't get used to the fact that napkins just aren't a big thing. We have to ask for them and then they are so very tiny that we need tons of them. It's funny how tiny they are and are specially wrapped up in a decorated plastic wrapped bag like they are a gift to be opened. Also, the service is sooooo different. We are very spoiled with service at restaurants in the states. I do miss it, I have to say. I'm missing simple things like clearing off excess plates not being used, or filling up glasses with water when they are empty or not having to wait for ten to fifteen minutes after sitting down to get water or order. I will say there is plenty of hot tea being served quickly.
It's funny how we are overeating also, because we don't know how to pace our meals. Food is brought out to us after being ordered by our guide. It is brought out dish by dish, and the entire table shares each dish by spinning it around on a huge lazy susan. We never know how many dishes are going to ultimately be served, and just when we are full, another dish is brought that looks tasty.
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