Guangzhou

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December 4, 2010 First full day in Guangzhou

 

My days are running together. Today is our first full day in Guangzhou. Yesterday we travelled from Xi'an to Guangzhou. Marie Ling was apprehensive and excited about her first flight. She fought sleep the whole flight and of course fell asleep about ten minutes before we landed. The landing scared her and she screamed out. Fortunately, the moment came and went quickly. Elsie, our guide here has already earned my vote of confidence because even in the car from the airport she did not hesitate to speak to Marie Ling about appropriate behavior. What a blessing!

 

Our last day in Xi'an included two highlights a visit to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and a cultural show of music and dancing. The pagoda was built to house the translations of Buddhist writings done by the city favored son - a monk who travelled across China and to India and Pakistan hundreds of years ago. The pagoda is a part of a much larger complex that is the imperial temple. A significant emperor from the Tang dynasty built the temple in honor of his mother. The temple included many impressive statues of Buddha.

 

Our guide then took us to a local diner that he said had good food and was much cheaper than the food at the dinner/theater. Our dinner came and was a large bowl of chopped up "pancakes", rice noodles and beef with broth and a few vegetables. It was quite tasty and so filling. I could not eat the whole bowl (at least four cups) and Marie Ling chowed and ate the whole thing! She must have a hollow leg! I think their food is not as rich as ours so they often eat a lot of it; most dishes are a lot of noodles, rice or "pancakes".

 

The cultural show included seven or eight separate performances. Some were dancing with music and some were musicians only. I loved the colorful ribbon dance and found the instrumental group of six men most entertaining. They played drums, cymbals and something like a xylophone. My favorite though was the guy who played something like a trumpet and a whistle held inside his mouth. We all laughed out loud.

 

Here in Guangzhou we are staying at the Garden Hotel, by far the fanciest hotel in which I have ever stayed. We have two rooms which is a great blessing, so all three of us need not go to sleep and wake up at the same time. We are on the 14th floor and have a great view of this big city (about 13,000,000!) there is a strong British influence here and this is by far the most modern city we have visited (though they may tell you it is Beijing!).

 

Their are five families here who have worked with WACAP, our adoption agency in Seattle. Their are two families from Washington, one each from Wisconsin and Conniticut and us. The family from Walla Walla, WA is adopting a 13 year old boy who is a friend of the 15 year old girl whom they adopted last year. The 15 year old still speaks Chinese so she is a great help to have around. I think Marie Ling is growing more frustrated with her inability to communicate openly with us, so having Elsie and this 15 year old around is sooooooo helpful.

 

Today we went for our TB shot and the medical examination. Apparently, Marie Ling's vision is very poor. One examiner led us to the next and a doctor fitted her with the "glasses" one gets during an exam and she still did poorly. Her two eyes are definitely not working together at this point. We will need to see a pediatric opthamologist in Cincinnati right away. The site for the examinations was PACKED with Caucasians, mostly Americans. I think we went to six different stations and Marie Ling was a real trooper through it all. She did not shed a tear during the shot and did not seem to mind the "cattle call" like environment. I was relieved when it was over. One doctor seemed concerned about her cough; another parent had prepped me to play it down so as not to draw attention to it. We did not want to need a chest x-ray!

 

This is more than enough for today. More soon.

Michelle, a mother of three! with Aunt Mary and Marie Ling.