12/30/08 6:00AM - Yesterday we
walked around town and did some shopping (see
pictures of the town). The town kind of
reminds me of Washington, D.C. in a strange way. We also returned to the Italian
Restaurant for some brick oven pizza. We ordered
so much we couldn't even finish it. Also, it
appears that Joanna likes pizza just like cousin Joe
Joe. She didn't actually eat the crust, but tried! (see
pictures) I made it to the
gym in the hotel
again. Hey, two workouts in 18 days, is better
than nothing?! Each time, I had the place to
myself.
12/29/08 12:15PM - Over the last
few years of waiting for Joanna, we always read about
this place. The White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou. Every
family that comes to China to adopt travels to a
province closest to where their child is. But every
family winds up here, at the White Swan Hotel. As we
walk around the hotel or sit down in the dining area,
there are American families all over with their Chinese
children. It is truly an amazing experience. pictures while shopping.
12/28/08 11:08AM - We actually
ate at an Italian restaurant last night! All kidding
aside, it was good! We ate pasta! Jason did ask for a
side of meatballs and apparently there are NO MEATBALLS
in CHINA. But other than that, the meal was comparable
to an Italian restaurant home. I know. Crazy! I think we
will go back there for dinner and try the pizza. They
had a brick oven and the pizza looked good.
Pictures
12/28/08 7:36PM - Our guide is
content with eating a pigeon for dinner (head
and all), but we'll try to find something else!
12/27/08 7:36PM - Today was a
calm, relaxing day. We did some shopping, rested,
and Jason went to the gym. See some pictures from
the afternoon dinner. This is funny...
check out Joanna at Starbucks.
12/27/08 11:56AM - Anybody in the
mood for two bus rides and a plane all in the same day.
UGH! We left the last hotel in Guilin at
about 9:00 AM and took a 45 minute bus ride to the
Guilin Airport. Our flight was short, only about 1
hour.... a bit of a rough landing but we made it
okay! We arrived in Guangzhou, got our luggage
(poor Jason... he can't possibly carry one more bag) --
we tried to pack as light as possible but when you are
leaving the country for three weeks its kind of tough to
do that! Anyway, after we got our luggage, we took
another bus ride which was about one hour to the White
Swan Hotel. YEAH! (pictures
from the morning and flight)
video
Joanna was such a trooper all day. She slept on
most of the rides but was all smiles whenever she was
awake. She is feeling much better now and ate
really well today. When we checked in to the White
Swan (pictures)... she was crawling all over and faster than we
thought she even could. We think she has all of her
strength back now. Unfortunately, the bug that she
might have had... is traveling around throughout our
group now. So, hopefully everyone is feeling
better real soon.
The ride here was long but again we saw lots of China.
Guangzhou (which is where we are now) seems to be the
"richer" part of China. But still, people live in
apartment complexes that are literally on top of one
another (see pictures). The living conditions in general are
obviously very different from what we are used to
seeing.... But, the area that we are in now
actually seems like a vacation resort. This is
definitely the nicest hotel that we have been in.
The area is really quaint and our hotel room overlooks a
major river which I can't remember the name of but it is
a really cool view.
All of our "adoption paperwork" has been delivered and
tomorrow we will review everything with our guide.
We even have Joanna's passport now! While we are
here in Guangzhou, we will be able to relax a little
more and not be so much on the go. Next week there
are a few appointments including the last stop at the
U.S. Consulate.
This area is very Americanized and after we arrived and
got settled in we went to "Lucy's" where we ate Burgers
and Fries! We will be enjoying some more Western
food during the last part of our trip.
We plan on having somewhat of a relaxing weekend, and
enjoy being with our Joanna. Wait until everyone
see's her. She is such a happy baby and even has a
little bit of a silly sense of humor. When Jason
was making funny faces at her earlier, she kept leaning
over, laughing at him and making him keep doing it so
she could laugh some more. She likes to make
raspberries and she also discovered Cheerios today!
12/26/08 5:51AM - Several other
couples are maintaining blogs too. Check out
Lauren's web site!
Here's Tess's site!
12/25/08 8:30PM -
Joanna and Andrea filmed after our xmas dinner.
12/25/08 3:50PM - These are
pictures taken on the bus to Seven Star Park (see
pictures), they were taken in the bus, so they are
not that great. After the park, we went to a small
art gallery for a demonstration from a local artist.
See pictures.
I can't stress enough how polite everybody has been in
China. Our guide Xi Xi said there is little crime
in China, due mainly to the fear of going to jail where
you are forced to work hard labor all day to earn your
meals. There are no basketball courts,
weightlifting and "hobby" hour time.
12/25/08 3:47PM - Here is a
Panda we filmed in Guilin at Seven Star Park today
around 10:45AM.
12/25/08 3:37PM -
Koi feeding frenzy from the other day. I am
just getting the chance to review some of the short
videos I captured. Unfortunately, the better ones
are on my camcorder and I left the USB cable at home.
These short clips were taken with my digital camera that
records MPG's.
12/25/08 3:15PM - From Jason - Forget about Jenny Craig
and Weight Watchers, just visit China for 3 weeks to
lose weight (plus have a vacation). I was down 14
pounds a few days ago, from 184lbs to 170lbs. I
think I gained a few pounds back as of today. I
didn't want to alarm anybody, so I held off on
mentioning this, so don't worry. I haven't been
sick at all, we are just always on the go, and the
"supersize" mentality of the USA, doesn't exist here.
There are no triple cheeseburgers, 60oz soda's, and all
you can eat buffets. At any rate, hopefully some
of my old pants will fit me now!
12/25/08 8:32AM -
Pictures from breakfast!
more...
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