The Road Less Traveled...: Guangzhou Day 1

Yesterday we hung out around the hotel in Zhengzhou waiting for our guide to pick up John's passport. We packed everything up so we could be ready for our 5:10 pm flight. That's about it, besides taking John to the playroom a couple of times. He had to get in a little catnap before we left the hotel around 2 pm. The plane was late getting to the gate, so we didn't board until almost 5. Then, we sat on the tarmac for an hour and a half. There was a bad thunderstorm that closed the Guangzhou airport for a couple of hours, so they were waiting for that to clear. The flight to Guangzhou was about 2 hours, so it was 10:30 pm before we even arrived at the hotel.

We had seats in the very last row, across from the bathroom (there are men that don't close the door while they use it) and also across from a guy traveling in handcuffs. Nice. John did great during the flight. He slept for most of it!

The Garden Hotel in Guangzhou is the nicest hotel we've ever stayed in, but it's cheaper in price than the one we stayed at in Zhengzhou. We've been playing with all the little gadgets, like the remote control shower curtain and the rainfall shower head. We even had fresh roses in our room. I told Billy he should have just told me he had them sent for Mother's Day. The breakfast buffet (included in our room rate) is really good too.

On our itinerary for the day was to have John's medical exam done. The U.S. requires all the children to go through this to screen for any major infectious diseases. It's really just a formality--they do a height/weight check, ENT exam, a quick history and physical, and then a TB skin test. The clinic is crowded with families with newly adopted children, so it's quite a lively (loud) place. We had to wait for a bit while our guide registered everyone in our group, so we were sitting in a waiting area. Many parents were pulling out snacks for their kids, and well, John wants any food that anyone else has. So, after he went through the Cheerios, Billy got out a banana to feed to him while I went to fill out some paperwork. The next thing I know is I hear John screaming and crying at the top of his lungs. Billy decides to bring him to where I am, and he keeps screaming and screaming. No amount of candy is diffusing this one. Billy tells me the reason for this tantrum: After John had eaten down some of the banana, Billy peels the rest of it and hands the banana to him. Tantrum begins and he pushes the banana away. Billy eats the rest of the banana. Tantrum escalates. We are being stared at. A nice nurse comes over a hands John a piece of candy. He throws it across the room. Our guide finally comes over and speaks a few words to him and sternly looks at him in the face while shaking her finger at him. He starts the snub cry. He's calm enough now for a lollipop. Think he might have been spoiled? :)

John did awesome for the rest of the exam. The doctor did note a faint heart murmur, so we'll have to get that checked out once we're back home. When it came time for the TB test, he cried just a little. He then wanted lots of sympathy by showing us his boo-boo over and over.

After we came back to the hotel, we walked to Burger King for lunch. Billy ordered a #1 (Whopper meal) and I wanted the #16 (regular cheeseburger meal). The cashier thought Billy wanted 16 #1's, and the total rang up to over 500 yuan. Funny stuff, this language barrier.

After lunch Billy and John took a nap, while I went to a visa paperwork meeting. I'm hoping that the paperwork is about over!