Making Memories...

December 17th dawned, and it was time for Cory to have his medical checkup. This was necessary in order for a visa to be issued granting him permission to enter the USA! He has been coughing for several days, been wheezy and unable to sleep at night. Since he's awake at night, mom is awake constantly with him. Merriella has also developed a slight cough and a little bit of a fever, not unlike Cory. The doctor at the medical station prescribed an antibiotic and a cough syrup for Cory. The medical exam clinic even has a separate room for the children who are being adopted out of the country. After the appointment, my parents met up with us on Shamian Island right next to Starbucks!

The rest of the morning was spent walking about! Our final shopping was being done on the island so that we wouldn't have to go back the next day other than to pick up our laundry! Along the way, we met several adoptive families that were back in China for the 2nd or even 3rd time. It has been nice to talk with them and hear their life-changing stories as well as share our adventures of adoption with them. We have even managed to exchange a few addresses and created lasting bonds with a few people! Hearing other family's stories can be both a blessing and an encouragement!

The rest of the night was just a blur of humorous stories that would take hours to tell and many diaries! Although, we did have our first outing here in Guangzhou to a restaurant! We went to Lucy's! The food was fantastic and our stomachs couldn't have been fuller by the time we were completely finished eating! While out, Cory and Merriella made us almost choke on our food with how humorous they were to observe while they ate! Colin and I both ordered chicken noodle soup and the portions came in bowls the size of a small circular table! They were huge! Cory and Merriella were given a grilled cheese sandwich to split, but Cory immediately opted for my mom's Chinese style rice! I don't blame him, the kid is smart and very tasteful! Hannah ordered pizza and finished of the whole plate! My dad and my grandma (both being the carnivorous people that they are) insisted on having beef and quesadillas. Cory has a peculiar habit of sucking the heads of his broccoli off before finally eating the stem portion! It was quite amusing to compare his eating habits with Merriella's! After finishing of supper, we took a lovely walk back to the hotel! My dad, Hannah, and I yet again went out into the city streets to shop around a little bit! That really was a blast! It's truly like shopping in an outdoor mall! Life-changing stories that have changed our entire outlook about certain things will be told when we return to the USA!

Give Me A Little More...

Our family had another amazing encounter with the Chinese people today, when our limited Chinese and their minimal English understanding fused, causing us to have a slight mishap. Not to worry, it makes for a good story that we will always remember! Ever had an experience where someone thinks you said one thing, but you really said another, and the other person feels stupid when the real meaning of what was said comes out? Hannah, my dad, and I had a similar adventure when we decided to drop in on our friends at McDonalds!

After a long day on the 16th of December, Cory was crying and Merriella was fueling his fussing. They were both calling out for meat and expressing their desire to have a hamburger from McDonalds. Everyone else was starving as well, but no one except the 3 youngest seemed to be interested in fast food. Chinese style noodles sounded more like it! But, considering that my dad, Hannah, and I wanted to tour the town anyway, we decided it wouldn't be so bad to just take a walk and go out for a walk on the crammed city streets! That in and of itself is an adventure worth keeping in one's memory! Anyway, when we arrived at McDonalds, we decided to attempt to order, but not without using the dumb people's menu. When we began to order, we realized that all the hamburgers came in meals. We only wanted the burgers. We carefully explained to the food handlers that we didn't want the MEAL, we just wanted the burger. She gave us the thumbs up and immediately began yelling something we obviously couldn't understand across the room. Almost immediately, the Chinese people began laughing and pointing at us. We didn't figure out until later why they were laughing at us!

25 minutes later, we got back to the hotel where we were greeted by the 3 youngest starving children. Colin quickly dashed out of the room to devour his "double cheeseburger." Not more than a minute later, Colin was back in the room saying, "couldn't I at least have one piece of meat? By the way dad, this isn't double cheeseburger, this is double cheese!" Apparently, the people at McDonalds thought that we had said, "give us no meat!" Sure enough, we opened all the burgers and they were minus the meat portion. (That would give reason for the previous laughter at McDonalds!) We hurriedly walked the 15 minutes back and got our orders fixed so that the few carnivorous children that are in the family could have their daily meat intake! All in all, we got a great taste of culture just from that experience!

The earlier portion of our day was spent at the Yan Tai Garden! The weather proved to be perfect for touring! It was in the upper 70's and everyone was wishing that they had brought shorts, myself included! It was phenomenal! The flowers and scenery looked like they were out of a Better Homes and Gardens magazine! Vibrant colors all around proved to be a perfect location for pictures! Believe me, we have enough to make our own V-7 novel! After spending most of the day in the gardens, we went back to the hotel room where Cory, Merriella, and my mom attemted to take a nap. Nana and Colin stayed at the hotel and relaxed while the adventuresome 3 went out onto the pedestrian zone to do some shopping! Exciting stories to tell there as well, but not enough time or space is available! I'll write about more of our adventures later! We send our love to those of you reading this blog and those of you who are unable to do so!
By the way, Cory is still doing amazing! He has healthy attachments with everyone, but he is a mommy's boy!!!