China – Day 12: December 2014
Day 12 brought us our final “official” adoption duty — a visit to the US Consulate to apply for Han’s visa. We would share pictures but they don’t allow cameras / phones inside, so we didn’t bring ours along. The consulate itself is a very cool modern “green” building, but the visit itself was about on par with a decent trip to the DMV. There were about 15 other families there with us. We all took an “oath” together — the same oath they give to new immigrants, we just took it on behalf of our kids. (It would have been great to get a picture of 30+ people crowded around one kiosk window at the same time.) We checked in, got a number and waited for someone to call us to a window. When they did, they just went over all of the paperwork and documents we brought to make sure everything was in order. Then they had us sit down again. Then we were called to another window where they reviewed some different paperwork, we answered a question or two, and then we were done. It was all very anticlimactic and, save for the security procedures going into the building, somewhat unofficial. But it was over and then we headed back to the hotel.
By day 12 we’ve about lost to the challenge of finding a place to eat that (a) has English on the menu, (b) has pictures, and (c) offers something that each of us will eat. We have been doing pretty well but today was a struggle for lunch and we declared defeat and took a nap instead.
When we woke up, we had a snack and then walked over to Yuexiu Park again — we still haven’t seen the whole thing, and the weather had warmed up even a bit more. We had a nice walk, saw some cool sculptures, found the amusement park that every public park seems to have (nothing was running — we’re pretty sure it was closed for the season), enjoyed watching all of the people doing their dances and exercises, and then walked back to the hotel. We played around on the playground outside — and in the “Kiddie Land” indoor play area (talked with another adoptive family who, after almost 2 weeks into their trip, was very happy to meet some people they “can talk English with!”) — got a quick dinner and then took a taxi to our boat for a Pearl River cruise. The entrance hall was crazy like you wouldn’t believe — there were a bunch of different boats leaving at once and in true Chinese fashion there was a lot of organized chaos. The boat cruise itself was very relaxing, though — maybe only 10 other people on a boat that probably can accommodate over 100. It was raining a bit so we only ventured up top briefly, but we got a nice view of the buildings downtown, many of which are lit up beautiful. We also got to see the Canton tower, which, at 600 meters tall, is one of the biggest in Asia (we think, if we remember the facts correctly). Many of the bridges have decorative lights on them too, so it was a nice way to see the city.
We took a taxi back and then tried to get Han to bed — the cruise was about an hour long and ended when he normally goes to sleep — and in doing so we both fell asleep as well. It was a good day — one more to go!
See pictures and videos below or in our China: Day 12 SmugMug gallery.
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