The picture above is the view from the top of our hotel room.
After sixteen hours in the air, we arrived in Guangzhou at 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning, Guangzhou time. It is monsoon season here and we arrived in the middle of what appeared to be one. Our baggage wasn't unloaded until the weather improved, so we got to sleep at about 4 a.m. I could probably sleep amidst gunfire on a Beirut sidewalk, and therefore getting five or six hours of sleep wasn't a problem.
Guangzhou is in Southeast Asia; it has rained since we arrived but it is too hot to wear much. The sky isn't blue but white with steam. It's kind of like the steam room at my gym. By comparison, Virginia in the summer time is arid. Every building and every street and every alley smells the same - a combination of wet wood, orange, and - curiously - plastic. Not a bad smell at all, in fact, it smells clean here.
The people here are warm and kind. We are staying in a tourist area built by Europeans in the 1860's, called Shamian Island. Our hotel is nicer than any hotel in which I stayed in Europe. Because our hotel and the other "luxury" hotel on the island cater to Americans adopting Chinese babies, we have met several American families. Interestingly, many of the adopting families we have met are here for the second or third time adopting their second or third Chinese child. I met an American man who has travelled back and forth from the U.S. for ten years "delivering airplanes" who said there are more millionaires in China than in any other country in the world. He may be right, but the Chinese people in the service industry are not likely living lives of excess.
Ironically, while this country produces a steady supply of abandoned children, the Chinese people have an obvious love of children - Chinese and American. Our six year-old daughter has been pinched affectionately and stroked on the arm by strangers, and she is a bit of a spectacle with her huge eyes and fair skin. I'm stared at because I am an amazon by their standards, and probably because my hair is light blond. I read somewhere that staring is typical, and not discouraged as in the U.S.
We will meet our guide, Jennifer who will take us to the civil affairs office here at 3:00 p.m. to get Song Song. We were prepped the day before we left by a social worker from the agency who advised us on what to expect the first few days and weeks. Apparently it is not uncommon for the child to attach to one parent at first and to ignore the other, and it is also common for the ignored-parent to be the mother. So I'm prepared for that. However, because Georgia is with us, the experts anticipate that she'll first attach to Georgia, then slowly warm to us.
If I don't respond to your comments, it's only because I can't operate the response-feature on my blog. I do get comments by e-mail, though, so please know how much I appreciate them!
Guangzhou is in Southeast Asia; it has rained since we arrived but it is too hot to wear much. The sky isn't blue but white with steam. It's kind of like the steam room at my gym. By comparison, Virginia in the summer time is arid. Every building and every street and every alley smells the same - a combination of wet wood, orange, and - curiously - plastic. Not a bad smell at all, in fact, it smells clean here.
The people here are warm and kind. We are staying in a tourist area built by Europeans in the 1860's, called Shamian Island. Our hotel is nicer than any hotel in which I stayed in Europe. Because our hotel and the other "luxury" hotel on the island cater to Americans adopting Chinese babies, we have met several American families. Interestingly, many of the adopting families we have met are here for the second or third time adopting their second or third Chinese child. I met an American man who has travelled back and forth from the U.S. for ten years "delivering airplanes" who said there are more millionaires in China than in any other country in the world. He may be right, but the Chinese people in the service industry are not likely living lives of excess.
Ironically, while this country produces a steady supply of abandoned children, the Chinese people have an obvious love of children - Chinese and American. Our six year-old daughter has been pinched affectionately and stroked on the arm by strangers, and she is a bit of a spectacle with her huge eyes and fair skin. I'm stared at because I am an amazon by their standards, and probably because my hair is light blond. I read somewhere that staring is typical, and not discouraged as in the U.S.
We will meet our guide, Jennifer who will take us to the civil affairs office here at 3:00 p.m. to get Song Song. We were prepped the day before we left by a social worker from the agency who advised us on what to expect the first few days and weeks. Apparently it is not uncommon for the child to attach to one parent at first and to ignore the other, and it is also common for the ignored-parent to be the mother. So I'm prepared for that. However, because Georgia is with us, the experts anticipate that she'll first attach to Georgia, then slowly warm to us.
If I don't respond to your comments, it's only because I can't operate the response-feature on my blog. I do get comments by e-mail, though, so please know how much I appreciate them!
4 comments:
8am on Monday morning and this was the first blog I came to see. It's good to see you writing from there, hope things are good.
I am also glad you are blogging while you are in China. I am sure your blog will be most popular in the coming days. :)
Looking forward to reading more!
I'm so pleased for you, for us, for Georgia, for Song Song soon to be Pearl that you're taking the mind-time to absorb all the details and textures and making it a big all senses on board experience.
Wonderful WONDERFUL. I LOVe a big and still tiny world. Thanks again for sharing so much!!
I keep trying to comment but we are having a horrific thunder storm that keeps knocking out the power in my office. Hopefully this one will work, but I just want to say how excited I am! I can't wait to read your next post!
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