Good morning. It's strange knowing that we're ending our day just as the majority of you all are beginning yours.
We had a busy day today, first starting with all of the documentation this morning at 10 a.m. with 6 other families and our guide helping us fill out the paperwork in applying for our child's visa to the U.S.A. After getting together about 20 documents, pulling together fees...$400 for the visa and 468 rmb for the medical exam, we were done in about almost 2 hours.
Afterwards, Beatriz, Anamaria, Andrew and I went down the street from the hotel and sat out on the patio of Lucy's Bar and had a burger. It's been overcast and misting since yesterday, with the temperature in the 60s. A little cool for my blood, but still moderate and least not windy. We brought back a sandwich for Maria Marcela who stayed behind allowing Emily to nap.
At 2:30, we all headed down to get Emily's visa photo taken and then to the medical clinic for routine examinations required upon requesting travel visas. Emily did great with the exception of a little crying when he probed her ears. We were surprised when he examamined her to have seen bruising on her tailbone and a bright red spidery blotch on her right rear shoulder blade. We didn't understand how we missed it before, but also realized that we didn't really do a thorough lookover on her either since we've had her. We're anxious to get more details on this to determine the seriousness of it.
On our walk back from the clinic, we stopped for a Starbucks coffee break. Emily is definately becoming more playful with me and warming as each day passes. I believe she's realizing that we not only do not pose a threat to her but that we're most certainly tending to her needs. She seems to really be reaching a comfort level with us. I should say me. She had that with Maria from the get go.
We did a little walking around and stopped in some shops. Every store offers laundry service very inexpensively, but it appears that they may send it all to one or two laundrys.
I want to interject here before I keep forgetting, and mention an expression that Andrew was using back in Tianjin where we were experiencing all the fireworks. I believe it came up today and he mentioned it again. Anyway, he says fireworks for fireworks, but as for firecrackers, he has an interesting way of pronouncing them as...firecratchers. The cuteness of it is beyond how I can explain it, if you can imagine.
This evening, we decided to order in for pizza, so we got a thin crust grilled chicken and onion from Papa John's. It was terrific and the even better news was that Andrew ate 2 full slices. So, it would seem that his appetite is on the mend and nearly back to normal after nearly 4 days of misery.
When we sit around and chat, our conversation seems to inevitably center or come back to the fact of amazement that we're here in China. A country that none of us thought we'd ever be in or go to. We all agreed though, travel to a foreign land is such an invaluable education that can never compare to a classroom or video.
I'm adding a few pics tonight from yesterday and today. First is Andrew with a few of his fans. You can tell how thrilled he is. The next is us at the buddhist pogoda. The scene with the waterfall is our hotel lobby area. Ana and Beatriz while we're out strolling around the neighborhood and then finally heading into the Starbucks.
I haven't been able to copy Ana's pics over yet, but there are many. I hope to have them soon. I will post the few that Maria Marcela has taken on Flickr right now.
Until tomorrow...
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