Our Journey to the Middle Country

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Saturday 25 March 2000: Guangzhou

One day, we shot the rest of the 27 exp disposable camera that we sent over to the foster mother. There were only 7 pictures remaining. We wanted to get this developed with the rest of our film.

Dong Fang Hotel - Breakfast

At breakfast, there were no big napkins in the dining rooms, just the small paper ones. It was quite different from when the ladies in the restaurant at the Mingyuan Xindu would seat you, place the napkin on your lap and ask you what you would like for breakfast.

Stewed bean in tomato sauce - this was the label on the baked beans.

Some time this morning, Wesley said that he'd also been propositioned for a massage the previous evening.

Bus trip to Shamin Island

Cherry was our guide in Guangzhou, on the bus ride, she gave us a talk about Guangzhou and the Cantonese people.

First, she filled us in on something we didn't know about here and Nanning. The city tree of Nanning is the Mango and the city flower is the Hibiscus. Here in Guangzhou, the Banyan is the city tree and the Kapoke is the city flower. I've sense learned that the Kopake is also a tree.

Next we talk about tea and meals for typical Cantonese people. The black tea is for fitness.

• Morning tea
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Afternoon tea
• Dinner
• Evening tea

Cherry and David gave us a couple of jokes:

• Cantonese people will eat anything on four legs except tables.
• Don't eat your cats and dogs, they are pets. Just eat the neighbors cats and dogs.

She talked some about delicacies. Dark meat of chicken is most expensive since it is most favored. Also, fish heads are favored and expensive. She spoke of how different Chinese cultures are known by their food and gave examples we all knew: Cantonese, Schezuan and Hunan. She spoke a bit about herbal medicine.

Shamin Island and the White Swan

Our bus parked in the parking lot at the White Swan, where many other people have stayed who have adopted from China.

Seven-Eleven

Down from the White Swan is a Seven-Eleven store. We picked up some water and snacks there. I also bought a frozen mango drink and got a free mouse mat from Pepsi. It was from Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace and has Queen Amidala on it.

Visa Photos

Down from the 7-11 is a photo shop where we went for the baby's visa photos. She was sleeping and we had to wake her up for this. She was not happy at all. This is the picture that is on her Green Card.

Medical Exam

We stopped off at the hospital for a brief medical exam for all of the babies. Mostly just eyes, ears, nose, throat and weight. Although Delainie didn't enjoy it that much, it showed that she was healthy. We would need the results of this exam for our Consulate interview on Monday.

I spoke with David some about what to call Delainie. I wanted a nickname of sorts for her in Chinese, or at least a way to refer to her in Chinese. Eariler on the bus, he had talked about xiao haizi, which was "little baby". He also suggested xiao nu hai "baby girl" and xiao yato "silly girl" which I rather liked.

Back to the shops near the Seven-Eleven

We walked around the island after Delainie's medical exam.

Badminton is everywhere... It's amazing to see people play it.

We stopped in front of a kindergarten that displayed the children's work. At the shops next to 7-11, we found some clothing for Delainie.

• blk/red dress (size 2)
• yellow dress (size 8)
• blue dress (size 10)
• pink dress (size 14)
• 3 bracelets, elastic with beads: white, green, blue

White Swan and Pearl River

We walked around the White Swan. This is where three waters come together. One is the Pearl River. This is very good Feng Shui.

We exchanged $200.00 USD at the White Swan. This gave us approximately 1,614 Yuan.

Bus trip back from Shamin Island

Cherry spoke to us some about Catonese beliefs in numerology. The number 4 is an unlucky number. There is no 4th floor or 14th floor in buildings. I think that this continues with each number ending in 4. She said that so many unlucky numbers, it is easy to die in Cantonese.

Some lucky numbers will lead to certain futures:

• 8 - lucky and rich
• 6 - everything fine
• 9 - lucky for marriage, long marriage, long life.

People will choose date from both calendars (lunar and standard). It is even better if it lines up on both. There is a calendar called the Yellow Calendar which has a note for each day of these two calendars showing if it is a good day or bad day.

She also spoke some about languages in China. There are more than 60 dialects, but generally Mandarin is spoken. There are 9 tongues, or modes of inflection, in Cantonese and only 4 in Mandarin. She gave us a comparision with Cantonese and Mandarin.

Cantonese	Mandarin	English
Li hao	ni hao	"Hello"
Jia gen	zai jain	"Goodbye"

We road on an elevated roadway and I finally managed to draw the characters for "McDonalds".

David told us that all Form 157's, for the medical exam were still in the hospital and will not be ready Monday. It would turn out that we would get them in time for the Consulate interviews after all. He told us that when we get our Imigration packets that they were sealed and DO NOT OPEN them. The Visa for the babies, which were A4 size, are also sealed. He said to keep this in our carry-on luggage because we would need it when we arrived back in the US.

Laundry

Back in the hotel many of us were needing to do laundry. David wanted us to meet him at 1:30pm and anyone who needed to could take laundry over to a place down the street in the China Merchants Hotel. It was in the first floor. I walked over after everyone else and found the laundry. It was less expensive than the hotel service. We had used the laundry service in Nanning a great deal.

Filling out the INS forms at the Dong Fang Hotel

At 2:30pm, one parent from our each family came down to the 8th floor lobby to fill out the INS forms and to double check all the documents for interview on Monday. We brought a copy of all of the paperwork, all of our INS forms and the original (out of the book) and copy of adoption certificate.

We filled out these forms:

• I-600
• I-604
• Optional Form 230 (English/Chinese)
• Form 864

There is a space on the I-600 that asks if the adoptee has any siblings. This profoundly moved me. Of course, I had no idea if Delainie has any brothers or sisters. But, this made me think about it. All along, I've pictured the mother. Rarely I've thought of the father. But to think of other direct relatives really made me wonder.

On the I-604, I listed where Delainie was found:
     Huancheng Resident's Committee
     Xinjing Town
     Jingxi County - this is a county in Guangxi region and West of the city of Nanning.

On Monday we needed to make certain to bring:

• Our Passports
• Our Child's Passport
• 2 visa photos of child
• Birth Certificate with translation (Notary Paper)
• Adoption Certificate (Notary Paper)
• Abandonment Certificate (Notary Paper)
• Medical exam form - get from the hospital on Monday
• Form 230
• I-600
• I-604
• Copy of Home Study
• Update of Home Study
• I-171
• Employment Letter
• I-864
• Copy of Adoption Certificate with translation and original Monday - I think David took the originals for translation
• Last 3 tax returns
• $325.00 USD (2622.75 in Yuan, but they wanted a bit more if you wanted to pay in Yuan.)

Dong Fang Hotel - Pizza Party

At 6pm, we had a pizza party in the 8th floor lobby. We bought down sheets and made a sort of picnic. The pizza were from Pizza Hut. They were good but light on the sauce as I remember.

Mary Lou sent us a picture of Amy Li and Delainie at the Pizza Party. Her picture is dated 3/26/2000. It looks like I was not alone in not setting my camera correctly.

At the party, David and I talked some about Yin-Yang and we made a list of properties and objects of each of them.