We spent the entire day on Sunday shopping and visiting the Guangdong Folk Art Museum. Their museums are different here as they have artist working and you can buy the art on the spot. They also personalize the art for you. We bought a few beautiful wall hangings for the girls, and we even had a chop made for us. They used the Chinese character for the name Fisher and they carve it for you right there. The artist even carved a fish on the front of it for us! It was so amazing to watch him work.
We then went to a Jade and Porcelain market where I was able to buy some traditional Chinese outfits for the girls. After that we headed to McDonalds for some quick lunch and then on to the Pearl Market for some pearls. There is this huge 9 story mall where one whole section is dedicated to jewelry. You can buy pretty much any kind of jewelry you want. They have beads and stones of almost every color and you can get a necklace similar to what you can buy at a craft fair or something for about $2.50 USD. We had a blast, but we were all tired by the end of the day. I bought Emma and Katelyn a pair of the traditional Chinese silver bracelets with the characters for longevity on them. They have little bells on them. Check out the pictures when I upload to the GZ album to see her admiring her bracelet! I gave her a kiss and told that I wished for her to have a long and happy life. We ended up putting the bracelet on her ankle so that she would not pull it off.
We, I mean Josh, started packing up the suitcases yesterday to see if we need to buy another one. I think he is ready to go home. It has been wonderful to be here and we have loved every minute, but there is just no place like home! We talked about how Monday night we went over to ShaMian Island to see what all the hype is about that place. It is really quite an interesting place. All of the shops are called _______ ’s Place (insert English name). There is Jennifer’s, Lucy’s, Susan’s, Michael’s, etc. It was so funny because we just had our taxi drop us off right in front of Susan’s and there sitting in front of the store was a couple that we had just met the day before in the porcelain place. They are from Macon, Georgia. They are staying off the island too at the China Hotel. Their daughter’s name is Faith, and they chose her off of a Waiting Children’s list as well. Faith and Emma are both 20 months old. On top of that, they are also in the ministry and they are affiliated with Campus Crusades. It was so good to talk to them on Sunday as they were the first Americans we were able to have a conversation with since we have come to China. They are a very nice couple, and we hope to stay in contact with them. We then go into Susan’s Place, which is this little hole in the wall shop and there is another friend of a friend that I was going to try to contact while we were in Guangzhou. I wasn’t able to talk to her much, but I am hoping to see her today at the consulate when we go for our swearing in ceremony.
After shopping at Susan’s place, which had just about everything else I needed to purchase, we went to this restaurant down the road that came recommended by a third adoptive family that we ran into outside of Susan’s. We had previously talked briefly with the mom at the airport in Beijing. I figured Susan’s was our place to shop since we ran into everyone we had met in that one small shop!
The restaurant was a mixture of Thai and Vietnamese food. The Thai spring rolls were the best I have had since my Atlanta days, when I used to go to this place called the Royal Thai by my work. I have not had spring rolls that matched theirs until last night! I am still looking for a soup that is as good as what I used to get there in GA. We ordered beef with mushrooms, sweet and sour beef, and rice noodle with egg and peanuts. Emma ate almost every mushroom on the huge family-style platter. I guess she likes those! We also know that she likes spaghetti as we had some at Pizza Hut Saturday night along with this really yummy mushroom soup. Basically, she loves any kind of noodle, and it is the only food that she will actually yell if she doesn’t think you are feeding her fast enough!!! She did not like the Thai noodles though.
I had one of the most interesting restroom experience that I have ever had in my life last night. Emma had a major, major blowout at the Thai restaurant, and I had to go upstairs to the restroom. Well, a lot of the restrooms are for both men and women, and this one was no exception. I started pantomiming to the lady who oversees the bathroom to see if she had somewhere that I could change Emma. I had a changing pad, but she would not let me use the counter where the sinks were. She proceeds to bring me a short stool. Yes, a round stool. I should have left and gone outside or something to change her at that point, but I wasn’t really thinking. So I get everything ready, and lay out the changing pad on the stool and support her head with my left arm. Meanwhile there are men and women waiting in line for the toilets and watching all of this. Did I mention that it was quite a small bathroom with several sqatty rooms, but not much walking room? So I somehow manage to clean off her bottom and get another diaper on with one hand. Let’s just say it was not the best diaper changing job I’ve done, but it worked. I laid the dirty diaper on the floor mid diaper change and the lady comes up with these long tongs that she reaches down and picks the diaper and wipes up with and takes it out. I almost busted laughing at that point. I was planning to take care of it all when I was done, ya know? Then for the remainder of the time, because the diaper was not there to catch the dirty wipes, I had to try to step on the trash can pedal to throw away the rest of the wipes with the lady hovering over me to make sure I made it in the can! I got out of there as quick as possible after it was all done with a big Xie Xie and a smile!
After dinner, we headed to the White Swan to get some traditional red-couch photos and see the hotel lobby. Today, we are just relaxing and hanging out until we leave for our swearing-in ceremony at 2:40 pm.
I may type more later, but we are going to be enjoying our last day here and packing up stuff. I will definitely add some photos though! I cannot believe that this trip has gone by so quickly and smoothly. We have just been in awe with our new daughter and enjoying being a family together. Thank you for all of the prayers and comments as we have traveled to the end of the China journey and now continue on the journey of the rest of our lives.
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