Saturday, November 28, 2009

Saturday: Chongqing to Guangzhou

What a day.  What I mean is, what a looooooong day.

We were awake at 5 a.m., which is earlier than Ted, Corey OR Orli likes to get up!  Our luggage was out the door by 6 a.m. Our bodies out of the hotel room by 6:30.  We were on the bus on our way to the airport at 6:50.  We took a crammed packed shuttle to get to the airplane (it seemed interminably long) and were on the plane at 8:30.  The flight was about 1 ½ hours, and then onto another bus to get to the hotel in Guangzhou.  For a little girl who has probably never been in a car during the first 9 months of her life (we think she came by public bus the day they schlepped her to the city of Chongqing to meet us), she sure has seen a lot of modes of transportation in one short week.

We arrived into Guangzhou and were greeted by our new CCAI representatives, Cathy and Jason.  We're staying at the White Swan hotel in Guangzhou.  This is a pretty well-known hotel in the adoption community, and now we know why.  It feels like every fourth person you meet here is an adoptive parent.  We had lunch at Lucy's bar and grill, and we met two other families who are also in Guangzhou to finish paperwork on their adoptions.  And every time we get onto an elevator, another adoptive family is there.  It feels a bit weird coming from a city where there were absolutely no Westerners, to one that seems to have built an entire "tourist" industry around us being here.

This afternoon Corey filled out a TON of paperwork for the US Citizenship and Immigration Services.  This evening, Orli decided that her 5 a.m. wake call was catching up to her. We celebrated our first havdallah together in our hotel room , and now she is passed out on the bed.  It was Papa John's pizza for dinner (we just couldn't bear to subject a restaurant to Orli's meltdown) and now we're heading to bed.

Tomorrow we will go tour a Buddhist temple, an art museum, and some local arts and crafts.  On Monday we'll start getting things in order with the US government so we can bring our little girl home to meet you all!

We can actually access our blog now that we've found a proxy server, and it is really great to see so many of you are following along in our journey.  Your support and well-wishes mean so much to us.

Here are a few pics from the day, but it was mostly pretty uneventful.




4 comments:

  1. It does sound like a long day, and all I can think of are memories of trying to get somewhere quick with an infant...two thoughts that don't belong in the same sentence necessarily! :) I"m glad that now that you are settling in as a family, you are enjoying your trip and seeing lots of Orli's history and culture to share with her as she grows.
    xoxox
    Rikki

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  2. Sitting here at home, drinking my morning coffee out of my Guangzhou Starbuck's Coffee mug that Ron bought for me last time he was there. Your souvenier from China is far better! We are thoroughly enjoying your adventures and look forward to the ones at home - up close and personal. so thrilled for you both and all the smiles. Orli looks so happy...that girl just won the jackpot!
    See you soon - best wishes for continued safe travels.
    Amy

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  3. Corey, Ted & Orli,
    We can't wait to wake up & check the blog everyday !! Steve woke me, after garage selling, to let me know there was a new post. She looks so cute with Ted holding her in the snuggly ( or wahtever they are called now). Can't wait to you are all here in Ca.
    Love & Kisses,
    Sharon & Steve

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  4. Just want you to know Cheryl and I have been following your blog and we're very happy for you and thank you for sharing your joy with us. I actually teared up a little today. Consider yourselves hugged.
    Joe

    ReplyDelete

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