Day 10 - Medical Examination & Immunization Day (Saturday)
We love this hotel in Guangzhou! It’s called the China Hotel now (used to be a Marriott) and is absolutely beautiful. It’s breakfast is our favorite, with an amazing spread of options and some great juices too. Not only are we at a great place, but we got the coolest room number in the hotel..1234! Impossible to forget lol.
After being the lone adoptive family in Guizhou (and only obvious Westerners), it was neat to see many other adoptive families (maybe 5-6) at our hotel as well as our AWAA friends from Beijing (mother = Michelle, son = Shepherd, & grandmother = Doris). Seeing familiar faces with similar steps ahead this next week brings a bit of extra comfort.
One of the most traumatizing events in our adoption with Ali was her appointment at the the international travel clinic where she was poked and prodded and given an additional immunization shot. When they give the shot to the child they take the kid away from you and don’t let the parents come into the child. Last go around the immunization section was a blubbering screaming mix of newly adopted kids. We were hoping for it to be a bit easier on Mia...
Unfortunately our experience was a bit more difficult. Some of the doctors were harsh and unkind towards her, which may be typical of the culture, but made Brittney’s mama claws want to come out. Mia handled her first shot like a champ and we thought we were in the clear but then received the unexpected news that she was due 4 more shots because she was older. Lots of tears. But thankfully in this second round of shots Brittney was able to be in the room and Mia welcomed Brittney’s love and affection. While she’s been very open to Sophia’s attention and proximity, she’s understandably been a little more standoffish with her new parents. Although we hated to see Mia hurt, we loved having the opportunity for Brittney to give Mia some love and affection! On Monday we receive the results of the medical exams and pray that there is nothing that would delay our return to the United States!
On the way back to the hotel, we did a very American thing...we went to Walmart!!! Tucked away in a larger office building was a two story Wally-World. We loved the opportunity to shop in a more familiar setting but with many unfamiliar goods. We went home with some yummy snacks including more ramen, dried mango, and special cakes along with some fun pens and PJs for the girls.
After our return to the hotel, the “Paperwork Party” was about to begin. The “Paperwork Party” is where we compile our papers that we’ve brought to finalize our visa application for Mia. Although she is officially our daughter in the eyes of both the US and Chinese governments she is still a Chinese citizen so she needs a visa for her trip to the US. Once we land in Dallas though, she officially becomes a US citizen!
A local Chinese artist name Mr. Chen came to the hotel with some of his wares to show and sell. Along with Chinese calligraphy he also does artwork using his hand, fingers, and fingernails. He made some beautiful pieces of work for our family. We especially loved the banners he made for Mia and Ali that incorporate their Chinese and English names along with their “Gotcha Days” and province of adoption.
We hadn’t fully explored the hotel yet since our last trip, so it was neat to take the girls through it for the first time to see the gym, pool, courtyard, and other areas. Since our last trip the hotel has added several new restaurants alongside Starbucks, so now we have access to a Burger King and Dominoes Pizza all under one roof! Nice!
We met for dinner with our AWAA friends and celebrated Michelle’s birthday with a yummy fruity cheesecake-type dessert. Jonathan was able to order one of his favorites, a stuffed crust pizza while Britney and Sophia split a thin crust cheese lovers pizza (it was hard to get a plain cheese pizza in our last province) and Mia stuck with her usual spaghetti bolognese...but we were in for a surprise. To date Mia has been mostly comfortable with only Asian food, dried fruit, noodles, and rice. She isn’t much of an adventurous eater so we were a bit shocked when she tried pizza, and loved it!
It has rained most of the day so we weren’t sure if we’d get the chance to swim since the hotel’s pool is outdoors, but we gave it a shot anyhow! The pool was cool but once you got in and started swimming it wasn’t noticeable. We had the pool mostly to ourselves and Brittney watched Jonathan and the girls swimming in the sprinkling rain before it was time for bed. Our first day in Guangzhou was busy but good!
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