China, Day 1: Fingerprints, Part Deux

We are here. It's hard to believe we are really in China. Harder still to grasp that we will be parents tomorrow. The hotel room is small but very nice. We totally moved in and set up shop for the next two weeks. We've got our kitchen area (mini-bar/mini-fridge), pantry (end table filled with noperishables), office/computer spot (desk and internet connection), and baby's room (hotel supplied crib and blankets).

Fingerprints
The fingerprint saga continues. Our in-country adoption agent and guide, "Amy,"” took us to the US consulate to have yet another set of fingerprints done. This time it was old school. Whereas all the fingerprints I'’ve had done in the last several years in the States were on a computer terminal, the method hearkenedkened back to gum shoe days. Heavy black, black ink still stains my fingertips. Now, guess where they are headed...FedEx right back to the States to be processed against the FBI database. We should know next Monday if they are OK. In the meantime, we hope the prints we took in San Jose on Thursday will be given the thumbs-up by Wednesday, making the Dick Tracy prints a waste of time, and ink.

Tonight Kelsey and I might go out to an elegant Cantonese seafood restaurant for our last date as a childless couple. Funny thing is that as sentimental as we both can be and as stuck in our ways as we'’ve become neither of us is very concerned about putting that part of our life behind us. We're terrified in some respects, but not too worried about life being different.

....Evening update - didn't make it to the elegant seafood restaurant. Too tired and still not feeling 100% physically. Went to a "western" restaurant near the hotel. See "Spring Chicken" below.

More highlights from Day 1
At the airport we were met by Amy who also picked up a single mother, Robin and her 11-year old adopted daughter, Zoe. After adopting Zoe eleven years ago, Robin is adopting a 3 1/2 year old. Driving from the airport to our hotel, Amy gave us a brief History of Guangzhou. She is quite energetic and knowledgeable. She is tickled any time we already know something about China. For instance, when she asked if we knew the three ancient trading goods China was famous for we came up with them: Silk, Porcelain, & Tea.

In the chaos of Guangzhou traffic (during which we often questioned if Keira would be twice orphaned) Amy shared the following Chinese saying:

"When you go to Beijing you see walls, the Great Wall and this Wall and that Wall; in Shanghai all you see are the tops of heads (because it's so crowded); and in Guangzhou you see cars."

One day in Guangzhou and we understand the expression all too well.

Our Daily Water Requirement
The bottled water we found in the 7-11 (yes, 7-11) has the following: "Watson's Water is the ideal drink to replenish our daily water requirement." I wonder if the use of "our" rather than "your" is due to the Asian culture group-think (as is often observed in Japan), or if it is related to the Communist focus on the people, not the person. Just wondering.

No Spring Chicken
We wandered around Shamian Island where our hotel is for about 20 minutes looking for a place to eat. As we reviewed the menu at one restaurant we considered stopping for the Salmon Head & Intestinal Fat. But decided to move along to something a little closer to the comfort zone (closer being a relative term).

We ended up at Station One, said to be a Western restaurant. In addition to several steak dishes, they still have plenty of Asian fare. Kelsey's mushroom soup came out room temp. The waitress was embarrassed and apologized greatly. After a trip to the microwave it came out just better than luke warm. She would have nuked it again, but Kelsey decided she could tolerate it. To make up for it we were given a coupon for our next visit. "Spend 60 yaun and you will get a free whole spring chicken." Coupon includes a photo of the roasted fowl. "Just bring in this coupon when you spend 60 yuan and exchange it for the chicken." Oh, no way. I wouldn't exchange this coupon for anything. This is the first memorabilia for Keira's "Gotcha" scrap book.

Tomorrow we are probably eating at a Thai restaurant called "Cow Bridge." It really near the hotel. Amy recommended it. On the up-side it comes with Amy's endorsement and there were tons of Americans with babies in there when we walked by tonight. On the down side, there wasn't a single local eating there. Hmmm.....

Full Access Internet in Communist China
Perhaps it's different for the average citizen at an internet cafe or at home. But, for us at the White Swan I seem to have unrestricted access to the world wide web. Tonight Kelsey and I were wanting to listen to some contemporary Christian praise music to put us in the right frame of mind for tomorrow. But, I didn't have any on my laptop nor any CDs with me. So, I popped open iTunes and downloaded a whole album by Phillips, Craig and Dean - songs we regularly sing in church. Here, in communist China! Some things are stranger than I expected here in so many different ways.