Day 14 - Guangzhou - COnsulate appointment and red couch

Today was our consulate appointment. Our guide took all our paperwork to the consulate and we were to wait in the room for an hour until we received the "all clear". About 30 minutes into the wait, the phone rang. Oh no! Elvin (our guide) was on the line.  Everything was fine (thank goodness!!) but instead of going to the consulate on Thurs. for our swearing in ceremony, we were to join the other families in the afternoon.    

We were released from lock-up and decided to walk around the island a bit and do some shopping. We headed to Helen's Place as we had heard she had some cute things. Lisa had seen a Burberry jacket for April earlier in the week and wanted to check it out. The shop is the size of a large closet and we had fun trying things on. We decided to keep looking and not buy anything - but she still gave us two kids bracelets. (she knew we'd be back!).

We continued to walk over to Jordon's place. His shop is off the beaten path and we were the only customers. He quickly wrote April's name in caligraphy while we browsed. We found a family ball that we really liked along with some toys for the kids. Mark did some hard bargaining and Jordon told us how business was down and how his rent had gone up. We settled on a fair price and the kids (after visiting the bathroom) were happy with the purchase.

We stopped for a quick snack at 7-11 and went to another shop where Mark had seen North Face jackets. After braving the rain on the river boat cruise and seeing the forecast for the rest of the week, we decided that April needed a rain jacket. We found a kid's size jacket - but April was not cooperating and would not try it on. We bargained back and forth and got the jacket for a steal. It is a light blue color - so even it she won't wear it, Bennett can.

Back to Helen's Place. She had boys Burberry shirts and Bennett really liked them. He tried on a few and found one that fit. He was beaming when everyone told him how handsome he looked. April scored with the windbreaker, a dress and a winter coat. She was quite happy to try on all those clothes. Mark and I are in trouble! Our daughter has expensive taste!

We all headed back to the room as it was getting close to picture time. We changed the kids into the traditional Chinese outfits that we bought and met the other families in our group by the famous "red couch" for a photo session. The kids all looked so cute! We had to bribe Bennett to take off his outfit after picture taking as we needed to get in the van and go the consulate for the swearing in ceremony. At the consulate, we saw the family we first met in Newark the day we left the states, as well as many families we have met over the past 2 weeks. What a journey this has been. Most of those families will be receiving their child's visa on Thurs., however, we will not receive ours until Friday, which is what we expected. (unless our guide has some news for us in the morning!)

April is having a hard time with bedtime and will sob and cry. Mark has been walking the halls with her for about an hour until she falls asleep and then we can put her to bed. I tried to take over tonight - but she would not have anything to do with it! She would nod off for a bit and then wake up, look and me and start to cry again. I can only imagine what is going on in her head - this must be so hard for her!      

We really enjoyed our time in China but are ready to come home.