3/22/11 - Day 13: Consulate Apointment and Shopping

We had Carter's visa appointment at the U.S. Consulate at 8:30 am. We dropped ... er ... left April & Bennett with Grandma & Grandpa, had a quick breakfast (good with Mommy & Daddy but not Carter), and headed off to the Consulate at 7:30 am.

We got to see Elvin at the consulate. He was our guide in 2009. It turns out he is the guide this week for a group of adoptive families from another agency (CWA?) that we met at our hotel in Beijing. We had a fun time talking with Elvin and catching up with the other adoptive families until our medical exam results were delivered to the lobby of the building where the consulate is. After our guides/facilitators received the exam results for their groups, the adoptive families headed upstairs to queue up for security.

The new procedure that just started about 1 month ago is for the guides to wait in the lobby and the parents to have a personal interview. You get the child's visa and your other immigration paperwork the next day. Previously, the process took 3 days instead of 2 days and the guide handled the paperwork directly with the Consulate.

The lady in charge of adoptions for the consulate came out and gave a short speech to the 12 - 15 adoptive families who had 8:30 appointments.

We paid our visa fee and were soon called to the window for our interview. Very straightforward and no surprises (knock on wood). Once again, completely different process and experience then what happened in 2009.

One update for those who follow the paperwork. Today is the last day the consulate will fix a missing or an incorrect (e.g. missdated) vaccination affadavit waiver. They went downstairs and told the guides/facilitators that were waiting that going forward, you will need to make an online appointment to resubmit, 4 days minimum in the future.

After the appointment we chatted with the head of adoption for the consulate before making our way downstairs and heading back to the hotel.

At 10:30 we met Ann of Red Threads. In additon to her gift package business, Ann also provides a personal shopper service in Guangzhou. We used her in 2009 when we adopted April. Basically, for a modest hourly fee she will take you to stores to buy jade bracelets/beads/pendants, pearls, traditional silk chinese outfits, or whatever you want. She will handle identifying the quality and arrange the best price.

We were planning to only buy a few things (some outfits for Carter, a purse for Lisa, a few more pearls, and a Northface 3 in 1 jacket for Carter).

Given the season and the climate in Guangzhou, most stores no longer carry winter jackets. This matches what we found on the island earlier this week.

We bought a few more pearls but this time but we (i.e. Lisa) also selected some black and purple ones and then had some necklaces & bracelets & earrings made. We purchased jade bead necklaces & bracelets this time instead of jade bracelets. We had them restrung & replaced the clasps with sterling silver clasps at the pearl market. We also had some earrings made from extra pearls left over from the strands we purchased and extra jade beads provided along with the jade we purchased. Lisa worked with the store to have some different styles prepared and was very happy with the suggestions and results. We also bought some jade pendants and earrings.

After the jade and pearls stores, Lisa bought 2 purses and then we were off to a place called the Toy Factory? that contains rows of small stalls where we purchased traditional Chinese outfits for Carter and some gifts. I'm probably the only husband that keeps pushing his wife to buy more in Guangzhou. Usually we are not big shoppers and rarely buy anything. But the prices and quality are very good here on certain items. And the opportunity cost to get here is high in time & $!

In the middle of this Ann asked if we would mind taking a break for lunch. Given this was our first day not gorging ourselves at a breakfast buffet (solely due to limited time this morning to be honest), we were all for it. She took us to a Dim Sum restaurant that was excellent. We would never have been able to eat there ourselves.

Instead of taking a taxi back to our hotel, Ann was glad to take the subway when we insisted (more due to speed then cost given the traffic here). So we also got to experience the Guangzhou subway and we were impressed.

On the way back to the hotel Grandpa texted and asked where we were! They were a huge help today and the kids had their usual great time with them, but we were not planning on leaving the kids with them so long. All we can say is thank you. Grandma claims Grandpa took a nap in the hotel room at one point. In my opinion, Grandpa is welcome to his nap given he is the one who handles any issue from sunset to sunrise when the kids stay at their house. Sorry mom!

We talked with the other family in our group who has their CA tomorrow and is also planning to go shopping with Ann after their CA. This will help them work with Ann to plan where to go and gave them some ideas on what to consider. Lisa had a fun time showing them some of the things we purchased and describing our day to them.