6,000+ Words?

Sometimes I just don't have enough material (or interest) to devote an entire post to a specific event while in China. Here are some miscellaneous pictures that didn't make the cut for an individual post, but deserved a little space on the blog anyway. If a picture is worth a thousand words, than this entry should be good for a six thousand or so.

Thorny exterior houses fleshy, white fruit which tastes like a muscadine grape

Sera's favorite breakfast item. Drinkable yogurt. She puts away 3+ per day

1) Nature is everywhere in China, even alongside elevated roads
2) QR codes are everywhere too -- TV commercials, billboards, headrests on bus...

Seraphina made the medical visit look easy. Didn't even shed a tear for the TB shot

Vending machine for liquor! $16 for a fifth of whiskey and no ID check.

Not sure where her new look comes from? Showing off the good leg in public draws stares. We just shrug.

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Shamian Island & Our Lady of Lourdes

On Tuesday afternoon, we joined a few other families in our group for a trip via Guangzhou's subway system to Shamian Island where we had stayed on our previous two visits to adopt Jeremy and Leah. We had two personal goals while on the island:

1. seek out one of the tourist shops to order a custom painting with Seraphina's name spelled with various natural imagery (e.g. plants and animals) including a mouse, the Chinese zodiac animal of her birth year, and her Chinese name in pinyin characters. We already had pictures for out other three children, and while some may think of the paintings as just another tourist gimmick, this was one we wanted to have for a complete set.

2. Visit the old Catholic Church on the island which we had attended Mass in on previous visits to Guangzhou, but could not make it across town in time on this visit.

Our Lady of Lourdes has done VERY well since our last visit back in 2008. I can't help but wonder if they received several large donations from visiting adoptive families to put into repair. The last time we were here, the outside was in need of new paint while the inside had problems with cracks in the walls and just a general dirtiness throughout.

Not this time. Now the walls look freshly painted and the outdoor area is cleaned up. They appear to have acquired the building next door to use as a family center and they built a Marian grotto in the one corner of the small front yard. While we were visiting, they began a Divine Mercy chaplet (MP4 link) which included English audio. We may not have had an opportunity to get to Mass while in China this time around, but it was nice to be around for a portion of the chaplet.

This is one of the things I love about our Catholic faith -- regardless of where we are in the world, there is always a familiarity when we walk into the Church.

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Pearl River Cruise

Tuesday night, the group climbed aboard a bus to head down to the Pearl River for a dinner cruise. Since the "standard" buffet included items such as fish intestines and chicken heads, our guides (in their infinite wisdom, opted for a more "American" meal. In addition to the food we had delivered, we were given a plate of watermelon and cherry tomatoes. I'm not sure what the significance of that particular combination is, but Sera sucked down the watermelon while I popped a couple of tomatoes in my mouth. A few minutes later, our guide came by and mentioned that the little veggies were washed in tap water and we were advised not to ingest them to avoid illness. Would have been nice to know that 5 minutes earlier (but so far no ill side effects).

We had a good time watching all the lights on the surrounding buildings and bridges as well as several of the other boats that passed by. One favorite was a dragon boat that looked like a pirate ship with a large dragon on the front. Of course, everything was outlined with colored lights, making it look even more spectacular in the twilight.

At the far end of the trip, we came alongside the White Swan hotel. This was the hotel we stayed in on the previous two trips to China when adopting Jeremy and Leah. Apparently they no longer wish to host adoption families, opting instead to entertain business clients. That's a shame as we would have paid a little extra to stay on the island during our last week in China.

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Time flies when you're having...fun?

I'm showing no entries in 4 days. Has it been that long since the drama at the aquarium? Last Friday seems so long ago. I had to confirm with Angela, but I think we just lazed around the hotel in Zhengzhou after a late breakfast. With the hotel hosting several international dignitaries for some big meeting this week, we had to deal with hefty security checkpoints making movement around town difficult. As I understand it, the families that are in Zhengzhou this week are on lockdown in their hotel rooms for three days -- they must be escorted to breakfast and may only go when none of the "important" people are dining. Thank goodness we left before it got really tough.

Saturday was our travel day to head to Guangzhou, our final stop before coming home. We were up bright and early to get a quick breakfast before boarding a bus for the airport at 7 AM. The flight was at 11:30 AM but security checkpoints meant lots of delays. Seraphina did well for most of the flight which was a relief as we were unsure how she would handle the new experience, especially after tears the first time we took her on a bus and a taxi.

I say "most" because we did have issues on takeoff and landing. No, not involving fear. The issue involved what I have coined the "princess attitude"; something we are already familiar with from the other daughter we have back home. It seems princesses don't like *having* to do something like, say, sitting upright in a seat with seatbelt fastened and tray in its upright position. Yeah. So pretty much the entire ascent and descent were spent with a child trying to assume a rigid, prone position in every imaginable direction other than upright while Angela (sitting in the middle) kept readjusting her and re-fastening the seat belt. After the ascent, I was optimistic (that'll teach me) that going down might go better but it was the same thing. This time, after having less success on Angela's part, I smacked Sera. The result was a child sitting in her seat albeit with plenty of wailing. When one of the other dad's sitting nearby asked if she was having problems with ears popping, I just gave him a look, and said "Not exactly." Perhaps not my finest moment, but it got the job done. Sigh.

It was dinner time before we were settled into the hotel and we opted for a McDonald's meal since it was right next to the hotel. Sera got a kid's meal with chicken nuggets, fries and a boxed milk. It included a Snoopy toy in the typical plastic bag. Angela and I finished our meals in short order, mainly because we hadn't eaten since breakfast. Sera has eaten 1 of 4 nuggets and a few fries. She spends most of her time goofing off or yapping. We sat around for about 45 minutes more while she ate a few more bites. Each time we made to leave, she fussed about still eating. Sigh.

When she finally decided she was full, we went to throw away the leftovers which resulted in a hissy fit. (Side note: in China it appears guests leave their trash on the table for the employees to throw away. I got strange stares when I took my own trash to the bin.) Sera then proceeded to place her leftover fries and nuggets in the bag the toy came in before placing the toy in as well. When she tried to place the opened, partially consumed sweet & sour dipping sauce in as well, we nixed it. This caused a minor what-for and the removal of fries to finish off the sauce. Nothing like a 2-hour dinner at McD's to burn some time. Sigh.

Sunday started off pretty nice. When we got to our hotel room the night before, it included a playpen. We planned to collapse it to make more space, but the princess got upset. She *wanted* to get in the playpen. What's this? She was a willing accomplice in being contained? Prayers answered. Not only did she sleep in the pen, she overslept until almost 7:30. Best night of sleep since we've been in China. May have to get one of these again when we get home.

Rather than visit a Buddhist temple with the group (Angela refused on the grounds that if we couldn't attend Mass, we certainly weren't visiting a temple of another religion) we stayed at the hotel. We met up with another family doing the same to instead go to a museum a block from the hotel housing the 2,000 year old remains of an emperor. The other family had a contact here in Guangzhou who paid the entrance fee so we got to see an archeological dig site and waste a few more hours.

After that we parted with the other family when they stopped for lunch and continued our walk around the "block". Not sure how blocks work around here, but we wound up taking a 3-mile tour around the city, all the while keeping our eyes on recognizable landmarks in hopes of working our way back to the hotel. When we finally got back, mom and dad were exhausted from carrying a toddler (7-year-old, but I digress). We had skipped lunch and I had to get to a 4 PM meeting to fill out paperwork for the US visa. Following that, we did dinner in the hotel and called it a night.

Now it is Tuesday morning. We are headed to a medical facility for a checkup for Sera. We are told it will include a TB test that comes with a shot in a room with doctor and nurses, but no parents. I expect that will go over like a... well, I'll let you fill in the rest. We have a dinner cruise on the river tonight which we are looking forward to. The rest of the week includes getting the visa for Sera and waiting for the TB results before beginning the journey home on Friday morning. So ready to be home -- oh, did I mention that already?

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Mean Daddy visits the Aquarium

Thursday and Friday are basically "free" days as we wait for the children's passports to be completed and mailed to the hotel. Like America, passports usually take a few weeks to receive, but CCAI has something worked out to get the adoption passports pushed through super quick.

Thursday we opted to join some of the other families for a trip to the city's aquarium. I must admit I was expecting something much less impressive, even when first arriving at the smallish, weathered building by bus. But once we stepped inside, I was greeted by a nice display of fish, lizards, turtles and arctic animals.

The first stop was finding a toilet for Seraphina as soon as we entered the building. As with any place you take a toddler, bathrooms are never as close as you need them to be. Communicating in a foreign language only added to this issue as this was not the kind of place expecting Americans to walk in the door.

Following our first mini-adventure, we settled in for walking around the various aquatic displays. Many were typical of any aquarium, but then we got to the koi pond. At least that's what the other families called it. To me, they looked more like the oversized goldfish I used to see at Carowinds. For 10¥ (about $1.50) you received a baby bottle with murky liquid in it. When you held it at water level, the fish would climb over each other to get a suck on the nipple. It was the best waste of money thus far as everyone enjoyed watching the kids feed the fish. The only bad part was when the "food" ran out and Na-na wanted more. Sorry kiddo, can't spend all my change on fish food.

Next up was the coral reef. The wall was low with a big sign that said not to put hands in the water. Well of course Sera wanted to try and grab one of the pretty things she was looking at. I pulled her back and mentioned the "look but don't touch" line. If you read a previous post, you'll recall that that is one of her dislikes. She immediately stomped back to the wall for a repeat try. Again I pulled her back with a more forceful "No" but that made her all the more assertive. On the third failed attempt, I hauled her up in my arms and left the display as I explained pointlessly in English that if she could not obey the rules, she would not be allowed to participate.

Na-na began crying and thrashing about in my arms. She was loudly expressing her disdain as we departed the immediate area. This is always fun in a public place back home. It's even more fun when in a foreign country where the locals understand what your child is screaming but you don't. I'm sure it had something to do with how I was an evil kidnapper mercilessly abusing this sweet, innocent girl. Whatevs. Mean Daddy was in full effect and there was no backing out now.

Eventually mom caught up with us and Sera gladly went in to her arms continually saying (presumably) bad things about me. Eventually she calmed down as a show was about to begin. They were playing American tunes until the show started and Sera began to dance to the music (MP4 via Dropbox). She sat with one of the other family's daughters who has become her "big sister" while in China.

It seemed we were friends again following the show and we continued to tour the 5-level aquarium including a long tunnel beneath stingrays and sharks, and another show, this time a love story between a mermaid and a scuba diver. It was all in Chinese, but I think the message had something to do with mermaids only liking humans who didn't harm the ocean's animals. She preferred men who danced with sea turtles and dogfish.

The next clash was when Sera noticed other kids with a light-up plastic porpoise hanging around their necks. I didn't need to understand Chinese to know she wanted one. Now. I'm not one for adding to the junk we already have, but I was willing to consider it if we happened to come across it as we exited the building. Of course we didn't which led to more fussing, or so I assume from her frustration and yapping. It was briefly allayed when she saw one of those vehicles you can sit on and move back and forth for some spare change. Mean Daddy was just below the surface though and decided there was no point to "rewarding" a complainer. We let her sit on the motionless contraption until it was time to go.

Just before we boarded the bus, a lady came up to her trying to sell some cheap trinket. She went nuts when I herded her on to the bus trinket-less. Mean Daddy makes a third appearance. While many of the other parents seemed to pamper (aka spoil) their new children, I saw no need to be different than I am around the house. There'll be great presents under the tree in a couple of weeks -- you can live without a plastic bauble that falls apart before we get back to the hotel (I know this because it happened for one of the other kids).

Sera feeds a sea turtle

You might think our return to the hotel meant things would get back to normal (or as normal as can be in a hotel in China). You would be incorrect.

Upon our return we opted for a trip to Pizza Hut for lunch. We ordered two Pepsis and I planned to share mine with Sera. I poured her some in a small glass and handed it to her. She indicated she wanted a straw like her "big sister" had across the table. I refused since her glass was too small for a straw and I pictured a mess if she tried to use it. She once again became indignant about not getting what she wanted which (of course) pissed me off as well. After she pushed the soda away a couple times out of frustration, I poured the soda back into my glass leaving her with nothing. I assume anyone reading this can figure out how that played out.

More wailing and gnashing of teeth. I could tell our friends at the table were uncomfortable. I could see that the patrons around us were astonished. The wait staff must have been nervous as one young woman brought over an activity sheet to try to console the child having a complete melt down while her dad completely ignored her (or at least appeared to on the outside). Eventually I would pour soda back into her glass but the straw was never to be part of the deal. Mean Daddy strikes again.

Somewhat surprisingly, Sera was back on good terms with fun daddy by the end of the meal, laughing as she covered me in stickers from the activity sheet she received earlier. Back in the hotel she was all giggles and interested in "rough-housing" with dad in the hotel room. Until 4:30 when one parent had to meet in the hallway to review paperwork.

I went alone to take care of this chore assuming Sera would prefer Angela to me for an extended period, especially after how the rest of the day had gone. After about 5 minutes, Angela came out with Sera and indicated our daughter was calling for me and thought we should switch roles. Seriously? I have 3 kids at home and I know how this game plays out, but whatevs. Mean Daddy was being signaled for and Mean Daddy would answer the call.

As soon as I picked up Na-na to take her to the hotel room so Angela could review work alone as instructed, she began protesting. I ignored the pleas as we entered our room as closed the door behind us. Sera, ever the obstinate one, made to open the door and return to the hallway.

Mean Daddy: "Sorry, not going to happen."
Seraphina: "If you refuse, I'll scream bloody murder."
Mean Daddy: "Go for it. I'm not wearing my hearing aids anyway."
Seraphina: "Three. Two. One."

What came next was the mother of all tantrums. If there had been a priest nearby, I may have requested an exorcism. As it was, I felt that acknowledging the outburst would only endorse it so I ceremoniously ignored her by reading a Curious George book to myself as she flailed, kicked the bed, tore up hotel signage, and screamed her displeasure. Occasionally she would calm down long enough to catch her breath or wipe snot bubbles on her sleeve. At one point I left an opening and she made her way for the door again. I mentioned that was not an option knowing that even if she understood English she would have ignored me. When her hand touched the doorknob, I scooped her up and returned her to her "prison" -- between the two beds with me sitting at the end blocking the exit. Wailing and gnashing of teeth continued. For the better part of an hour there was no silence except when she was inhaling to unleash her fury again. Mean Daddy was heroic (at least in his mind) as he ignored all attempts to be demolished by the awesome forces of one toddler's special power -- the Terror Tantrum.

When Angela finally wrapped up what she needed to get done, she returned to the carnage of the aftermath. I removed myself as "barrier" so that Sera could finally get to her savior and begin recounting all the horrific details. It was one time I truly wish I could understand what she was saying as I'm sure it was juicy. Angela listened patiently and nodded every now and then in mock agreement. At one point Na-na went to open the door to the hallway on her own and Angela refused egress. Mean Daddy's sidekick, Staunch Mama, performed gloriously in support of the superhero! Finally, after some cool off time for both parties, mom took daughter into the hallway for some time apart with the other kids in the group.

By evening, Sera would be rough housing with "baba" (daddy) again as if nothing ever happened. But Mean Daddy had made his appearance and (hopefully) established that there will be limits in the Smith household as well as a separation of rights for children and adults. All my children have had the opportunity to meet Mean Daddy, but the three older ones know how simple it is to keep from meeting him often -- don't overstep the clearly defined bounds. I'm sure Seraphina will learn just as quickly.

It's all good. Fun Daddy is in the house Friday (today). Saturday morning we get up bright and early for our flight to Guangzhou where we take care of all the American paperwork to bring Sera home to America. One more week of hotel living -- pray for us!

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