I am so glad to be back on Shamian Island where the weather is almost balmy and we are surrounded by many other adoptive families. We were starting to tire of Wuhan and the cold weather, so it is nice to have a break before we head off to Beijing which will be even colder than Wuhan.



Caleb admitted that he was afraid of flying and worried that the plane would fall out of the sky, but our guide in Wuhan assured him that he would be safe. His eyes grew large as we accelerated on the runway before we lifted off, and then he had a big grin on his face as we went up into the air. Thankfully, the flight from Wuhan to Guangzhou is only 90 minutes, so it wasn’t too long before we started coming back down. We were rewarded with another large grin when we were once again on the ground, so I think he might have been a bit uneasy up in the air although he ate his Chinese nuts (still not quite sure what they were) and drank his Coke like the most experienced business traveler.

Today was Jeff’s birthday and we celebrated it by going to Lucy’s café on the island. Lucy’s has many different types of American foods, decorations that are very American with movie posters and license plates from many states, and...a jukebox with American music! What more could you ask for? We chose a few tunes from the Carpenters, the Eagles, Roberta Flack, and Neil Diamond. Even though we are 6,000 miles away, Lucy’s is a nice touch that makes you feel like you are home. Unfortunately, today was not totally pleasant. It started out nice, but ended on a very sad note.

We had been warned by a friend that if we ended up with a guide in Guangzhou named Raymond, to immediately request a different guide. He apparently messed up some of their paperwork and also did not show up for the swearing in ceremony the next day when you receive your child's visa. Your guide has your entry ticket to the consulate, so no guide means no entrance. Luckily, our friends were able to sneak through in the back of a larger group with a different guide.

When we went to check in back at the Victory Hotel, they handed us a note...yep, it was from none other than Raymond. My first thought was to call his boss and ask for a replacement, but it just didn't feel right. I told Jeff that just like when you have a complaint with a teacher, you should talk it out with them before you run to the principal, so we ought to give Raymond a chance. We went ahead and called him and arranged to meet tonight. His home is an hour bus ride away from our hotel and we were starving, so we told him to head on over and we would meet when we came back from dinner at Lucy's. It was already 9 p.m. by the time we started all the paperwork that he will need to take to the consulate for us tomorrow morning.

Raymond is a bit awkward in some of his mannerisms, and seemed unsure of himself. He doesn't have the best English in the world, but he seemed very kind and we managed to get through the forms without any major mishaps. I admit that I started to lose my patience a little because he wanted to check two and three times that every i was dotted and every t crossed and it was late and I had kids who needed to be in bed asleep.

When we finally finished an hour later and he stood to leave, I said,
"Raymond, I have a huge concern that I want to talk to you about. We have
friends who were here last week and we were told that you did not show up for their consulate appointment. I want to make sure that the same thing won't happen to us."

Continued...