Wednesday, August 30, 2006: Consulate, Six Banyan Temple, and Chen House

Today should have been uneventful. But I forgot the immunization affidavit in the United States, so Raymond and Kathy took me to the U.S. Consulate to get the form notarized. I met them at 8:20am and left Marcie behind with Jason and my mom. I expected the consulate to be a safe haven for an American. I expected people to be warm and friendly and helpful-- and to speak exceptional English. I don't know why I expected these things-- upon reflection, that hasn't necessarily been my experience with government employees inside the U.S., so I don't know why it would be in China. (I should mention that when we got our new 171-H after we redid our fingerprints, the woman who helped me in the federal building was actually warm and friendly and helpful.)

The U.S. Consulate is about a 30 minute drive from the White Swan, and it is on a floor of a giant building, where there is also an AIG Insurance office. The people at the security check-points do speak English, but their Chinese (I don't know which dialect) is clearly superior to their English. When I got to the room where Kathy and Raymond were dropping everyone's paperwork, I took a number and waited. I was amazed at the number of people who just didn't wait for their number. They seriously walked right up behind people who had waited their turn and started talking to the employees. Again, I don't know why that surprised me-- it was obviously silly for me to think the consulate would be a bastion of American cultural norms. When I went to the window, I explained what I needed. Then Raymond (our guide) re-explained what I wanted in Chinese to her. She told me to take a seat. As I sat, I watched Kathy submit all the other paperwork. I sat, and waited, and rubbed my forehead, and waited. Raymond came over to me to ask if I had any money with me. I did because I didn't know how much the notarization would cost. He explained that one of the hundred dollar bills was rejected (yes, I'm being serious) because it had a stamp on it. All I had was a hand full of twenty dollar bills and ten dollar bills. They are worn and wrinkled, but Raymond traded the hundrend for them, and I guess those were good enough. Go figure.

It was an agonizing ten minute wait, until this friendly face called my name to her window. And she pronounced my first name and my last names perfectly! She was clearly an American-born employee. She notarized my document, and it turns out she is the vice consul here in Guangzhou. It also turns out a presidential commission never expires. It's pretty cool to have that notary stamp on a document-- but not cool enough that I would ever recommend leaving your affidavit behind to have the experience! When she finished, I asked if she'd make me a copy, and she explained why I wouldn't need one, but said she'd do it anyway if I wanted. I told her that I hoped I wouldn't need one, but I'd prefer not to risk it. She smiled kindly and made the copy-- then congratulated me and asked me how the adoption was going. I couldn't even speak. I was so emotionally overwhelmed. This is the third time I have felt this way on our trip-- so emotionally drained I couldn't speak for fear the lump at the back of my throat would burst out of my mouth and I would become a walking ball of sobs. The first time was when I saw Jill waiting for us in Beijing (after our experience in Guangzhou trying to make our connection, I was so happy to discover a ride to the hotel had been arranged for us!). The second time was in Chongqing, when I wasn't sure if our traveler's checks would be accepted by the bank, and I discovered the entire group had waited with me to make sure my money was accepted because they weren't going to leave me (or Marcie!) behind-- they were ready to pony up the cash on my behalf. And this was the third time. I guess I thought the trip to China would be the easy part-- smoothe-sailing. Boy was I wrong.

Speaking about it not being all easy here, our guides here in Guangzhou have been phenomenal. Kathy came by our room after 11pm last night because our paperwork was missing two signatures. Then she left a note and called at 6:45 am this morning because we were missing a page. Then she took me to the consulate with Raymond. This afternoon, she helped us change our keys at the group reception area because we have such a late check-out on Friday (which CCAI arranged for us). And just a few minutes ago, Raymond and Kathy came by our room to give us a letter to carry to the U.S. in case we run into difficulty in Los Angeles going through customs, and to give us other customs paperwork. They are working very hard for us-- I honestly cannot imagine going through this process without their help, or without CCAI's expertise and experience. Boy does our agency know what they are doing!

Anyway, after I got back to the hotel, we ordered lunch from Danny's (a place run by people from New York), and then we went for an afternoon city tour of the Six Banyan Temple and the Chen House. The Temple was beautiful, and I'd love to post some photos of it, but I left the media card in the hotel room, so we didn't snap any pictures. We did take video of it, though. We were supposed to have a blessing for the girls there, but the monks were busy in a service, and after waiting 30 minutes and learning their service would be at least another 30 minutes long, we moved along to the Chen House. The temple was very interesting architecturally. Jason had predicted there would be an altar, sandlewood incense burning, monks, and chanting. He was right on all four counts. The only real surprise for me was the number of beggars asking for money outside the temple. I wasn't really prepared for that.

Next we went to Chen House, which is a family temple- Raymond explained that Buddhists believe in reincarnation, and that families go to pray to and for their ancestors at family temples (as compared to public temples like the six banyon temple). This had a lot of interesting parts to it-- there were people making rosewood cabinets. There were displays of ivory and bone carvings, and there was a beautiful garden. There was also a high-pressured shop with air conditioning, where the employees kept asking us to "make an offer." We booked out of that place pretty quickly.

Because I don't have any photos of what we saw today, I'll throw in a couple of shots Jason snapped yesterday:

Yes, there really are fish in that murky, muddy water. Cool lighting, huh?

Can you tell what they are doing? They are hacky-sackying a badmitton "ball." Crazy!

For dinner, we ate at the Cantonese restaurant in the hotel. We were going to try the place that boasts it was voted best Cantonese food in Guangzhou for 2003, 2004 and 2005, but after seeing thing slike crocodile claw on the menu, Kyndra decided we should head back to the hotel, and we obliged. Gene had purchased little cakes for everyone to help Nathan and Lisa celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. Pretty impressive. In fact, at our tables, Jason and I were tied with Brad and Joia for the shortest period of time married at seven years. Kyndra and Larry have been together for nine years, and Nathan and Lisa for ten. This is interesting in part because each of our couples has thirty-somethings. Maybe that's not all that impressive-- it just seems like a lot of marriages end around the four-year mark, so I thought it was cool.

So that's about all for the day.

Poop Watch 2006
This will be my final poop-related entry of this trip-- unless something really funny or really gross happens that I just have to document. Marcie pooped on her own today (yippee!). During dinner. No grunting, no groaning-- not even any squatting. I just smelled it. And it was relatively soft. She did have another six ounces of apple juice today (it just kills me to give this to her-- we didn't even introduce juice to Casey-- not even watered-down juice-- until he was three). So she is apparently trying to or starting to regulate herself. We are keeping her off table food and rice cereal until we can get her back to the U.S. and transitioned to a better formula. But we are just so happy and thrilled for. Thanks for all your prayers and good wishes-- and keep them coming. After all, we do have a couple more days here in China!

Tomorrow morning we are off to the pearl market, then we go to the consulate to take our oath (to finalize the adoption, though we will re-adopt Marcie in California), and to pick up our visa. We are all going to meet at the local Thai Restaurant for a farewell dinner-- most of the families leave at 5:00am to catch their flights to Hong Kong, and then to the United States. Although I have been antsy to return to the U.S. pretty much since we received Marcie, these past few days have really flown by, and I can hardly believe I will en-route to the United States in a mere forty-eight hours (if all goes according to plan). In the mean time, for those of you sending well wishes and crossing fingers and praying, please keep Dana and her family in your thoughts. Dana's husband stayed back in the United States with their two boys (who are both autistic), and she is here right now with her aunt. She is missing a form that is required because her husband isn't here. They told her she wouldn't need it, but she does. On top of that, Illinois requires some documentation about the adoption that her home study agency neglected to fill her in about. The U.S. Consulate won't issue her daughter's visa until it receives these two forms, with Dana's husband's signature on them. And the forms have to be notarized. If the consulate will take faxed copies, Dana can submit them tomorrow. If the consulate refuses faxes, Dana will have to wait here in Guangzhou until the documents can arrive-- which could be as long as four or five days because of the upcoming holiday weekend. I imagine Dana will not sleep well tonight. I imagine the taxi ride to the consulate in the morning will be a dreadful, long thirty minutes. I imagine Dana will feel, tomorrow, much like I felt today. So I am hoping and praying that it all works out so Dana can get home to her boys-- with her daughter-- on Friday. Please keep her in your thoughts as you work today, and as you go to bed tonight.

Here are the photos I did manage to snap today: