Consulate Appointment

 Consulate General of the Unites States at Guangzhou

With the heavy downpour the previous evening, the weather today was bright, sunny and mild with low humidity - close to the perfect day.  If we didn't have the consulate appointment, this would be a great day for the Safari Park.

The appointment at the American Consulate was scheduled for 8:30am so we had to leave the hotel at 7:45am.  When we arrived at the consulate, I was amazed by the number of people standing in line.  I was concerned that we'd have to wait, but the people waiting were mostly Chinese citizens applying for a US visa.  We were able to go into the American citizen line and quickly get to where were needed to be.  The security protocols don't allow cell phones or bags in the building, so we left everything but our paperwork at the security checkpoint.  Our guide Kelly was also not permitted to go with us, but since this was the American consulate, we felt more at home with English being the predominant language.

European colonial building style on Shamian Island

The highlight of the visit, especially for the ladies, was the bathroom.  It was a nice quality American style bathroom with an American toilet.  It was clean and smelled nice.  I think everyone gave it a try.

Our family and the McCarthy family both had 8:30 AM appointments, but were the last two families to arrive out of ten so we had a longer wait than most.  There is a short interview and the officer asked Luke a few basic questions about his status - Did he want to be adopted by us?  Was he in contact with his birth paretns?  We were asked if we had any concerns after the medical appointment and a few other questions and then the interview was over and we were told Luke's Visa should be ready tomorrow.

Along the Pearl River on Shamian

Interesting;y, Luke already had a Visa from the US for his travel last summer.  However, that Visa is not the IH3 visa necessary for adoption.  The IH3 visa grants US citizenship to the holder upon entry to the US.  We learned about a family of US citizens living in China that is adopting a child from China.  To complete the adoption and acquire citizenship, they need to travel to the US even though they reside in China.  And then they will need to stay in the US for a few months to complete other paperwork like social security, passport, etc.

Kelly told us that she was taking another family to Shamian Island and that we could ride along if we wanted.  So after we got back to the hotel, we made a quick stop in our room and then got back on the bus for Shamian Island.  This time, we hoped to see more than the restrooms and Lucy's.

We started out by going to a couple of souvenir shops.  At times, it seems like most of our trip is spent in stores.  After we finished up at the stores, we started hearing the rumblings of hunger in our group.  We were walking toward Lucy's at the time and that's what most people seemed to want.  So we found ourselves again at Lucy's.  And again, the service was not particularly fast.  What we found odd is that food is not all brought out at once like most restaurants.  A couple of items would show up, then a few more, then the rest with no real explanation.

By the time we finished up at Lucy' the clock was ticking on our time left on Shamian.  We were by the riverfront, so we walked into the park along the river.  It was such a gorgeous day for a walk.

A nice day for a walk on Shamian Island

Luke's big wish for the day was a water gun.  He'd been asking since the day before and I told him it was possible we could get a water gun.  Once we returned to the hotel, I took Cami and Luke to the Trust-mart to shop for some water guns.  We found some fun options and then headed back.  Dana offered to take the kids to the pool while I worked on some blog posts and other planning items and I was glad to have a reason to not go to the pool since it wasn't really a day to go in the pool.

Luke reunites with his friend Jacob

Today was also an exciting day for the Franke family - they were going to be reunited with Jacob.  When look and Jacob saw each other, they seemed to pick up where they left off last summer.  We think it will be good for the boys to have each other close enough to visit.

At some point, either the Franke kids or our kids, or a combination of both, thought it would be fun to hit the pool again.  Since the water guns weren't coming home with us, the kids might as well enjoy the time in the water even if they have blue lips when they come out.

Our time in China is quickly coming to an end.  We're still on for the Safari Park tomorrow and then we'll pack and leave on Wedesday morning for the train to Hong Kong.