Monday, April 15, 2013

Ni hao from Guangzhou!


Yesterday (Sunday) we had an early start to the day and caught a flight from Zhengzhou to Guangzhou.  It was a LONG day for all of us.  From the 5:30 AM wake up, to lots of waiting around in buses and airports and airplanes, we were all shot.

XinYi was super excited about going on the plane (Mandarin word is pronounced fay-jee but with her country bumpkin dialect, she calls it fay-jee-uh).  She did really well except for a freakout about the seat belt.  She kept telling me "Boo chwan" meaning she didn't want to wear it.  She gasped with surprise when the plane went through the clouds and unleashed a stream of Mandarin.  I couldn't follow most of it, but delight was the underlying emotion.
About to board ... she was so excited about the plane ride, that she tried to push her way up the 
stairs instead of waiting in line.  Oh wait, maybe that's just the way the Chinese do queueing!

Our hotel in Guangzhou is very nice (5 star) and thankfully has a swimming pool, since XinYi has turned into a water monster.  It also has a small playground in the courtyard, which is great for letting off steam.  Chinese parks do not have playgrounds as we think of them, so this was a real find and made Medora & Lian sooo happy.  Of course, it doesn't have the same safety standards as the US, so there's exposed rusty sharp metal edges, yikes!  So we have to keep an eye on it pretty closely but it is great to have.  The other nice thing about this hotel is there are 2 humongous parks right next door.

I understand that Guangzhou has had incessant rain for the last 2 weeks, but the weather cleared a few days ago, and we've been lucky to have good weather so far.  I'm hoping it lasts ... I can't imagine trying to entertain XinYi if we couldn't be outside!!!!

Anyhow, Sunday evening, Eric took the girls swimming in the dark ... everyone thought that was a blast.  The pool is outdoors, but is fairly warm.  It isn't super shallow - 3.5 feet at the shallowest.  I wasn't sure how XinYi would feel about that, but she's totally fine with it.  She also loves the fact that planes fly overhead once every 10 minutes or so ... and everything comes to a stop while she points and shouts "fay jee uh!  fay jee uh!"  One of the hotel employees stopped by to ask us about the family and XinYi chattered her ear off.  The worker said that XinYi's accent is so thick that she can only get about 60% of what she's saying.  That makes me feel better!

Post swimming - playing with Polly Pockets before bedtime

Monday (today) was the dreaded medical exam day.  We knew this was going to be trouble, as XinYi is super sensitive to the remote possibilities of doctors and shots.  At the passport photo office, she started crying and saying "Not want shots".  Ditto at the security line to get on the plane to Guangzhou.   Then add the US government requirement that all immigrants above the age of 2 to have a Tuberculosis blood test.  This was gonna be ugly.  We have two guides with us, but there were 13 families going to the medical exam ... so there wouldn't be an option to have a guide explain every step of it to XinYi.  Eric had the brilliant idea to ask if we could hire a personal guide for the morning, and it was only going to be $50-65 to have someone accompany us personally on the bus and through the medical exam.  Sold!  When we met our guide this morning, we were so happy to see that it was Jason - who had helped us in Guangzhou when we adopted Lian!  He is a super nice guy and he was so good with XinYi.

Jason sat with XinYi and me on the bus ride to the medical clinic, and he chatted her up to break the ice.  She knew something bad was going down, and wasn't her normal chatty self, but she did open up at last and told him all about the plane ride - how she climbed stairs to get on the plane, how the plane went up, the clouds, what she ate, and so on.  Then she told him all about the wonderful swimming pool and how she went swimming with Baba and the big sisters.

I had brought topical Lidocaine, so we applied that to her elbows, wrists, and ankles - anywhere Jason thought they might try for the blood draw.  I wanted to make this as easy as possible for her.

There were 5 stations to go through for the medical exam - first, a photo for the US visa, then an ENT station, a general health station, a height/weight station, and finally the dreaded blood draw.  She wasn't happy about the overall scene, but it really helped having Jason there to talk her through it.  She knew what was happening - the four stations then the blood draw.  When they used an ear thermometer on her, she started crying and babbling in Mandarin, so Jason spoke with her at length.  Jason said she thought they were giving her a shot in her ear, poor kiddo!

Convincing XinYi to let the doctor put a tongue depressor in her mouth - she thought it was a shot.

At the general health station, we had a long wait while the doctor read all of her medical reports, and she was convinced the shots were coming, so Jason calmed her by singing familiar children's songs to her.  Then - surprise - at the blood draw, we weren't allowed to go in!  They took her away from us and behind a curtain.  Jason again stepped in and explained what was going to happen and that we would be right there waiting for her when she was done.  The nurses said that she didn't cry for the actual needle stick, so hopefully the topical lidocaine helped.  Jason had arranged that XinYi would go first of the 13 kids in our group, then we went walking around outside while the others had their turn.  I'm so glad we spent the money to have Jason help us.  On the bus ride home, XinYi invited Jason to go swimming with us.  :)
Smugness after the medical exam, while we were walking around outside waiting for the others.  
She was quite proud of the bandaid on her arm.

After returning from the medical exam, we had lunch at the McDonald's next door to the hotel.  They had happy meals, so all three kids were excited about that.  The choices were hamburger/cheeseburger/nuggets, and french fries or corn.  Xin Yi and Medora chose the corn.  Xin Yi didn't want the bun on her cheeseburger, and also didn't like the cheese.  So we scraped off the cheese and tore the burger into bite size pieces.  The hamburger pieces she happily put into the corn, dumped a packet of ketchup on top, and went to town.

After McDonald's, we went swimming - XinYi was sooooo excited about this.  She still won't wear a swimsuit, but we have convinced her to strip down to her undies at least.  Today she started floating using a swim ring without us supporting her.  She's also starting to paddle her arms and legs while she's in it, like she sees Medora & Lian swimming.  She tried goggles for the first time today, but only after ascertaining there would be no head in the water.   After an hour, she was still raring to go, and we had to drag her out of the pool... and that is how a water monster is born.

This one just cracks me up - soggy undies and goggles around the neck.
Medora & Lian are doing gymnastics conditioning moves.

She was so taken with the goggles that she wore them to dinner  ... and then to bed.  We did remove them once she was asleep.  :)









2 comments:

Unknown said...

What a great looking family - all the girls look so happy and harmony looks ready to go. What great stories. Thanks again so much for the blog. Love you all - Dad / Grandpa

likeschocolate said...

What a cutie!