September 1

Getting out of Beijing.. and heading to Guangzhou

We only sent one message from Guangzhou, since we were very busy there. Below is the message we sent divided into three parts:

Date:  Fri Sep 3, 2004  2:58 am

Subject:  Thanks for all the well wishes!!

They have all made me feel so much better! Being in Guangzhou has

helped tons.. it is sooo much nicer here!! We walked into the hotel

and it was wonbderful!!! I took a shower yesterday and by far that

is the best shower I have ever taken!! We have already bought tons

of stuff for us and Emma! The White Swan is 100 times better than

everyone says it is. It is so nice to go down the street and have no

one staring at you like you have 3 heads! Everyone is used to seeing

the babies with Caucasion parents, so they think it's great! Our

flight from Guangzhou to Beijing, was fine, but getting there

wasn't. For some reason we were put on a different flight than the

rest of our group. I was a little unhappy about that, but the flight

we were supposed to take was just 20 minutes after the other one.

Our flight was supposed to take off at 8:55 but it didn't take off

till nearly 10:30. I was not happy about this at all, because we

needed to check in at the hotel at 12, have lunch and the medical

exam was at 2:00. We landed at exactley 12:59, at the new Guangzhou

airport which is wonderful, and our luggage was the first off the

plane. Because our flight was delayed, we were expecting our

facilitator in Guangzhou to not be there, since the other families

had arrived about 1-2 hours before us.. BUT they were there!! We

went straight from the airport to get Emma's vise photo, then to the

medical exam. She passed with flying colors and was the only baby

not screaming! We met the other half of our group there.. (the

couples that went to Kunming.) Their babies are all beautiful, but

very malnourished and some have had attachment issues. Except

for the little boy, he is a cutie... and such a chunk! Once we

got to the hotel... it was all worth it what we had been through the

past few hours!!e waterfall in the lobby is so calming and all of

the babies are adorable!! We met 2 couples that were leaving that

day and they shared their experience with us. Their babies were from

ChongQing. We had some lunch/dinner, since we were in such a rush to

get to the medical exam, we hadn't eaten yet. Later that night we

ate at the Cow & Bridge (is this what it's called).. the Thai

restaraunt. We didn't eat because we had already eaten earlier.

Medical Exam Room in Guangzhou..

Yep, her heart is beating!

measuring her head...

View of our Executive Suite at the White Swan. There was a living room area with a couch, wetbar and half bath and then a bedroom and full bath, which you can see below:

Gorgeous Bathroom!!!

Huge shower & bathtub! We could even listen to music while enjoying a nice hot shower...

View from our hotel room. This is looking to the left.....

      And this is looking to the right.

(Notice the swimming pool on the roof?)

Lobby of the White Swan.. a beautiful waterfall..

Gorgeous Huh???

Not too happy about the dress!

Tomorrow -->

Home

Claudio got a kick out of the medical exam! It was very very basic, and was just to make sure Emma was healthy enough to go to the USA. The doctor above did an exam on her and found nothing wrong! She was weighed also, and was 20.4 pounds.. fully clothed too! When another doctor tested her temperature, she just put her hand up to Emma's forehead and then on to hers!