Last day in China!

School children - Love those uniforms! We'll talk with Mr. Maine about implementing them into PRMS.

The "red couch" photo. Julianne is in back row in blue! These are all of the children who were adopted on this trip within our travel group.

The Souths (minus 2)

Today we went to the American Consulate office to do our swearing in oath. It's official!! In the afternoon while shopping, we heard children singing nearby. Down the block was a kindergarten-type school with all of the kids singing (shouting) songs. The even had dance moves (you know, the kind from grade-school recitals). Several kids hammed it up for the camera when they saw Mrs. South filming video. I think Pleasant Run should do these songs at recess or break. We'll get Ms. Letteri on it.

It's with bitter sweetness that we say goodbye to China. We absolutely CANNOT wait to get home and begin the next chapter of our lives as a family of five but we are also sad to leave. China is not only the birthplace of Julianne, but it is also a country we have grown to enjoy (staying at 5 star hotels and having our needs catered to helps). It is a beautiful, complex, crowded place full of activity everywhere you turn. The people have been nothing but kind, curious, and especially helpful to us. The Chinese are a proud people yet some have gone out of their way to take care of us. We hope we will be able to bring our children back here in 10-15 years or so!

We experienced countless emotions throughout. We met some wonderful friends with whom we will stay in touch and ate some food that mostly agreed with us.

Tomorrow, we leave the hotel at 6:4o am, fly to Beijing then take our next flight from there to Chicago. From Chicago, we finally arrive at CVG late Wednesday night. All in all, we will be traveling for around 30+ hours. It will be exhausting but since we can't click our heals three times and say "there's no place like home", this is the only way. Can't wait to see my girls (well, and you all, too)!!

Guangzhou's Beauty

On the streets of Guangzhou

Quite a change from Lanzhou's desert-like terrain. Guangzhou is very humid and wet.

Buddhist temple

The past, present and future.
We received a blessing from a Buddhist monk.

Ok, there is no Rumpke but they do have the Pearl River. Tons of garbage float in this river and this guy's job is their "garbage man".

Guangzhou is in southern China - think Florida - however, this week it is rainy and chilly. Quite a change from Lanzhou which was dry and temps similar to Cincinnati. Guangzhou certainly receives maritme tropical weather since it is typically warm and very humid.

Parts of the city, we believe,were settled by the British just like Hong Kong about 100 years ago. It is evident by the European buildings and layout. If you have ever been to Charleston, S.C. then you would see that they look very similar.

We went to a Buddhist temple today and learned about the life of a Buddhist monk: no meat or worms (seriously), ......I think I got distracted at this point in the tour since I forgot the rest. Your teacher can fill you in on the rest...right???

We receive Julianne's visa tomorrow and take our oath to be good parents. Paperwork - Paperwork - Paperwork!!

The Amazing Race!

WOW! What a day!

Our last day in Lanzhou was bitter-sweet. This was indeed the place where we received Julianne and it was her "hometown" but we were ready to move on. We bid "Avior" to the wonderful French couple Xavier and Arielle with their little Max (Julianne's friend from the orphanage) as they head back to Paris. They were absolutely WONDERFUL to spend time with! We'll miss them!

We ate at KFC for a quick bite. Luckily they had a picture menu to use so we pointed to the pictures and soon had chicken sandwiches, mashed potatoes and fries. As always, the Chinese put their own twist in things. I took a bite of the chicken sandwich only to discover little bits of peas and carrots hiding in the patty! They put veggies in my chicken!

On the way out of town to the airport, we left the BIG city behind and headed toward the dry, desolate mountain region of the Gansu province. All along the expressway, there were workers dressed in orange wearing dust masks using homemade brooms to SWEEP THE DIRT OFF OF THE HIGHWAY!? Every 200 meters or so, there was another one, sweeping dirt. Uh, yeah...

We got to the airport, said goodbye to our guide, and found our gate. Help for us has taken many different forms for us along our way and this time our help took the form of an 83 year old former college mechanics professor from the local university. He was a delight to talk to and he helped us while we waited for our plane (delayed 1 1/2 hours!).

Once we were on our way we encountered a strange and comical series of events. Our plane landed in Xia'an (home of the terra cotta soldiers) and we were told some people would get off and others would get on. We waited in our seats while people filed off only to be told we TOO needed to be rushed off the plane by the attendants so they could clean it. We were now confused. Outside it was cold and damp, we were hurried to an awaiting sardine can of a shuttle bus, the lady there asked for our boarding passes. Where were they? Mrs. South and the baby got on the bus (as did everyone else) I ran back on board to look in our carry-on bags. Nothing! Panicking, I ran back to the bus with no pass, we sped on to the terminal, and we're both freaking out about our lost passes. Without those, we don't get back onto the plane! I knew I didn't throw then away! Were they still on the plane in the other bag? Would I be let back on to go check? No one here speaks English! Where are we anyway? Who do we call? My phone has no bars! Last place we looked, we FOUND them! The bus stops ready to unload to mass of humanity off of the shuttle into the terminal. There is no "women and children first" policy here, oh no. We frantically ask the one English speaking worker there please tell us what is going on!! Take this ticket, stand here and get on this shuttle quickly when they call you. When they call us IN CHINESE you mean? Not three minutes later, someone screams over a bullhorn for the passengers of flight 9554 to get back on the bus and head to the plane to board again. Are you kidding? We just got here! Clutching the newly found boarding passes for dear life, I squeezed near Mrs. South who was clinging onto a cold and tired Ting Ting. We re-boarded the plane, and sat down trying to process what just happened.

Our flight ended up being delayed two hours once we landed in Guangzhou, our final destination. We got off the plane, found our luggage (thankfully) and began to sweat in the hot, muggy airport. Now, if only we knew where our guide was. Looked left, looked right, and again, and again, no one there to greet us. Great...

15 minutes pass. Frustration had set in HOURS ago. Mrs. South went the Starbucks in the airport, (this city is more Western than Lanzhou) and began to use the free Internet to Skype our contact person to find out who is supposed to meet us. I stay put. Good thing too because here comes a woman identifying herself as someone from our agency here to take us to the hotel. We must have just missed her.

We get taken to the hotel (5 star hotel - Lah dee dah) with a SPECTACULAR lobby with fountains, marble stairs, the works. We get to our room, open the door and it smell like a musty basement. Of course it does! It's now midnight, we left Lanzhou at 1:00 and were supposed to be on a 3 hour flight. Hey, we're here, all is good. Well, we never have to repeat this day again.

On our own today!

After 7 pm, the streets come to life with street vendors.

These students were be let out of school at 6 pm!

A typical side street

An exercise park - believe it or not, this was very crowded and especially the elderly were doing exercises


Mr. South trying Gansu Province's famous beef noodles - oh, so good!

We ventured out about town without our guide (she was preparing Julianne's passport paperwork) knowing we'd be in for some very interesting experiences. Sure enough. More stares from the majority of people on the street (there's tons) and from passers-by on bikes and buses. We tried to go to a park we THOUGHT we saw on the way into town. Trying to get directions of course was a problem. Found out, it was an exercise park for the elderly.

Hungry, we tried or hand at a local restaurant. Again, ideas get lost in translation. A couple of customers helped as best they could. We ended up getting two HUGE bowls of beef noodle soup (OUTSTANDING!) as well as two coupons for our next meal free!

After naps, we went to dinner. This time the "Chinese-Western" restaurant. We were probably the first Westerners they had in a long time. We had two steak dinners with a lot of extras all for 86 yuan (about $12). CHEAP!!

Now for the top 10 differences between China and USA:

1) China is not a law-suit happy country like America -

No child seats in cars, we simply held onto Julianne in the back seat.

There are countless situations where a person could seriously injure themselves or even get killed. In the states, we have signs warning us of danger, handrails everywhere, safety codes, safety seats, safety agencies (OSHA), safety patrols, we even have a list of what kinds of hand sanitizer teachers are allowed to use in the classroom. This is all in response to the fact that someone can sue the pants off of someone else for negligence. If you spill hot coffee on yourself, it's not your fault, the restaurant NEGLECTED to tell you it was hot. It's their fault. Sue 'em!

In China, NONE of that. If you fall off of the steps that are 15 feet off of the ground, too bad. Get hit by a car, you didn't have the right of way. Break your leg by tripping in the huge pot hole in the sidewalk, so sad.

We saw worker entering the sewer through a man-hole cover in the street. No barriers, no warning signs, cars zooming overhead of the open hole. Watch your head, dude!

2) No parking meters - cars park in areas on the sidewalk - for free. You just have to watch out for them as you walk along.

3) Sidewalks are in various degrees of disrepair. Half of our attention had to be on where we put our foot each step of the way. Gaping holes, uneven steps, drop offs, you name it.

4) The larger the vehicle, the more right-of-way they have. Buses top the list, pedestrians are at the bottom.

5) Tipping is not expected or required at restaurants. Two times we tried to leave a tip and both times the person ran after us with the tip in hand returning it to us. We even insisted they keep it.

6) If you gotta go, go. Seriously. They do have public squatty potties but they cost money, and Oh the stench. Several times we saw (kids mainly) relieving themselves in public. Watch out for wet spots on the sidewalks.

7) Women as well as men will often walk arm-in-arm with each other. It's quite common and is a sign of friendship.

8) The elderly are highly respected. No nursing homes here for the most part. A son will care for his aging parents by having them move in with him. This is one reason why boys used to be favored over girls n China. In the States, we often ship our parents to the Home once they become a "burden".

9) Most stores have tons of staff working there but very few actual customers. I don't know how they pay their employees' wages.

10) I can't find a Mountain Dew to save my life! The only soft drinks here in Lanzhou, a city of several million people, are Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, bottled water, and a various kinds of bottle tea. Literally that is it. Tons of small vendors selling drinks, but each carries the SAME kinds.

In closing, the people in China are some of the friendliest people on the planet. They will do anything to make sure you are happy and satisfied. They are very curious and want to learn as much as possible about the American culture.

Julianne receives her passport tomorrow and we are then off on a plane to Guangzhou to meet the American Consulate.

You never know what you'll see...

Tuesday afternoon, middle of the busy shopping area, perfect location for your wedding photos, don't you think?

The menu board from the dumpling restaurant. Again, thank goodness for the English speaking woman who came to our rescue!

Surrounded by Muslim on-lookers running to get their picture with us. They were very interested to hear we were Americans (may-gwoh-ren).

These men were using a blow torch to burn the hair off of a pig before they cooked it.

Museums and pizza

Let me just say, thank goodness Julianne is a great sleeper! She's been sleeping soundly 10 hours straight every night! Now for ourselves, not so much. Every sound she makes at night makes our parental "spider sense" tingle and we wake up to check out the situation. She of course is fine, and we try to get back to sleep. I myself am doing great on just four hours a night.

Today we went to the museum in Lanzhou. Our guides told us about the history of many of the pieces of pottery and copper items. The upper floor was devoted to dinosaurs. Many fossilized remains have been discovered in sections of China so dinosaurs hold a particular interest over here.

Our next stop was the Water Wheel Park along the Yellow River, the second longest river in China (the longest being the Yangtze). Once again people surrounded us in curiosity and to have their pictures taken with us. This was a predominantly Muslim area so many of the men wore white caps and the women wore scarves around their heads. The pizza place was the favorite eatery of our guide. Even though it's pizza, it's still the Chinese take on pizza. Many combinations of pizza just didn't make to mouth water (prawn anyone?) when looking over the menu (printed on English as well). We did order "the hot one" and it was quite good!

Tomorrow is a free day with no guide. She will be busy taking care of the proper paper work to process Julianne's passport for our departure out of the country.

One last thing...How's this for a school day? The local children (who all wear uniforms, BTW) go to school at 8:00 am. and stop at about noon. At this time, they go home, eat lunch, TAKE A NAP, then return to school at 2:00. The rest of the school day then lasts until about 4:00. They have two major breaks in the year, summer (when it's too hot) and winter (when its too cold - but also for some important national and religious holidays).

Seeing the sites!

"Hey, you there, come closer...do you have any "finger food"?"

"Hey look, Angelina Jolie, with one of her adopted babies! Where's Brad Pitt? Wait, I thought he had more hair than that. And I didn't realize he was so short."

Today we traveled to the Five Springs Park. I had in mind a place like Winton Woods or Miami Whitewater, you know, trees, hiking paths, etc. Uh...no. Set right up against the Five Spring Mountains, this park is where thousands of residents go to to relax (mostly the elderly). You can see various groups performing Tia Chi exercises, playing table tennis, badminton, using Chinese yo-yos, on so on. What made this park extremely unique was that several Buddhist temples and Taoist Temples are here. Monks live here and pray daily, these temples host many religious holidays and feasts.
Also within the park is the Lanzhou Zoo. Picture animals that are in need of bathing, inside concrete cages with simple fencing separating YOU from THEM. You can literally stick your finger through the puma or leopard's fence and hope they don't mistake it for an afternoon snack. Feel free to feed them french fries or anything else you have, the "no feeding the animals" policy isn't enforced.
At the park, as well as walking around later downtown, we felt like rock stars. They don't see many Westerners in these parts and couple that with us carrying around a Chinese baby drew the attention of nearly everyone. Chinese don't stare to be rude, they are simply very curious. On many occasions we were surrounded by onlookers and had to have our guide explain why the baby's hair was black and Mrs. South's hair was blond. Is the father Chinese? they would ask. (Well, yes, her father probably was Chinese).
For lunch we tried a local favorite restaurant known for its beef noodles. DE-LISH! For dinner, we ventured out and found a dumpling place. Lucky for us, one of the customers took pity on us and helped us order some food. Her English was limited but MORE than adequate enough to make sure we knew what we were about to eat. We must have looked completely foolish trying to use chopsticks. We managed though. The dumplings ended up being quite yummy.
There is SO much more to include about today but not enough time.
We included some pictures of some examples of how difficult it is sometimes to translate Chinese into English and still get the same meaning across. It can be amusing at times.
Tomorrow, off to the Lanzhou museum, one of the top five in China.