Right after breakfast we took a taxi to Shamian Island, which sits in the middle of the Pearl River. When you’re in a city of over 15 million people, the small and sleepy Shamian Island is an oasis. With the business center of Guangzhou located downtown, and the consulates that used to be here relocated (only Poland’s remains), it's rather quiet, even during the business day. The architecture of the buildings on the island dates back to when the French and English occupied the island in the late 1800s. That combined with the fauna you find in a sub-tropical climate, I can now see why others have said it reminds them of Charleston, S.C. Its cobblestone, tree-lined streets are one of the few places in China I didn’t fear I was going to be run over by a car, so overall, I loved walking around the island and taking in the sights and letting the kids run free.
Besides being a pretty place to walk around, I wanted to see Shamian Island because it holds a place in history for Americans adopting from China. Until 2005, the U.S. consulate was located on Shamian Island and all families stayed at the White Swan Hotel. Even though the consulate relocated and the hotel has been closed for renovations for quite some time now, families still return to Shamian Island with their adopted children. Like families before us, we took pictures of our kids standing by the “Lingering Music” statue. We ducked into the souvenir shops loved by families who buy Chinese silks, squeaky shoes and chops for their children, but just to look since we aren't big souvenir shoppers.
It started to rain around lunchtime, so we walked across to the mainland and caught a taxi back to our hotel. Our go-to lunch has been noodles we picked up from the grocery store down the street from our hotel. When you have kids who nap, you need something quick, and eating at the hotel means they can go down for a nap right after lunch. Matteo, especially, needed one really badly today. He and Kiera did so much walking this morning that we had to force him to stay awake on the cab ride home.
After naps, we met our guide down in the lobby to go apply for Kiera’s passport. Our guide in Anhui had done this on our behalf for Matteo, but Kelly explained that every province is different, so off the entire family went to the passport office. The 20+ families we had seen on Monday at the Civil Affairs office were also there in a large waiting area and I got to chat with those we’ve seen come and go this past week. Let’s just say, it’s easy to spot the adoptive families in the hotel or even in the surrounding neighborhood and it was fun to catch up with them and hear how everyone has been adjusting. We also met another Minnesota family. The dad saw Chris’ Minnesota Twins cap and came up and introduced himself.
For all that waiting around we did, literally all that was required of us for the appointment was one photograph with Kiera. And the poor thing was so confused. First we waited in this room, then up an escalator to wait in another room. Then get up again. Sit down again. Get our picture taken. Get up again and go down the escalator.
For whatever reason, we got Kiera’s adoption certificate after applying for her passport and not yesterday when we finalized her adoption. This is why I’m thankful for our guides. They tell us when and where to be, what to sign, when to smile for a picture and so on and documents and passports seem to show up with who knows what kind of behind-the-scenes work.
No comments:
Post a Comment