We couldn’t have our appointment until Kiera’s passport
arrived, which was yesterday. We also
had to wait for the kids’ TB results to come back, which also happened
yesterday. Thankfully those were negative or we wouldn’t have been going
anywhere until the tuberculosis was successfully treated.
We met our guide at 9:00 a.m. for our 10:00 a.m.
appointment. (The consulate takes 12 appointments each at 8:30 a.m. and 10:00
a.m. Monday through Thursday.) We had to go through security and weren’t
allowed to take cell phone or cameras in with us. Based on my recollections of others’ accounts
of the consulate appointment, I had in my mind that we couldn’t take anything
in with us besides our passports and adoption paperwork. So we entered with no water or snacks for the
kids, and more importantly, no change of clothes for Kiera. To put it lightly, Kiera has been
experiencing digestive troubles. We thought this was the result of introducing
new foods to her diet, but after multiple days (and multiple changes of clothes
– so thankful for our room with a washer and dryer!) it occurred to us that she
was actually sick. Another family at our
hotel gave us antibiotics after I posted a plea on Facebook, but Kiera was only
two doses into her treatment when we showed up at the consulate. We did make it through the appointment
without incident, but just barely.
For all that leads up to this appointment, it’s very
anti-climatic. A consular official
called all the families together and as he sat behind bullet-proof/bomb-proof
glass and talked into a microphone, we listened to a spiel about issuing visas
for our kids and the paperwork we’ll need to hand to immigration officials when
we pass through customs in the U.S. He
talked for awhile, but I can highlight the key points in two sentences. 1. Don’t
open the brown envelope we will be given along with the kids’ visas or very,
very bad things will happen. 2. The oath were about to take was not a
citizenship oath, but simply swearing that all the information we stated in the
visas applications is true.
After promising that we understood not to open the brown
envelope, we sat down and waited some more.
When our number was called, we met with another consular official who
verified our passports and paperwork.
The only glitch we encountered is that our fingerprints had
expired. If you recall from a previous
rant on this blog, our fingerprints “expired” on February 4. Since we’re returning on February 12, Chris
and I requested a new fingerprint appointment and had our “biometrics” retaken
at the end of December. Our new approval
had not arrived by the time we left in late January, but I was told they’d be
able to look it up in the system. The
official we met with said she’d continue to process our paperwork, but that she
would still need to confirm with the USCIS the status of our fingerprints
because she could not in fact look up the information in the system. As we waited to meet with the last consular
official, I was seriously starting to panic. We had gotten this far and what if
“expired” fingerprints were going to delay our departure home? Thankfully, before I had a full-blown panic
attack, the second consular official called us up and delivered the news that
they’d confirmed our updated fingerprints.
We were approved!
Most families make it through the consulate appointment in a
half an hour, but it took us an extra hour. Our guide was waiting for us outside the
consulate, along with an American photographer we met on Facebook. Shannon’s husband works for the consulate and
they just moved to Guangzhou. She happened to connect with an adoptive mom who
Facebook who suggested families might want to have professional pictures taken
after their consulate appointment. I predict she’s going to make a lucrative
business for herself.
We walked over to her apartment building, which has an
outdoor area on the sixth floor and gorgeous views of Guangzhou. There was even a small playground up there
and after hanging around inside the consulate for two hours with little to do, Kiera
and Matteo loved running around. Shannon
took some pictures of the kids playing and a few of us as a family. Kiera signaled the end of the photo shoot
when her digestive troubles came calling again.
We made it through the consulate appointment, but my new concern is now
making it through our flight.
Because Kiera was sick, after nap we stayed close to the
hotel. I was honestly too tired to
venture any farther with the kids as it was.
The excitement of being in a new city has worn off and the days have
frankly gotten mundane. We eat breakfast
at our hotel, do something with the kids in the morning, come back to the hotel
and make a quick lunch (things we can make with boiling water, like noodles or
oatmeal), the kids take a nap, we sit around the hotel room and then we kill
time before dinner. Once the kids go to
bed, it’s more hanging around the hotel room.
To break up our pre-dinner routine, we visited the
playground located by the pool on the fourth floor of our hotel. Of course we only find out about this on our
last night of a week-and-a-half stay. I
ran out and got us noodles for dinner and we ate by the playground. As excited as I am to get home, I will miss
eating dinner outside in February.
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