I can hardly believe that we have had our precious little Olivia for one week!! Part of me feels like we've had her forever, but part of me feels like just yesterday when we were in Changsha on the van ride over to get her. I was a nervous wreck. We've come a L-O-N-G way in just week; I can't imagine what the future holds. She is THE BEST! She pretty much goes with the flow; she's pretty easy-going; she does a great job playing by herself; she is almost always happy; and she is definitely coming out of her shell. We still don't have many Chinese words, but a few are popping out here and there. She is beginning to understand what we're saying to her, and for the most part, she responds when we call her name, "Olivia." We hardly use "Yu Yu" anymore. She will also come when you say, "Come on, Olivia." She hums when we walk down the hall together and even appeared to be singing a little song this morning on the way to breakfast. I can't wait for you all to meet her.
We had a free morning, so we took our time at breakfast and then played in the hotel outdoor play area. Olivia enjoyed learning to slide.
Crazy hair!
Yesterday (Monday) was a day that I had been looking forward to. You see, for as long as we've been in this process, I've been reading blogs and blogs of people who had walked through this journey. One, to stay connected and hopeful that ONE DAY we'd be the ones to walk these streets, too. Two, to glean any and all helpful hints from the BTDT (been there done that) parents. While following these blogs throughout the years, one thing was common: everyone stayed at the White Swan Hotel on Shamian Island. I've seen a gazillion photos of a particular statue, adopted kids on a red couch at the White Swan Hotel, heard about Jenny's Place, and Lucy's Restaurant. I was so excited to finally get to go….after all these years.
One reason why they stayed at the White Swan was because the American Consulate was very nearby, within walking distance. The White Swan actually closed for renovations back in 2010-2011. (For my hotel friends, you know that it doesn't take 3-4 years to renovate a hotel, so I don't know what's really going on.) Since then, most adoptive families have been staying at the Garden Hotel, which is where we are now. On top of that, the American Consulate moved to the "newer" part of Guangzhou a few months ago, which is closer to the Garden Hotel rather than the White Swan.
Unfortunately, due to the White Swan closing, a lot of the little businesses on the island have had to close. There were a few still open, so we got a little taste of what it was like back then, but nothing like it was before….especially in the "hay day" of international adoption. Yesterday, we were the only Westerners on the island; I tried to imagine it full of American families adopting Chinese children. Something kind of neat that we learned while we were here is that an American family paid for the famous red couch from the White Swan to be shipped to them in the US. We are going to try and research to see where it ended up.
Shamian Island is beautiful with a New Orleans (Neo-Classical French Architecture) look and feel to it. There is a lot of green space, and it is surrounded by water (hence the island name). While we were there, a group of school children, dressed in their PE uniforms, was outside for recess. They were jumping rope, playing badminton, and playing with what they called a yo-yo (not the same yo-yo as ours). Adorable and great to see that in person.
This is the exterior of the White Swan. You can kind of see scaffolding on the left.
This is the statue that I've seen all these years.
It brought tears to my eyes to finally get to put our little one up there as well.
This statue reminded us a little of Nashville:
Shamian Island is a very popular place for wedding portraits. We saw no less than 10 brides & grooms getting their photos made. Weddings in China are paid for by the groom and last for hours and hours. The brides wear white during the day and typically change into red for the evening banquet. (Red is a traditional color in China that represents good luck.)
We found a Subway on the island for Ansley to have a "meat sandwich."
She was very happy about that.
Ansley is enjoying getting to know some of the other children on the trip. This little boy is 7 years old and is being adopted by a family in the Philadelphia area. He is precious and loved seeing bubbles for the first time. He was a big hit with the other kids. It is so cute to see all of the children interacting, even though they all don't speak the same language.
Olivia is actually clinging a little to me more the past couple of days.
These are some of the little shops that are still open on the island.
While we were on Shamian Island, we received word that all of the children passed their TB tests….yay! That is great news for all of us.
After Shamian Island, we came back to the hotel to freshen up for the Pearl River Dinner Cruise. It wasn't exactly the General Jackson, but it was still fun. They charge for children based on their height. Fortunately, Ansley is on the short-side, so she was free. They served a dinner buffet. You should see the Chinese people go after a buffet! Olivia ate more than any of us. She really enjoyed the noodles and rice. After the dinner buffet, we went outside to enjoy the lights, and then we saw a short show. It was a Chinese lady that did some tricks with a parasol, ball, and some straw-looking hoola-hoop things. Guangzhou has some amazing lights at night. The weather was perfect for a cruise. It wasn't too hot, and it wasn't too cold. Unfortunately, during the dinner, Ansley began to not feel well. By the time the night was over, she had a pretty high fever. So, we didn't get to enjoy the cruise as much as I had anticipated. As soon as we got back to the hotel, we gave her Tylenol and put her to bed. Fortunately, she woke up feeling much better this morning.
We met another "miracle family" on the cruise. They have 17 children: 8 biological and 9 adopted. They got 2 children on this trip, so they've been here for 3 weeks now because the children are from 2 different provinces. They live in Kansas and are simply amazing. Most of their adopted children have special needs of some sort, and they home school. I tell ya, these stories really get to me.
Well, I believe that covers yesterday. It was another amazing day. The girls are doing well together, and we really couldn't ask for things to be any better. It has been a great 2 weeks, but we are ready to come home. We'll see you all in just a couple of days!
Take care,
Jill
1 comment:
Oh what a glorious day for your family!
The picture of Olivia and the statue made me cry.
God bless you and I am praying for a safe and easy journey,
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