We spent almost a week in Guangzhou before flying back to USA. We got there Friday night late, had our medical appointment on Saturday morning, went to Shamian Island on Sunday (blog post here), and Chen Clan Academy on Monday.
On Tuesday, August 4th, we found out Mei Mei had a negative tuberculosis test (US immigration requirement), which of course was good news. Also on Tuesday we had our U.S. consulate appointment, which was pretty easy and painless. There was a group of other adoptive families too, and we each had a quick interview at the window, and as a group we were given instructions on entering U.S. (basically Do Not Open Brown Envelope). We had to swear the information given was all correct, that's pretty much all I remember.
We met the Hendersonian Crew at the consulate, which was really neat, as we had had many of the same dates along our adoption process, and had corresponded via emails and blog comments.
Wednesday and Thursday were free days for us, and we had planned to do shopping and sight seeing on Shamian Island, but unfortunately we had to stay close to our hotel bathroom. Mr A and I both had to start antibiotics for stomach issues. Not fun ever, especially not fun in a foreign country, while taking care your newly adopted toddler.
Near our hotel China Marriott was a huge park, and on Wednesday there were few hours we felt well enough to explore the park. We even rented a paddle boat, which was totally crazy, as it was so hot we were soaked from just sitting and walking. Mr A and Little Miss had quite a workout from paddling us around the lake!
We had had such an amazing time in China. Definitely had felt everyone's prayers, and had seen some clear miracles. We missed the rest of the family, but really enjoyed our China adventures. But after getting sick we were ready to get back to United States.
Our departure was very early on Friday morning, so on Thursday we packed our bags, and asked for prayers. By Thursday night our stomachs had mostly settled, but the thought of traveling such a long way with a toddler was scary, especially when still feeling weak. We had a short flight to Beijing, and a short layover there. Our last day we found out we would need to pick up our luggage in Beijing and get tickets for our flight to Boston there, and recheck the luggage. All within two hours.
(Little did we know the long flight was a walk in the
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