Hello; Sorry we couldn't post for a few days, we were rushing around from place to place and couldn't get to a computer, so we'll try to catch up. Let's see..on our last night, we all met as usual in a large dining room, where we had the place to ourselves. Glenn had put a beautiful "love ball" as a centerpiece in the table. We had a gift and a tip to give Glenn and we all told him how much he had meant to us, and what a great guide he had been. He said we were one of the most memorable groups he had ever had. Our friend, Peeps, had a hidden talent that she shared with us, she could do ventriloquism! She got Zacchary on her knee first, then Bob, then Jimmy, and then Glenn. She made them "sing" funny songs and there were a lot of laughs as everyone tried to be the "dummy".I videotaped it too. The next morning, April 16th, we had to leave so after dinner we all headed to our rooms to pack, most of us had our doors open and everyone was trying to give each other things to lighten up the suitcases, and were also tyrying to drink the last of the wine they had bought.We were all laughing and deciding what we could ditch out of our stuff. Things like a jar of peanut butter, paperbacks, other American snacks and some miscellaneous toiletries,just didn't make the cut. There was a lot of discussion about the weight limits of the bags and trying to convert from the metric system on the scales in our rooms.
We had to get all our bags packed and locked, meet the group for breakfast, and get to the airport for a 10:20 flight to Guangzhou. We were all a bit sad to leave Nanning. It was a beautiful, clean and friendly city and we were really getting comfortable there with our little group. At the airport we had to say goodbye to Glenn and get ready for taking our babies out of their Province for the first time. They all behaved, Laina slept like a log and we arrived a couple hours later. As we entered the airport, another plane was also unloading with some of the other families from our extended group. We all started laughing and crying and meeting each others' babies and then the babies started up, so soon everyone was crying and hugging, it was unbelievable! We managed to all the luggage and everone on board the 2 buses and headed for the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou. The White Swan is located on Shamian Island, a 44-acre area of old mansions built by trading companies from Britain, The U.S., France, Holland, Italy, Germany, Portugal and Japan. It was initially set up as an enclave for foreign merchants. These buildings have since turned into Government buildings, churches, and hotels and loads of little shops, galleries, and eateries.In the center of the island runs a long park with courtyards and playgrounds and landscaped grounds to stroll. The afternoon we arrived, we had to check in all the families and get all the luggage brought to the rooms, etc., the lobby was a complete madhouse! We had about 1/2 hour to get "settled in" and meet back downstairs. We walked a few blocks to the office where we had the visa photos taken for the babys' immigrant visas, and then walked to another building for their medical check-ups. The clinic was quite clean and well organized. There were 3 stations to go through, the first one was getting the height, weight, length and also the baby's temperature. The second was the eyes, ears, and throat place where they basically played a toy keyboard and made sure that the baby responded and followed things with her eyes, etc. We started at that station and Laina absolutely HATED the ear probe gizmo, and she started screaming bloody murder and never stopped until all the checkups were done. The third station was basically a body look-over. Although she was ornery, Laina passed and calmed down as soon as we left. After we got back, Jimmy took Laina and went along woth some other daddies to the pool. Nancy had to go to the "white-out"party, where we have to fill out multiple forms and applications for the baby's visas. That took 2 1/2 hours, and we all definitely used the white-out a few times! For supper we were given a pizza for our room and sleep came pretty early.
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