1/7/2002 - To Gugangzhou

We left Hefei on 1/7/02 in the evening. We finally finished all the chinese adoption paper work. Everything went very smoothly. Thank to our guides Mr. Ding and Mary. They did wonderful job. On the 6th, we went out to Pizza Hut for a final celebration. We have wonderful parents and kids in our travel group. We have become a family and enjoy each other's company.

Anna's nanny and her orphanage assistant director came to say goodbye to Anna. She just woke up. She first reached Dad and then to Mom but refused to go to her Nanny or the director. She bonded with us so well. It was a good feeling that she wanted us instead of her past.

Although the flight from Hefei to Guangzhou was Anna's first flight, it was uneventful. She did not cry at all. She took a good nap after we took off and woke up 10 minutes before landing. We got to Guangzhou at 9:30pm. The air in Guangzhou was very fresh. The weather was nice. It was 65F at night.

We stay in White Swan hotel in Shaman Island. It is a beautiful 5 star hotel. It is the hotel where Queen Elizabeth and George Bush stayed when they visited Guangzhou. Hahaha, we feel important. Without the kids, we would have had our second honeymoon here. The service and the environment are excellent.s nice. It was 65F at night.

We went out after checking in and had our dinner on the street. We had dumpling, noodles and stir fry vegetables and rice. We miss those simple chinese food. We actually miss "China House" or "Chopstick" of Holland. The Chinese food in China is different. We hardly got rice on a regular meal unless you specially asked for. Sue managed to order those simply dishes for us. They are even not on the menu!

We had Anna's visa photo taken and visited a local clinc to have her physical exam. During the exam, we surprised to run into Sue's parents. They had come to see Anna and visit American Consulate for their visa appointment. We had planned to meet them in the afternoon after Anna's physical. Anna was 23 lbs and 29 inches. She was pronounced as a healthy baby.

We had our visa appointment for Anna on the 9th. There were about 30 families there in one room. An officer called each family to make sure we were there. After that, he asked us to raise our right hands. He said (approximately), do you affirm and swear that all information you provide us is true?. We all said "we do" together. With that we had our Anna officially adopted as an American citizen!! We all cheered on.

There were just too much to do in such little time in Guangzhou. We did some shopping, but mostly window shopping. We wish we could bring everything back, but it just simply impossible to do so. Our luggage is already over weight (because we still have to carry our winter cloth). Berthold and Sue had a chance to go out shopping around while Sue's parents babysitting. Believe or not, we came back empty handed! Too many good things, we often found ourselves don't know what to buy. Sue's parents had good time with the kids. They love Anna very much.