Last Days in Guangzhou

May 27, 2010 Today we went to the Guangzhou Zoo. We saw many animals. Most were the typical zoo animals. Meigan got to feed the giraffes. They give you big bunches of small branches with many leaves to give the giraffes. She loved it! We (the whole group) were somewhat of an attraction. Many of the Chinese people visiting the zoo looked at us wondering why we had Chinese babies with us. After a few hours at the zoo with a bunch of our group, we had our Consulate appt. We went and took the oath. All we said was that we promise that all the stuff in our paperwork was true. Seems a bit silly, but that’s the rule. We saw our guide from last time, Grace, and got a great picture of her. We ran into her and Maggie (guide from last time) a few times. I don’t believe we ever got a pic of Maggie. We ate at the Cow and Bridge restaurant again that night with some of the people in our group that had not left yet. We were one of 5 families that our consulate appt was a day later. So we had to stay longer in Guangzhou than the other people in our group..

May 28, 2010 Last day in Guangzhou. Feels surreal. Want to leave, but want to stay. Want to soak up more of China. There will never be enough time to get enough China without moving here. Definitely not gonna do that. The food is not as good as home. Even though there are many things that are good. We miss good American cuisine. I could bore you with the things I plan on eating when we get home. I miss the taste.

Anyway, we ate too much breakfast again at the White Swan this morning. Chocolate cake and croissants in the morning is not getting old. Although I might need to lose a few pounds when I get home. We spent the rest of the day shopping and packing. We met up with the rest of our group at Lucy’s for one last dinner together. Before David could start to eat his dinner Abbey started to fuss. We think she is teething. She chewed off a bit of her bottle nipple today. We had bought the bottle because nothing I had brought with me was working. We had bought some cups with straws while in Zhengzhou (that had valves in them) and gave them to our guide, Yisha,. Abbey cannot suck. We have to take the valve out of the sippy cups we brought then she turns them over because she is two and you get the idea on the mess, Can’t wait to find a cup that works. Lara in our group had a great Nuby cup. David took Abbey back to the room to give her some Motrin (generic) and Lucy’s packed up his dinner, including the large beer (which I knew he would be wanting) and we took it to him. Abbey was feeling better and ate her dinner and David got his.

May 29, 2010 We left the White Swan about ten this morning. Jocelyn got us a shuttle to the train station. We had a porter carry our luggage and a White Swan guide at the train station to show us the way. The train ride was very nice, hardly anyone on the train. Abbey was full of herself until she fell asleep. She was giggly and happy most of the trip until she and Meigan fell asleep. Meigan had had a fever two nights before but seemed OK for the last day and a half with no fever. We think she has another sinus infection. But she is OK under the effects of Motrin (generic). We got off the train and as we worked through security, Health Dept. personnel stopped us. Meigan had a high fever. They masked her and we filled out paperwork to promise we would see a doctor when we got home. They were nice but we didn’t know what was going to happen to us. Lesson learned, Motrin before heading through temperature checks.