What a Day!

It's now 10 pm on Saturday night. I'm a little behind with the updates. . . wouldn't you know--move to a new hotel and find new internet problems! We have to pay for it here, which irritates me to no end, especially since it wouldn't work at first! But, not wanting to disappoint my loyal readers, I pressed on, and here we are. By the way, it has been such an encouragement to read comments. Some from people I didn't even know were aware of our trip! Thanks so much for the encouragement and advice.

I think I left off with the bell tower last time. That was Thursday. We visited both the drum and bell towers in the center of Xian. Beautiful ancient buildings that used to be used for telling time and warnings. Jesse and Ethan got to ring the gigantic bell, and then we watched a concert of traditional Chinese instruments inside the tower. It was very cool! Tabitha is one energetic little girl. She definitely kept us on our toes, keeping up with her desire to run constantly! Ethan has been a big help with the little ones, and very well-behaved this whole trip. Jesse was feeling much better by then, and acting much better too! He's so funny--when we told him we were going to get dumplings for dinner, his response was, "Dumplings will be disgusting. I want mice." It's not like he stops to think up something funny--he just says these things off the top of his head! Well, we decided to try the 2nd floor of the dumpling restaurant where we had gone before. Each floor gets fancier and more expensive, but it was still an excellent bargain compared to eating out in the States. We didn't have a translator with us, and we weren't sure how the system worked on that floor. It was totally different than the 1st floor, where you could just point to what you wanted. The waitress did her best to explain, but after ordering we still weren't entirely sure what was about to happen. It turned out to be a phenomenal dining experience! Next time, we'll need to make sure not to eat for a few days leading up to it. There was so much food! We ordered for 4 people, since there were 4 adults. But even with the 3 kids, we still could've had half as much food. It started with 4 dishes--some tuna thing which was gross, lotus vegetable which was OK, sugar snap peas--excellent, and peanuts--very excellent! While we were eating that, the dumplings started arriving. It turns out we get 4 each of 14 types of dumplings, and one big bowl of the "regular" dumplings we'd had on the 1st floor. They were all different, in appearance and taste. And some of them were even shaped like whatever they were stuffed with! The one made with lotus was shaped like a lotus flower; the one with duck meat inside was shaped to look like a duck; they were amazing and (most of them) tasted very good! After that the waitress brought soup. She lit a fire under a little pot of soup and made mini-dumpling soup. She said that depending on how many "baby dumplings" you got in your bowl, you'd have a different future. We all got two, which means double happiness. Tabitha ate about as much as Heath; Ethan and Jesse nibbled here and there. I guess they're not big on being adventurous with their eating. But the rest of us were all stuffed and had to roll out the door, after the watermelon of course. They end almost every meal with a plate of watermelon and sometimes other fruit with it. It was definitely the best meal we've had here (and maybe anywhere else!)

Friday was our last day in Xian. We went to see the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Before the discovery of the Terra Cotta Warriors, this had been Xian's most famous landmark. It's an ancient Buddhist place, and we learned a lot about the history of a Buddhist monk (can't remember his name). The day before, Jesse had wanted to be carried every where, but this time he took off running up the 7 flights of stairs in the pagoda. He made it to the 6th floor without complaining! Sightseeing is exhausting, but I'm glad we've been able to see so many things that we might not ever get to see again. After going back to the hotel to pack and check out, we went to the Xian City Wall. We went up on top and walked around for about 45 minutes. The wall is huge! I don't know how long it is, but it was about 40 feet across. It even had a moat around it to keep the bad guys out. The kids all got their energy out up there. Ethan and Jesse were racing each other and Mommom and Amy. Heath and I were racing Tabitha, but not on purpose. She just loves to run! I don't know where she gets so much energy, but I guess that's why her appetite is so big! Without my saying anything, Amy and Mom had decided to not let Tabitha go to them as much, so she was stuck with us. :) It was nice to have her all to ourselves, but it sure makes it more tiring! :) She was having such a great time though--she just laughs like crazy when she's having fun. Still haven't heard her talk more than a couple words, but she does love to laugh. After the wall, we had to wait for Janet for awhile, because there had been a delay with getting Tabitha's passport. But she finally got it, and we were off to the airport.

Ethan was a huge help. He pushed Tabitha's stroller while the rest of us hauled luggage. We all made it onto the plane, and even had some empty seats to spread out a little. The kids all slept most of the way there, and I kept nodding off too. I felt really bad for a mom in front of us. Her baby boy was sleeping on her lap, and the flight attendant made her put her seat belt on and hold him for descending, which woke him up. They always do that--don't they realize that that is just the time NOT to wake up a baby? He was grabbing his ears and cried the whole rest of the way. Poor little thing. Fortunately, our little ones stayed asleep. We had to go down stairs and onto a bus at the airport--that was an adventure. 4 adults, 4 carry-ons, 1 stroller, 1 tired big kid, and 2 sleeping little kids. But we did make it, got our luggage successfully, and met up with our new guide, Helen. She's very sweet. On the way to the hotel, she gave us an overview of the whole week and told us lots of good detailed information about the hotel, which is awesome!

We checked in, threw the kids in bed, and delighted in the COLD room! They must've known Americans were coming, because it was freezing in here. It was a welcome change from Xian, where I guess it was too late in the season for AC, but the cool outside air doesn't come inside, so it's very stuffy. And when you go to the supermarket and ask for a fan, they think you're nuts. Anyway, we're very happy to have the air conditioning. But I did just turn it off a few minutes ago because it was blowing on me and freezing me no matter how much I turned the temperature up and the fan down! Someone mentioned the "out of control AC"--I guess you were right!

This morning we began our day that gave this post its title. Breakfast was delicious--even better than the other hotel. We even got to sit by a waterfall while we ate. There's a 3-story waterfall in the hotel, and a pond full of really big coy. There are several lounges, one with a live string quartet tonight, and everything is beautiful. As we ate, we looked around, and it was probably 50% adoptive families. Everywhere you look there's a non-Chinese couple (usually American), with a Chinese child. We were no longer something to be pointed and stared at, like in Xian. Instead, we were the majority! After breakfast and exploring the hotel a bit, Helen came to our room to help us fill out the visa paperwork. Then we headed out and about. There's a Starbucks, 7-11, Subway, and some others, all within walking distance. The city of Guangzhou has 9 million people, but we're on a little area called Shamian Island that only has about 5,000 residents. And the buildings are all European style, because it used to be a British colony. It doesn't look like the rest of China at all, and everything is very peaceful and calm. I like it, but I do feel a little spoiled, and like we're no longer experiencing the real culture. (But that changes later in the story.)

We got another picture taken for Tabitha's visa or something, and then we went to the clinic. This clinic is for immigration. It was mostly adoptive families. We heard almost all English, and everyone we looked at was American. We met two friends we had only met online (Jen--one was Julie!; Kelly--the other was Lisa (who we met briefly in Xian too), and swapped stories with several other families. Tabitha was weighed, measured, and had her ears checked. We shelled out big piles of yuan because, in addition to the exam fee, she had to get 5 shots, plus the TB test! The poor little thing. Heath held her during the shots. She screamed louder with each one, and the nurse took forever, so it was prolonged. Why couldn't they combine them, or have two nurses do them at the same time so they were over more quickly? Anyway, she did survive, but she was drenched with sweat by the end of it. She sweats a TON all the time, and all the crying made her hair soaked. After that we waited for the doctor. He needed more information than we had. We don't have her complete medical records, but I guess he was finally able to get enough information to write his report. Of course, he had Tabitha lie down on the exam table, and she started screaming again, assuming they were going to hurt her more. Fortunately, Helen was able to tell her no more shots, and that calmed her down a little bit. I'm so thankful for the ladies today who have been able to communicate with her, since we don't have the words to explain anything to her. We finished that ordeal, and Helen went to the pharmacy for us to get more catheter bags. We were told to change the bag today, and then have a doctor change the tube that goes inside her a week from today.

While we were at the clinic, Mom and Amy took the boys to the pool. They said it was beautiful! They had a fun time, and then they all went to Subway for lunch while I put Tabitha down for a nap. Heath brought my lunch back, complete with a DIET Pepsi--not so easy to find here! We had noticed at the clinic that Tabitha's urine had been darker and thicker, and the bag wasn't filling much. After her nap, we put on the new bag, and we kept trying to get her to drink more water, but it didn't seem to help. Nothing was coming into the bag, and it looked like there was a clog in the tube. She was also starting to act uncomfortable, like her bladder was hurting.

By 4:00 we decided we needed to get help. We left the kids with Mom again. They worked on their AWANA verses, "wrote" in their journals, and watched a movie. We took Tabitha downstairs, and exchanged more money to be prepared for a doctor. The assistant manager here speaks English amazingly well, and he was a big help. He sent us to the hotel clinic first, but there was nothing they could do for her there. They said to take her to the hospital. By this time, she was crying, and she wanted to walk because holding her seemed to hurt more, no matter what positions we tried. But soon, she couldn't even walk without pain, so we had to carry her. We were planning to take her to a Western hospital that Kelly R had recommended, but our guide said to meet her at the Children's Hospital, which is very close to here. Not knowing any better, we agreed. The asst manager got us a taxi, and we headed off.

[I just spent a really long time writing a detailed description of our hospital experience. But I decided to just summarize for now, not knowing if I can say all that needs to be said from this location. I'll add the full report after we're back home. It was a very stressful experience, and it ended up that she had her catheter tube replaced. After that everything was fine.]

We came back and put the kids to bed. Tabitha's bag was nice and full, and we're supposed to make her drink almost 2 liters of water a day. It'd have been nice if they told us that in the first place--maybe all this could've been avoided! All 3 went right to sleep. I went down to complain about the internet not working, but I heard live music and got drawn over to the lounge where I listened to a string quartet and drank a $6 diet coke. The music was just what I needed after such a stressful day, so it was worth the money. I got back, and Heath went out for a bit to eat and relax. I called the internet service people, they got it fixed, and now here I am writing. Only took me an hour. :) Now, off to bed, with prayer for a better day tomorrow, and gratitude for a happy ending.