First airplane ride = nightmare for all concerned, beautiful new city, and Emiy's medical exam!

We spent the last morning in Nanchang at the same park we had been to about 10 times already, but we wanted Emily to have a chance to expend some energy before we had to go to the airport.  She loved walking around and seeing the sights and she met some children who were nice to her.  I don't know whether it is due to her eyesight or just being a toddler, but she is very easily distracted by things at eye-level.  She will stop to examine leaves, flowers, rocks on the ground, specks of dirt, patterns in marble walls or floors, etc...  She doesn't always walk in one direction because she inevitably sees something that catches her attention and she goes in its direction for a closer look. 

 

She was able to sleep about an hour and a half before we had to wake her up for the airport trip.  We were about 2 hours early for our flight and spent those 2 hours walking up and down the airport terminal again and again and again and again.  This girl never wants to stop.  Then, it was time to board the plane.  We had the window and middle seat and I feel for the man in the aisle and for those in front of us.  Emily was NOT HAPPY about being hemmed in or kept still.  She screamed bloody murder for almost the entire flight. The sort of screaming that ends in gurgling at a certain point because there is so much spit involved.  When the flight attendants brought food, she threw rice everywhere.  I later found a dumpling of some sort of non-descript meat in my carry-on bag.  She picked up the carton of puffs, ripped the top off, and threw them like confetti.  She beat on my face and kicked the seat back.  She threw every toy we had on the ground.  The only thing I could find to quiet her was a Dum-Dums sucker.  Then, I realized that instead of sucking or licking it, she was trying to (and successfully did) pull the entire sucker off of the stick to crunch in her mouth.  Terrified that she would choke, I had to pull it out of her mouth by hand and that caused even louder screams (which I didn't think were possible) than she had been doing before.  I only had 2 suckers and she threw the second one on the ground (after the wrapper had been removed).  She was so crazed that I (one who always uses hand sanitizer and who wildly washes the boys' hands), got the sucker off of the dirty plane floor, wiped it with a wipee, put it in my mouth, bit it into small bites, and then fed those bites to her.  Awful - I know!  But, I was at my wits' end.  At one point, the man in front of us yelled at us.  Then, as we landed, the flight attendants made some announcement in Chinese that all of the passengers laughed aloud at and some pointed at us.  I have no idea what was said, but the paranoid part of me thought it was something along the lines of "Thank God we are landing and you can all escape these horrible Americans and their screaming baby!"  I know it's terrible to be on a plane with a screaming toddler nearby, but sometimes the poor parents (in this case - us) can't help what is going on.  We were dealing with a tired girl who doesn't like to be confined and who - in one week - has been handed off to people she doesn't know and who don't speak her language, has been made to sleep in unfamiliar beds and settings, has been put into modes of transportation she has never even imagined, and is being told to "shhh!"  She deserves a little grace and patience.  We waited until the entire plane had "de-planed" and then we got up to leave.  I'm sure the flight attendants were then horrified by the state of our seats.  Oh well.  We'll never see any of these people again!

 

Due to a snafu, our guide was late getting to the airport to meet us, so we had another 90 minutes to kill with Emily in the terminal.  She happily walked all over the place and we finally got to the hotel around 10 p.m.  The Garden Hotel is beautiful.  It's a huge, fancy hotel.  It's much like something in Miami or Las Vegas - minus the casinos.  It has a huge fountain in front, a giant - very gold/ornate - lobby, a piano bar, waterfalls, multiple restaurants and fancy shops and towers.  Our room has an outer suite with a sofa, table, desk, TV, and minibar/fridge.  The bedroom is separate (with a crib for Emily) and there is a bathroom with a window open to the shower/tub (but there is a mechanical shade that comes down for those for whom modesty prevents showering for all to see (like me!!).  Guangzhou (the city) is also very beautiful and modern and glamorous.  The landscaping and green spaces are really incredible.  There are lots of tree-lined streets and beautiful vines overhanging walkways  There is no smog here.  Just lots of hot sun (but less humidity than in Nanchang).  The stores are very modern and clean-looking (vs. tumble-down-esque store fronts with lots of random junk piled around) and the apartments are nice too.  Some pictures taken from our hotel window (since we haven't had too much time yet to explore) are below.

 

This morning (Saturday) was Emily's medical appointment.  We had breakfast at the hotel and met 5 different American families and their newly-adopted children.  SUCH A CHANGE to see so many Americans here who are walking the same path.  We shared stories and tips and let the children "meet" each other.  We even met another family from Atlanta.  I saw several moms whose faces I recognize from Facebook groups.  Emily - as the only child at her orphanage - hasn't been around children in a while, so we have to watch her closely around the other children.  She is one who will need to learn the phrase "soft hands."  She is very interested in the other children, but wants to grab hard or bat at them or scream excitedly near their faces.  Her own big brothers are older and savvy enough to handle this, I think.   Little children just getting used to their families are not necessarily prepared for Hurricane Emily.   The medical exam was fine and she sat pretty still for the (pretty cursory) exam.  Our guide explained that because her special need is very obvious and doesn't require anything medically, there isn't much for the doctors to see/do.  She is almost 32 inches tall and she weighs 25 pounds.  I really wonder if she doesn't weigh more, but that's what the scale showed (although she was holding my hand a little bit and that might have adjusted the poundage down a little).  She is a big girl and other families we've met here in GZ are surprised that she is only 18 months old.  She is physically bigger and chubbier than most of the other children who are being adopted.  We were in/out of the medical exam place in about 30 minutes. There are pictures of Santa Claus on the doors of all of the exam rooms and the floor is made up of tiles of Mickey Mouse and random paws with claws.  I guess mouse feet?  The designer of the exam area must have been thinking that Chinese children who are about to be Americans will somehow be comforted by sights of the heretofore unknown American Santas and Mickeys amidst the stethoscopes and scales?? (see pics below)  We also saw the vending machine-o-wine in the lobby of that building.  I remember seeing it on other people's blogs.  I can see where some families need the vending of wine after a more involved exam than we had.  Justin had to turn to the hotel mini-bar after our plane experience!  As we went to sleep last night, he mumbled "Thank God the (alcoholic) drinks are free on the plane ride home."  When I noted that our flight leaves at 8 a.m. local time and that we can't just drink to oblivion and ignore the baby, all I heard in response was some snoring.  Hmmm...

 

 Dark pictures of the hotel room before we unpacked and made it look junky...

 View of Guangzhou from our hotel window:

 Gold Lobby walls:

 

Daddy corrupting Emily with donuts pre-medical exam...

 And French fries ...

 

Medical exam:

 

 Santa Claus pictures on the exam room doors:

 

And Mickey on the floors...

 

Last morning in Nanchang before the terrible airplane ride...