Guangzhou Update

Kylie continues to show more of herself as time goes on. We have had a few very piercing screams and lots more laughs...just like any other 14 month old, but so good to see and hear. We are settling into a routine and and now know what many things mean...loud, piercing scream means "I want a bottle...now!" and quiet sitting time with her thumb in her mouth and her blanket in her hand means "I'm ready to sleep now". She also LOVES to bend over backwards as you can see in the photo. She did this so many times on Daddy's lap and kept laughing so hard. We all had a good laugh with her, too!

The past few days in Guangzhou have been a special time for us all, not only to get to know our baby and the rest of the babies, but to see and feel what the Chinese culture in this area of China is like.

We landed in Guangzhou Sunday night and rode about 40 minutes on our bus to The White Swan Hotel. Even though it was night, we could see the vast difference between this city and Beijing. The cities are both immense, but we could tell that Guangzhou is a very industrial/trade city. Every day that we head out for our excursions, we pass immeasurable numbers of small store fronts selling everything from "fasteners" to leather to kitchen sinks. I am guessing that various areas specialize in different things and people who source those products know just where to go to find what they are looking for, but it seems like an overwhelming maze to us. This is a photo from our bus of a street "restaurant"...very simple and sparse.

On our fist full day here we went to a local grocery store to stock up on things we thought we would need for us and our babies. It was a fascinating place with so many products that we had never seen before. Of course we were glad to find some things like "Skippy" peanut butter for Jackson and me, but we also tried a few "safe" looking snacks like lime flavored Pringle-like chips (have since tried the cucumber flavored ones, too...interesting). Paul and Jackson ventured to the side of the store where there were lots of "live things" for sale, but I knew that would not be good for me to see. I did find the giant bins of rice interesting and even saw one older woman taking a handful of the dry rice and feeling its texture and smelling it. Guessing they really know their rice.

I think the most interesting thing about the food markets is that there are aisles and aisles of fruits, dried fruits, fruit-flavored snacks, fruit-flavored teas, and lots of veggie flavored things, too. So different from us and so healthy. In the airport, the snack shop had mostly dried fruits and veggies for snacks...even things like dried seaweed.

Since we have had our babies, we have done a few interesting trips, too. On the day that Jackson and I stayed at the hotel, Paul took Kylie with the group to be blessed by the Buddhist monks in a special ceremony at the temple. (Picture of them with a monk in the last blog)

Here is Paul's take on the day:

It just so happened that the day that Kylie and I visited the Six Banyan Tree Temple was also an important day in Buddhism. On that particular day, Buddhism practitioners went to their markets and bought live fish. These fish were brought to the temple and given to the Monks. The Monks collect the fish in coolers and when the day is over, release them into the Pearl River. I like to think of this day as 'Lisa Day' in Buddhism ;)

After entering the temple, we headed strait to a large building with three golden Buddhas. The Buddhas represent the past, present, and future. There were many people praying and the air was thick with incense.

As Kylie and I approached the temple to get blessed, a young monk was walking out. He wore a traditional gray outfit and his head was shaven. He walked slowly towards Kylie and I. He seemed to almost be in some peaceful transcendental state. Then he reached in his pocket and whipped out a vibrating cell phone and started chatting away as he walked away. Modern times!

Once in the temple, I took off my shoes and carried Kylie to the front of the temple and kneeled while holding her in my arms. An older Monk approached the alter in front of us and started to chant and bang some sort of instrument. A younger monk mixed up some leaves and oil and sprinkled some on each of the parent and child's heads.

After the ceremony was over, each person was suppose to make a donation, so we did.

The second part of the Buddhist tradition is asking for three wishes. I lit 3 sticks of incense and brought them to the outside of a temple. After making three wishes, I put the incense in sand and let the smoke rise to the heavens. One is never suppose to blow or breathe on the smoke b/c it is an insult and Buddha will cast locusts upon your farm for a decade... just kidding about the locust part! Buddha is a kind Deity.

That night, Jackson was rejuvenated, so we joined our group for a sunset dinner cruise on the Pearl River. It was a beautiful boat with tables for four set with crisp linens. It was very romantic setting and Paul and I talked afterwards about the people we had seen on that looked like they were on "first dates". There were also many Chinese families aboard.

After a buffet dinner, we all headed out to the decks to watch the scenery and light show. As the evening grew dark, the buildings and bridges exploded with neon colored lights. We all joked that it looked like a "mini Vegas". I found the bridges to be really amazing as the colors slowly changed.

Jackson had a fun time exploring the different lookout decks and we even found some ice cream on board for him!

The next day we headed out early for a trip to the zoo. As we entered the front gate, Paul and I immediately noticed the signs for "Ocean World" ...a separate part of the zoo, but definitely the first direction Jackson wanted to go in. We arrived inside just as a water show was beginning. It was definitely smaller than the Beijing show, but in this show they had sea lions, dolphins and beluga whales...we've never seen them in a show. They were beautiful!

After the show, we headed into the inside aquarium (so thankful for some AC...the temperature must have been over 100 already and we were all drenched in sweat!). The Chinese know how to do aquariums...again it was amazing with lots of interesting fish in beautiful big tanks. Jackson's favorite again was the shark tank!

After that, we had to run to see the pandas as our group was to meet shortly for lunch. It was SO hot and we were a bit miserable, so a quick peak through the zoo was fine with us. While waiting for the group, I was just hanging out in a small spot of shade with Kylie watching so many different "scenes" of people. One old woman looking for bottles/cans in the garbage came near us, smiled, and gave us a "thumbs up". We have heard that older people will do this when they see Caucasians with Chinese babies as they feel the babies will have "good fortune" with us.

In the beginning of our trip, I was a bit fearful of how the Chinese people would be towards us with their babies, but people have been so kind and look so happy when they see us. At one lunch with the group in a private room in a restaurant, the waitresses all held and played with our babies (and Jackson!) so we could eat. The babies all seemed fine with it, too.

Yesterday we opted out of the trip to a park and tea house as we were in need of a slow morning. In the afternoon, I met with our group and Vanessa for a couple hours to complete more forms for passports, physicals, and visas. She called this our "white-out" party as all the forms had to be done in a specific way. So glad that is over! We are getting near the end of our journey.

This morning we headed out to see a bit of the countryside with hopes of catching a glimpse of someones house. It was an incredible trip, but I will have to write about that tomorrow as it is getting late and Paul wants to get some photos on this.

On a side note...at the Guangzhou airport we saw numerous Olympic billboards by the website that had taken Jackson's picture in Beijing. We didn't see his picture on the site, but at least we know it is legitimate!
Kylie stood up and opened this drawer by herself...uh-oh!!