Day 13- Trial Run at Consulate

*Pics are of Shiyan and Anna, corn on the cob being sold on the curb in Guangzhou, downtown (which the whole city seems to be under renovation in preparation for the Asian games), Sara Beth from ALA (one of her favorite buddies from the orphanage), inside our hotel and Anna strutting around.



We got another morning to sleep in, 6:45- not what I call sleeping in, but these beds are rock hard. There have been some interesting things about the hotels we have stayed in.
1) The double beds here, are like twin beds in America. Very small- we Americans need and require bigger beds. Can't wait to sleep in my comfy KING on Saturday night!
2) Even though we have 3 people in our room, and they KNOW this, we only get 2 wash clothes/2 towels.
3) The towels however, are gigantic, like beach towels
4) In reading about the hotel in the book they provide in the rooms, they always note; THE TAP WATER IS NOT POTABLE. In other words, don't drink the water!!!!
5) We have come accustomed to getting 4 free bottles of bottled water everyday- for brushing our teeth and drinking water. The maids come around in the morning and late evening to restock us.
6) This hotel provides us with complimentary white house shoes (2 pair). Also, at our mini bar is a free selection of various teas(milk tea, jasmine,green, etc) with a portable hot bot which boils water in 30 seconds. And on top of the bar are 5 mini size liqueurs you can purchase. Ours have remained unopened at this point.
7) At breakfast, don't order a coke, or it will cost 30 yuan- $5. However you can go across the street to the 7 Eleven, and get one for less than 50 cents.
8) We visit the 7 Eleven nightly for ice cream- they have the best nutty bars, even in dark chocolate- for less than $1.
9)Our night stand between our beds is like a control panel for the room. You can turn on/off most lights in the room by it,including the TV, as well as play a selection of 3 different music styles (classical, and 2 chinese stations).Pretty nifty, and would love to have one for my own room at home!
10) Some interesting items on the breakfast buffet: Fried Milk, beef balls, chicken nuggets, pizza, fish sticks, whole boiled eggs (which Anna loves!), omelet station, chinese noodles, Hot milk, tater tots, veggie egg rolls, seasonal veggie, and baked beans. Of course multiple breads, pastries, yogurts and juice selections.

We went to a few of the little shops after breakfast, but didn't find much, then we headed out at 2 for the consulate appointment. It was a 45 minute bus ride, and traffic was crazy again- the craziest of all 3 cities we have been in. We sat in a big room, and at 3:30 they started calling the Chinese names of the kids one by one to a counter to come and sign for the visas. All of the names were eventually called in 30 minutes, except ours. So we asked Shiyan, and she told us our appointment was for TOMORROW :(
Anyway, we had a trial run and got to see all of our friends go through, take the oath, and had a 45 minute bus ride back to the hotel. After we came back, I went to Shiyans room to let her interpret a 3 page letter Anna's birth mother had written when she abandoned her. We video taped her translating and I will put it on paper when I get back. It was very moving, and even brought Shiyan to tears. I will post it when I get it all wrote down.
Then off to Lucy's again for some Americanized grub. Mickey with the grilled cheese again, Anna with basil pasta and I had orange chicken.