Tuesday, October 22, 2002

The White Swan is famous in the Chinese adoption world, since nearly everyone who adopts stays here at the end of their journey. The White Swan is very near the U.S. Consulate, so it is a convenient place to stay to do the U.S. side (and final bit) of the adoption paperwork.
The White Swan is beautiful. We felt like we were in heaven! There were fountains, ponds with koi, huge bird cages, and lush plants. The room for the breakfast buffet overlooks the Pearl River. There is even a playroom for the children, which was donated and stocked with toys by Mattel.

It was much more crowded in the White Swan than our hotel in HangZhou, however. The number of babies is amazing!

At 10:00, our CCAI group took the children for their physicals. The physicals are not in-depth. The doctors just weigh and measure the girls, listen to their hearts, and test their eyesight and hearing. Nevertheless, I found the physical very stressful. The doctors kept trying to make Malia laugh by squeezing these LOUD squeaky toys in her ears---but instead, she just started crying. It was so loud and chaotic in the clinic, I almost started crying!



Afterwards, Kevin and I took a walk in a beautiful park in GuangZhou. The White Swan is actually located on Shamin Island, so it is a world apart from the rest of GuangZhou. There is little traffic, which made walking very pleasant. After the traffic of HangZhou, this was a welcome change.

Also, the buildings were very different. The British influence from the 1800s could definitely be seen. (GuangZhou used to be called Canton.)

In the evening, the CCAI group went to the Hard Rock Cafe in GuangZhou. Evie volunteered to babysit Malia for the evening, and Kevin and I took her up on it! Evie needed some Malia-time, and I knew Malia would have a better time staying with Evie than confined in a restaurant. Kevin and I felt like we were on a date!