We arrived at our gate with just 30 min. to spare, only to discover that we had been delayed by an hour. It worked out well though because now, we could rest, eat if we wanted, and try to stop sweating. So.much.sweat. The kids actually played together on the floor and I think it melted all of our hearts to see this transformation!
As the time came to board, Josiah was very tired. I held him in my arms and sang The Itsy Bitsy Spider to him on repeat as we slowly found our seats. Eric and I were ticketed with middle seats opposite the main aisle. This was frustrating and I could feel myself getting emotional. Unfortunately, our agency arranged these tickets and it was not in our control. I am a nervous flyer and here I was with our brand new baby (I know he's 16 mos old...but he's still my baby, ha!) and I couldn't even sit by my husband. As loads and loads of people continued boarding, a man sat to the right of me and blocked me in. Eric then called out to me and said a girl on the window seat (beside him) spoke a little English and asked if she could switch spots with me so we could sit together. I couldn't help but cry at her generosity! I was so, so grateful.
Josiah slept for part of the plane ride and woke up when the food service began. He loves to use utensils. He worked very hard to use my spork to eat parts of a dinner roll. Then he moved onto my noodles. They were pretty spicy so I tried to steer him away...but he wanted them and used a spork to eat them...so I wasn't gonna rain on his parade!
Once we landed and claimed our luggage, it was about a 45 minute drive to our hotel. Guangzhou is VERY different than Kunming. It almost has a Vegas feel to it...lots of neon signs at night. In general, it is much more developed than Kunming. And there is a very small scooter population.
All of our agency's families stay at The Garden Hotel in Guangzhou. We had heard it is the nicest hotel we will ever stay in...but I didn't know exactly what that meant or what to expect...until we pulled up to the front door. These pictures don't even do it justice. It's beautiful. Our room has a very nice living room in it which has been fun to stretch out and play! The room itself is dirtier than I expected though and it smells like mildew...so we'll try to venture out as much as we can.
We woke up early this morning to attend Josiah's medical appointment. This is required for all kiddos before traveling. There were several groups of families with their children at the clinic and it was an amazing sight to see. All of these children are soon coming home!
The appointment had 3 stations: height, weight, & temperature; ENT; and a general examination. This is when the doctor looks at Josiah's medical file and does some standard checks. They don't tell you anything...which is fine. It's just a hoop we have to jump through. Josiah did OK. It was perhaps slightly better than I expected. He was able to calm down when I picked him up after each station. And we were done quickly so we went down to the lobby to spread out and play while we waited for other families to finish.
It has been fun getting to know some new families in our agency's travel group. Some have done this before and some are first-timers like us. We're looking forward to a quiet rest of the day. There's lot to explore here at the hotel! It has a koi fish pond and waterfall and pools and stores and more!
Tomorrow, we will visit a Folk Art Museum and the Liwan Market. We may even try a stroller! Baby wearing is much hotter here! The humidity is like 4,000%. Ha! We're counting down the days until we can fly home. It's hard being away...in a super big city...with different food and smells...and without your other kiddos. We miss them so much! FaceTime has been a life-saver. Until tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment