Hello Guangzhou..Hello Sunshine

We arrived safely in Guangzhou (pronouned Gong Jo) around 4pm this afternoon and it literally felt like we stepped into a new world. After a week and a half in cold, grey Shiajiazhung, it was like the part in The Wizard of Oz when it turns all Technicolor.

We were pretty nervous about the flight today, given Ms. Aubrey's dislike of seat belts, but the morning started off great. Everyone was up and ready to go, Aubrey was excited about the "Faygee" (airplane) and was in pretty good spirits, goofing around with the other kids at the airport.Once on the plane, she was doing alright sitting next to me until seat belt time. As expected, she threw a fit, enough to bring over a flight attendant with every snack she could grab to try to pacify her. Just when it was looking like it was going to go very, very badly an angel arrived. Becci was seated next to a young woman that spoke some English who offered to help out, so with some seat switching, we got Aubrey in between Becci and our new friend "Apple". This girl was amazing, she talked and played with Aubrey for the entire 2.5 hour flight, soothing her and interperating some of it back to Becci. It made the flight so enjoyable for everyone, including Aubrey. When we landed, she told Apple, "I wasn't even scared". She must have enjoyed it because she has been miming the airplane story ever since we landed. She'll "whoosh" and pretend her hand is a plane.

That left Aaron and I some much needed boy time to play some checkers..(he whooped me fair and square) and to enjoy our airplane lunch of pork balls (try to say that without giggling) and a package of "delicious pickles".

His enthusiam disappeared when he actually tasted the "delicious pickles"

Once we hit the ground, we were immediately met by our awesome new guide, Kelley. She got us to the hotel, which is unbelievable. The White Swan hotel:(http://www.sinohotel.com/english/hotelinfo/guangzhou_white_swan_hotel.html)

It's located on an island on the pearl river in one of the most beautiful spots in China. Most of the buildings on the island were built by Western nations more than a hundred years ago as Embassies, etc., so the whole island has the feel of Savannah or New Orleans. There are tons of shops and restaurants, many of which cater to all of the adoptive parents staying at the White Swan. Every international adoption has to pass through Guangzhou to visit the U.S. Consulate, and most stay at the White Swan...so many in fact that it has the nickname the White Stork. We'll be taking lots of photos here. We finally feel like we can relax a bit and actually enjoy this portion of the trip.

For dinner we did the local Thai place..very good, pricier than we got used to in the last city, but everything here is.

That blur headed towards Starbucks is me

After dessert at Starbucks it was back to the room for bath and bed. Tomorrow is Aubreys physical exam and then some shopping. Bye for now.