15 August 2007
Travel Day 15 — Zoo Trip and Consulate Swearing Ceremony in Guangzhou
Posted by BaBa under: Travel .
Our day began with another wonderful breakfast at the White Swan. We will know that many will miss it while it is closed in December for renovations. It will be closed about one year.
We then met Grace and a small group for a tour of the zoo in Guangzhou. We thought that it was best to go on all of the outings that were offered. We did pass on the trip to the pearl market by cab. We are going shopping with Ann tomorrow and figured that it would be redundant to go yesterday with the group. We arrived at the zoo and had a leisurely stroll around the park as a group. We talked with each other and it was nice pleasant outing. We did see some interesting things – children were allowed in with the monkeys. Has anyone heard of HIV and how it is spread? It is easy to see that we could export a few lawyers here as they would have plenty of work. It just seemed bizarre to us.
We also saw a father coax his young son to jump the rail and go up to the cage to give ice cream to a large monkey or baboon (I could not remember which as I was aghast at the risk). We saw the hippo’s laundry. Who is wearing those panties? Is it the hippo (seems too small) or the hippo’s keeper? It was just a strange sight and good photo. I got one good shot of the bamboo framing a guard. It was hot, but not as hot as we had been told. We had rain many afternoons while here in Guangzhou.
We went back to the hotel and rested for a short time. I downloaded pictures while the other two napped. It was soon time to meet the group and ride the bus to the consulate. This is the day we had been building up to. Once at the consulate, we would receive his visa and the infamous brown envelope to give to immigration when we returned. The contents of this envelope would allow him to become a citizen when he cleared immigration in LA. Whoohoo! No cameras or photos are allowed. This is a little disappointing. We all wore US Flag t-shirts from Old Navy for the occasion.
It was finally our time to swear that information provided was correct to the best of our knowledge and a few other appropriate promises and it was done. Sheridan did well, but was a little distracted by all of the people and the need to stay close to MaMa and BaBa. He likes to toddle off on his own to explore. I did end up playing with him in the lobby picking him up and twirling him. He loved, but my shoulder was sore for the next day. A small price to pay for his enjoyment.
The anti-climax came later that night working on the shopping list for tomorrow, but first takeout from Lucy’s and playtime. Before the shopping list, Ms. Belinda came over with Mary Audrey and the two of them played hard. This was their last night together and they will miss each other. We will certainly miss seeing Ms. Belinda and Mary Audrey. We wished them a safe trip back to Orlando. Ms. Belinda left us the bathtub crayons because she wanted us to take photos with greetings for those back home. I had to edit one shot by moving the shower curtain over (electronically) to cover up our little guy. No indecent photos were going to be posted here.
Interesting photo — Who is living with the hippo?
Another example of Chinese English
More Photos for our day —
Mary Audrey and Sheridan last play date (for a while). They played dance to music and jump. Warning: These pictures are TOO CUTE!
Sheridan is writing notes home from the bathtub — Thanks Belinda for the Erasable Chalk. These photos are PG due to good cropping and a well placed shower curtain. He has finally decided bathing does not require screaming. Yet another small step for Sheridan. It is hard to believe how far he has come in 10 days.
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