Day 6 - Medical Exam and Passport Application

Day 6 – Medical Exam and Applying for Passport

First, to finish about yesterday:

Yesterday afternoon (while I was blogging), Sarah took a 3 hour nap. We had to wake her for dinner. We remember this from Aaron – that often children who have lived in orphanages do not regulate sleep as others do. They go to sleep because someone told them to (tired or not) and they wake up when someone says it is time to get up. It is common for them to either stay sleeping for long periods of time or to wake up and just lie in bed waiting for someone to come and tell them it is okay to get up.

We walked down to a new, modern mall about 10 minutes from here. We ate dinner at a fantastic hot pot restaurant. Sarah did great. She ate squid balls, shrimp, noodles, and beef. The only thing she did not like was tofu (She may now officially join the club. Our family score is now 4 people dislike tofu, 1 person likes it – that one person being Rupert.) In that mall is a huge grocery store (we’ve not seen anything like it in Guangzhou before) – quite similar to American grocery stores, and had some American products (at very high prices). We picked up a few Chinese treats for Sarah.

Sarah slept great again last night. We woke her up around 7:30 for breakfast. She woke up quiet and calm (no crying). Once again she was thrilled to put on a pretty dress and have her hair done. She ate another fantastic breakfast.

Today we had the morning to ourselves. We walked around the local area, and did some shopping. We’ve (well, Nicole at least) done so much shopping (especially Chinese dresses for Sarah), we realized we could not go home with our 3 checked pieces of luggage we brought. So partway back to our hotel, I noticed a luggage "store" in an alleyway off the main shopping area and we bought a suitcase for the equivalent of $20. Walking beside Rupert as he carried the suitcase on our 20 minute walk back to our hotel was hysterical. (Forget rolling it, the sidewalks are too uneven.) This got even funnier later in the day when I was telling our guide Richard (Alexa’s husband) how I was buying so many Chinese dresses, etc. for Sarah that we needed to buy another suitcase. He then said that he SAW us walking back to our hotel, with Rupert carrying the suitcase. He was apparently with another family (who is staying at the Garden Hotel and wanted to come to see the Pet Market, etc. in our "Chinese" part of town!) and he saw a blond lady pushing a stroller and a Chinese man and the Chinese man was carrying a suitcase and he wondered if it might be us. YUP. He said it looked like I was laughing at something very funny....yup!

We then spent some time in our hotel, and Rupert got some noodle dishes for lunch. Sarah packed it away in no time. She’s a great eater.

Sarah is showing her personality more today. She’s talking a little bit in Mandarin, being silly, and smiling and laughing a lot. She loves music and dancing. Later this evening she was hysterical. She was laughing, dancing, and being very silly. It is so great to see her personality!

I did have a parenting FAIL moment today…I should have KNOWN better. She’s my 3^rd child for goodness sake. At 12:15 I thought, well she could nap for about an hour before we have to leave for our appointments. For some reason, foolish me thought well at least she’ll have an hour’s worth of napping. WHAT WAS I THINKING? Waking a child from a one hour nap when they really want/need 2-3 is WORSE than no nap at all. She was NOT happy to be woken up. But that quickly changed when she saw her pretty dress, luckily.

Our guide, Richard (Alexa and Richard are married – they work together as guides, so some days we have Alexa, and others we have Richard), picked us up at 1:45 for Sarah’s Medical Exam. All people immigrating to the United States must undergo a medical exam. For Sarah, this includes a TB test. (This frustrates me to no end, because if she were a biological child who had been born abroad to a U.S. Citizen and was arriving in the U.S. with active TB, she would be allowed to enter. But for a child adopted by US Citizens, the US will not allow them to enter with a positive TB test. We have no reason to believe her TB test will be positive, but after following the story of a family a couple of years ago who was stuck in China for WEEKS due to their new daughter’s positive result, it is of course on my mind. Our guide recently had a family stuck here for THREE MONTHS due to a positive TB test!!)

We had a waiver so Sarah did not need any immunizations today. (There was a period of time between our adoption of Aaron and Sarah where the US government would not allow waivers. All children, even with medical conditions, needed to be immunized.) Luckily, waivers are allowed now. We have Sarah’s immunization records. Our pediatrician will run blood titres to check her immunities, and we will immunize only those illnesses she is not immune to already. So, no shots today!

First they checked Sarah’s height and weight. 

Then they checked her ears (who knew immigration to the U.S. was contingent on being able to hear… sarcasm here…). 

Then it was time for a quick (and I mean quick) physical exam. She didn’t even have to remove her clothing (my thinking was she could have a contagious rash and no one would know!). However, as soon as they had her lie down, she started screaming. Luckily it was pretty quick. They had to measure the circumference of her head and she became hysterical. (Keep in mind this was a fabric measuring tape, so not painful at all.) Rupert and I said, “Just wait until the TB test.” What no one had told us was that for the TB test she would be taken away from us. (UGH! Don’t get me started! Absolutely NOT in the best interest of a child who has just had their life turned upside down and has begun to bond with his/her parents!). This is so different from the U.S. where your child can sit on your lap for bloodwork! So, as soon as they took her the screaming started. Down the hall, the entire waiting room of 100+ people waiting could hear Sarah. Luckily we had the custard cake pastry she likes, waiting for her. Suffice to say, we have no photos!

After the Medical Exam, we went to a Chinese police station to apply for Sarah’s Chinese Passport. (She will travel to the U.S. on a Chinese passport, with a U.S. Visa inside.) We saw Wensi again as she is the official we dealt with. We saw two of the other families from Monday. It was interesting to talk to them and see how things are going. One of the families flew on ANA like us, and loved it. After we were done, we headed back to our hotel.

When Richard met us today he said, “Has she stopped crying yet?” I thought he meant because of what Alexa told him how Sarah had been on Monday. That was not the case. He reminded me he went to Bao’an three times to get photos and video of Sarah for us and every time she was screaming and crying. He never once saw her not acting that way. He said everyone said, “She cries a lot.” He was glad to see her not crying, and instead laughing and smiling.

Tonight we walked back to Shamian Island and did some shopping (well, now I have another suitcase to fill up!). We went to dinner at the Cow and Bridge Thai restaurant. It was the same as 3 years ago. Felt like we were JUST there. We met up with another family who is staying on the same floor of our hotel as us. They leave tomorrow (at 5:30 am!). They know this is our 2^nd adoption/trip. They asked us if we had any advice and said they have FOUR flights home. Rupert was very honest and said, “Oh that is NOT good. I would NOT want to be you.” I jokingly suggested EARPLUGS, but then just told them not to worry about it because they will never see the people on the plane again.

Tonight Sarah was SO SILLY. She was trying on some of her clothing and her bathing suit (supposed to be 99 this weekend, and we are GOING IN THE HOTEL POOL!). She kept running out to show Rupert and twirling around. However, she’s not always steady on her feet, so Rupert and I were joking saying, great she’s going to hurt herself during her fashion show (like some runway model who falls down). She took her bath, but did NOT want to go to bed tonight. She kept pointing to her toys. Now if I had just skipped that darn attempt at a nap today she probably would have been fine!

Tomorrow we are planning on taking the subway to the Xiangjiang Safari Park.

Today there was lots of talk about politics. Chinese do not often speak of politics in public, for fear of the consequences. Speaking out against the government can result in losing one’s job, being sent to jail or having your family also sent to jail. However, in private, Chinese people often speak of politics. We heard quite a bit about how huge the gap between rich and poor is in China right now. It is evident for sure. There is no Welfare in China. Those who are poor either are homeless/begging or they work. There is no shortage of jobs in China.  There are not labor unions in China to advocate for workers’ rights. Rules are not enforced. People work 7 days a week, with only 1-3 days off per month. This is against the rules but no one complains because they need the money…

Also we heard about how difficult it is to go to university here. One of the most well known universities in Beijing only accepts maybe 20 students from Guangdong PROVINCE, but from the province Beijing is in, they accept close to 300. It would be like if Harvard only accepted 20 students from a rural, farming state, such as Vermont, but 300 from a major city. Or they accept a certain number from wealthy families and not at all from poor families…

Well enough for now! More tomorrow! One week from today we will be leaving Guangzhou.