Good Bye, Nanning

Yesterday we left Nanning and headed for Guangzhou. 

Guangzhou is where the American Consulate is so all American families who are adopting spend the last part of their trip there.  This time around, because of that huge Expo in Nanning (they got all the adopting families out before it officially begins on Friday), we are spending 9 days in Guangzhou.  This is actually quite a long time, but we are looking forward to it.  Guangzhou is a lot more modern than Nanning and offers a lot more places to visit since it caters to American tourists and business travelers. 

Yue Lan was excited to leave, too.  She asked our guide, Cindy, if she was going to America now:)  She was a bit disappointed to learn it was not time yet.  She also told Cindy that she is excited to go to America because right now she is a Chinese girl, but soon she will be an American girl!  How cute is that?

We spent our last few hours in Nanning shopping for pearls - Guangxi is famous for it's ocean pearls.  Supposedly, ocean pearls are better quality than fresh water pearls.  They are rounder and have better colors. 

They all kind  of looked the same to me...guess I am a disappointment to (Chinese) women everywhere.  Oh well...

Any way, Yue Lan had a great time at the Pearl shop.  The sales women were offering her EVERYTHING!  We couldn't understand them, but it's quite obvious when a salesperson is trying to get your kid to ask Mama and Baba to buy them things!  Luckily, Yue Lan handled it like a pro and was happy for the things we did buy and didn't get upset when we told her "no" to other things.  Whew!

Could not get a picture that did not have a glare...Sorry!

Lady selling eggs outside the Pearl Shop.  It reminded me of a book we have at home by Jan Brett called "Daisy Comes Home". 

After shopping we went to lunch with Cindy who wanted to take us to a restaurant that served local specialties like lemon duck (it took me forever to figure out what she was saying...I thought she was saying "lemon dark" which I took for a type of cooking technique!).  The food was really good and I am happy to report I have now learned to hold my chopsticks near the top so that I look more Chinese like.  And poor Eric has had to learn to use chopsticks this trip.  He's getting better everyday!

The Lemon Duck is the dish in the silver pot.  It was quite good, but a bit hard to eat - you had to eat around bones which is hard when you are doing it with chopsticks!

Being the 12 year old boy at heart we all know he is, Eric quickly found the duck feet in the pot and made this beautiful centerpiece for us to enjoy for the duration of our meal!

It was a long day.  And Hannah was sick. 

She bravely made it through shopping for pearls - she even perked up enough to pick out some things for herself.  But, lunch was not so good for her.  At one point she made me go to the bathroom because she was sure she was going to throw up.  We spent about 15 minutes crammed in a squatty potty stall together with her leaning over the hole.  I kept praying she wouldn't pass out and land face first in that thing!

Happily, she did not.  She did however, end up puking in the taxi cab on the way back from the restaurant.  In a paper shopping bag from the pearl shop.  And it leaked.  All over her and me.  We had to stop on the side of the freeway to get rid of the evidence and clean her up as best as possible with baby wipes.  Yue Lan, who had wanted to sit by Hannah earlier, avoided her like the plague after that!  

The good news is we still had our suitcases so once we returned to the hotel where they were being kept for us, we were able to change and clean up better in the bathroom.  Eric went with Cindy to pick out some medicines for Hannah to help calm her stomach.  Chinese medicines are quite different and we had to trust Cindy that she knew what to get.  Seemed to work out fine - even though Hannah hated the taste!

Then, it was finally time to go to the airport where Hannah finally made her dream come true and got to vomit in a squatty potty.  At least I wasn't crammed in there with her this time!  After that, we boarded the plane, grabed every puke bag we could find for her and headed for Guangzhou!

I am happy to report that she did not get sick on the plane.

And Yue Lan had a great time flying for her first time.  She was super excited!!! 

So, now we are in Guangzhou, on Shamian Island staying at the Victory Hotel (the White Swan is closed for renovations).  Hannah is on the mend and all is well.