Medical Exam Day

Today, our first day in Guangzhou, was the medical exam. It's something we have been skirting around with Leah because she seems to be really afraid of shots. Since she is older and doesn't have a record of previous shots, she will need a lot of them. She was great through the whole thing, as always, no complaining at all. Jon and I, however, were a different story. The medical exam place is usually busy, but today it seemed especially crazy. Since China adoptions are way down, I don't know how to explain that. Maybe Chinese New Year created a travel glut that is just now catching up. At any rate, it took quite some time to clear all the stations. Our guide in Guangzhou neglected to tell us to bring the record book of her shots with us. Our guide in Chongqing neglected to tell us if there was one. Since our Chongqing guide never mentioned it, we assumed we didn't have one. Leah confirmed that she had never had shots at the orphanage. She will need 4-6 shots and since she is so afraid of shots, we felt we needed to at least try to spare her some. When we got back to the room we went through everything, but didn't find any record of shots. Today she got only the TB shot (and that was bad enough), so Monday is the day she will really have to face the needle.

Being on the Island was nice and nostalgic for us. It also confirmed our suspicions that it was the better fit for Leah. Lots of things that would interest an almost 14 year old girl--the constant bridal photo shoots, the Chinese silk dresses, the statues, the calmness...It just plain felt better to be there. At one point, Leah started pointing to one of the shops and yelling to us. There was a woman that was in full Chinese silk dress garb. Leah loved that. She dragged us over there, dragged the woman out of her shop, and made us take a picture of them together. She completely lit up at that woman. We have found one thing that our girl really likes--Chinese silk dresses.

It was a little sad to see the White Swan closed, though. The lobby and restaurants were still there, the red couch was still there, but the rooms were all closed. We plan on a longer visit there on Monday to do more shopping, walk around a little, visit Lucy's, and get Leah some silk dresses!

It was later in the afternoon when we got back. Leah was starving and we really haven't had any time to scope out places to go to eat. There is a McDonalds next door, but Leah didn't seem to recognize it when we showed it to her. So we had our guide ask her about McDonalds and hamburgers. She didn't know McDonalds, but she was really excited to try a hamburger. The hamburger didn't go over big, but the chicken did. At least McDonalds is open to us now. That was about the best burger and coke that Jon and I have ever had!

Now we are chilling out in the hotel room. Spider Man is playing on HBO and surprisingly Leah has already seen it. It seems like most of the movies we brought for her like Mulan and KungFu Panda she has already seen...how is that?