Tuesday - Paperwork done!!!

We started the day on Tuesday earlier than we had for the past week.  We had to get up and going early because we had to leave for the US consulate at 7:30.  We wanted to be dressed nicely and have breakfast done before we left.  This is the last step in the process and where Magnus gets his visa to be able to enter the US.  Dana had him dressed for the occasion!

As you would imagine, the US Consulate is very busy.  We found out that the US Consulate in Guangzhou is the only one authorized in the country to issue visas to enter the US.  Therefore, any Chinese citizen wanting to travel to the United States, must go through that Consulate.  Needless to say, it was extremely busy. When we got there we saw a line of approximately 700-1000 people. Uh oh!  The good news is that was the line for the Chinese citizens trying to get a visa.  The adoption line was much shorter. There were about 10 families that had the 8:30 consulate appointment like we did.  We were all ushered into the building and took a number.  Juliette went over to the soda machine and pushed a button and a drink came out. She was convinced that she had magic powers.  The bad news is that the magic powers were short lived because the next time she pushed no more came out!  After about 60 minutes we were called up to a window to give some paperwork to the lady.  She then told us to go back to our seat. After another 45 minutes, we were called to a different window and were "interviewed".  It really wasn't much of an interview.  He asked about 3 questions about Magnus and then asked for fingerprints.  He then said congratulations and we were done.  That was the last step in the process.  We have to stay in Guangzhou for at least 48 hours to make sure everything makes it way through the computer system.  On Wednesday, we will receive Magnus' passport back with the visa to enter the US. And the second our plane touches down in Dallas, our Mags will be a US citizen!!

After the consulate appointment, we wanted to reward the girls for being so good during the process.  There was not much to do and they stayed very calm and helped keep Magnus busy.  So when we got back to the hotel they got to go to the bakery in the lobby and pick out whatever they wanted.  Here is what they chose.

After spending a little bit of time in the room, at 1:00 we met our guide and group for an outing.  The first stop was the pearl/jewelry market.  Every man's dream!  Actually, I was OK with going because apparently the prices are insanely low and it is real jewelry.  I definitely didn't have the place pictured appropriately.  As it turns out, it was actually an entire mall with multiple floors of jewelry.  Shop after shop of nothing but jewelry.  It was quite overwhelming. Our guide took us straight to a particular shop that she knew would negotiate and give good prices.  The group spent about 45 minutes in the shop and all who were interested purchased something.  The group agreed that we didn't need to wander the whole mall and that we would move onto the next stop and spend the majority of our time. 

The next stop of was the international toy market.  Once again, not what I pictured.  Imagine a mall with somewhere between 1800-2000 stores.  Now shrink each store down to the size of a walk-in closet; put those walk-in closets right next to each other; then stack them on 7 stories; connect them with a 5 foot wide hallway; and then pack in about 10,000 people.  Bingo!  That is what it was like.  The place was crazy.  Our guide took us to a place on the first floor and then said meet back there in 2 hours.  Um, OK.  Dana and I looked at each other, took a deep breath, and headed into the madness.  We had a few things on our list that we wanted to get.  The problem was that there was no rhyme or reason to the stores.  Some were toys, some were candles, some were rocks, some were only cell phone accessories, etc..  We wandered for a while going in and out of a few.  The toys were pretty cool because many are toys that have not yet come to market or may never come to market.  Our guide said that suppliers will sell off their boxes of samples or "test the waters" to see if they want to mass produce items. 

We meandered for awhile and bought some stuff. The girls each got a toy.  Anya got a little purse/bag set for her dolls, Juliette got a dinosaur bubble maker, Eliza got a floating-drone Minion, and Magnus got...lots of stuff.  Finally, the two hours were up right when my nerves were at a tipping point.  I'm not claustrophobic, but I do struggle with crowds in cramped places.  We escaped with all of our children and a few bags worth of goods that were probably 20% the cost they would be in the US. The coolest thing was finding a store named "Anya".  It just had some containers and things.  I think it was kind of a miniature Ikea. 

We headed back to the hotel and the girls played in the play room for a bit with their friends from TX that we were with in Nanchang. Dana stayed in our suite with Magnus because the play room gets loud and overwhelming. When we came back, this is what we found-looks like things got crazy!

We're in the home stretch now.  Only a few days left before we get to head for home.  We are still enjoying our time here in China and taking in every experience we possibly can.  The sights, sounds, and smells of this place are really something to experience.  Not really picking up on any Chinese though.  It is such a hard language to learn.  I told Dana I think the biggest reason we are not learning any is because the signs are all in either Chinese characters or English.  If the signs used Chinese words, but used alpha letters, we would probably pick up more.  The one we have mastered is Shuangbaotai (that means twins).  Everyone we come into contact with wants to try to say something about the girls and we point to Eliza and Juliette and say Schwang-Bow-Tie.  They always smile and then think we know other Chinese and start going on and on. 


Visa'd Duff Family of Six!