P.S. We have been standing in the cold outside the airport in Dallas for about 45 minutes waiting for our shuttle to take us to the hotel. That is after an hour of getting through immigration.
Good times!
Friday, January 22, 2016
Flight to STL
We are on scheduled to be on American Airlines flight 96 from Dallas to Stl which arrives at 11:53am.
Quick update
It is 2:30 am China time. We are on the plane from Hong Kong to Dallas. We will be getting in late Friday night and will be flying into STL Saturday morning. Still don't know the exact time, but it will not be too early. Likely around noon or so. We will probably find out when we land in Dallas. Will post again once we know.
Everyone is asleep right now! Keep your fingers crossed that it continues.
Somewhere Over the Pacific Duff Family of Six!
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Wednesday - Shamian Island
After walking through the hotel we went out into the rain and to a couple of shops. We found some really cool things and some silks for Magnus and the girls to wear.
There are a lot of bronze statues around the park. There is one that is a classic for all the adoptive families to take a picture by. It is a line of children with their arms on each other shoulders but with one missing. Here are a few of the pics.
After walking around the park for a while and grabbing some Subway to eat it, we went back to the White Swan Hotel and caught a cab back to our hotel. We hung out in the room for a little while and then went over to the play area to spend a little bit more time and burn some energy.
Then it was time to head to dinner. On our way we saw our guide Sarah. It is kind of amazing actually how she just shows up everywhere. I told Dana that she's kind of like a genie. Anytime we are looking for something or need something I turn around and there Sarah saying "Mike?" It has happened about five or six times in the past week. We really like her and she is very helpful. She had picked up our paperwork from the consulate. We got Magnus's visa and passport back and now we are officially ready to head home.
Everyone had been talking about a place called Oggies. It is a pizza place that was supposed to be really good. We went and enjoyed some pizza and sat next to a family that was from Kentucky that was there for their 2nd adoption.
After dinner it was back home for lights out. This is not how they started sleeping!
FLIGHT DELAY!!!
You have got to be kidding, right?!! Nope, not if you could see our faces...kinda. Still smiling but they're fading a bit! :)
Yes, as we started this trip, we will end it...with a flight delay! And surprisingly it's not because of the massive storm hitting our East Coast. No explanation, just a 7 hour delay out of Hong Kong to Dallas. American Airlines is going to give us another voucher for a hotel so we won't fly into St. Louis until Saturday.
We know many of you were planning on being at the airport when we arrived so I'm sorry if this changes your plans. We don't know what time our Dallas to St. Louis flight will be on Saturday but we will maybe post it and text all who we knew were planning on being there.
This has been quite the worldly ADVENTURE!! We have absolutely loved and cherished our time here but IT'S TIME TO GO HOME!! :) :) :)
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
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!
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!
Monday, January 18, 2016
Monday-Safari in China?
The cost of admission is probably the biggest deterrent to Safari Park (cost the family about $180 US), but it was absolutely worth it. Safari Park is essentially a zoo, but with a lot more interactive features.
The first thing we did when we arrived was to go on the "Safari on Wheels", which is a tram ride through the animal sanctuary. It was similar to the tram that you take through Grants Farm, but way cooler. It is hard to think of an animal we didn't see. Everything from giraffes to white tigers to hippos, to kangaroos...and much more. I didn't get many pics because I was video taping most of it. Here are a few though.
After the 30 min ride (which was probably worth the $180 by itself) we were off to see the rest of the park. Our main goal for the day was to see panda bears. Of course they were tucked away in the back, but we saw much along the way.
First up was an area with baby animals. They were so cute and tiny. It was neat to be so close to them. Next we came to the giraffe feeding area. Everyone got a chance to feed the slobbering, purple tongued giraffes some leaves.
Just had to take a picture of this sign. My favorite is #1, "Warning"!
Next we came across the white tiger sanctuary. This is actually the largest white tiger sanctuary in the world. They have over 200 of them.
Then, on to the koala bear exhibit. The koala bears were mixed in with some wallabys. There had to be at least 30 of them spread throughout the exhibit.
After the koalas we came to an area where you get to feed elephants. Yep, live massive elephants. Again, we bought some leaves to feed them. The girls had to really stretch to get the leaves to the extended trunk of the elephant, but they got the job done.
We watched an impressive elephant show and then headed toward the pandas. The pandas were extremely cute. One sat on its back with its big belly sticking out eating some eucalyptus plant. Looked a little bit like me eating popcorn.
After the pandas our time was up, we had to go meet our driver. We had only been there a little over 3 hours, but we had seen so much. There was definitely a lot of other things to see. They had a monkey exhibit, dinosaur exhibit, and snake/reptile exhibit. Everyone was exhausted and poor Mr. Magnus was starting to get a bit rundown. We met our driver and trudged our way back through the heavy traffic jams back to the hotel.
We took it easy the rest of the day in the hotel room. Well, there was of course a dance party, but other than that it was low-key.
I was able to give Magnus his bottle tonight and rocked him to sleep for the first time. While I wouldn't say it was the easiest of ventures it was a big breakthrough for he and I. We are going to go find a golf course tomorrow morning and play a quick 18 holes. Just kidding, but it's a step closer!
Actually tomorrow we have to go to the US Consulate to get paperwork completed for Magnus' visa. That means we are getting close to coming home, right? Can't wait to see you all again soon!
Safari'd Out Duff Family of Six!
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