Today we left for the U.S. Consulate early in the morning at 7:40am. It's about a 20 min. bus ride from the hotel and it's to apply for the visa in person. Since our appointment was so early in the morning, we left the girls at the hotel with Erica.
The Consulate does not allow any phones or cameras inside the building, so...sorry, there is only one picture on the outside of the building.
The consulate building is both modern looking and imposing. Buses are not allowed to park in front of the Consulate so our bus parked a block away and we walked in. The front of the building was crowded with Chinese, maybe all who wanted travel visas into the U.S.
Once inside, we went to an area specifically designated for adoptive families. This consulate issues over 2,500 adoptive visas per year to American families. We took a little oath saying that everything we wrote on the visa application was true and then one by one, the families were called to the window where we paid fees and did more paperwork.
It was a relatively fast procedure and we were back in the hotel about 2.5 hours later. Tomorrow, our guides will pick up the visas on our behalf and deliver them to the hotel for us.
After lunch and after naps, Elvin took Xiao Yu and Karina to the hotel playground. Here is Xiao Yu crawling through a tube on the playground. This is good because when we first got Xiao Yu, the first day, we did not see him crawl at all. We are not sure if he was not able to crawl (maybe his foster parents never put him on the floor to play) or if he was too shell shocked to show off any of his skills to us.
Karina was a good big sister and showed Xiao Yu around the garden.
Later Gabriel joined us and we went into the indoor play room. Here, unfortunately the two boys clashed quite a bit. Xiao Yu is not accustomed to sharing and Gabriel isn't the best at it either. So Elvin had to intervene quite a bit to prevent Xiao Yu from hitting or biting Gabriel. By the end of the hour in the playroom, Xiao Yu was quite frustrated and at his wit's end. This has been a hard transition for him...finding out about the boundaries in our family that may be different than his foster home.
Later on in the afternoon, Emily and Elvin were packing bags while the kids played around in the hotel room. The hotel room is very non-child proof which makes packing a little hard. Xiao Yu likes climbing onto chairs. You might notice in the picture that the electrical outlets are covered with blue painter's tape that we brought along with us to keep curious fingers out.
Xiao Yu used the phone (or what we know as a remote control).
And Karina, who asked to be allowed to chew bubble gum, somehow ended up getting gum in her hair. Mommy spent about 30 min. washing it out. We packed until dinner time.
After dinner, we went to McDonald's for ice cream as what is turning out to be our nightly ritual. Gabriel pointed to the ice cream he wanted..."pink ice cream with a green cone." Yes, the red bean paste one.
And we would appreciate your prayers as Emily has come down with a cold--sore throat and runny nose. We hope that she will be able to ride on the airplane with no problem with her ears and that the kids wouldn't catch the cold, at least until we are back at home!
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