Thoughts and observations from Guangzhou

** Adoption countdown: 4 days until Pam, Terry and Matthew return home **

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

GUANGZHOU, China (Sunday, Dec. 14, 2008, 11:15 a.m.) – This is one huge city.

And Pam, Matthew and I are about to go explore the town on our own, hoping to begin shopping for Christmas gifts before we head back to the States on Thursday.

We also will need a new suitcase. A small shop across from the hotel is selling a nice sized Polo suitcase for the equivalent of about $14, so I think we’ll probably head over there.

Until we return, I thought I’d share a few observations about Matthew, Guangzhou and China in general.

Matthew: He’s nothing but energy as he runs around our room at the White Swan Hotel. He continues to adjust well, sleeping through the entire night without waking. And he continues to eat well, devouring a full bowl of oatmeal at breakfast.

Christmas decorations: Most businesses here decorate for Christmas just like they did in Beijing and Zhengzhou. Some include elaborate decorations, some are simple like the accompanying photo with this post. All of the displays we have seen focus on Santa and have no religious reference.

Amazing Hands: Amy Pu, founder of Amazing Hands, the foster home in Beijing that cared for Matthew, wrote us a nice e-mail. It’s obvious that Amy and others at Amazing Hands dd a wonderful job working with Matthew – and we are incredibly appreciative.

Breakfast: Speaking of breakfast, which is included as part of our daily room rate, the hotel buffet includes the usual assortment of dishes: eggs, bacon, ham, pastries, waffles. A few what we would consider unusual breakfast dishes include fried noodles, steamed dumplings, fried shrimp, meatballs and sushi.

River view: Our hotel is directly on the banks of the Pearl River, which is filled freight traffic. At night, the river is lit by bright neon signs from businesses and restaurants that line the banks.

Language: The Chinese have as many problems with the English language as we do with the Chinese language. The photo I included with this post was at a park near the hotel and is a good example.

Store clerks: I have never seen so many store clerks anywhere as I have in China. Everywhere you go there must be one clerk or salesperson for every shopper. You won’t see that in the United State.

Basketball: Professional basketball is all over the airwaves here in China. In particular, it’s common to see an NBA game, live or tape delayed, on Chinese TV during the day (it corresponds to night games at home).

Copyright 2008 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.

Matthew’s big fat feet meet their match

** Adoption countdown: 5 days until Pam, Terry and Matthew return home **

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

GUANGZHOU, China (Saturday, Dec. 13, 2008, 10 p.m.) – Of all toys we bought Matthew, he found several makeshift ones he prefers: An empty cookie tin he likes to bang and throw on the floor and my size 11 tennis shows.

In fact, Matthew spent much of Saturday night trying to wear my shoes and then walk across the floor. He succeeded a couple of times, only to tip over and fall to the floor.

So he did the next most logical thing: Pick up both shoes, move them to the carpet and try there. At least if he fell over, it would be on a soft carpet rather than the cold, hard floor.

Oh, I almost forgot. Matthew has twice walked over the basket of fruit the hotel delivers to our room every day, grabs a large, fresh orange and throws it to the floor.

Well, this helps us realize that Matthew already feels at ease and has quickly adjusted to life with his new parents – hopefully making his transition easier to home life in Mississippi.

Virus scan alert: My computer is OK. I guess my e-mail program just malfunctioned. As I said, I never much cared for Thunderbird and have been looking for an excuse to ditch it.

Copyright 2008 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.

Yikes! What happened to all of my e-mail?

** Adoption countdown: 5 days until Pam, Terry and Matthew return home **

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

GUANGZHOU, China (Saturday, Dec. 13, 2008, 9:10 p.m.) – I left the White Swan Hotel with Matthew for part of Saturday afternoon while Pam felt ill, returned a couple of hours later, walked into our room, logged on to my computer and found all of my e-mail vanished.

Gone. Kaput. Nowhere to be found. Or, at least, I don’t know where to actually look on my computer for the vanished files. I guess I’ll just have to wait until Pam and I get home next week before I can find someone to help me who is more knowledgeable about computers.

Since then, I am running a full system scan with McAfee. I’m not sure if I have a virus or what, but I’m about t find out at the end of the scan.

Meanwhile, I think I’m taking this pretty darn good. Actually, it gives me an excuse to shift my e-mail program from Thunderbird, which I had been using, to Microsoft Outlook, which is part of the Office 2007 suite I recently bought.

Father-son time

Matthew and I spent some father-son time together much of Saturday, walking around Shaiman Island and dining at Lucy’s – a not-good American-style restaurant that features terrible fried chicken and OK french fries.

Matthew refused to sit in a high chair and wouldn’t sit in the stroller. That meant one thing: I had to juggle Matthew in my lap while I tried to eat dinner, feed him and let him drink bottled water directly from the bottle.

Sunday is a free day for us, so Pam, Matthew and I likely will go Christmas shopping in Guangzhou. We also need to buy an inexpensive suitcase, one of those giant Polo bags they sell around here for the equivalent of $15 or less.

There is no Wal-Mart SuperCenter in Guangzhou, so it looks like Pam and I will have to settle for shopping at Lotus SuperCenter or Carrefour – both of which have stores in town.

We also hope to find a local shopping area where we can land some good deals on jewelry and other items that might make good gifts.

Or, if I’m in the mood to have some fun with relatives, I could buy them a gift certificate to a major department store in Guangzhou.

Either way, Pam and I need to get busy. We are a little more than a week away from Christmas and we haven’t done much shopping. At this rate, I might as well wait for the after-Christmas sales to start my shopping.

By the way: The photo I placed with this blog entry has absolutely nothing to do with this post. Zero. Nada. I just thought it was a nice photo I snapped from the lobby of the White Swan where we are staying through Thursday.

Copyright 2008 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.

View photo gallery from Saturday with Matthew

** Adoption countdown: 5 days until Pam, Terry and Matthew return home **

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

GUANGZHOU, China (Saturday, Dec. 13, 2008, 5 p.m.) – With a traumatic visit to the doctor for his required medical exam, Matthew had a particularly taxing day in Guangzhou.

We started with a visit to a photo studio down the street from the hotel for Matthew’s U.S. visa photo, walked to the medical clinic and stopped by Starbucks.

By then, Matthew was exhausted. He fell asleep in the stroller and stayed that way for at least an hour. And then, it was like he had a new set of batteries – he was wired and energetic.

But I guess he’s simply being a boy.

At the bottom of this blog post, you’ll find the latest photo gallery from our adventures in Guangzhou. I have more photos and may place another gallery up later today.

Enjoy.

Copyright 2008 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.

DIRECTIONS: Click photo to enlarge. Toggle photo captions with button in left-hand corner of photo gallery slide show.

Physical exam proves traumatic for Matthew

** Adoption countdown: 5 days until Pam, Terry and Matthew return home **

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

GUANGZHOU, China (Saturday, Dec. 13, 2008, 3:45 p.m.) – When the Chinese doctor stripped him almost naked this afternoon, Matthew let it out: A piercingly loud, blood curdling, ticked-at-the-world scream strong enough to make a point.

He felt violated. He felt upset. He felt … well, he just didn’t like it. But it was a necessary step before we take Matthew home; he needed a physical exam in order to get his U.S. entry visa.

The day began with breakfast at the White Swan Hotel restaurant, where Matthew dined on oatmeal and crackers. I ate French toast and a slice of bacon, while Pam ate French toast and soda crackers.

Then, at about 10:30 a.m., I placed Matthew in a stroller we borrowed from the Holt International Children’s Services Guangzhou office and joined another adopting family for the walk to a nearby medical clinic.

Pam stayed behind in the room.

Matthew and I walked about five minutes to the clinic. There, doctors weighed him, checked his throat and ears, checked his heart and checked his feet, including his clubbed right foot.

Then they asked him to walk.

Once we received a good bill of health, we headed back toward the hotel with one side trip for me: A stop at the Starbucks so I could get a grande coffee frappucino, double-blended, of course.

The Starbucks is a new location in Guangzhou; the last time we were here in April 2006, folks told us the city have several hundred Starbucks locations. This is, after all, a city of 7.6 million people.

Matthew and I also stopped briefly to admire the several couples staging their professional wedding pictures. I’ve never so many beautiful brides in my life.

On the way back, Matthew fell fast asleep in the stroller.

Copyright 2008 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.