We had mixed emotions about leaving Nanning for Guangzhou. Nanning is a gorgeous city; it is the first place we laid eyes on our daughter, where we witnessed her heartache and the beginning of her healing. I, who will forever be directionally challenged, had explored solo enough to be able to put Lily Belle into the Ergo and just walk on our own. (Sidenote – when walking with a 6’2″ American male, people are more shy about pictures. When walking with just a momma and baby, I noticed an inordinate amount of people taking selfies. Then I realized they were waiting until we walked behind them and snapping the shot. Sneaky.) However, leaving Nanning meant we were one step closer to home, friends, and family.
We enjoyed our last morning in the Marriott breakfast room. We met a nice Chinese-American man from San Fransisco who was there on business. We said goodbye to our favorite server (who looked like an Asian Velma from Scooby Doo), and the very kind manager who had made us feel so comfortable. It is bizzarre just how emotionally attached I became to the people who showed kindness and hospitality to us in a place where language was such a barrier with most.
Our last breakfast at “our table.”
Lily in her favorite napping spot before we went to the airport
We managed to get through security at the airport without too much hassle. It struck me as funny how it totally depended on the mood of the security officer how this went down. We went through the checkpoint with our friends who were also adopting. She and I both had babies in the Ergo, both had drinks for them in the diaper bag, etc. I stood on the block while they waved the metal detector with Lily in the Ergo, but ended up having to empty out her water bottle and throw out her yogurt drink (sealed and small… no idea why I had to chunk it). My friend had to remove her baby from the Ergo and take it off, but got to keep his water and milk. Go figure. Miraculously our flight was not delayed this time! We had arrived early, though, so we did spend a good bit of time waiting in the terminal. Ours was at the very end of the airport and downstairs, so the only thing around was one fairly offensive smelling restaurant and a gift/snack shop. Lily divided her time between eating snacks off the floor (I know, disgusting, but YOU try to stop her!) and charming the young lady in the gift shop, with occasional side tours to charm the other waiting passengers out of their food. Someone gave her a jawbreaker, but she doesn’t know how to eat a jawbreaker. No, I didn’t let her eat anything they offered, but no one could resist her smile!
Our flight with China Southern was great! Totally uneventful and Lily Belle slept the whole time. My only complaint was the rated R movie that was playing with subtitles most of the flight. Entirely inappropriate for the boys, so they unfortunately had to spend most of the flight trying to avert their eyes from the screen.
We arrived in Guangzhou after dark and our guide at first was nowhere to be seen. We found out when she came running up that she had four families all arriving at exactly the same time! Bless her! She did a great job in what was I am sure a stressful situation. We arrived at our hotel close to 10 p.m., and decided that hungry won out over tired. If I had it to do over, I think we would have stayed in that first night. Our first impression of Guangzhou should not have been the streets after dark. We didn’t have far to walk as there were restaurants right across the street. but that short walk was stressful! I wore Lily in the Ergo and made the boys hold our hands. There were people packed in everywhere, from every country you could imagine. We happened to be in town the same time as the Canton trade fair was happening, so merchants from the world over were in town to view new merchandise and make deals with suppliers. We saw our first taste of the truly wretched beggars here as well. Walking past with our family to grab a quick burger, we had to step around men lying on the filthy ground with all sorts of deformities to their bodies, steadily wailing and bobbing their heads with a money bucket in front of them. The one that haunted Grayson the most was the pregnant woman sitting on a bucket beside the road, holding her stomach and wailing. It all made me sick to my stomach, because there is nothing we could do for anyone. We don’t speak the language. We could barely find the McDonalds. We were told that many of the beggars in this situation are not even receiving the money they beg for. Someone puts them out there, collects their money, and then holds them captive until the next night. My heart hurts now thinking about it. Y’all, this is why you will become sick of seeing orphans’ faces on my facebook page as often as I find them to share. This is what will happen to them if we don’t step in and save their lives. You have to understand that this fate – or worse yet with her beautiful face, sex slavery – could have been the fate of my Lily Belle. It will be the fate of millions just like her if no one is willing to love them.
The view from our room at the Garden. The mall across the street was called The Friendship Store. Very different from malls at home!
Anyway. Our room that first night in our five star hotel was disgusting. Dirty, smoky, moldy, disgusting. AND they didn’t give us enough beds! We had a family of five, three of whom were adult sized in a room with one king bed. Uh… no. This night just about did us in. The boys and I were close to tears. We were done with China and ready to come home! We sent word (and pictures) to our adoption agency as well as our guide, and we immediately heard back that they would fix it. The hotel was packed out because of trade fair, but managed to find us a nice, clean room for the rest of our stay. I know this blog post is a downer, but that’s just where we were emotionally at this point, worn and weary and low, low down.