Day 13 (3/13) US Consulate and Pearl Market

Day 13, right? Bran here, writing these recaps on our phones as we were never able to get the laptop online at this hotel. It's a little cumbersome but it's all we got right now.

Big day today! We got up early and headed to the US Consulate. No phones allowed, not even our smart watches, so take my word for it when I say it was pretty cool. We took the oath along with 8 other American families, we're interviewed for the visa, then we were approved! Suzie won't technically be a US citizen until we get through the port of entry in LA, but as of today we're good to go! Her visa should be ready Thursday and then we fly out Friday.

After the consulate we scrambled back for a quick breakfast and back on the road to the pearl market. Six stories of shops, mostly gems, pearls, jade, diamonds, shiny rocks. Guangzhou is also known for its embroidery so we checked out some goods there as well. We found some cool stuff and headed back to the hotel. I caught a nap while we all relaxed for a bit. We got back together in the afternoon for a group picture then we walked to a nearby park.
As we've said earlier, Suzie cries the entire time she's in the stroller. Unfortunately Kassie is getting worn down as the only person Suzie allows to carry her, so we decided to go with the stroller on this walk and stick with it. It was tough as I pushed and Kass held Suzie's hand. Once we finally hit the spot where there were some rides for the bigs to check out, we thought maybe Suzie was more upset about me pushing the stroller (behind her) than she was about the actual stroller ride. We were right. This gives you an idea of how scared she is of me. Once Kassie pushed the stroller Suzie was almost stress free. Suzie always knows where I am, she's always looking for me in the corner of her eyes, and if I get too close it's over.

So the walk back was pretty nice, the park was beautiful and the kids enjoyed a few rides. They also made some friends at the playground. The weirdest part was definitely the topless dudes working out on the equipment. Not cool.

This was the first day the park was open after their new years celebration so they had many beautiful displays and decorations. It was amazing. For dinner we just picked up some snacks from the bakery and some noodles. It's 7p and the bigs are tucked into bed already so it's gonna be an early night. Suzie has been sleeping like a rock these last few nights so it'll be good to get some sleep tonite. She's always the last one to wake up as well so, she's a rockstar sleeper, like her mama.

in front of the US Consulate

Pearl market

Suzie excited for her new bracelet

Foot massages by daddy

Day 12 (3/12) Pizza Party on a Boat

bran here, day 12 was pretty chill. We celebrated Suzie's first week as a Mercer by sleeping in, stuffing ourselves at breakfast, hitting the pool and then watching sumo wrestling on TV. We only had one appointment today, getting the results from Suzie's TB test, which were negative.

We spent most of the day at the pool where Suzie once again braved the water in the safe arms of her mama. We were in the pool for hours and brought the GoPro along and got some fun footage. Brian once again showed his mastery of swimming by swimming the length of the pool underwater. So impressive.

After the pool I showed mason the sauna and steam room. His mind was blown and he told me he hadn't sweat like this in a long time. For dinner we went with the group for a dinner cruise. I'm too exhausted to find out what river it was but there were a ton of boats on it. We got on the boat and had a pizza party below deck. Suzie liked the pizza but didn't eat a whole lot. After pizza we went upstairs to the open deck and checked out the city lights. The weather was amazing, T-shirt weather, and the city looked beautiful. Suzie especially enjoyed passing underneath the bridges, hers eyes got huge!

We got back to the hotel in time to hit up McDonald's for dessert, they had an awesome oreo with strawberry mcflurry! Suzie was out as soon as she hit the crib, I think I just heard her snore softly. Tomorrow is our big day at the consulate to apply for her visa, we'll be up early and we'll be busy all day. Time to get some sleep.

cool spot at the hotel

our guide Kathy is amazing, loves our kids

the boat

Suzie putting her feet up

some buddies from our group

Day 11 (3/11) Buddhist Temple and Old Chen House

We had a more relaxed day today. We did a little site-seeing in the morning. We went to a Buddhist temple called the The Temple of the Six Banyan Trees, which was originally built in AD 537. This one is a popular tourist spot and photos are allowed- this is not the case for all temples. Next we went to the Old Chen House which is now a museum of the arts and crafts of the region. It’s a beautiful compound full of elaborate carvings of ivory, wood and stone and other artwork like paintings and calligraphy. The Chen Clan has passed down their expertise and we were able to have a scroll made by Mr Chen that has a Suzie’s Chinese name, along with her new name and the date that she joined our family. Many families also had name chops made. We were gifted one for Suzie from her orphanage. It is basically a hand carved stamp that has the traditional symbols for her Chinese name. A snake is on the top as she was born in the year of the snake. It’s very special!

After we finished the tour, we returned to the hotel and relaxed a bit then had to meet to gather & organize all the papers for Suzie’s visa appointment later this week. Brian went to that since I can’t leave Suzie. I left for a few minutes to make some copies in the business center while she was playing with the kids and came back to a scared, crying girl. I wasn’t gone more than 15 minutes and just needed some alone time. I felt awful that she had broken down but I won’t lie- the time alone was glorious.

Brian is trying so hard to get Suzie to trust him. We saw some progress today and she actually interacted with him a little. It’s like she wants to trust him but she just can’t. She will smile a bit and then suddenly be overwhelmed and shoo him away or start crying. The longer this goes on, the harder it is on Brian. The rejection really hurts - he’s used to kids loving him and his clownish behavior. Meanwhile I’m physically and mentally exhausted from being needed all the time. We are both getting crabby and moody. Mason had a breakdown tonight and just wants to be home. I think we all do. We have Suzie’s Visa appointment on Tuesday and it takes 2 days to process it. We should get it Thursday and fly back Friday. Just 5 more days! We’re trying to enjoy these last few days as we know it’s such a gift to be here and need to soak in as much as we can.

ivory carvings

Suzie waved and said "Ni hao baba (daddy)"

trying a rambutan