Shopping in Guangzhou - Thursday 8/3
Today we went shopping here there and everywhere in Guangzhou. One of our visits was to Sherry's place on Shamian Island. For thsoe who have never been to CHina for an adoption -- the US consulate used to be located on this little island called Shamian island. Many adoptive families have stayed on the island as the US consulate was right there and it made it possible for families to come to Guangzhou and stay in place the whole time. However, recently the consulate moved to a different building next to a beautiful park. Many families still stay on Shamian Island though -- it is a very adoptive family friendly place. There are tons of little shops -- Sherry's place, Jennifer's Place, Jenny's Place -- do you see a theme? These shops cater to adoptive families who are seeking to get Silks and other things for their children to remember China by.
For me, my purchases included many items for family and friends as well as things for Julia as well as Joy. The boys and I wandered around the island and poked into all kinds of shops. One thing that we learned is that we were glad we did not choose to stay on the island. It is relatively clean, safe, beautiful. However, there are entire parts of China that we would have missed if we had stayed there and not had to walk through the streets of Guangzhou to get where we were going. For many people the prospect of walking down "Pet Alley" or through the chinese medicine market place everytime you needed to go somewhere is not appealing -- but for us, we just thought it was part of the experience. We affectionaly dubbed Shamian Island the Adoptive Family's "China Land" in the Disneyland of the world. :)
The weather on was not spectacular during our shopping adventures -- we are on the edge of the typhoon that is beating the China Sea right now. It is blowing and sprinkling ... until dinnertime. We went to dinner with Laur Baldwin, ZuMei and her step father Steve. There is a this fun little American style pub on the island that serves great food. We there for dinner and in the midst of dinner the heavens opened up. We had to stay for about an hour extra simply because the rain was so heavy that no umbrella was really going to help. I am from the land of rain in the Northwest -- rain in a chinese typhoon does not compare!
After the rain took a short break -- we headed back to our hotel. On the way we met up with Susan -- one of the local guides. She is a wonderful young gal and she walked with us back to our hotel where she and I sat and talked for a couple of hours. During her visit we learned that Julia is one sharp little cookie -- well, we already knew some of that. BUT -- Susan knows Sichuan dialect and was chatting with her in dialect. They were playing with blocks and Susan discovered the Julia knows her colors. She asked her to hand her the pink one -- Julia did. What about the green one -- She knew that too. Susan played with her for a while and determined that Julia knew her colors very well.
While Julia's foster family may not have had much money -- very little even by Chinese standards, they clearly did love her and teach her everything they could. I learned that her family receieved an allowance of about $50 US dollars for Julia's care and for payment for their time in fostering her. For her foster mom, that was her only income. They fed her out of that but did not spend the money to feed her anything more than they were already eating -- thus her nutrition was very poor. But they did teach her things and she is so able to interact well with those around her. As time passes, she becomes more and more comfortable in her own skin.
It was a fun day in GZ today -- we head home tomorrow after our swearing in at the consulate. I still have to figure out how to pack -- I ended up buying an extra suitcase... :) I will journal on the laptop Friday and post when I get home.
Jackie
For me, my purchases included many items for family and friends as well as things for Julia as well as Joy. The boys and I wandered around the island and poked into all kinds of shops. One thing that we learned is that we were glad we did not choose to stay on the island. It is relatively clean, safe, beautiful. However, there are entire parts of China that we would have missed if we had stayed there and not had to walk through the streets of Guangzhou to get where we were going. For many people the prospect of walking down "Pet Alley" or through the chinese medicine market place everytime you needed to go somewhere is not appealing -- but for us, we just thought it was part of the experience. We affectionaly dubbed Shamian Island the Adoptive Family's "China Land" in the Disneyland of the world. :)
The weather on was not spectacular during our shopping adventures -- we are on the edge of the typhoon that is beating the China Sea right now. It is blowing and sprinkling ... until dinnertime. We went to dinner with Laur Baldwin, ZuMei and her step father Steve. There is a this fun little American style pub on the island that serves great food. We there for dinner and in the midst of dinner the heavens opened up. We had to stay for about an hour extra simply because the rain was so heavy that no umbrella was really going to help. I am from the land of rain in the Northwest -- rain in a chinese typhoon does not compare!
After the rain took a short break -- we headed back to our hotel. On the way we met up with Susan -- one of the local guides. She is a wonderful young gal and she walked with us back to our hotel where she and I sat and talked for a couple of hours. During her visit we learned that Julia is one sharp little cookie -- well, we already knew some of that. BUT -- Susan knows Sichuan dialect and was chatting with her in dialect. They were playing with blocks and Susan discovered the Julia knows her colors. She asked her to hand her the pink one -- Julia did. What about the green one -- She knew that too. Susan played with her for a while and determined that Julia knew her colors very well.
While Julia's foster family may not have had much money -- very little even by Chinese standards, they clearly did love her and teach her everything they could. I learned that her family receieved an allowance of about $50 US dollars for Julia's care and for payment for their time in fostering her. For her foster mom, that was her only income. They fed her out of that but did not spend the money to feed her anything more than they were already eating -- thus her nutrition was very poor. But they did teach her things and she is so able to interact well with those around her. As time passes, she becomes more and more comfortable in her own skin.
It was a fun day in GZ today -- we head home tomorrow after our swearing in at the consulate. I still have to figure out how to pack -- I ended up buying an extra suitcase... :) I will journal on the laptop Friday and post when I get home.
Jackie
posted by Jack's Journey at
10:54 AM
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