Blogs from Guangdong, China, Asia - page 151

Abby meets the police…(and so does daddy) Its Friday night in China and this has been one busy day full of contrasts. On Thursday we spent time at a park in the city where we rode a merry-go-round for our amusement and became the amusement for the local people. Pictures are included. The people are so kind and wanted to touch the children and practice their English with us. One grandmother rebuked (kindly) Rebekah for not dressing warmly enough! We started Friday with a trip to the police station in Nanchang because they serve as the passport bureau. We had to go there to pick up Abby's Chinese passport. in Guangzhou we will pick up her US Visa which allows her into the USA. It is an interesting order of things since the Chinese Gov't already ... read more

WOW! We have our itinerary for in country and are waiting with anxious hearts for December 5th...GOTCHA DAY! Here is the schedule as we have it.  Thursday, Dec. 1 Depart for China  Friday, Dec. 2 Arrive in Beijing  Saturday, Dec. 3 Beijing Sight-Seeing: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, & Summer Palace  Sunday, Dec. 4 Church service & Great Wall  Monday, Dec. 5 Morning flight to Nanchang; ABBY PINGLAN SPITLER JOINS HER FOREVER FAMILY!!  December 6-8 Paperwork, Sight-seeing, & Shopping  Friday, Dec. 9 Afternoon flight to Guangzhou  Saturday, Dec. 10 Child’s Medical Exam  Sunday, Dec. 11 Filling out Consulate Forms  Monday, Dec. 12 Consulate Appointment at 9:00am  Tuesday, Dec 13 Pick up Child’s Visa at 3:00pm  Wednesday, Dec. 14 Depart from Guangzhou 8:30 A.M. (9:30 P.M. ... read more

I wish I could frame you and this feeling on the wall To stare at ’till there is no time... Hanson I just got back from China. What an adventure. My friend Kayte and I spent 2 days there visiting Marty, a family friend from home. He took care of us, good care of us, while we were there! It’s so crazy that I hung out with Marty in China. WOW! … I'm sorry it just boggles my mind. China is a whole different ball game than Hong Kong. The 2 days that we were in China (Shenzhen) we only saw one other “white” person, besides the 3 of us. It was an awesome experience! Some people speak English, most did not. (Not that I expect them to, it was just very hard to communicate) ... read more

With Sarah’s travel visa approved and our swearing an oath at the U.S. consulate, we are now ready to say good-bye to China…well, at least the China that doesn’t include Hong Kong. It’s a strange situation: HK, which was once a British colony, is now a part of China politically, but it still uses a different currency, and travelers out of China need to pass through customs to go to HK. Even our guide, when trying to explain why returnees to the U.S. through HK need to pass through customs twice, just shook his head and said, “Don’t ask me. I don’t even understand it.” Well, whatever…we’re leaving mainland China tomorrow morning. Guangzhou has been wonderful to us. The weather has been cooperative (at least in that it didn’t rain), the food’s been scrumptious, the hotel’s ... read more

It’s amazing how quickly we fall asleep these days. I (Godfrey) used to lie in bed awake for up to an hour before I would slip into unconsciousness, but ever since the arrival of Baby Boo-Boo, we’ve both been conking out in a matter of seconds! Stacey and baby just fell asleep on the bed, and it took about as long as for me to write this paragraph! Sarah is tiring us out, even though the only other responsibilities we have here in China are (1) to exchange dollars into yuan (which we’ve had to do four times already because we underestimate how much money we’re going to spend) and (2) to find the next great restaurant to eat at. (BTW, tonight we had an awesome buffet dinner at the hotel restaurant…all-you-can-eat seafood, sashimi, sushi rolls, ... read more