Guangzhou and Medical Review

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Today was the first real day in Guangzhou. It is an idyllic town with a heavy layer of smog. It was wonderful to walk outside early morning and feel the cool, humid air and the soft breeze. It felt like a New England town in the spring. It had an old town feel. The buildings are all close together and are joined by lush trees and shrubbery. The roads are narrow and some are separated by wide walkways lined with greenery. There is a small park and children's play area near the hotel. We stopped and watched the children play. We took in the clean...ish, cool air. Their were tiny little shops everywhere. Some selling baked goods, others food, still others selling gifts and t-shirts. All of them seemed to want to do our laundry. They must think that tourists are REALLY dirty people. They are probably right since that is the first thing I set out to find. That and a free stroller rental so that my arms could get a much needed rest. For a brief moment I wished that Aislinn could walk. But then I watched a fellow family try to keep up with their young son as he seemed to need to see everything, everywhere, all at once. Suddenly, I was okay with my situation. There would be time enough to watch her run and play when I got her home.

Today's appointment was the medical clinic. It was the size of a single store front and seemed to have half the population of China inside, only they were all Meiguoren. All of the adoptive families where converged on the same spot for the same reason, to have their little ones poked and prodded with what seemed to be sheer randomness. We filled out a form then visited three stations.

1) Ear, Nose, Throat - Her hearing was tested with a toy keyboard and squeaky squash (no kidding). They looked up her nose and in her mouth quickly, then scribbled something on a form. I think it was the word "watermelon."

2) Medicine & Surgery - No she was not due for an operation. This was the unit that reviewed her medical condition and gave the physical. This involved laying her on a table while the doctor removed her clothes like the Tasmanian devil. I swear, if I did not step backward, he would have removed my shirt. He seemed to glance randomly at each extremity and then nodded okay. I think he wrote a recipe for Congee on his part of the form.

3) Height, Weight & Temperature - This was pretty straight forward. They took her height, weight, and temperature. They wrote something cryptic about "cm" and "kg" on the form. I think these are people's initials. I asked the nurse and she told me her weight was 17.6 pounds and her height was 29 inches. She gave me her temperature in Latin: XXXVII Excelsior. I am not sure what it was higher than...

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