Today was one of those days when you wake up before the alarm, which was good since we needed to be up and at ‘em early. We got ready and were down at breakfast a little after 6:30 and had no issues finding a table - imagine that. We were down in the lobby at 7:30 to load into the bus to go to the US Consulate. Today is the day we complete the visa paperwork for Blaize to come home, so it’s sort of a big deal. We also take the oath that will make him a US citizen but it won’t be official until we land in our first port of entry.
There were some communication gaps with our guides as we didn’t know that we couldn’t take anything in with us until we were on the bus. I think they do this process so much they either forget to tell us stuff or think they have when they have not, or tell some but not all of us. I like to think my attention to detail is pretty high and some of the misses we have had make me think we’re not all being told the same information. Nothing huge but frustrating at times. The consulate is next to where we did the medical check a few days ago, close to the CBD of Guangzhou. It’s a secure government facility with plenty of steel fence, guards and a lot of cameras. We all checked in with security and I had to leave my Garmin watch at the security check point as they wouldn’t allow it in.
We took the elevator to the 2nd floor and waited in a room with a 10 service “windows.” Windows 8 was for adoptions and it wasn’t open yet so we lined up with a few other families to get our number - we were #4. When it was our turn I took our visa packet from the paperwork party two days ago and gave it to the agent. She asked a few questions and then we were told to sit and wait until called again. While we waited, one representative from each family was asked to come up and we all swore that the information provided was true and he answered any questions we had about returning to the states. It didn’t take too much longer and we were all done and dismissed. This was a very different process from the last time where we took an oath of citizenship and what seemed like less paperwork. This was a little bit of a letdown and seemed less like becoming a citizen and more like just another step in the paper chase. Either way we were done, loaded back on the bus and headed to the hotel.
We had about 30 minutes at the hotel before we were back on the bus to take a tour of a cultural museum, the Chen Clan Academy. It is the biggest example of a rich family’s house in the city left in the region. It was pretty and interesting but it was also very hot and humid so we didn’t need the full hour to wander the grounds. They had some neat porcelain art, traditional examples of living quarters, some amazing ivory carvings and some other local “art.” We got back on the bus and returned to the hotel where we stayed the rest of the day. We are ready to come home and only need to wait for the visa to come back Weds morning. Tomorrow we are going to a former British property called Shamian Island to do some shopping. Nothing else is on the agenda and we’re more or less killing time. I think we’re both about done with the crowds and people rushing into the elevators as you try to get off, the constant hawking of loogies and smoking everywhere. It’s so close to time to come home we can’t wait!
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