Last day of May

The big events for today are that Pan Pan passed her medical exam and
took her first ride in her new stroller - - - and I managed to do two
loads of laundry.

The medical exam was a minor ordeal because our tour bus was hit by a
car on the way to the exam, and so we had to walk partway across
Shamian Island to get to the location. There is one clinic designates
by the U.S. consulate for the exam required to get a visa. The first
stop was for photos. But the photoshop adjacent to the clinic was
unexpectedly closed, so we had to trek another 10 minutes across the
island to another place and then back to the clinic. There we waited
at least a half hour, and then there was a mad flurry of activity as
12 families were shuttled between three exam rooms. Pan Pan had her
ears nose and throat checked, her height and weight measured, and her
diaper removed to confirm that she is a girl. The doctor said she was
very very pretty and oh so clean. She weighs 8.4 kilograms - about
18.5 pounds - less than the 9 pounds the orphanage told us but .2 kgs
more than we weighed her at in Jiangxi.

It's no wonder - she's had a voracious appetite, squawking and hitting
the table when we don't serve up her food fast enough.

She is still getting used to the stroller. It will help spare our
backs walking around carrying her. Our friend Phuong lent us an ergo
carrier which has been a huge help. The one Andrea lent us turns out
to be too thick for the 80 to 90 degree weather! So we will alternate
the ergo with the stroller.

And as for the laundry, one of the "advantages" of staying in an
apartment is that we get to do our own laundry. Not that I love doing
laundry (Davis is the laundry man at home) but it will save us
hundreds probably. However the single-unit washed-dryer is really
strange. I ran three cycles and the clothes came out wet every time.
Finally I figured out how to run just a dry cycle but it takes 90
minutes - even for baby's clothes.

In general, though, staying here is quite convenient with a kitchen,
crib, desk, dining table, couch etc. Only problem is we were just
told there will be no power all day Friday, which won't work for us in
this weather especially, so we are waiting to see what can be
arranged. Ironically, that is the day we thought we would be able to
leave. Oh well.

Tomorrow our main activities will be filling out visa forms and a
visit from my Shanghai friend. It will be our twelfth day of
activities with the group. I can't believe I've lasted this long.
Fortunately, they are all pretty pleasant people and the babies are
super cute. But I am ready to have a few un-programmed days. That
will start on Wednesday when our waiting period begins.

Pam

Sent from my iPhone