Guangzhou

Guangzhou is a city in Guangdong province. It is at the same level on the earth as Cuba, which is below Florida. The weather is HOT! We went to many different shops that all looked the same after you went in them. There are buddhas and bells and many different religions.

I went to Lucy's, which is a bar and cafe' and ate malaysian rice with a sunny-side-up egg on top and chicken on a stick with tons of pepper. Yummy! Malaysian. There, when I was eating I met a kid from California named Brandon. We played badmitton with my new badmitton set. It was a great deal - 40 yuan, which is about 7 US bucks. Everybody plays badmitton here. It's my new favorite sport. I've played with Ping, our guide, Ian, Mom, Hong Di, and, of course, Bob.

Do you know the Backyardigans? It's a TV show for little kids, but anyway, there was a whole set of the characters for sale. The person that was working there came up to us and said, "This means 'happy family' - I give you good deal - besta price!" But really it means, "THE BACKYARDIGANS"

Also, speaking about shows and all that, do you know the hover 'round song? Well, the little chinese boy, Ian, is singing it - "you can go go go in your hover-round. indoors, outdoors, all over town" over and over again.

Also we met a girl named Gift. She was adopted from Nigeria. She is very shy. Her sister, Ivy, was adopted from China too.

We went to the US consulate in Guangzhou. We had to go up many, many, many escalators. Up across, down, up across, down, up across, down until we finally got to the adoption swearing in room. Mom and Bob stood up and raised their right hands and swore that everything in their paperwork was true. Then the adoption was finally finished. Ian is my brother now and I am proud to say it.

Ian is fun to play with. When we get home we are going to share a room with bunk beds. I'm also going to have to play with my little sister too instead of being with Ian all the time, but it'll work out. Can't wait to get home. See ya!

Don't forget to see the National Geographic picture of the day!

Out of Order

Please see Hot Chick below for Carson's post for today - it is out of order. Look below Mommas boys.

Stay tuned for Ian is better and we went to the zoo today!

Alli - here's a picture of a pucca car we saw in the alley market.

Ian is sick

We are in Guangzhou. It is better than Beijing by a long shot. (Mom says - "you've never been to Beijing" Carson says - "I've flown over it, mom!")
Ian has a fever. I think he is sick. I told Solomon I was worried. He is sleeping with his eyes open. I want to play with him really bad. I don't think I'll play with him until we get home. Do you think that? Answer below.
Mom and I are going to see Guangzhou with Connie, our guide, today. (We miss you Ping) I asked Bob to take good care of Ian while I am gone. I told Bob, "I'm countin on you buddy."

Momma's Boys - posted by Momma

Today Ian went for his medical examination. (And for my colleagues I use the term loosely)

On the way home Dad and Ian had some Bonding Time.

He has this infectious laugh - much like Sam's smile. His voice is deep and raspy - very cute - and even cuter when he laughs, which he has done alot today.

He are Carson are enjoying one another very much. They definitely have the same interests. Any thing that is gross, obnoxious, destructive, violent, blows up, or makes loud noise is Tre~ cool!

They took a break by this statue to pose for any passing chicks who were cruising for handsome Americans. They had MANY takers.

Mom (finally) bought swords for them and they had a sword fight on the outdoor stage of a nearby park. The lady in the store emphatically assured me in very broken engllish that the swords "cannot kill - are vewy, vewy safe for young boy.

I'm certain she hasn't met MY boys.

Afterwards, Ian and I impressed one another with our cartwheels. I did a perfect 7.8 to demonstrate and teach him. He did 2 perfect 10s in a row to demonstrate that he needed no demonstration. He is very athletic. Grandma Jones finally has her basketball player.

After all of this activity, it was time for lunch. You wouldn't know it to look at him, but Ian can eat Sam under the table any day. Dad was in culinary heaven at our favorite restaraunt in Guangzhou - Lucy's. Lucy's makes an authentic American hamburger that rivals Memphis' Huey burger. After a week of new culinary experiences, a good ole fashioned cheeseburger and onion rings really hits the spot. Carson also ordered a hamburger, but left half of it uneaten and dove into Ian's plate of Malaysian Fried rice with Chicken on a stick and fried egg on top. Bob didn't speak - just savored his onion rings.

After a long exciting day - it was time to head back to the hotel for an english movie with chinese subtitles, or is it a chinese movie with english subtitles - not sure whose turn it is - hard to keep up.

HOT CHICK

Thursday I had a date with Hong Di. Our family went to dinner and then Hong Di changed clothes and we were ready to go. We got on her bike and drove 3 people around.

We went to the Alley next to the Giant cucumber.

In China there are many alleyways where the stores are. They sell different stuff than in the USA such as vegitables in a wooden box, dead sea horses on the ground for medicine, dead snakes. deer muscle, roots, opium pipes, and small wooden coffins for ashes.

Here are some things you can buy in the alleyways.

Dead seahorses spread out on the sidewalk (they smell pretty strong)

You can buy different size scorpions. They put them in a bag with chopsticks

The poultry section

Hong Di bought me a giant puppy and we did pictures together in a booth. Let me letcha in on a little secret - I think she's cute!

Let's get down to things. I got to ride on her motorcycle and boy it was fun. They alleyways have lights and boomboxes everywhere playing music, lots of shops and lots of people. When we went to the fruit shop on the way back, a guy showed us a pineapple knife and showed us how to cut a pineapple. I tried and it was a mess, but he gave us the pineapple to eat. This is us in front of sugarcane. You can buy it in the alley too.

We went to her home and met her roomate and she showed us her room. The bathroom was small. The floor was the floor of the shower and the top of the room was the shower sprayer. After we saw her room, we got on her bike and drove all the way to the hotel. I tok a shower and went to bed with my new stuffed dog.

See the national geographic picture of the day!

GOTCHA DAY!

We woke up today at 3:00 in the morning. I got bored because I was wanting to go get Ian.Finally at 9:00 it was time to go. Our driver, Mr Mark, and our translator, Samantha, picked us up and took us to the Hangzhou Civil Affairs Center. Mom was crying because she was putting on make-up and asked me, "would you want This (points to self) for a momma?" I said, "you told me when I was little, mom, .....Don't judge people by how they look - but by how they act. " Maybe I hurt mom's feelings. Maybe no.

We met Ping, our guide. (Ian likes her alot. He has a crush on her.) I have to admit - I do too!

We went upstairs and mom and Bob did paperwork. Ian came in a few minutes later. He was wearing a GUTS jacket. He was wearing 7 layers of clothes. He wore pyjamas, a vest, a sweater, a shirt, a jacket, and pants and shoes and socks. He had a backpack and a lunchbox.

I thought, "Yay! Ian is here! I wanted to play with him."

Mom had the Klenke boo-hoos. Ian was scared of her.

I don't remember what Bob did.

I gave Ian a Power Rangers Watch. He liked it becuase every few minutes he checked the time.

Later we took Ian on his first boat ride. I got to paddle the boat!

That night Ian woke up crying. Mom called her friend, Wenli, who speaks chinese. He told her he missed his friends and nannies. She made him feel much better and he went to sleep. It was a really good Gotcha Day!

West Lake

3/14/2009

Today I had my first breakfast in China. I had egg rice, noodles and fried fortune looking things that had chicken and vegetables in them. After breakfast we met Samantha and Mark who were going to be our guides for the day. They both work for Uncle Malcolm's boss Mr. Sun. (Pronounced Soon)

We went to the bank and exchanged our American Dollars for Chinese Yuan. While I was there I met a little boy who was wearing split pants. These are pants that babies wear when they are potting training. He was afraid of me because he had not seen many Americans before so I gave him a package of peanut butter crackers.

After we left the bank we went to West Lake. It is a big lake in Hangzhou. We went with our guides Samantha and Mark. Mom gave me a 100 yuan bill. I will use it wisely.

We met Uncle Malcolm, Mr. Sun, Mr Li, Mrs. Li, NuNu, and some other friends at a fancy Tea Room on the lake. There was squid, shrimp with eyes and shell and tail, pork, meat, and Emperor's wine. I drank orange juice. Emperor's wine is a wine that was made especially for the emperor and no one else could drink it. I tasted it, only one sip, but I got a little woozy. It made me feel dizzy. I didn't like it. I played with NuNu. She doesn't speak english, but I shared my toys with her and we found ways to communicate. We fished with a rod that I made out of a stick, grass for the string, and algae for bait. I used the algae for glue too. We could have survived alone in the wild with our rod.

Next we went on a boat ride on West Lake. The boat was made out of wood with a cloth tent above it. It was small and carried 2 sofas, but was small. We went all around the lake. There was an oarman on it who helped us. Cool. It was fun,.

See the National Geographic picture of the day!

Comin' soon!

3/12/2009

It's 4 am and we are ready to go!!!!

We flew to Atlanta and enjoyed our last American Meal. I had eggs, sausage and mom stole my hashbrowns and 5 pieces of toast. Yummy!! as good.

Then a 14 hour flight to Shanghai. The flight was long and boring and bad. It was hard to stay awake and hard to sleep. There were games on a flat screen TV on the back of the seat in front of me. It was fun to play the spaceship game and cards. I watched Eagle Eye and Traitor.

We flew over the North Pole. Mom looked for Santa; I saw penguins. I took a picture. then we few over Siberia and Harbin, China. In Siberia, there was no population. Everything was frozen, even the rivers were frozen solid. You could walk across a lake if you wanted, but you would freeze and die before you got across.

Yahoo! We're finally flying over China. we're landing!!! I took my first breath of Chinese air. So did mom. Bob didn't though. It was like all the other breaths to me, but mom made hers last a long time, and said, "Ohhhhh it's good to be back in China again."

At first we didn't see Malcolm. After we got our luggage, we saw another American man - it was Malcolm! We made a pitstop at KFC! and I ate popcorn chicken - it's very spicy in China. I went through 2 bottles of water to eat 5 pieces of chicken. We drove 3 hours to Xiaoshan and I fell asleep. At last we arrived at our hotel.

Don't forget to see the National Geographic pix of the day!

Introducing Ian

Ian is my brother from China. His name is Ni Zhan Kang in chinese. His American name is Ian Anderson ZhanKang Hall. I'm leaving to get him in 5 days! I'm excited! He was 4 when he was abandoned, 7 when we decided to get him, but now he is 8. I am 11, but we can still play together, even though he is younger than me.

He doesn't own anything but one pair of clothes. Ian lives in the orphanage in Yiwu, China. He was abandoned on a train when he was 4 years old. He is blind in his right eye. Our family is very excited about Ian's joining us soon.