Day to Visit the Temples

Poop (n): An icky substance that all babies, even cute ones, produce en-mass. The elevator was full of people all going to different floors, however when they noticed the smell of poop from Amelie, they all got off at the fifth floor. Of course, she is smiling and giggling about it the whole time. The more foul the diaper, the happier the child.

(Allen) Today was a great day, though we started a bit rushed. Amelie woke at 4am, and then again at 8:30am which made us a little late for breakfast. Breakfast at the White Swan is not as good as breakfast in Changsha. The eggs are put into a large catering pan and are too runny. Also, the place is packed so for anything you want from the buffet, you can bet there are already 2 people ahead of you. The trade off, of course, is the wonderful view of the Pearl River and the massive waterfall that occupies the two floors of the double-decker lobby.

The White Swan is filled with other families from other agencies as well, so if you can imagine, Caucasian people seem to outnumber Chinese people on the island. As a result, the entire economy of this tiny island is built around China adoption. There are endless stores filled with tiny traditional uniforms and dresses. Do you need a stroller? No problem, you can borrow one from any of the shops. Heck, you can borrow 50. Anything to bring you in to look at their wares. Most of the shops sell the same stuff, and most of it is a pretty good deal by US standards, though you are still expected to bargain with the merchant. It doesn't take much to knock 30% off the price and is almost expected. We have been shopping for Amelie's "gotcha day" gifts, and have been finding some good things for her. Today, I bought her a little wooden comb with Chinese painting on it. In addition to birthday celebrations, adoptive parents sometimes celebrate "gotcha day" with a gift for the child for the first 16 to 18 years. They are typically symbolic gifts to celebrate becoming a family.

After a hurried breakfast, we took a trip to the Chen Family Temple. This temple, which is now a folk art museum, was a private school dedicated to the Chen family - an ancient and prominent family in Guangzhou. The temple was interesting enough, though we missed much of the tour as we are still learning the ropes of efficiently moving around a stroller, a baby (who is not in the stroller), a diaper bag, and ourselves. When looking at the temple, the carvings on the roof are much larger and ornate than those we saw in north China (in places such as the Forbidden City). We later learned that carving is one of the specialties of the Cantonese people.

Guangdong, the province we are in, used to be called Canton. Its people are still called Cantonese, as is their language, which is very different from Mandarin. Mandarin has 4 tones, while Cantonese has 6. Cantonese people represent the majority of Chinese who live abroad. The people in your local Chinese restaurant are likely Cantonese. Our guide joked with us that Cantonese people are the most adventurous people when it comes to food. She said there is a saying in China about the Cantonese - "Cantonese eat everything in the sky except airplane. Cantonese eat everything on the ground except automobile."

Our next stop was the Temple of Six Banyan trees - a Buddhist temple centered in Guangzhou. Now in China, people are free to practice whatever religion they wish, Buddhism is the most common religion. Our guide told us there are two primary and distinct types of Buddhism - Han Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism, with the Lama being one of the distinguishing traits of the two. There are two Roman Catholic churches in Guangzhou (including one on the tiny island we are staying on). There are mosques for Muslims. There are Taoists. And there are agnostics (mostly the communist party members who are forbidden to practice a faith).

The temple was filled with the smell of incense and Len unburdened himself of some money to the beggars outside the temple (which should bring him wonderful luck). Most of the families received a blessing from a Buddhist monk who chanted throughout the blessing – he had such a wonderful voice (Amelie was mesmerized during the whole thing -- can we take that monk on the plane with us?). This was certainly an experience that we will cherish from this trip.

Amelie is progressing so quickly! She is so much more talkative now, and a smile is an easy thing to get from her. She crawls long distances which is a big change from the beginning of the week when she was dragging herself across the floor on her belly. And she is starting to stand flat on her feet instead of on her tippy toes! So may be damage from the walker is finally being undone. She eats quite a bit (she growls when we don’t feed her fast enough for her liking), though we don't give her as much formula as her original schedule stated.

Here are the pictures:

• At the Chen Family Temple


• Altar at the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees Where the Families Receive their Blessing


• This girl likes to eat - she's definitely one of us!


• Daddy does well feeding Amelie eggs with chopsticks


• Amelie gets time in the playroom