Joyful Noise

Today was the first morning in Guangzhou.  All the families in our travel group are in the same city in the same hotel.  What a welcome sight to come around the corner at the breakfast buffet and see some of the people we had met in Beijing with their new sweethearts.  Broad smiles on tired faces were everywhere.  A few are having tougher times than others, but we're all proud parents. 

Today was the medical exam for all the children.  Pretty chaotic but reasonably quick with our guide telling us go here, go there in a small space.  We weren't the only families there and the place was packed.  What a joyful noise to hear so much crying and chatter.  That means families have been created and kids are in the loving arms of their parents.  It's a quick can you see which way the hand is pointing eye exam, a look in the mouth, listen to the heart type of thing.  All the kids over age 2, I believe, must have a TB test and that's the only bit of tension to the exam because a positive test requires a chest x-ray and if the chest x-ray shows TB you can't get into the US until the child is clear of TB, about 6 or so months later.  I think we'll be okay because it looks fine so far, but we'll go back on Monday and have the test checked.  All children over age 8 must have their blood pressure checked, and apparently we haven't been getting her too stressed out because hers was excellent.  Shouldn't they be checking the parents' blood pressures?

We have had a lot of interaction with Da Qing today.  She allowed Baba to apply sunscreen this morning, and this evening the two of them had a lot of growling and giggling going on.  He scooped her up a little bit and the two of them laughed hard.  More joyful noise.  When they did her TB test this morning, her eyes were wide, and she looked to us to help her out.  Don't get me wrong, but a little fear goes a long way to help with getting closer.  The escalator was a good source of terror the first couple of times, but she's kind of figured it out so I'm losing that as an opportunity to hold her hand.

Tomorrow we are going to a park at 10 a.m.  The families that have been in Guangzhou the whole trip have already been there and word on the street is you don't want to go on the kid-sized roller coaster.  No warning needed here.