Last day here in Guangzhou!

So today is our last day here in this hot, sweaty, humid place. Don't get me wrong, we've enjoyed some time here but we're all so ready to go home!! We decided not to go to the pearl market after all. Instead, we just went out walking and shopping again for last minute things. Comparing U.S. money to Yuan RMB, when you exchange $100 in US dollars, you get $694 in Yuan. So keeping that in mind, you can blow all that money pretty quickly even though things are really cheap here. The other night, the 5 of us ate for $40 equivalent to US $. When we went to the grocery store, my two bags cost $60 in Yuan, which is about $9 in US money! Sounds good, huh? Too bad groceries aren't that cheap at home... So anyway, we bought a small Chinese tea set, a t-shirt and scorpion necklace for Riley, some small pouch/purses, bracelets, chops for Riley and Drew which are basically stamps, the top is their Chinese zodiac sign, and the stamp below has a picture of a dragon, their American name, and it written in Chinese characters also. Everywhere you walk, the Chinese vendors want to offer you a "good deal", or a "good price for you only today." Scott is good at jewing them down on prices, he says I'm a sucker. Oh the best thing we found for Drew is a pharmacy. This local owner told us of a pharmacy down one of the streets around here. Yahoo!!! I should've asked earlier, I just didn't think to--duh. So anyway we found gauze and tape, and the store owner had small 2x2 sponges. I had tons of neosporin, but they took it from my luggage at the airport I guess. I still have a little bit though and plan on changing Drew's dressing later again this evening and tomorrow on the plane home. We had to go to the clinic here at the hotel again this morning for a dressing change (before we found thepharmacy). Drew was being tortured here everyday , esp for the last 2 days-- he just screamed and cried b/c the dressings they use are quite primitive. They look like from the 70s, and don't use any non-stick pads or Telfa!! So everything they put on it, dries and sticks to his raw skin- then they have to peel it all away again!! I feel soooo sorry and helpless to see him have to change the dressings there, it's like being tortured again and again. Soo our advice is to never give your child anything hot to drink... which you probably already knew this. I wasn't thinking and it was my first catastrophe as a new mom!! I could kick myself.... Also, never have to use Chinese medicine or seek medical treatment here!!!!!! I can't stress this enough!!

So right now, we've been packing and packing for tomorrow. We may need to buy another suitcase to fit everything in. Most people here do this, in order to make it home with all their new things. You can buy suitcases here for like $10-15. We have to go to the American Consulate in an hour and doing our swearing in testimony. Tonight, we will have a farewell dinner together with everyone in our adoption travel group of around 24 or so families I believe. Some of them I don't even know or have not met yet either.

The dinner at the Cantonese restaurant was excellent! Even better, Drew insisted on sitting on my lap the entire time (which made it harder for me to eat-haha). It was really great to see all the families with their newly adopted children. Everyone looked sooo happy and glad to be going home. We just met everyone in our group down in the playroom to say good-bye. With all the kids running around, at least it wasn't sad. They didn't realize that that was really good bye this time! Look out America, Drew is coming home!!! As soon as we land on U.S. soil in Chicago, Drew will be a U.S. citizen-yay!!!!!! Oh BTW, Drew can say " I love You" in English!!!!!