U.S. CONSULATE DAY

Today was our assigned day to go to the U.S. Consulate for Ansley Grace's visa interview and to take the oath that everything we submitted in our application for the visa was true. The U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou is the only place in China where adoptions can be completed. This consulate is the busiest U.S Consulate in the world. Over 2,000 visas are issued here daily. The lines have always been long when we've had our appointments, but adoption people are VIP's, so we don't have to wait in the long lines. Our guide told us today that for most Chinese people applying for visas to the United States, it takes about ten years for them to be granted. It's just a whole different world here.

I wasn't able to get any pictures outside the consulate today.....the lines were too long and were blocking the sign on the building. The pictures of the girls dressed up were taken right before our appointment, though.

Pictures from the Consulate appointment. 

After we were finished with our appointment, we came back to our hotel, changed clothes, and left with two other adoption friend couples for an afternoon at Safari Park. It is a WONDERFUL zoo type facility. The grounds are nice and clean, and there are SO many different animals there. We had a GREAT time. I have included some pictures from there, too. I think our favorite thing to see was the pandas.

Safari Park Fun

When we got back to our hotel, my friend Kylie and I took a taxi to Walmart. It was about a 20 minute ride from the hotel. As in Zhengzhou, it was an experience. It was much cleaner than the one on Zhengzhou, but there is just no rhyme or reason to the way things are arranged. The smell is unique, too! Of course, any where we go, the taxi ride is an experience, too. The fare is cheap, though. It cost a little over $3 for our ride there.

Once we were back at the hotel, we went to eat with our besties here, and then came and collapsed in our room.

Tomorrow will be our last day here in Guangzhou. Thankfully, we don't have to be up at the crack of dawn. We are planning on spending most of the day on Shamian Island. The weather here has been perfect, but a cold front is getting ready to come through. The temperature had really dropped a lot tonight, and I think there is a chance of rain tomorrow. We can't complain, though, because up to this point, we have had no rain. Our last adoption trip it rained almost a whole week.
I hope to share one more blog entry tomorrow night, and then that will be it until we get home. This has been a phenomenal trip. I will elaborate more on that tomorrow night. :)