American Consulate

Today we had our American Consulate appointment.  We had to leave the hotel at 7:50 AM this morning.  We had about a 1/2 hour drive to get to the Consulate and then had to go up to the 5th floor.  We couldn't take pictures inside, so there weren't a whole lot of pictures to post today.  Three families in our group had their Consulate appointment today at 8:30 AM.  We had to go through a security checkpoints and metal detectors to gain access to the area.  A total of 12 families (3 CCAIs and the rest other adoption agencies) had Consulate appointments for 8:30 AM this morning - another set of 12 families (2 CCAIs) had 10:30 appointments.  A Consulate official talked to us a few minutes and then we had to take an oath on behalf of Maddie.  Then, each family was called up to a window and met with a Consulate official to go over their immigration paperwork.  Ours was all in place and it took only a few minutes with the official and we were done!  Tommorow, our adoption agency representative will go back over to the American Consulate and get our official paperwork that we will carry back to the United States.  We will hand this paperwork to the immigration official in San Francisco when we land on Saturday and then Maddie is "officially" an American citizen!  Once everyone from our group was done, we headed back to the hotel for a free day.  We got back to the hotel around 10:00 AM.  We celebrated the occasion with a cup of coffee at Starbucks and a muffin!

 

After that, we headed back to the room and Maddie had a nap.  Yesterday was a long day and she was pretty tired so we wanted her to get a good nap.  She slept for about 2.5 hrs.  Today, Robin showed Maddie how to brush her teeth.  What a sight it was to see her try to brush her teeth!!  We also found the pool and play area in the hotel.  Maddie had fun splashing along the edge of the pool and then try out the playground equipment.  She must have used the set at the orphanage because she knew how to slide down the slide!  We had a great time relaxing around the hotel.  Bill and Reba caught a Taxi to Shamian Island and did some more shopping.  We ate diner at Lucy's on Shamian Island.  It was a real "American" meal.  We had a good ol'e American hamburger and fries!  Sure tasted great!  We are all getting tired of Chinese food.

 

Well, that's all from China today.  Tomorrow we receive Maddie's immigration visa and paperwork and head to Hong Kong.  We have to ride in a van for about 3 hours and will get into Hong Kong late.  Probably won't post tomorrow and will catch up on Friday.  We'll spend Friday in Hong Kong and then fly out on Saturday.