Hope you all had a good Memorial Day back home. It was not a holiday here, but the US Consulate was closed so no official progress until they reopen tomorrow. In the morning, our local adoption facilitator will submit all of our paperwork and apply for the babies' visas to come home. Keep your fingers crossed that all goes smoothly!

With the downtime today, we went to visit a site this morning called the Chen Clan Temple which currently houses the provincial museum of folk art.

In English, it would probably be better described as a museum of creative arts as it housed examples from different periods of sculpture, ivory carvings, paper cutting, embroidery, etc., done by local artisans. This afternoon, we made a run to the local grocery store (small and not nearly as chaotic as the one we visited in Nanchang) for baby supplies as we were running low on diapers and baby food.

This evening we went on a boat cruise down the Pearl River...

It was lovely, especially after the sun went down as most of the taller buildings are covered in various neon patterns and even the trees along the river have lights in them.

On one of our bus rides, we had an interesting conversation with our local guide. She mentioned how much she enjoys being a guide/adoption facilitator here as it allows her to meet people from all around the world and help both babies and families. She went on to say that she wouldn't mind if she lost her job someday, however, as this would mean that "there are no longer any babies abandoned in my country." She also mentioned that before she started this job after college, that she was not really aware about the adoptions that were taking place or how many children were abandoned as that typically occurs in rural areas outside of the city. I have been surprised several times along the trip at how open people are about sharing their opinions with us on many issues that affect China's future as relative strangers and foreigners. However, their openness has allowed us to grow in our understanding of China and our appreciation for the country and its people.

In addition to waiting to get an update on our consulate appointment tomorrow, we will also be taking group photos of the babies and families in our group. This is a tradition for adoptive families staying here and is known as the "Red Couch" photo as the pictures are taken in a seating area with red sofas and chairs.

Alex and Katie are both doing well. We still haven't been able to get to the pool yet much to Alex's disappointment as there were thunderstorms again this afternoon. We will try again tomorrow. At least the storms are keeping the temperature down as I understand it is usually much warmer here this time of year.

Only a few more days until we head home! We have had some wonderful times but are definitely looking forward to sleeping in our own bed, using tap water to brush our teeth and getting some Tex-Mex soon.