Well, the big news of the day for us is that Mack's visa application was approved this morning. I do not know all the technical and legal words, but basically this allows us to bring him to the United States. Tomorrow, we go take the oath of citizenship on his behalf, which not knowing all the technical/legal words, means he is a U.S. citizen when we land in the in U.S. So, we are feeling quite good about being essentially done and essentially heading home (in our minds, we are probably already home).
We had to wait in our room until mid-morning in case there were visa problems. When we got word that we were all clear, we went for a stroll around the local markets on the island, stopped by Starbucks for lunch, and picked up laundry. A pretty typical day regardless of where we seem to be. Mack took a brief nap and then around 2:00p.m. we headed with our group via bus to the local pearl market. Melissa did pick up a few knick-knacks and then we walked back to the hotel. As for Mack and I, our only purchase was a Slurpee from 7-Eleven. He loved it but I think he will like a cherry Arctic Rush Freeze from DQ even better. After our shopping excursion, Melissa and Mack played in our room while I went to play squash with the boys from another adopting family. We have the recreation staff a little perplexed now because they never know if we are coming in to exercise, play squash, or play table tennis. At 6:00p.m. we loaded another bus with most of our group to head to a dinner cruise along the Pearl River. I was not very excited because I heard the food was "unusual". I have already had my share of "unusual" so I would have preferred something like an all you can eat Pizza Hut buffet. In the end, the food was fine because it was no more "unusual" than anything else we have tried while here. The cruise was about one and a half hours and was visually spectacular because of the city's architecture, numerous bridges, and well-lit skyline. As well, there was a brief magic show, which was pretty entertaining. The best trick was a gal swallowing six razor blades individually, showing an empty mouth to the crowd, then swallowing/working a string down her throat, and then retrieving six razor blades tied to the string. I could hardly watch. The best was one of the dads cautioning the kids to "not try this at home". Given that he spoke English and most of the kids speak Mandarin, I am not sure the joke was nearly as funny to them as it was to me. After the dinner cruise, we returned to the hotel for more time in the hotel playroom, as well as another competitive round of squash and table tennis. We are now settled in for bed, having had a bottle (Mack) and baths (Mack and Dave--separate). Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be nice, so we plan to be by the poolside for the better part of the day. Then, it is off to the US Consulate in the afternoon to take the oath--I hope there are no history/geography questions.
Take care.
