Day 13: US Consulate day

I didn't take a single picture today, but I do have some to share. These are the photos from the disposable camera we sent over two months ago. She has more in common with her big brother than we knew. In a few photos she's getting a nebulizer treatment. Based on the pictures it doesn't appear that she cares for it, so Jackson will have to teach her how to love it like he does.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=f0o3yyn.8iuiii53&x=0&y=aff74d

This morning was our first crack at the Victory Hotel's breakfast buffet. It was all edible, but no dumplings or tots. I say who cares if the breakfast isn't as good as long as we're saving 50% vs. the White Swan and have a comfortable bed. After breakfast we began to head to our hotel's main location a few blocks away to change some US dollars into Yuan. Leslie had just assumed that since we're staying in the annex building that they wouldn't have a cashier to exchange currency.

We made it just around the corner when we ran into the other family in our group with the two boys. Brad (dad), Erik (11), and Benjamin (9) were playing hacky-birdie in the park. We went over to say hello and the boy's chided me to join in the game. A little back-story...when this new game was revealed to us Brad joked to his boys that I was a professional hacky player. I went with it, and never joined them in playing saying I was retired and as such I wasn't allowed to play anymore. The boys questioned this lie by asking who'd know if I played in China? So this guise went on for several days, until today. After several chants of "Ha-cky, ha-cky, ha-cky" I joined in (with cheers from the boys). While I surprised myself with my newly discovered skills, it was clear I wasn't a pro. I think they're smarter than they look. They must've known it was all a yarn, because they didn't seem a bit surprised that I wasn't awesome. I think we played for close to 40 minutes. When we finished I had to wipe my brow more than once. It's more exerting than it looks.

We said see-ya-later to them and made our way over to our other (but same) hotel. I asked to change money and he said the exchange rate was 7.0 Yuan per dollar. Everywhere else it was between 7.3 and 7.4. I told him to take a hike and we walked out. I guess we were the ones who took the hike. Later Leslie guessed that since we appeared to walk in from off the street (even though we were staying at their hotel) he offered a crappy rate. Maybe, but we'll never know now. So by this time it was around noon-30. We walked to a small cafe and had lunch. While we ate we were discussed our money changing options when who walked up, but Brad and his family who I had played hacky with an hour earlier. The cafe was right next to the White Swan where Brad was staying, so I asked if he'd change $200 for us. Thankfully he did and I saved 5% since the rate was what I had expected. Thanks Brad!

Today was our final step in the process to bring Isabel home. We had to go to the US Consulate and take an oath swearing that all of the information that we've provided during our adoption process is true to the best of our knowledge. We met at the White Swan where we boarded a tour bus. This thing was big and there were three of them, almost all full except ours. I think in total about sixty families were heading to the Consulate as well. Unfortunately the Consulate until recently was next to the White Swan hotel, which is why I think it remains such a popular hotel for adopting families. Now it's about 40 minutes by bus in stop and go traffic. When we arrived I felt a little sick from the ride, but recovered quickly. To enter the Consulate we all had to show our US passports and go through airport like security and couldn't bring any liquids or electronics with us. We gathered in a large room where a guy made an announcement to tell us what to do when we land in the US. We then took the oath with our right hand raised, everyone cheered, and then we all got a mysterious brown envelope. One of our instructions is to NOT open the envelope. We need to go through the non-US citizen line when we land in Minneapolis and give the envelope to the immigration officials. Once through immigration Isabel is officially a citizen of the U.S.!

We're jealous of the two other families we traveled with as they get to leave tomorrow morning. We opted to stay an extra day in order to save some major dough on the flight. So tomorrow we'll finish up shopping and pack. Then it's back home on Friday morning. We can't wait!