This morning began prematurely at 5:45 am, when I rolled over in bed to find Pearl silently regarding me from her pack and play. I suspect she was willing me to wake up and her telepathic powers were obviously working. With a sigh of regret for the sleep I knew I would miss, I reached out my arms and she gleefully giggled and permitted me to scoop her up. She sure is cute, even if she does constantly smell like urine or stool.
It turns out I did not miss changing diapers. Not even a little bit. Getting back into the swing of incontinence has been an adjustment for sure.
We circled the entrance to the dining room a few times waiting for the 6:30 am breakfast start time, but after a few minutes, there were enough adoptive families in a low orbit of the area that the dining staff gave up and just let us all in. Pearl's unusual morning dining habits have persisted, although she does seem to eat better at lunch and dinner times. This morning, she fed herself an entire bowl of plain congee but absolutely refused to eat any watermelon (what?! Who is this child?!). She drank an entire glass of milk, but wouldn't touch the same kind of donut that she couldn't get enough of yesterday. Usually, she eats 3-4 bananas each day, but she wouldn't even look at the banana on her plate this morning. Finally, I gave up my attempts to provide her a balanced breakfast and resigned myself to a long day of "Mama ha ha", or snacking.
All of the families in our travel group had to meet Shiyan in the hotel lobby at 7:30 am so that we could bus it on over to the medical clinic to pick up the completed medical examination forms. Pearl is blessedly tuberculosis free, so that's a plus. I, however, have been coughing and wheezing so much here in Gaungzhou that I'm convinced I will need a TB rule-out when we finally get home.
After we finally received the medical forms, we walked across the street to the US Consulate. Even at 8:30 am, there was a huge line in front of the Consulate building. There were also about a hundred people milling around or gazing longingly at the building's sleek glass and stone facade. Trying to visually convey an apology to all of these people with my eyes, I followed along as our group bypassed the long queue and was quickly ushered in through a side entrance.
We all went through security. No electronic devices, including cameras and cell phones, are allowed in the Consulate building. We were prepared for that rule and had left ours in our hotel room, but others had to leave theirs at the 21st century version of a hat check.
Following the instructions repeatedly given to us by Shiyan ahead of time, we all crossed a courtyard, entered another building on the other side of the small square, and ascended to the second floor "Adoptions Unit". Fortunately for us, there were only a few other waiting families in the room so each family in our group quickly took a number and then sat down to wait. There was a well-stocked children's play area in the corner complete with play house, blocks, and kids' tables. Bean launched himself into the fun, but Pearl hung back by Angry Driver and me. My telepathy was functioning by that point, so I was not at all surprised when she turned to me nearly immediately with a request for "Mama ha ha". I produced a banana, which she gleefully peeled and devoured. Go figure.
The lead agent then called our group up to the window en masse so that we as parents could take the citizenship oath on behalf of our adopted children. Unfortunately, he wasn't clear about what our response to the oath should be, so the experience was not as Hallmark as it could've been, being as twelve families all simultaneously responded with "I swear", "Yes", or "I do". I guess we all missed the dress rehearsal for that one, but it didn't really matter since no one had any type of recording device to save the moment for posterity.
After the oath, we all sat back down in our seats to wait for our numbers to be called. When the pleasant electronic voice called for C504 to proceed to Window 9, Angry Driver and I scooped up our folder of documents and a wiggly Pearl and rushed up to the waiting agent. We left Bean to fend for himself on the Island from Lord of the Flies (i.e. - the play area).
We were a bit nervous having never gone through this process before, but the sweet female agent quickly put us at ease with her kindness and her reassurances that all of our documents were in order, including:
1) Completed Hague Adoption form and checklist
2) Pearl's actual Chinese passport
3) A copy of her passport
4) Copies of my passport and Angry Driver's passport
5) Completed medical examination report
6) Signed and notarized affidavit affirming our intent to vaccinate Pearl
7) The original Adoption Registration document
8) A copy of the Adoption Registration Document
9) Article 23: Certificate of Conformity of Intercountry Adoption certificate
10) Two full-faced visa photos of Pearl
11) Notarized abandonment certificate, attesting that Pearl was legally an orphan and, therefore, eligible for adoption
12) Notarized birth certificate
With that out of the way, we took our seats again and waited to be called up to Window 10 for our Consulate interview. This sounds intimidating, but actually wasn't too bad since the process was almost entirely completed ahead of time thanks to the I800A, the I800 and Supplement 3, and the DS260. I knew those forms would come in handy some day and I was not disappointed. When our name and number were called, we extracted Bean from the play area ("I got the conch!" - just kidding) and rushed up to the window, where the lead agent smiled bemusedly at our coordinating red outfits and declared us to be "all Christmased out" for the occasion. He asked me to describe Pearl's special needs and then took my fingerprints with an electronic print scanner. He reviewed the stack of documents and released us, apparently on our own recognizance. The entire interview took about 3 minutes.
If all goes well, Pearl's US Visa will be issued tomorrow (12/23/14) around 4:30 PM, and we can then head by van to Hong Kong. Our flight home is scheduled for 12/24/14: Christmas Eve!
The agent was quick to remind us, however, in true Dougy Downer fashion, that the visa process can be delayed for up to a week, primarily in the event that the computer system goes down.
Let's hope for no delays, since my wallet and my digestive system simply can't take much more of this.
Once we have Pearl's visa, she can leave China and she will automatically be a citizen of the United States the moment she steps on US soil.
America! What a country!
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