September 3

Sorry that it has been a few days since we updated. Guangzhou has been where we have done a ton of paperwork and running around. Guangzhou is where the US consulate is. It is a coastal city of about 13 million people. It used to be called Canton (hence our Cantonese dinner tonight). If Jinan was gritty like New York then Guangzhou is upscale like LA, but without the smog. The past two days were harder because we had the medical exam and tests (which took two medical visits), visa paperwork, the one week anniversary and the consulate appointment. Everyone is getting a bit tired, but we are having some fun too. We went shopping at Shamian Island and walked through the herbal medicine street. The former is quite nice and the latter was really interesting. We saw scorpions and centipedes (live and dead - all sizes), dried sea-horses, frogs and snakes, deer feet, fish bladders, caterpillars and much that we did not recognize or ask about. We have had a lot of good food (although Jinan was the best!). Guangzhou has more variety, less traffic (no motorcycles/mopeds allowed), less honking (there is a 10 year ban on horns in the city), and lots of glitzy malls. Karwen is asking daily when we are leaving to come to our home in America. She has been asking about friends there. It would be great if any of you have time to send a quick photo that we could show her. She started a letter today introducing herself to you all and seems very excited. She now knows about as much English as Nick knows Chinese, but with a bit less accent. She has fun counting and made us all laugh by spouting a long run of nonsense English words together yesterday (one, two three - teacher, hello, teacher, good-bye!, thank you, sister, brother, mother, father ...). She has a great sense of humor and fits right in with the kids. The pictures are of Karwen's first plane ride, the view from our hotel room in Guanzhou, Kolya and Karwen at a strange shopping mall (they love to ride together), the herbal medicine street and the small scorpions (as opposed to the really large ones in the bin next to this one) for sale