Medical Exams and Sweet Tea

We are winding up our time in Guangzhou, and we ARE SO READY TO COME HOME!!!!
It has been a busy couple of days for us: Tuesday, our entire group posed for a picture in the lobby of our hotel (Walt was enjoying his bottle too much to really notice the camera), then we headed out to the island to get his Visa picture and medical exam. The clinic was a huge place filled with
adopting families and local folks who needed care. We piled in and waited on benches until we were called for our visit to three stations: height and weight, ENT (squeaky toy for hearing and a look at his ear drums), and the internal medicine exam. Walt and I were fine until the internal medicine exam part--when a resident started messing with him and hurting him--and I LOST IT--no one spoke English and I called for our translator to explain to the resident what he was looking at and not understanding on Walt's exam--at the same time, an attending showed up who finished the exam and pronounced Walt "perfectly healthy" and we were allowed to leave. It took both Walter and me about 30 minutes to calm down--I chilled (literally) with some iced coffee while Walt fell asleep listening to the jazz playing at the local island Star Bucks (Walt really likes music).
Today was a little less frenzied--Bill had to run to the U.S. Consulate to notarize one last document--we explored a little this afternoon--and discovered our son has Southern taste--he LOVES sweet iced tea! Walter actually loves anything to EAT. And he is getting heavier and more wiggly by the day! A group of us went out to a local restaurant tonight where Walter enjoyed Minestrone Soup, a hot roll, and his classic fried rice with egg on top. Bill and I are longing for a Ukrop's Salad Bar and any kind of homemade CASSEROLE!! We are definitely NOT going to eat Chinese for a while on our return. Deep fried bullfrog, birds nests, and fish lips just are not staple foods for us at this time!
Tomorrow (Thursday) we are going to the Consulate to be sworn in--Walt will then get his Visa and he will be ready to become an American citizen. Friday we begin our journey HOME with our son--first to Beijing, then to Chicago, and finally to Richmond. We also understand that we MISSED the only snow storm to hit Richmond in years!!!
We will send out one more blog tomorrow--then will be signing off as we start back to the States!