Medical appointments (Friday, September 10)

All kids have to have a medical exam to get their visa to come to the US.  Since we did not stay at the White Swan hotel (the hotel preferred by our agency) but instead stayed at the Holiday Inn we started the day with a walk to the White Swan hotel to meet up with the group.  Next we walked as a group to get visa pictures made, and then the group walked together to the medical clinic.  While we were walking it felt miserably hot and humid out.  Summer in southern China can be very uncomfortable!  However, even as hot as it was it was even hotter inside the medical clinic.  The power had been out due to nearby construction so they had no air conditioning, and it was packed with many people inside.  It was so hot inside that by the time we finally got out the outside air actually felt cool to us even though the heat index was over 100 degrees and it had felt miserably hot before going into the clinic.  Needless to say, it was NOT fun waiting around for so long inside the clinic with minimal light (without power the only light was from the minimal windows they had), crammed in with tons of other people, ridiculously high temperatures, crying babies, screaming children, etc.

They decided not to give shots that day due to the terrible conditions inside the building, though they did give the TB tests.  A few days later we had to go back to get the TB tests read and get all the shots.  Obviously that wasn't fun either, and it was especially hard with Micaelyn.  By the time we went back to get the shots Micaelyn had really started opening up, playing, laughing, etc.  Not surprisingly, it was impossible for her to understand why we held her down and let them give her so many shots, and the resulting fever and sickness didn't help either.  Thankfully our government has finally fixed their mistake so that parents are no longer forced to get their new children so many shots (usually 5-8 different ones) all at once during the critical bonding period. 

Waiting for the medical exams inside an insanely hot building.

After the medical appointments we had lunch at the Cow & Bridge, a popular Thai restaurant on the island.  We really didn't enjoy it too much, but since he loves elephants Caleb really liked the statues outside the entrance!

Enjoying the animals along the pet street outside our hotel.  Even though it was hot, the walk to the island was always entertaining, fascinating, and enjoyable.