So how are Zoe and Alex doing? They are loving China! They want to move here and live in a hotel. A really nice hotel in a really nice, new part of Guangzhou. The part of Guangzhou we are staying in has all been built within the last 10 years. There are no motorbikes, no honking, and everything is very clean and well organized. It is the very opposite of Hefei.

Zoe and Alex have been amazingly helpful at times. They've pushed the stroller for us, held Ava's bottle (although she really prefers to hold it herself), fetched numerous items for us in times of stress, and been very loving towards Ava. It's been a beautiful thing to watch.

Even though they haven't experienced super authentic China (we've been in the very, very upper class areas) they have gotten a taste of living in another country and being relatively clueless when it comes to language, etc.

They both slept 10 hours last night (8pm -6am) which is pretty darn close to our normal schedule at home. Just in time to leave in 2 days. Tomorrow we go to the zoo, which is allgedly pretty spectacular, and then the next morning we leave the hotel at 6:00am to drive 2 hours to Hong Kong to catch our 11:30 flight back the U.S.

PS - By the way Hefei is a city of 7 million people. The greater Guangzhou area is a whopping 17 million people! The sheer numbers in China are mind-boggling. The prices of everything have gone up tremendously since we were here 5 years ago. Our main guide (Jack Mao, yes Mao) told us that the real estate prices have increased 500% in the past 6 or so years. Everyone is trying to buy real estate. Sound familiar? Yikes.

Here are all 3 girls in front of the White Swan Hotel. This is the hotel that EVERYONE who was adopting used to stay. It's being renovated right now, so we couldn't go in and take a picture on the famous red couch.