Wednesday, December 23

We had our oath taking ceremony yesterday - Zabi's visa is being
delivered today - we are ALL DONE!!!!!! Under the new Hague
regulations, even though hubby didn't travel with us, the adoption is
complete and final here in China!

The majority of the city is undergoing a major facelift to get ready
for the Asian Games in October 2010. Shamian Island is no
exception. There is scaffolding and netting EVERYWHERE. It is
sometimes difficult to breath for all the dust in the air. This is
the view out our room window. These photos are of the workers
dismantling the scaffolding and handing it down the side of the
building, piece by piece. No, the workers are not wearing any safety
harnesses at all, we are on the 5th floor!!!!!

We found the local Catholic Church and wanted to find out what time
Mass was going to be on Christmas Eve. I finally found a helpful
girl who spoke great English who was part of an art class. They had
an outdoor assignment to sketch some buildings and she was able to
ask around and find out when Mass is for us.

With the warm and sunny weather (in the low 70's), the wedding
couples were out in full force having their photographs taken. I
couldn't resist the fluffy pink dress hiked up so it wouldn't get the
hem dirty!

A group of school children were out practicing for a parade (I
think!) and flag raising. They were having a great time.

The boat in the water - I think they were cleaning the river. They
had some sort of pump vacuum in a net and were sucking up garbage and
putting it in the boat.