Our last days were largely uneventful.  I skipped out on any tour activites and we explored Shamian Island instead.  We found a park with playground equipment for Aidan, ate at a strange restaurant, discovered the hotel pool and did a minimal amount of shopping.

I don't know where this famous sofa is at the White Swan Hotel-I never found it.  Without a travel group, I know we missed out on other things as well.  Most adopting Americans here are not very friendly.  Thank you to the lady from Florida who I met at the pool, to the lady from Virginia who I met at the oath swearing ceremony, to the couple from Wisconsin who were down the hall and then on the first plane with us, and especially to the lady from Kansas who we first met in Beijing and then saw again here-you made up for the rest of them.

We left for the airport on Friday but of course our check-out was complicated, even though I checked out on Thursday night with my guide's assistance.  I found the front desk staff at the White Swan to be friendly and almost incompetent.  But we finally got out and into the air.

Aidan slept about four hours total on our long journey-the seats were too small for him and he has never had to sleep in a chair before anyway.  Our flights were uneventful until the last leg of the journey when that flight was delayed by an hour.

Aidan would not look at or stand in the general vicinity of G or his father for at least the first 15 minutes at the airport.  He was fine in the car, though, and when we got to my in-laws' house he was himself-friendly, giggly, etc.  By the time we got home he was babbling away to G, sitting with him on the couch, letting him carry him around, and generally quite comfortable in his new surroundings.


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