Goodbye Harbin. Hello Guangzhou!

No blog post yesterday as took a 4 hour flight from Harbin to Guangzhou.  Harbin is one of China's northernmost cities, while Guangzhou is one of its southernmost.  Quite a difference in climate.

With about 30 minutes remaining in our flight aboard Shenzen Airlines the flight attendants led the passengers in a series of exercises and stretches.  I'm not sure that would work on an airline back home.

Guangzhou is a city of 10.8 million people.  To put that in perspective it has over 2.5 million people more than New York City.  It is still only the 5th largest city in China.

Our hotel is the Holiday Shifu Guangzhou.  It is located on a pedestrian street which when viewed from our 10th floor window looks very much like I expected China to look.  The masses of people walking along appear to be shoulder to shoulder and never ending.  

This morning Sophia had her medical exam and TB test.  Monday we will go back to have the TB test read.  Tomorrow we have a day to explore Guangzhou.  

Sophia has been much warmer to me today.  I awoke twice last night to feel her touching my face.  This morning she wanted to be loving, and I held her during most of her medical exams.  We bought her a stroller this morning, which she seems to enjoy.   She also played with her new toothbrush for the first time with us.  We were told that she hadn't brushed her teeth before which was hard to believe given the good appearance of her teeth.  Now that I've seen her use a tooth brush I am even more dubious that she had never done it before.

It's interesting to watch her personality begin to emerge as she begins to feel more comfortable with us.  She has an infectious smile that engulfs her face and causes her eyes to squint completely closed.  When she begins to laugh she tends to rock forward, almost losing her balance in the process. 

Her upper body has developed a disproportionate strength in compensation for the lack of muscular control she has in her legs.  Sometimes when she crawls she drags her legs, but she certainly can use them for propulsion when she so chooses.