Sofia Arrives!

Sofia arrived! She flew into San Francisco so that we could show her the city while we were there getting Vilina's entry and exit permit. We planned the timing perfectly. And we hit the ground running! Tuesday morning, Medina called from Beijing and told me that the Consulate in San Francisco had not sent the documents to Beijing like they said they would. She wanted me to go and find out why. Oh dear. in retrospect it is funny because if the consulate had sent the documents to Beijing on Monday like they said they would, Vilina could have gotten her permit on Tuesday and made her original flight. I don't know why they did not send the documents but the consulate is insanely busy and they probably just did not get to it. So Vilina and I made the trek across the Bay Bridge in rush hour traffic to arrive at the embassy before the line was insanely long. I used my yellow Post-It note actually so that I wouldn't have to wait in line and I just went back to the same window. Same grumpy girl. She took one look at me and went to get Josephine, the supervisor. Josephine said that it was her boss who was responsible for sending the documents to Beijing and there was nothing she could do. She reminded me that it could take months. At this point we we're thinking that Vilina could be with us permanently. The political climate in China is not favorable to Uyghers. They are in danger. So we put the consulate out of our minds because there was nothing more we could do, and we went back to Oakland.

We picked up Sofia at the airport, dropped her stuff off at the hotel and went back to the city. While we were sitting in traffic on the Bay Bridge I had the brilliant idea to go to a baseball game. Actually, it was probably Scott's idea because he has all the brilliant ideas. There was a game that very night and I booked five tickets.

We had lunch at an Italian restaurant in Little Italy that Araceli chose.

I drove the girls around the city, dropping them off at Fisherman's Wharf and Ghirardelli and ending up across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Tensions were pretty high with Vilina. I don't think she could process the disappointment and the uncertainty with the consulate. and to be honest I don't know if she even wanted to go back to China. She kept complaining that her dad was going to be so very angry at her for not completing all the homework he assigned her to do over the school year. I was so done with her, as sweet as she is. I was like, "Welp. You didn't do it. You were lazy. Deal with it."

She refused to get out of the car at the Golden Gate Bridge. So I sent this picture to the king family and said, "Vilina got a new outfit." I don't know why it cracked me up so much but I laughed about it all day.

I love baseball games. It is the best way to feel the pulse of a city and be in the action. The game itself is an art form. And this venue is breathtaking with the sunset over the Bay. Vilina hated it. Ha ha.