Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, June 30 – This morning we had appointments at the US Consulate General in Guangzhou for passport renewals for Jim and I and to apply for Leah to get her first adult passport! This is a new location from the one we’ve previously been to, but we found it easily from the metro/subway. You can see from the pictures that it was VERY crowded…but not with Americans, they were mostly Chinese citizens applying for visas to visit the USA. When I first saw the crowds, I thought we’d be there forever! Then I realized that there was a special line for US Citizens, and there was nobody else in line :-) For the rest of the people, things did seem fairly well organized with specific lines for certain appointment times. I learned something new (pardon my ignorance!)…. I always thought that “embassy” and “consulate general” were interchangeable, but they aren’t! There is only one US Embassy in a foreign country and in China it is in Beijing. In large countries though, there can be multiple Consulates representing the embassy. It’s always good to know that when you are in a foreign country and need help, you can go to your country’s embassy or consulate. There are consulates for 27 countries in Guangzhou!