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Day 11 – Touring and Shopping

 

Today was pretty much a free day. We had a tour lined up to go see an old Buddhist temple, and an old family house, and then off to a small shop to do some shopping. Breakfast was pretty good, we tested Ying Ying with some eggs to see if she would break out. She seemed fine, and liked the eggs, so I feel a little better about her having to get her immunizations if they make us get them. We finished breakfast and wandered over to the group to get ready to head out to the temple.

 

The temple was actually really amazing. 1500 years old I believe is what they dated it, and it was fairly large considering they called it a "small temple". It had a very large pagoda inside which was much taller that I had anticipated. It has started to lean though and they wouldn't let us climb it, L  They did offer a Buddhist blessing, which a lot of the families participated in. We had to go in and take our shoes off, and kneel in front of 3 huge statues while the monk chanted and hit a little drum and bell. He splashed a little holy water or oil on us and we bowed 3 times and that was it. It was very nice and peaceful, most of the kids even sat the whole time, Ying Ying included. Afterwards we headed to the Chen House, which is an old family house. Its not really so much a house is it is temple for the Chen family. It was collaboratively built and funded by many of the Chen families from the province. They gather in it a couple of times a year to honor and worship their ancestors. They had several examples inside of the ivory/jade carving and embroidery crafts that the region and family are known for creating. We only stayed for about 40 minutes, so I was kind of rushing around to keep the kid entertained, and so I could see the layout and architecture of the house, while Robyn was taking lots of pictures of the exhibits and the house itself.

 

Our next stop was to a small shop, so we could do some shopping. Our guides said that the prices were good, and that there was no haggling here. We didn't buy much, just a couple of shirts and trinkets for gifts. Most of the merchandise seemed like things we could get back home, and other than the jewelry(which I have no idea about pricing or availability) it all seemed to be the same price range. I didn't really want to buy something here just for the sake of buying something, so we pretty much wandered around until the group was ready. Ying Ying was happy to sit in her stroller so we just rode up and down the aisles the majority of the time. We headed back to the hotel after this, and decided to order some pizza from Papa Johns. Finally, REAL American food! It took about an hour to get here, which was almost twice the quoted time, and then we had to search for the delivery guy, because security won't let them come inside. We finally found him standing outside the hotel by his bicycle. The prices were pretty American, no cheap stuff here. It tasted great, and Ying Ying loved it too. We had a group diner planned for 5 that afternoon, but we figured we'd eat until we were stuffed. The dinner was at a Thai place, so if we didn't like the food, it would be ok since we probably wouldn't be too hungry anyways. We took a little nap before dinner, which Ying needed. She actually cried a bit to get into the bed with me, and promptly leaned back on the pillows and fell asleep. When we woke up we headed downstairs for dinner with the rest of the group. The first thing the brought us was shrimp chips, which Robyn was going to eat until I let her know what they were, J Robyn ended up getting ice cream, and feeding Ying Ying some vegetables.  I got a prawn soup that was the hottest thing they had listed on the menu, along with a bottle of water, a beer, and a Pineapple and Chinese forest frog drink. Initially I thought that 'Chinese forest frog' was some kind of bad translation for a type pf fruit or something along those lines. Turns out it was dead on, its actually the internal organs of a forest fogs, ground up, and dumped in the drink. Since I wasn't really hungry, I got it anyways. The soup was ok, I mainly got it to see how hot it was. I ate the prawn out of it, and tried one of the little peppers in it. It was very hot, but I was done with it after a few bites and moved on to the frog drink. I didn't take any time to initially examine it, that would have detoured me from trying it. It really just tasted like a pineapple punch with lots of pulp in it. The organs are apparently pretty clear, and you could see them at the top. They didn't seem to have any real taste to them, and pineapple is kind of overpowering.

 

We walked back to the hotel after surviving dinner and finally stopped in one of the local shops to look around. Its kind of like Gatlinburg or some little tourist town where all the shops have basically the same t-shirts, toys and knick-knacks. We bought a few t-shirts, and some shoes and outfits for Ying Ying. The shop people were very nice, they loved that babies, and thought it was funny that we could speak a little Mandarin. Of course every 3 or 4 sentences would be followed with a "We have very pretty (insert product here)! I will sell to you cheap!" Robyn gathered her things, and even haggled a bit with the lady and bought our loot. The shop owners even gave the kids a little stuffed toy of some sort for free, which was nice, but Ying could have cared less about it. We made it back to the hotel and performed our nightly attempt at a ritual of bathing and then going to bed. Ying Ying went for it this time, and didn't fuss or anything after bath-time and actually went to sleep. Tomorrow we have a trip to the pearl market off the island. Neither of us is interested in it, but we have 4 days left to burn, and I'm sure the local shops will not provide us with much entertainment after a day or two.

-jason

Day 10

Day 10 – Saturday, November 28, 2009

 

We found the buffet here to be much more palatable.  There were a lot more choices and lots more white folks wandering around.  Jason found some of the rumor queen people he knows, and we also ran into the people we saw in Chicago.  We eat and headed for yet another photo taking (this one for Ying's visa) and to the medical clinic.  It was about a 10 minute walk.  Walking around the island is quite nice, though there is a lot of construction, and it was raining on us.  The rain cleared the air of some of the pollution.  The clinic seemed to be a complete, chaotic madhouse.  If that is how socialized medicine operates, you can stuff it.  HA!  It was crowded and confusing, but the staff was nice and everyone was nice to the kids.  There was a special section of the clinic for adoption kids.  We did an ear, nose, throat check which was fine.  Then the height/weight (she's 22 lbs) and on to the check by the doctor.  The doctor was nice, and he looked over her paperwork from the packet that talks about her condition.  He checked her heart and also had someone else check her heart, but they said everything was ok.  We were supposed to do immunizations and TB test also, she is over 2 and we are a Hague family.  However, they are not sure what she is allergic too, so they are trying to get info from the orphanage to decide if they will immunize her or not.  We have not gotten word yet.  I am hoping this does not cause us any delays!!!!   She is allergic to a lot of medications, so I would like to get her home and tested for allergies before we shoot her up.  Grace (our CCAI guide here) said we have to come back Monday to read the TB test results anyway, so we can do whatever then. 

 

We came back for nappy time, and Ying pitched a terrible fit until daddy held her to go to sleep.  She slept with me because daddy put her in the bed after she was knocked out, but I could not sleep- it was very loud in the hotel!!  At 3, I headed to Grace's room to do yet more paperwork.  Only problem was – I didn't know where Grace's room was!  I headed back to the room and called her cell phone to find out.  So, I strolled in 10 minutes late… then I couldn't find the paper I needed because everything was out of order from the mad dash to find something outlining what she was allergic to at the clinic.  I felt like an idiot.  Oh well.  After everyone else finished and the next wave of people were in there, Ray helped me sort papers and I finally found it and was able to finish. 

 

I went down to the play room and chatted with folks for a while.  The playroom, sponsored by Mattel is REALLY nice!!!!!   Ying loves all the little kids, and the bigger kids too.  There was one little boy who was really picking on her and upsetting her, but he left after a while.  It started getting crowded and we were hungry, so we left too.  We wanted to go to 7/11, so we decided to go with Nancy & Ray to Lucy's – everyone raves about the food at Lucy's.  It was quite good.  Ying devoured her vegetable plate, and Kai was pretty good too!  We went through 7/11 and found some more of Ying's custard cakes (one of which Jason has already eaten!  HA) and headed back for bathtime.  I'm currently trying to decide if Ying will be awake long enough to call Grammy & Poppy since we have a tour at 9 am tomorrow.  She may not make it!  =)  We can always call tomorrow night though. 

 

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--"We never touch people so lightly that we do not leave a trace"

Day 9

Day 9 – Friday, November 27, 2009

 

 Oh yeah, I forgot about the pollution.  I've heard it is terrible, but you really have to see it to understand.  It really is bad!  You can tell from some of the pictures- it has not been cloudy the entire time we've been here- the pollution is so bad that it constantly looks hazy and foggy- all day.  I hope they can do something to fix that soon.  There's so much to mention—the spitting, the split pants, the bikes, the traffic, the cigarette smoke- China is definitely an experience!  I kinda wonder if the Chinese people from home are able to use the 'scary floor potty' when they come back for visits.  I will be asking Lao Shi about that.  =)  It is very odd to be 14 hours ahead of home!  'I'm in the FUTURE!'  HAHA! 

 

So, they took my hairspray at security, even though it's been in my carryon all along.  I will have to go on a crusade to find hair spray.  The plane was a bit delayed taking off and there was lots of confusion getting the Americans on board (so many strollers!)- so they just let all the Chinese people go in front of us, and then made us check bags when they ran out of carryon space.  Go figure.  Oh well.  Ying was pretty good on the flight, we kept her entertained with food and toys and she got to sit with daddy most of the flight. The seats are pretty small on these planes.  I found the flight excruciating.  I slipped in the shower and felt pretty useless the whole day.  I had to pick Ying up and hold her while she bawled when Jason left to check the luggage.  She cried the entire half hour too, and afterward my back was KILLING me.  Sitting on the plane was not fun either. Or the bus.  LOL.  I had high hopes for the White Swan, that the beds would be soft and perfect… no such luck!  The beds have been progressively harder.  Jason loves them, and I'm in agony after hurting my back.  If I hadn't hurt it, I'd be fine.  But, it is just like sleeping on the floor.  Even the pillows are hard- how they manage that I don't know.  Ying is a complete Daddy's girl.  We will have to break her of that when we get home.  We came in very late to the hotel, so didn't get to go to sleep until after midnight.  Ying, for some reason, was fighting going to sleep too.  She cried for several minutes before settling down finally (I think daddy picked her up).  And of course, they start us right off with an early morning.  =)

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--"We never touch people so lightly that we do not leave a trace"

Happy Thanksgiving!

Day 9 – Thursday, November 26, 2009

 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!  Have we really been here 9 days?  Wow.  Please pray for the Daniels' family.  They are leaving today and their little girl (the blue baby I've been talking about) is staying here in China.  She is in desperate need of surgery and is not well enough to travel.  Their cardiologist from home viewed her files- fortunately they had up to date readings on her- and said he gave her a 50/50 chance of surviving a flight (even just to Guangzhou, not the long one home) – and that was if she was lucky.  They were extremely fortunate that Josh and Lilly just happened to be here at this time (believe in divine providence anyone?  I do.)—and they have worked very hard to try to get things straightened out.  Their little girl will be taking the train to Beijing, and will be trying to get her weight up to 7k so she can have surgery (she currently weighs 6).  The family will be paying half of the surgery and the other half will be covered by a charity called Philip Hayden.  Since it will not cost the orphanage, they are hoping there will not be any issues with this.  They have 90 days for her to have surgery and they could still come back to take her home with them.  It is also possible to apply for a Travel Approval extension.  I am sure this was the best decision for the baby, but it was probably the hardest decision the Daniels have had to make.  They could definitely use some prayers for a happy ending to all of their trials.  While they were packing to leave, the rest of us went to the Henan museum.  The city we are in- Zhengzhou- used to be called Zhongzhou (zhong is middle in Chinese), and has been the capital of China 4 different times in the past.  It is on the Yellow River, which has made it an important distribution area.  The museum was very interesting, and covered thousands of years of history.  Many of the items in there were from BC.  Some of the time, it seemed like we (the white people) were the main attraction, and many of us were asked to be in pictures with random Chinese people.  We are the 1^st large group to adopt from here, so it is something of a novelty to see foreigners together around here.  Hopefully, a lot of my pictures turned out well, I think Ying may like to see them when she is older.  Ying only wanted Daddy to carry her around the museum- hee hee- she's a Daddy's girl already! 

 

Ying is quite a character.  We've had several tantrums today (this afternoon).  She does not like to be told 'no' on something she wants.  She is very cute and special needs, so I am sure she has not heard 'no' often in her short life.  We don't like how little she talks, but we are trying to take it easy on her.  She threw a fit because I wouldn't let her use the hotel phone and she cried for prolly 30 mins.  Oh well, heh.  That doesn't work so well with mommy & daddy.  She'll learn, we aren't like her Chinese 'ai yi's and she can't do whatever she wants.  I think it is very normal for her to test boundaries, and also for her to feel the grief once she does start crying.  I actually like that she is spirited, I think it is a good sign.  I feel bad because I think it is just plain adorable when she cries, and I want to just smile at her and watch- she'll probably get very mad at me for that when she is older and understands more.  For Ying's 1^st Thanksgiving- We had Thanksgiving turkey dinner at the restaurant in the hotel – it wasn't that bad.  It was very different though.  Everyone loves happy little Ying, the Chinese women get quite a kick out of her showing people her different body parts.  We do have a lot to be thankful for this year!  Daddy doesn't like it when his little girl cries though, she is going to have a rough adjustment I think for a short while.  I will be 'thankful' to head out for Guangzhou tomorrow—I literally have over a dozen mosquito bites on me.  And I'm told the whiteys aren't such a novelty there where we are going, and there is more shopping and food.  Almost everyone has been quite friendly here though, so I'm not complaining.

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--"We never touch people so lightly that we do not leave a trace"

Day 8

Day 8 – Wednesday, November 25

 

Finally, a completely free day.  It was nice to sleep in just a little bit, though I think Jason is still struggling with sleeping.  We talked to Grammy, Poppy, and Matt this morning.  Matt and Ying were kinda playing patty-cake and peek-a-boo over Skype.  I really want to go home to my little boy.  We ate breakfast and played in the playroom for a while and that's about it.  I am covered in mosquito bites, but they don't seem to be biting anyone else!  I have three on my face, one on my pinky finger, one at the base of my thumb, one on my neck, one on the EDGE or my ear, and two on my wrist!!!  They itch like crazy too.  I think they must be getting in the room when we open the window to keep from suffocating.  I had a cheeseburger from the hotel restaurant and it was so, so, so good!!!  Ying tricked Daddy and got to sleep in bed with him last night!  HA!  The beds are not quite the size of a full size bed, and we have each been sleeping in our own separate bed.  I think he was just too tired to get up and put her in the crib after she fell asleep.  =)  We also played in the playroom but forgot the camera, we will have to go back with it Friday.  Jason has found many more pictures of our Ying online, they have even posted pictures of her adoption day and us—I can't wait to get home and ask NaiNai what it really says.  We will also have to steal all the extra pictures, but it would mean a lot to have the text around for Ying when she is older and wants to know. 

 

More Details, etc

Day 6 – Monday, November 23, 2009

 

Gotchya Day

 

Well, we were prepared for the worst possible outcome for today.  You hear all kinds of stories about how people just have a crying baby tossed at them and that is it- no opportunity to ask any questions or anything.  Also, often the babies are in terrible condition under their 20 layers of clothes – so we were fully expecting this.  Our group had a wide array of kids, ages, and experiences.  Some did have the baby handed over by people with no answers to any questions they might have.  Some were not in the best condition at all.  All of there were in at least 4 layers of clothes.  For the most part the babies seemed to be in decent health, though most of them also seem to have a cold of varying degrees. 

 

We were the ones who got the 'storybook' Gotchya Day.  Four caretakers were with Ying to help transition her.  They recognized us right away from our picture books and they brought her over to us.  They were very excited and happy.  They were just plain wonderful.  She was in many layers of clothes, so all you could see was her face – and it looked exactly like my little doll from her pictures.  I can never be thankful enough to realize that she has been loved and cared for while with these people.  You could absolutely tell that they loved her very much.  I was fine until a couple of them started tearing up, then my eyes got teary as well.  I can't imagine being in their shoes and how very hard that must be.  They are truly special people to do what they do.  Even the director was very attached to Ying, unusual for Chinese men I believe, to show something like that.  You could tell they had been showing her our pictures and she knew that I was Mama.  They were so wonderful, they brought us two bags full of things to help take care of her – clothes, tissues, wipes, diapers, handmade clothes, her blanket, toys, snacks.  It was extremely overwhelming, considering most only got the clothes on their kids' back.  Also considering how little these people have to give. 

 

These were her actual daily caregivers.  Ying is the first foreign adoption from PingDingShan.  I hope they will adopt more out if this is how well all the kids are treated there- they have a wonderful program going.  One of the caretakers spoke very good English and told us that Ying has actually been in a care home in Beijing because of her special needs since she was 3 months old, but her orphanage paid for it.  They took the train from there to bring her to us.  They also said they had taken her to see some of the sights and would email us the pictures from there.   They gave us a wonderful letter from them that will mean a lot to her when she is older, and also a picture book of all her caretakers and friends from the orphanage.  It was the sweetest thing in the world.  They were upset about leaving her and hid in the hallway for quite a while to watch her as she adjusted to us.  She was just fine with us, and I think she prefers Daddy.  I truly could never thank these people enough for loving her, and I know they must be missing her terribly.  That is a wonderful gift to give to a child. 

 

Ying fell asleep on my shoulder on the bus, and for the most part has been quite good.  She doesn't say many words, probably due to the pallet, but she understands quite a bit and communicates with her hands.  Other families in our group have had an easy transition, and some have been rough.  One baby they knew was a cryer- and she has been crying, though I'm told adjusting well when she is in the hotel room with her family.  One lady's mother passed away the night before we got our babies.  One of the babies had information from the foster family and a note for the baby wrapped up and hidden in her pacifier that was under her many layers of clothes (this is frowned upon by the CCAA I understand), one set of people have a 'blue baby' who is in very serious condition and I don't believe they are going to be allowed to adopt her.  They could use some prayers.  The 'blue baby' syndrome is often cause by the same heart condition Ying had that was operated on and fixed (tetralogy of fallot).  They baby and her appearance worries me so much - she was literally clue and listless.  They had her taken to the hospital late this evening and given oxygen and other medication that seemed to help, but the cardiologists do not believe she will make the flight home.  They are definitely on my mind and I feel guilty about how well and how smoothly things have gone for us. 

 

Ying cried herself to sleep on my shoulder the 1^st night.  She was grieving, sounding as if her little heart was breaking.  I'm sure she was missing her family and friends.  I'm glad she was upset in a way, I would have been more worried if she had not shown any signs of grief.  I am certain that there were a few Chinese people crying their eyes out and missing her as well.  =(  Once she was done crying, she slept very well.  I said a lot of thankful prayers as I was falling asleep.  We really, truly could not have asked for a better day, I don't think I could have imagined a better outcome for this day. 

 

 

Day 7 – Tuesday, November 24, 2009

 

Today we woke up and took all the kids out to do paperwork.  Ying is the cutest little thing, and she is such a girl compared to her big brother!  She seems to be very little delayed mentally – other than the speech issue.  She understands everything it seems.  She's adorable when she nods her head yes if you ask her something that she wants.  She points quite well too, I don't think it will take her long to catch up in English and in speaking, and also physically.  She really was very well cared for!  She knows many of her body parts (in Chinese) and likes to play little games.  She's just plain adorable.  She was very good while we did paperwork too, much more sedate than Matt.  We'll see if that lasts.  Our first stop was back at the same place we picked the kids up from yesterday… which – if I were one of the older kids- would have been really scary to me!  One of the families had Yisha explain to their little girl (who is 9) that we were going back, but just to do paperwork- they weren't giving her back or anything like that.  We actually had a little ceremony with the new director of the place – which was an honor to us.  Lily and Josh (the founders of CCAI- our adoption agency) paid us a visit as well – also a rare occurrence.  This is the largest group to adopt from Henan since they started the Henan project and everything is going wonderfully.  Lily went with us to the ceremony with the new director.  Josh stayed behind to help the family with the tet baby who was in the hospital.  Really, they couldn't have had a better advocate, it is fortunate for them that he is here, even though they are in a terrible position. 

 

We filled things out and got our certificate with our family picture on it, then went to fill our more paperwork.  The notary office was really interesting and very Chinese.  We had to trek up 8 flights of stairs, and through smoky hallways to get to the notary office.  They smoke a lot in China, even in the workplace.  After a minute or two, you get used to it.  They took more pictures and had us fill out more papers.  Then finally back to the bus to go to the hotel.  Then back out for a shopping trip…  to a store very similar to Wal-Mart (but not walmart, we went there the night before)… it was weird to have all the Chinese people staring and taking pictures with their camera phones.  It was also weird wandering around the store trying to find the things you were looking for.  Then back on the bus again…  Ying started crying and fussing.  It makes me happy to hear her do that (bad as that sounds).  She was tired and thirsty.  We gave her some water and snacks and she was good to go.  She's very cute when she cries.  She bucks, just like Matt does, and I had to laugh.  I told her I had a 2.5 year old at home who was much bigger and probably 4 times stronger than her, so she could buck around all she wanted!  It is weird how delicate and gentle-natured she is compared to Matthew.  He's going to get such a kick out of playing with her I think.  We saw the baby who was in the hospital back at the hotel, she looked much better and was moving around and stuff.  That was encouraging.  They were waiting for their cardiologist at home to review her files.  I do not think they will end up being allowed to adopt her though, I don't know.  It is such a scary situation for them and they could definitely use prayers.  The baby is much worse then they thought she was.  I think I say a prayer every few minutes I'm so thankful that things are going so well for us.  YingYing was good in the restaurant for dinner, or was that lunch (yes, Chinese food again… we did eat Italian the night before we got her, but I wasn't hungry and didn't really eat any).  We came back to the room and played and took nice steamy bath (she loves baths, just like GeGe!)  and I was fully expecting another crying spell.  She was fine though, we put her down and said good-night.  She looked at books for a few minutes and went to sleep.  She is afraid of the dark though, so we have to make sure we leave a light on.  We will have to buy one for her room I think. 

 

I'll have Jason post more pictures when he wakes up and tells me where the cable is.  =)

 

 

Gotchya Day - part 1

We have our little girl.  She is absolutely, positively amazing.  I was prepared for the worst possible day.  It could not have been a more storybook, wonderful story type of day.  I'll elaborate on that later, but things are going very well.  Thank you all for your thoughts/prayers/etc.  See the Flikr link for more pictures. 

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--"We never touch people so lightly that we do not leave a trace"

On to ZhengZhou

 

Day 5 – Sunday, November 22, 2009

 

We left Beijing for ZhengZhou in typical Chinese fashion of organized chaos.  =)  The flight was ok and short, which is good.  ZhengZhou is much more 'Chinese' – there is hardly another non-Chinese person to be found that isn't with us.  The city is quite large with lots of giant, interesting buildings.  Strangely, the streets seem a tiny bit safer to cross.  It is warmer here also, about 50 degrees- which is nice.  Our agency guide here, Yisha, reminds me of Lao Shi- I like her a lot. 

 

We got to our room at the Crowne Plaza and it was a thousand degrees!!!  The 'cool' button on the thermostat doesn't actually blow cool.  The air conditioning is not on.  We all were burning up.  Yisha spoke to the hotel people about it.  The heating/cooling system is either one or the other- and it powers 4 different buildings (3 of them hotels) on this block, so they could not just turn on the air for us.  They did let us know how to crack the windows and provided us with fans to cool the rooms- that helped tremendously!

 

We went to the bank and waited and waited.  We would have been the perfect target for robbery- so conspicuous we all were.  20 or so white people walking into the currency exchange.  I was very vigilant when the guard went to the bathroom, but I'm always watchful like that (I prefer careful to paranoid).  Of course nothing.  They even had Tom & Jerry playing in the lobby for entertainment!  They call it Mao he Lao Shu (Cat & Mouse). 

 

We came back and then a few of us trekked it down the block to Chinese Wal-Mart (about 2 blocks down).  I have a feeling we are going to spend more time there once we get the babies.  It was highly entertaining and very, very Chinese.  The meat was all out on stands where you could go though and pick the piece you wanted after handling it (with gloves of course).  We were stared at so very much, it was interesting.  We are all curious as to why the sidewalks seem to be constantly wet even though there is no rain. 

 

We came back, put some stuff away in the room, wrapped gifts and sorted money into their needed piles.  That took a while.  Jason called back home and it was torturous to hear Matt's voice.  He is doing fine however and doesn't miss us a bit.  The dogs too.  Not really surprising. 

 

Tomorrow is the day!  Wish us luck everyone, send all the good thoughts and prayers you can spare!  We're so excited. 

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--"We never touch people so lightly that we do not leave a trace"

Days 1-4

Day 1 – Wednesday, November 18

Well, we made it to the airport on time and made it to Chicago in one piece – SCORE! Very glad Poppy was willing to take us at 4am. I managed to bash my head on the overhead compartment while disembarking… I immediately started laughing & then a tall guy made fun of me- he said ‘only us tall people are supposed to do that.’ I agreed. I am not used to watching my head. There are an abundance of military service men & women (particularly Navy) at O’Hare. Reading the story of O’Hare the war hero= it all makes me miss my Granddaddy very much. While we breakfasted at Chili’s- I watched a man walk over to a table of four soldiers, He thanked them for serving their (our) country, for everything they do, & he bought their meal. I got quite teary-eyed at that (actually a little now, just thinking about it), but am very thankful to have witnessed the display. We should never, ever forget what our military men and women do for us all- down to the smallest day to day sacrifices that we all take for granted. To all of you who serve (and your families, who give up so much) – thank you. You have my gratitude.

Oh, and O’Hare is the coolest airport… they have these really neat automatic toilet seat covers!!!! The plastic slides around and POW- clean seat! HA! They also have automatic hand sanitizers as you exit the restroom. O’Hare – A+ for cleanliness.


Day 2 – I think – Thursday, November 19

Ok, so the plane is BIG. A 777 – it had two seats, five seats in the middle, then two more seats on each row. Wow. Business class looked neat, the seats reclined and had a lot more room. I hear 1st class has massage chairs, but we weren’t even allowed a glimpse. Flight was LONG, and Beijing is cold, with some snow on ground. The good Lord really tested me on this flight. I have issues with personal boundaries. I don’t like people I don’t know in my space, much less touching me. I acknowledge that this is my issue, and that other people don’t necessarily have this problem, and I’ve been trying to get better about it. Also, I’d mentally prepared myself. Culturally, it is not strange to Asian people to be—what I would call all up in each other’s space. So, of course this Chinese guy was next to me on the plane. Caveat—on the other side of him was AN EMPTY SEAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BUT, he was somehow touching me – if not sleeping on me- pretty much the entire 14 hour flight! I’ve never been so happy to get off an airplane in my life. Between him and the guy who was standing in front of Jason who might as well have been in his lap – I didn’t sleep more than 15 minutes. But, they did have good food, and there was entertainment. They had nifty little TV screens where you could watch the airplane’s progress or watch movies. It was nice to actually watch a movie- I can’t remember the last movie I watched without interruption- or heck even at all! I watched Up (twice), GI Joe (twice) and 2 hours worth of Disney channel sitcoms (at least three times)… also read some of the Kindle while listening to music (plane’s satellite radio) and played a bit of video games. I seriously can’t imagine if we had taken Matt on that flight though, he would have lost his mind and driven everyone crazy- being confined like that.

Getting to China was weird. I went to the potty as soon as we got off the plane- MISTAKE! Should have gone on the plane. It was one of the ‘squatting’ potties… common here in China for some odd reason. It consists of a porcelain hole in the ground. Literally. There is no sitting. I have never before in my life been jealous of a man’s ability to stand and pee. I can’t even fathom if I’d had to go #2. I did vow after that – I would be sticking to hotel bathrooms, so I’m rationing my liquids while we are out during the day. Ah, strategery.

Going through customs & immigration & the ‘health check’ was a little weird. They have these things that look like metal detectors that you walk through that check your temperature and people are staring at you (I assume looking for signs of illness). It was strangely quiet as you stand in line to go through each of these three stations. Also, so many of the workers have masks on, it’s weird.

Our stroller never showed up on the carousel… but if we had to not get something, I’m glad that was it. We found our CCAI guide Sindy- who is absolutely adorable and super nice. She got us up to speed on the plans, and tossed us on the bus. She had to go back in the airport to retrieve some more families.

The ride to the hotel should have been 45 minutes, but turned into nearly 2 hours. Traffic is insane and scary. Really scary, I can’t imagine driving here. Thank you, Mr bus driver for getting us all through that. Beijing looks neat at night with all the lights, buildings, and signs.

So, we finally got to the hotel… YAY. It is a very nice hotel, and smells Chinese to me. Heh. Jason managed to pop the circuit in our room, and we hadn't even been in the room for 5 minutes! Thank goodness he had seen a tiny flashlight, and I had read on the card how to call the front desk in the lobby. It was pitch dark and we had to call the hotel desk. I ended up sitting in the hallway holding the door open while we waited for help. Turns out, you can plug a regular adapter in to this one particular plug. We grabbed some food from the restaurant and that was about it. We were exhausted, so we crashed -- just after 9pm. =)

Day 3 – Friday, November 20, 2009

Jason woke up every two hours, and finally got up about about 4am. He looked at the computer a bit and then paced around and explored the hotel for a while. He said it was all dark, they had most of the lights off- very strange- and our hotel appears to be connected to a bunch of shopping and food if you keep walking around. The hotel is quite pretty, with a gorgeous fountain show casing the 12 animals of the zodiac. The staff is also quite nice. Breakfast buffet rocked- especially when you are hungry.

At 9am we were off to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Odd to think that in the not so distant history you would have been killed for entering the grounds of the Forbidden City without permission. On the walk from the bus there were the sounds of beautiful, absolutely lovely song-birds everywhere! It was astounding, and coming from the park we were walking beside. Well, look over and the birds are in cages in the trees… no wonder you can hear them so well!!!! That was quite funny, but weird, and maybe even a bit sad. Mostly funny though- like, really?! The street vendors attacked us as soon as we got off the bus- ‘buy my panda hat, buy some gloves’… If I hadn’t had cold-weather gear with me, I’d have been happy to buy it. It was really cold. Like- bitter, biting cold. The wind was Canada-style cold. I LOVED IT! I love cold. =) It reminded me of our ski trip to Canada. The Forbidden City was both beautiful and fascinating- especially the Imperial Gardens, with play places built for their children with rocks brought in from each of the provinces. Matt would have been really, really hard to keep off those rocks.

Lao Shi warned us of this, but I was still surprised when it happened. Chinese people stop me and ask to take a picture with me – because of the blonde hair. She said many Chinese have never seen a blonde in person before. I’m thankful we didn’t bring Matt with us- we would have been stopped every 5 feet with his white-blonde hair. I felt like everyone was looking at me though, and I did a couple of times catch the words ‘bai tou’, or ‘bai tou fa’ – white head, white hair. The Chinese guards in their outfits are fascinating – they look so foreign and handsome and severe… especially the ones with bayonets. The picture of Mao is GIGANTIC.

Tiananmen Square is large, well protected, and excruciatingly clean. There are street vendors, but much fewer of them. There are beautiful pillars- 56 of them that represent the 56 different ethnic groups that make up the different minorities within China. It is wide, and there isn’t much in the middle. Supposedly, the largest city center in the world. They are working on a museum on one side that will give history and information on all the ethnic groups. At the end is Mao’s mausoleum. We walked past, but did not go in because the line to get in was over 2.5 hours long. Then we went down stairs, through tunnels, up stairs, cross street, down stairs, tunnel, up stairs- etc, etc, etc to get back to the bus that really seemed to be just right across the street. It was weird to walk through the tunnels that go under the street (good idea though) and see the beggars and vendors and soldiers all milling together.

Apparently you drive wherever you want, whenever you want in Beijing. Our bus driver is good at it. The bus pulled up on the sidewalk to let us out for lunch. We ate lunch in an underground restaurant that was pretty good. I didn’t eat much- the sauces are very strong, but very Chinese. Also, I’m paranoid about what I’m eating because of the seafood allergy. Thank goodness for sticky white rice!

We went through a silk factory, which was really pretty interesting. I totally want a silk blanket now, I think I will look for one in GuangZhou. We had some extra time, so we got to drive to the Olympic Bird’s Nest stadium. That was pretty darn cool! Also, the buildings shaped like a dragon were so cool! I was glad we got to take that little detour.

On we went to the acrobatic show and the Beijing Theater. Jason was not excited, things like that don’t interest him too much, though he was excited to think they would do some wushu. The performance was interesting- especially when Jason got picked to go up on the stage!!!! HA! It was hilarious! It was part of the show where they put someone into a gigantic ceramic flower pot and a tiny girl spins the pot around on her legs. It was so funny that he was picked to participate. I’ll post a picture when I get it- the guy next to us who had a great camera that didn’t flash was able to get a picture for me!!! Tooooooo funny. The wushu part of the performance was also great… the monkey style guy was amazing and a little boy did Frog style, which was really cool- I’d never seen it before.

So, off to dinner we went. We had Peking roast duck in a very authentic, local place. It was good, but duck is not really my thing. It is a little fatty for me. The sauces were all very strong too, so I had a little rice and that was about it. I figured I would get something back at the hotel. But, when we got back I was too tired to worry about it, I just went to sleep instead. There’s always breakfast.

Day 4 – Saturday, November 21, 2009

So, we got on the bus to head to the Great Wall… we were on the bus for a long time. Our bus driver is the best. He drives where he wants, when he wants. I think this is the first time I’ve seen a bus do a U-Turn- he does them all the time. So, we drove and drove- the traffic was very bad and congested, and there were several accidents. Finally, Sindy let us know that there was a very bad accident, and they had gotten notice that they had closed the road to the Great Wall. So, by that time it was nearly lunchtime anyway. We went to the Jade factory as planned. That was pretty cool. They use a tiny dremel looking tool to carve the jade under running water. Some of the carvings were just amazing in their detail. Then we went to lunch- where they gave us small bottles of unidentifiable alcohol that no one drank… so we took a couple to bring home- heh heh. Li lao shi (Nai Nai) & Jiang lao shi (Ye Ye) will get a kick out of them if nothing else. And, on to the Great Wall we went, since the road was now open. Thankfully, it was not quite as cold as yesterday and the wind wasn’t really blowing at all- so it was quite a pleasant temperature for this type of undertaking. Other than 5 year old Katy- I went the highest on the wall out of the women. To be fair, I’m pretty sure most of the others had done this before, and I think Nancy would have totally gone farther than me if she wasn’t six months pregnant! I think we would have gone a little farther to where it ended but we ran out of time. We did make it to the store at the top, where we opted not to buy t-shirts that said I climbed the Great Wall of China. The wall is pretty darn amazing. I wouldn’t have invaded China if I had to climb that to do so!! The steps were terribly, awfully uneven. Some were only about an inch high- while others came up to my knee. There was no rhyme or reason or rhythm to it either. Also, one side of the seemingly never-ending steps was still covered in snow and ice, so it was hard to navigate up and down. After having gone both up and down- I’m voting that down was more treacherous. It was scary! Thank goodness they’d put in a handrail at some point in time or I would have been scooting down some of those steps on my butt! We then drove back into Beijing- seeing some really interesting roadside scenes along the way. We skipped the tea ceremony due to lack of time and went for the HuTong tour instead. HuTong’s are like small square village housing that is very, very old. We rode a rickshaw (which was neat, I didn’t think I’d like it) and our driver was highly entertained that the MeiGuoRen (Americans) spoke Mandarin. We went to the house of the gentleman who owned the HuTong and got to listen to a lot of interesting history. We drove around some more and saw Beijing’s version of Beale Street- which was pretty neat. I was frozen by this time! I’d gotten sweaty climbing the darn wall and then I’d gotten cold on the bus. When the sun went down it got really cold really quickly. I ate dinner with all my gear on and still never got warm. The food here is killing me. You can only eat Chinese food so many times in a row- ha ha. Also, because of the seafood allergy, I’m extremely careful of what I’m eating. So, I’m ending up eating only about a palm size amount of food per meal. Maybe I’ll lose a few pounds, eh?

We’ re now packing for the trip to ZhengZhou in the morning. I can’t wait to go. Beijing has been great, and we’ve gotten to do some amazing things… but the entire time we have been here all I can think is- I want to go get my baby girl. So, we’re more than ready for the trip tomorrow. Then the next day we finally get to see her!

Ok, I’m off to re-pack and weigh bags!

~Robyn (&Jason)

ps, here is our flickr page of photos, we just dumped them here, not organized or tagged yet, :)

PicsPages

Packed

The cameras are packed or I would take pics of our luggage. We did good, only checking 3 bags. Our flight is at 6am tomorrow, so we have to get up early. We fly into Chicago, have a 5 hour-ish layover, and then hop on the plane to Beijing. There are a couple of other families that will be on the same flight, so hopefully we can identify each other and chat a bit. The flight from Chicago is about 14-15 hours. We logged in to do the online check-in and got upgrade options for the seats, which we took. Economy upgrades to Economy Plus, woooooooooo. Actually it gives us more leg room, so that will be nice. We should get to Beijing about 4:30pm local time, and then we find our guide and go to the hotel. I have my proxify account setup, so I should be able to by-pass the "Great Firewall of China" and post to the blog and get everywhere else when we get settled in. The worst part of all this is we had to leave the baby-boy at home with the grandparents. Its very depressing, but we will be plenty busy within the next day or so, and we get girlie-girl on 11/23. We just want to get there and see that she is ok, and there are no additional issues. We have skype and webcams setup so we can talk to the son here, and show off the new kid. Ok, its late, we're going to go take a nap now so we can get up and get ready in a few hours.

TA and CA confirmed

Finally, we are done with waiting for all these "A"'s to come. We got our confirmation on the travel dates of November 19th - Dec 4th, and our consulate appointment is on Dec 1st. We got our plane tickets purchased yesterday, so we will leave Memphis in less than 2 weeks to head to Chicago to sit for 5 hours, THEN we head to Beijing, thats ~14 hours in the same plane, booooo. We should land in Beijing around 4:30pm local time. Hopefully we can stay awake and successfully go to sleep in the evening to get over the jet lag. The following 2 days will be spent doing a Beijing tour, then we fly to Zhengzhou. We have no idea what we will be doing there, or how long we will be there, or when we get the baby. The agency will be giving us a more detailed 'inter-China' itinerary in a few days. We have to be in Guangzhou on Dec. 1st to do the swearing in ceremony, and then we can leave on Dec. 4th to head home. So now we need to pack!

TA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We got our Travel Approval today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got TA for Nov 18th or 19th, we still have to get the Consulate appointment, but thats just a matter of getting it a fax back from them, we should get it tomorrow or Thursday. Now we have to actually start packing and buying things to take to China!!! We have no idea when we would get her, but its usually a few days after you arrive, we are very excited! I also want to vomit, :) Until we get the CA solidified we can't make any flight arrangements, but we should be in China in 2 weeks, this is crazy. We were getting soooooooooo tired and stressed from waiting for this last step.