Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tao of Gracie
This morning Gracie was up at 5 am. Today's outing: The Park with the Taoist Temple Near the Lake. I'll remember the real name later. Nanchang is not only the home of the People's Revolution, it is also the birthplace of Taoism, and today's temple was spectacular. There was a shrine to Sun Tzu, author of the Art of War, and there were several Taoist monks around, playing instruments, one of whom entertained us on the a string instrument, like a dulcimer, and even invited the kids to take a try. We were so sorry that we were not allowed to take photos inside the temples, but there was a wonderful mural of epic scale, complete with good and bad guys and angry gods. We were done by noon and spent a relaxing day having a great Japanese lunch in the hotel with Rob, Michelle and Karen, and just hanging around the room. David bought Grace some plastic blocks this afternoon and she skipped her nap just to play with them all afternoon.
The other adopted kids, most are older than Gracie, are now coming around, smiling and interacting, one is showing their parents how to use chopsticks. We also got the photos developed of Gracie in the orphanage, in her rolling walker and hanging around her Fenyi buddies. It looks like they kept her pretty well bundled and in a Pebbles-like top pony tail. She has that very intent look. I sometimes wonder what they are thinking now-probably something like --this is a great field trip. Every morning, a buffet; every day a bus trip, every night a nother party. If only these people could understand us.
Here at the hotel we always hear firecrackers going off, all the time. This afternoon, they were louder than usual, so I looked outside - we are on the 21st floor and below I saw a line of people dressed in white with black hats. They were following a cart, and there were flutes and drums playing. Firecrackers were going off. I took a photo. Rui confirmed for me that it was a funeral. I snapped a photo - It's pretty far away but it was pretty interesting.
Tonight Gracie fell asleep in David's arms while the group was at dinner, around 6pm , after eating an entire bowl of steamed eggs - which were pretty darned good. So, it should be an early morning for us. Tomorrow, we go back to the Notary office, where we will get our passports and Saturday we head out for G-town -- aka Guangzhou. All the parents today were looking at each other and saying--only one week more, then we get to go home.
PS: Regarding comments on the blog - these don't get posted until I see them, and I check once or twice a day. I have the option to publish or not, so you can just indicate if you don't want me to post your comments. While in China, I cannot read the comments once I post them, so moderating them gives me a chance to read them before they are posted.
David and Gracie: All in the name of Love
It's amazing what you'll do just out of pure love for someone. Yesterday I found myself walking down the street of Nanchang with Marie's purse over my left shoulder and a sippie cup and toy in the other hand and didn't think twice about it. Yeah I got some weird stares but for Gracie and Marie it's all worth it. I find myself also waking at night to listen for little Gracie's breathing and once I hear it and see her little chest go up and down I can sleep better. I also wake up a little early just to see Gracie wake up and look at me with those beautiful eyes through that wild hair and reach up to grab for my hand and make those little baby sounds. Yeah I know "tough cop" but she just melts my heart. Oh no I won't spoil my Gracie, Yeah right.
Just a little bit about the crib they put in the rooms for our little ones. First of all there is no padding to speak of and they look more like cages with the bars just wide enough for an arm, leg or even head to slip through. We have to put padding all around it every night using a towel or blanket for the sides and clipping them with plastic clothes pins to stay on. We roll up a blanket for the bottom for Gracie to sleep on because they have no mattresses in them. We push one side of the crib next to the bed nice and tight and push two chairs up close to the other side. We stick a pillow at the end of the crib for padding and in goes Gracie. So far so good and the last two nights she has slept very well. Well gotta go Y'all. Ciao!!!
Just a little bit about the crib they put in the rooms for our little ones. First of all there is no padding to speak of and they look more like cages with the bars just wide enough for an arm, leg or even head to slip through. We have to put padding all around it every night using a towel or blanket for the sides and clipping them with plastic clothes pins to stay on. We roll up a blanket for the bottom for Gracie to sleep on because they have no mattresses in them. We push one side of the crib next to the bed nice and tight and push two chairs up close to the other side. We stick a pillow at the end of the crib for padding and in goes Gracie. So far so good and the last two nights she has slept very well. Well gotta go Y'all. Ciao!!!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Ba-Ba Da Bomb
Schedule for today: Breakfast in hotel (buffet - comes with the room); Teng Family Paviliion, Wal-Mart Back to Hotel, then to the Porcelain Shop and Baby shop, which are walking distance from hotel. After wrestling with Grace this morning trying to get her hair combed into place and pinned down somewhat, then we put her in her cute "Boo" Halloween Shirt with matching pumpkin socks (Thanks again Target) I managed to get a curling iron in my hair and put on clean clothes (back from the laundry, in perfect plastic bags) we looked presentatble for about 10 seconds -- we think Grace may have figured out that there is a buffet breakfast every morning because she drank her bottle with less enthusiasm this morning and just took a few bites of rice cereal, and then chowed down on scrambled eggs, watermelon and tofu soup. We all then got on the bus, went to Teng Family Pavilion but we just stayed in the park area because Grace was really grumpy and soon our clean clothes were covered in crumbs as we fed our little Gracie cherrios to keep her happy. It was a pleasant place and when our group re-gathered in the park area to leave, we had several people come up to us and take our photo. One group told us the were government officials that worked with old people and had alot of respect for us for adopting. Once again, our very own Jiangxi celebrities - two blonde boys-- of our group had folks grabbing them for photos.
So it was back to Walmart -- it was much less hectic this time and we knew our way around somewhat, so we grabbed more bottles of water, more clothes, alot of snacks for all of us. Then it was back to the hotel. I had a chance to run over to the local grocery store with Rob and Nancy and we stopped off at the the bakery today and pick up a few things for lunch, and we just sort of hunkered down in the room and ate rolls and fed Gracie a bottle and some rice cereal. Gracie now thinks David is the Bomb, only when we leave the hotel she prefers to have Mom carry her in her baby Bjorn -- with Dad doing technical support; but back in the hotel, its all Ba-Ba. She keeps saying "Ju - Ju" to us when we are cuddling or playing so we asked Rui about what it meant. She said its Orphanage slang for "Kisses" (It really means "cake").
We took another walk along the shops near the hotel-lead by our fearless leader -- and it is a sight to behold--we once again drew a crowd at the Porcelin shop. We all wear our "calling cards" from Wal-Mart when we go out. I had one local fellow come up to me and basically indicate that my child is small now but she will be tall. I have heard this also from other folks who have adopted from our orphanage, Fenyi--so much so that the Yahoo group often calls their girls the Fenyi Basketball Team. I did take some photos and I will try to upload one of a little boy crawling up the stairs in his split pants. Our Lady of Nanchang, the wonderful Rui, then ordered Pizza hut for us tonight and we all spread out on the 11th floor, with all sorts of pizzas, kids in laps, the older kids playing ball in the hallway. While things are good, we are all so tired, and so anixous to get home, so we don't have to use bottled water to brush our teeth, or pour boiling water over all of our utensiles, but its all worth it for our delightful little Gracie.
You might want to check out the blog, OkieAngel (see link on our page) of our fellow travelers, Steph and Jubal from Oklahoma. They are delightful folks with a wonderful blog and their daughter is quite the beauty, definitely the fashion-ista of the group.
Tips for soon to be travelers: Walmart doesn't quite have the same selection of baby clothes, so we are very happy we brought along the clothes we did, along with bottles, dishwashing soap. Alot of stuff is in Chinese, and in kilos, so its sometimes hard to figure out what you are buying.
The hotel floors are less than optimal for crawling kids. We used our travel blanket for the first days, then it went into the Laundry, now we are using a hotel blanket, which will be replaced by a sheet we bought at Wal-mart.
Hair Curling iron (dual voltage, most are) works just fine with adapter, and I suspect it does without one. However, it doesn't make a difference. It is hot in the hotel, and humid outside and its always a bad hair day. I should've brought a hat.
Water: There is always lots of water to purchase very cheaply, but just remember what you purchased vs what was in the honor bar, as I have accidently opened up water from the bar, and not what I bought. Same with beer.
So it was back to Walmart -- it was much less hectic this time and we knew our way around somewhat, so we grabbed more bottles of water, more clothes, alot of snacks for all of us. Then it was back to the hotel. I had a chance to run over to the local grocery store with Rob and Nancy and we stopped off at the the bakery today and pick up a few things for lunch, and we just sort of hunkered down in the room and ate rolls and fed Gracie a bottle and some rice cereal. Gracie now thinks David is the Bomb, only when we leave the hotel she prefers to have Mom carry her in her baby Bjorn -- with Dad doing technical support; but back in the hotel, its all Ba-Ba. She keeps saying "Ju - Ju" to us when we are cuddling or playing so we asked Rui about what it meant. She said its Orphanage slang for "Kisses" (It really means "cake").
We took another walk along the shops near the hotel-lead by our fearless leader -- and it is a sight to behold--we once again drew a crowd at the Porcelin shop. We all wear our "calling cards" from Wal-Mart when we go out. I had one local fellow come up to me and basically indicate that my child is small now but she will be tall. I have heard this also from other folks who have adopted from our orphanage, Fenyi--so much so that the Yahoo group often calls their girls the Fenyi Basketball Team. I did take some photos and I will try to upload one of a little boy crawling up the stairs in his split pants. Our Lady of Nanchang, the wonderful Rui, then ordered Pizza hut for us tonight and we all spread out on the 11th floor, with all sorts of pizzas, kids in laps, the older kids playing ball in the hallway. While things are good, we are all so tired, and so anixous to get home, so we don't have to use bottled water to brush our teeth, or pour boiling water over all of our utensiles, but its all worth it for our delightful little Gracie.
You might want to check out the blog, OkieAngel (see link on our page) of our fellow travelers, Steph and Jubal from Oklahoma. They are delightful folks with a wonderful blog and their daughter is quite the beauty, definitely the fashion-ista of the group.
Tips for soon to be travelers: Walmart doesn't quite have the same selection of baby clothes, so we are very happy we brought along the clothes we did, along with bottles, dishwashing soap. Alot of stuff is in Chinese, and in kilos, so its sometimes hard to figure out what you are buying.
The hotel floors are less than optimal for crawling kids. We used our travel blanket for the first days, then it went into the Laundry, now we are using a hotel blanket, which will be replaced by a sheet we bought at Wal-mart.
Hair Curling iron (dual voltage, most are) works just fine with adapter, and I suspect it does without one. However, it doesn't make a difference. It is hot in the hotel, and humid outside and its always a bad hair day. I should've brought a hat.
Water: There is always lots of water to purchase very cheaply, but just remember what you purchased vs what was in the honor bar, as I have accidently opened up water from the bar, and not what I bought. Same with beer.
Cherrios
One member of our group told us that they thanked General Mills on their blog for Cherrios. I'd like to thank them too. I'd also like to thank Phillips 3-0 litre instant water heater that boils water in a few minutes. We are boiling water for everything, and we are also boiling bottled water. It must be paying off we are staying healthy. Anyway, Ba-Ba was number one Dad today on his toes all day and it paid off. They are good buddies now. We skipped lunch today and ate inside and then rented a stroller and went to a short walk to the temple park behind the hotel. We will return with our video camera. As I said, we are off the beaten path and there is a small walkway with street vendors, chickens in the streets, small children in spilt pants - sort of a snapshot of real China. We all went out tonight to the restaurant next door for dinner. Delicious. Our girl liked mashed pork, steamed dumplings, watermelon, rice, egg custard. Didn't lke the broccoli. Tomorrow its back on the bus for sightseeing and back to Wal-mart, whcih we can probably handle easier now that we've been there. I wanted to let you know that we also have Grace's finding ad, the ad which they post in the paper asking for her parents to show up. They describe her as "skinny" as post her picture. Also, no three stooges in Nanchang, and we have 2 very big TVs but only one channel in English. Arms and legs are aching tonight, so its off to bed. Grace is already asleep.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Grace Loves Stories
I found out Grace loves to be read to. Even though it may be a book of mostly pictures she loves to hear stories and listens inently. You have to improvise when reading most of the books to her and her eyes light up and she watches you so alertly. I read and told stories to her this morning and, of course played with the stacking cups with her for an hour with no boredom in sight. Grace just soaks it all up and just continues to be a beautiful baby. I know, I know, i sound like a proud Bah Bah, because I am. Ciao y'all til next time! BahBah D.
Civil Affairs and Walmart - Nanchang Style
As Rui says, This was the longest day. After our happy child fell asleep she woke up in the middle of the night and figured out she was stuck with us and was not a happy camper. After stuffing more food into her, rice ceral and formula, she finally fell asleep, but we got none, because we had to make sure she was breathing. Which she did fine. By 6 am we were all up, and had to prepare for the longest day, which is civil affairs, police station, notary, and Walmart. I did manage to get a shower in, and we got Grace fed and clothed, but no time for washing up, so both of us had wild hair thing going for our interviews and photos at civil affairs. Rui took a look at both of us and told us that we were going to have pictures. I said this was the best we could do.
The only thing we can say about going to civil affairs --where we pay our money, get interviewed, and more is that it is alot of waiting around, noisy, hot. The photographer made us pin down Gracie's wild hair for her passport photo but didn't say anything about mine. There is also a group of French-Canadians sort of on our same schedule and so we see them as well. So we went to Civil affairs, paid our donation, got interviewed, then the orphanage officals handed Rui each of the /// Families their daughters finding note, which Grace grabbed and tore a bit. We were only allowed to take a picture but the paper was so shiny that we don't think we got the writing. David could see the date written on it and it looked like it was more than that, so we'll have to get some sort of photographic expert to see if he can clarify the picture a bit. We then went to the police station, and we get our photo taken with our baby. Rui told us later that the clerk at the station was anixous to get lunch, so did all the families except one, so they had to go back later. We then had time for lunch--we went down to the buffet and Gracie had rice with sort of a chicken sauce, watermelon, some green beans, fried egg--ate everything. I feed her small stuff like watermelon with chopsticks, and soupy stuff with one of the baby spoons-- then back on the bus, to the Notary office, for about an hour. By this time, most of the babies were asleep and most families brought snuglies to hold the babies.
We then went to Wal-Mart of Nanchang. Wal-mart in US is crazy enough, this was insane. It was on 2 floors, and we had a list of stuff to buy. Rui provided us each with a tag around our necks that explained who we were and why we were carrying around a Chinese baby--and if they had more questions, provided Rui's cell number. The French-canadians and other adoption groups were also there -- and we were stared at and several families were stopped by locals who inquired what was going on --but no one stopped us. I had planned on taking photos but it was so crazy, so loud, we just wanted to get our stuff and get out. We had Grace strapped in her Baby Bjorn and she was fine, until we were ready to leave because she was hungry and we had forgotten snacks, so we borrowed Cherrios and that kept her happy until we got back to the hotel, where she ate 3 bowls of rice ceral, 2 bottle (4 oz), then when room service came, I gave her more rice with some chicken and mushrooms. We put her in her pj's, and she rolled around and did Yoga positions and played with her feet for about 40 minutes and it was lights out for all of us.
This morning -- since we got everything done today -- is basically a free day. We finally got Grace in the bathtub for a quick bath, she hated it, but we finally got her hair tamed in clips and pigtails, put her in her new Wal-mart duds, and wowed everyone at the breakfast buffet. Rui (Saint Rui, really) then had local dressmakers set up in her hotel room and we had 2 outfits made for grace, with one matching a tie for David and a jacket for me - cost around $200. We also then hung around the hallway with other families. I don't think we could've traveled with a better group of people- everyone is so nice and patient and the travelling kids all deserve gold medals for being super. Nanchang is a bit off the beaten path for tourists - but the hotel is great, good food, friendly people. The smog is terrible. We will try to take some video from the bus because the traffic is insane.
Other notes: Grace thought David was the bomb when we first got her, but on the second day, would let him near her --which was the case for many other families where ba-ba is scary to these kids who apparently haven't been around alot of men. So it was up to me to carry and feed her all day, and thank goodness for the baby carrier because my arms were dang near ready to fall off. However, this morning, she loves her Ba-ba and she says his name and thinks he's great. She likes being entertained by Ba-Ba, but holding -she's still a little wary. Also, after breakfast this morning (watermelon, egg, steamed dumpling and more rice --this was after her frist breakfast of rice ceral and formula) she decided she wanted to walk in the lobby. It may have been that one other daughter, Natalie, who is older, showed up in her pair of squeaky shoes from Wal-Mart, so our little one decides that she wanted to walk, and walk on the hard marble floors of the lobby. She was really annoyed when I kept holding on to her. She has take a few steps, and I expect her to be walking pretty well by the time we get home.
This morning -- since we got everything done today -- is basically a free day. We finally got Grace in the bathtub for a quick bath, she hated it, but we finally got her hair tamed in clips and pigtails, put her in her new Wal-mart duds, and wowed everyone at the breakfast buffet. Rui (Saint Rui, really) then had local dressmakers set up in her hotel room and we had 2 outfits made for grace, with one matching a tie for David and a jacket for me - cost around $200. We also then hung around the hallway with other families. I don't think we could've traveled with a better group of people- everyone is so nice and patient and the travelling kids all deserve gold medals for being super. Nanchang is a bit off the beaten path for tourists - but the hotel is great, good food, friendly people. The smog is terrible. We will try to take some video from the bus because the traffic is insane.
Other notes: Grace thought David was the bomb when we first got her, but on the second day, would let him near her --which was the case for many other families where ba-ba is scary to these kids who apparently haven't been around alot of men. So it was up to me to carry and feed her all day, and thank goodness for the baby carrier because my arms were dang near ready to fall off. However, this morning, she loves her Ba-ba and she says his name and thinks he's great. She likes being entertained by Ba-Ba, but holding -she's still a little wary. Also, after breakfast this morning (watermelon, egg, steamed dumpling and more rice --this was after her frist breakfast of rice ceral and formula) she decided she wanted to walk in the lobby. It may have been that one other daughter, Natalie, who is older, showed up in her pair of squeaky shoes from Wal-Mart, so our little one decides that she wanted to walk, and walk on the hard marble floors of the lobby. She was really annoyed when I kept holding on to her. She has take a few steps, and I expect her to be walking pretty well by the time we get home.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Grace with Nanny
Grace with Nanny
We spotted Grace right away because she had a tag with referral photo on it. And of course, that hair. She is with her Nanny, who I did get to speak with for a nano-second -- and we were able to get the Nanny's attention -- , The whole thing was very rushed because our lovely plane was lane (China Eastern - Not fun) and we had like 5 minutes at the hotel before we got the babies. We were there for about 1/2 an hour. It was loud and quick. Grace did not cry at all and really seemed engrossed by the view from the bus on the way back. It took about 1 hour before we got her first smile. She let me feed her some gerber puffs and sort of looked at us for a while and soon she was playing with the stacking cups and having a good old time. David had to leave us for a bit to do a ton of paperwork and she wolfed down a rice cereal and those Gerber apple puffs, drank a little bottle (shook her head no when I tried to give her more) drank some water from a sippy cup, then she bagan to chatter at bit, and seems to love the book we gave her with our photos and even said Ba-Ba (a few times) when we were looking at the photo book. She is really tiny, seems to be in good shape, had a good pee, and has laughed a few times--loves those stacking cups--was absolutely cheerful until right before she fell asleep....which was also very loud and quick--she is now asleep in the "worlds most dangerous" crib, so we are sort of holding an all night vigil. We ordered room service-- as everyone else I think--and she is sound asleep. The room was totally destroved in ten seconds as we rushed around unpacking bottles, clothes, and I finally got a bottle station set up in the front bathroom. She is about 9 months size, as I expected. The fashionable duds we sent --down to the green socks -- from Target are 12 months size. We also got back BOTH disposable cameras Nanny said she likes rice and likes to eat but doesn't gain weight. She is probably the smallest baby in the bunch, but I think won honorable mention for the most glorious hair do, and hair she has. Tomorrow, we sign paperwork and make our donations--and for those of you who have been following along, the hotel in Beijing got to change our cash -- including our tens -- and yes, they inspect them but we had no problems. Thanks for all the good wishes. We didn't get many photos at gotcha but the video is good.
More photos to follow
Activity On Your Photos | Comments You've Made |
Flickr Blog | About Flickr | Terms of Service | Your Privac
| Deutsch | English | Español | Français | | Italiano | Português Copyright © 2007 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
GRACIE GOTCHA DAY!!!
Well it fianally happened!!! We have the most wonderful little girl in the world. Gracie!!!! She was very quiet at first and took to Marie right away, not even crying. Gracie was also wearing the little outfit we sent to her and also had the little bunny we sent and would not part with it. It took her a little longer to get used to me but once we got her to our room, and by the way the room is great, she began to play laugh and smile. She's tiny but she's strong and crawling everywhere. She likes when I sing to her and it's hard to get her to part from Marie. Right now she is talking and making noises, laughing with Marie. She already wants to play with the computer and she likes playing with the little plastic blocks we got her. We love her so much and we are both very happy!! YEAH! We did it!!! Oh by the way, she has three teeth so she's having steak tonigh...just kidding. We've had her only three hours but she's doing great, more pictures later, gotta go.
Sometimes, you cannot take enough photos
It is taking flickr about 15 minutes to upload photos so you will have to wait till we get home before we can share the rest. We took this photo for our friend Shon. Today we traveled with our group, aka Jianxji Famiies to see China-In-A-Day--we went to the Forbidden City, Tianamen Square and the Great Wall. Some highlights--crowds--huge crowds of mostly Chinese tourists--lined up for a 2 hour wait to see Chairman Mao in his well-peserved glass coffin---(not included in our tour) Gloriou temple after temple--scenes from the Last Emperor--within the forbidden city and the Great Wall, which is very steep but we kept on going and I think David went to the highest point of anyone in our group. left as it was getting dark. We have two young blonde boys in our group--aged 5 and 9--who kept getting surrounded by crowds who wanted to take their pictures or touch their hair. They took in the attention with alot of poise. We have a few families who got in late last night and did the entire tour today--everyone was very good natured and high spirited. At the end of the day, we got our schedule for tomorrow and had to rush to change some of our fees into Yeun---make some more copies, organize things--tomorrow our luggage has to be out in the hall by 6:30 am--we leave at 8:30 for the airport to Nanchang, then we get our children at 3 pm. Our guide, the ever pleasant and forward thinking Rui, then suggested we all order Papa John's pizza, and had this ordered for us as we were driving back to the hotel. Tomorrow is the big day and we get Grace--but I wanted to get this posted. Don't worry there are 95 more to share when we get home--plus video.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
October 26 LAMA TEMPLE
Day 2 Beijing. We were both wide awake at 5am and headed downstairs to breakfast to a delicious breakfast. We met many more of our fellow travelers, most of whom were headed out to a tour today. We went to buy water, then headed down the street to a Mall.. Anyway, we found some good places to eat,looked around a bit, found the local CVS type store, then we headed to the Lama Temple via cab. Lucky for all you, Flickr (which I'm using to access blogger and upload pics) takes forever to upload photos otherwise I would have inflicted upon you all 39 of the photos I took today. It is an amazing complex of Temples and you have to walk down a street lined with nothing but incense shops. You can smell the incense from the temple complex about 1/2 mile away. It was amazing. You were not allowed to take pictures of the Buddhas inside the temple complex, just outside. One was about 3 stories tall. Many tourists from all over China there offering incense. and Each temple indicated what each Buddha was for--longevity, health, etc. One group of tourists were Tibetans, in full local costume. Their clothes were amazing. I tried to take some photos very descreetly, but not sure if they will get uploaded. Tonight we went over to the Thai restuarant to eat. There is a big event going on the hotel, as it is connected to a concert Hall and they've transformed the place downstairs. They even set up some metal detectors, set up a red carpet, TV crews are here--I guess its part of the Beijing music festival sponsored by Audi...but the rest is in Chinese.
Quick Notes: The most important thing is we get our kid on Sunday, so we are motivated to get this international travel thing down somewhat now before the hard part begins.
TV: David is really enjoying the 3 Stooges in Chinese. For TV, we get CNN from the UK, ESPN and 1 HBO channel.
Fashion: We are in the Business district and everyone here is quite fashionable. Great shoes & scarves. We look very grubby and every day has been a bad hair day (for me).
Tipping: As you know, David loves to tip. Today in the taxis and restuarants outside the hotel, everyone looked at us as if we were losing our mind and there was alot of confusion. So we did learn that Tipping is generally just not done unless you are at a Western-style hotel.
Language: Most everyone knows a little bit of English and seem to really appreciate our lame attempts to say a few words.
Best thing we've packed so far: Laptop.
Weather: Cooler today, and hazy. Still haven't broken out my jacket yet.
Tomorrow, we go to the Great Wall on a tour. Sorry about the typos - a little difficult to post. It's still in Chinese. The China time on the blog is wrong I think, It is 4:05 pm here now and it is showing 1:04 am at home. More later
Quick Notes: The most important thing is we get our kid on Sunday, so we are motivated to get this international travel thing down somewhat now before the hard part begins.
TV: David is really enjoying the 3 Stooges in Chinese. For TV, we get CNN from the UK, ESPN and 1 HBO channel.
Fashion: We are in the Business district and everyone here is quite fashionable. Great shoes & scarves. We look very grubby and every day has been a bad hair day (for me).
Tipping: As you know, David loves to tip. Today in the taxis and restuarants outside the hotel, everyone looked at us as if we were losing our mind and there was alot of confusion. So we did learn that Tipping is generally just not done unless you are at a Western-style hotel.
Language: Most everyone knows a little bit of English and seem to really appreciate our lame attempts to say a few words.
Best thing we've packed so far: Laptop.
Weather: Cooler today, and hazy. Still haven't broken out my jacket yet.
Tomorrow, we go to the Great Wall on a tour. Sorry about the typos - a little difficult to post. It's still in Chinese. The China time on the blog is wrong I think, It is 4:05 pm here now and it is showing 1:04 am at home. More later
Won Ton Soup Heals Marie!
Although we were tempted by some of the other offerings- I went for good old Won-Ton -- and it worked! Click on Photo to see pictures from our first day...sort of, we didn't leave the hotel yet....Update Friday: Thank you for all your good wishes for a speedy recovery. Lesson learned: Do not crash out on a comfortable but very, very, firm bed after 16 hours of flying. Then jump right out of bed. Stick to the plan--go for a walk instead! Thanks again.
Won Ton Soup Heals Marie!
So, we arrived at the hotel, and the plan was to sleep for up to 2 hours then get up and about. At 4pm, Four hours later, I woke up, jumped out of bed (I'm excited, you see, to be in China, want to look outside). My right leg collapes under neath and my arm is numb. Few minutes later, I wake up David because now I'm getting nauseous and my hands are now tingling, I'm thinking I'm stroking out. David is wondering if he should call 9-1-1 but we can't even figure out how to call the front desk. We call our lovely guide Rui who is reassuring and tells us she will come asap, she was at the airport picking up another couple... but I'm still scared out of my wits. After pacing up and down and breaking into the 35Yuen bottle of water, I'm feeling a bit better but very weak, especially on my right. Rui arrives and thinks it is the jet lag and suggests a good bowl of hot noodles and to air out our room. And now that I think of it, I crash out on the bed lying on my right and probably didn't move. So we go downstairs, run into the Stephanie and Jubal from Oklahoma, enjoy some green tea, get some good reassurance from them and then headed over to the noodle shop for hot won ton soup with nice salty broth and even more water. So I'm feeling 100% better; it is about 7:30 pm now. I think I scared David out of his wits--and are both happy that I'm not in the hospital....Okay now I'm(David) taking over this section. Yes I was scared, here we are in a totally foreign country, our first few hours here and I can't even figure out what to do for Marie. It's difficult not knowing what to do when someone you love is in pain and you don't know whether it's serious or not. I felt pretty useless at first but after finding Rui's phone number I felt better. I kind of thought it was jet lag and she needed to eat and rest so that's what we did after Rui reassured us. It was great meeting other people from the states and even better, they're from God's Country...OKLAHOMA!! So Marie and I had tea and coffee and then ate and of course I had a beer, Tsing-Tao, it was all delicious. Okay I think I'm going to sign off now, it's a great adventure so far and I can't wait to go out into the city of Beijing tomorrow to explore. We'll try posting some pictures a little later, right now I'm going to watch some Chinese TV.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Greetings from Korea
Blogger is all in Korean, so I hope this gets through. Suffice to say, Korean Air was great--they feed you constantly, we got the award winning bipipimap noodle dish, we got the 3000 channel av system, and the plane was so freakin' big that, well, it didn't feel like you were flying. The air stewards were all beautiful and friendly. Whenn they passed around the hot towels I almost cried. We have a few hours before we catch our flight to Beijing and there are 15 places to eat at the Incheon Airport and they are all named Welly. Everything was going well, we were too excited to sleep much on the plane. More later when we arrive in Beijing. It's7:35 am Thursday, Oct 25 here...now. Bye.
Monday, October 22, 2007
The Big Weigh In - Results!
We packed today. According to our Official TravelSmith Bag Scale Thingy, one bag came in at 40-42 lbs, the other between 38-40. The goal was 40 lbs, since the limit is 44 lbs--for Intra-China flights. For those of you who want to know--they are two mixed bags of all of our stuff...David's, mine and Baby's. Sure we made some adjustments: I traded in my gallon-sized hand sanitizer for something more travel-sized, and we pulled out change on clothes for David to go in the carry on, since finding his size in China would be problematic. So with this extra room, we got to throw in all sorts of food --packets of oatmeal, cup of mac n' cheese, trail mix, and some back pack dinners. Just in case we want a taste of home. What didn't make it : My 1 lb bag chili-lime pistachio nuts, two cup o' noodles, Trader Joes Turkey Jerky and Organic Wasabi Rice crackers, which I'm eating now--right after we polished off the pistachios.
I had purchased some Target photo label baggage tags but after thinking that any self respecting pick pocket would have their eye out for those bags that have sweet-faced Chinese babies on luggage tags, we skipped putting our baby's photo on the tags in favor of something more seasonal, yet eye catching. Thank you Gina for letting us borrow your suitcase.
I had purchased some Target photo label baggage tags but after thinking that any self respecting pick pocket would have their eye out for those bags that have sweet-faced Chinese babies on luggage tags, we skipped putting our baby's photo on the tags in favor of something more seasonal, yet eye catching. Thank you Gina for letting us borrow your suitcase.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Competition was Tough....
Aided by copious amounts of ....er, grape juice...(right, it is a baby shower right? ) Contestants cooly battled it out for hot prizes at the baby shower. It sure was fun. Thanks everyone!
CLICK ON PHOTO FOR MORE PICTURES!
CLICK ON PHOTO FOR MORE PICTURES!
Sunday, October 14, 2007
You All Can Sleep Now.
The room is done. Thanks to all of you! (More about THAT later--it was a busy weekend!)
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Travel Plans - We are transfering where?
Blogs are a wonderful thing. It was only when DH read blog that he realized that our one stop transfer point is in Seoul.
UPDATE: Check out the photo links! We might use Flickr to upload our photos while we are in China.
Here's a run down of what we can expect -
Depart Las Vegas early, midnight ish via Korean Air; transfer in Seoul, like at 6am.
Arrive Beijing, Thursday
Beijing Tour (See the Great Wall!)
Fly to Nanchang, Jiangxi. (Remember Survivor this season was filmed near here)
Gotcha Day- Probably at hotel. (We won't know the hotel until a few days before we leave)
Nanchang (Taking lots of pictures and sending updates as we get acquainted with our little girl)
Fly to Guangzhou, American Consulate appointment
Family goes to AC to pick up passport with visa and take oath –
Earliest we can depart China-- after 9pm November 8, 2007
Short plane flight to Hong Kong; then Seoul, then back home.
Things we haven't done yet: : Weigh packed luggage, check more electronics for dual voltage, download or cut out pages from Baby Health book, see if we can get one cell phone to work from China, schedule doctors visit, make list of emergency phone numbers, decide if we want to take a power strip, re-check paperwork, experiment with the Ambien.
Answers to questions:
Where I got the new clocks on the page: Copied the idea from Todd & Brandi's page. (Be Flattered!)
Orphanage: We won't get to visit.
Package: Don't know if it got there
Health update: Asked for one, didn't get a reply, but didn't expect one either.
Name here-- Answer from Adoption agency: Doesn't matter. ( I guess even immigration officials can figure out a space doesn't make a difference if the spelling is the same. )
Plan for big noisy reception by dog when we get home: I've got something figured out, but it's a secret because I don't want the dog to hear.
Quiche: Jan made, and it was Karen who took the missing slice home before I got my hands on it.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Travel Plans & A shower
A brief update: We found out today our Gotcha Day is October 28th! And, the great thing about living here --it's just one stop--just one--between here and China. We get on the plane, bring our pillow and meds, go to sleep, wake up in Seoul, then back aboard for a mere 2.5 hours later and we are there! The great adventure adoption begins on October 24th. More to follow....I got no work done on Friday because when I wasn't on the phone trying to make plane reservations, my wonderful co-workers threw me a lovely shower. They all have been very patient these last few years and have probably learned more about the Chinese adoption process than they ever wanted to know. We had a great party and wonderful, thoughful gifts for our daughter, including a very cute hand knitted sweater dress, toys, a lovely wonderful Pottery Barn Kids quilt,great Dr. Suess classics books, a very special Chinese good luck necklace, clothes, a playyard, music, donations to our charity, a stroller....and much more. The conference room was decorated to the hilt, with baby washcloths, and towels covering the walls, and we all wore custom-made necklaces, and I got a very cool corsage to wear. Sure, we got no work done that day, but there was an amazing wonderful cake, pictured above, which was not only pretty, but tasty. Best of all, we had FOOD, homemade stuff, nothing diet here, and lots of it too. We scarfed everything down-- except the quiche in the picture , which I got to bring home and David and I ate the whole thing over the weekend. Credit will go due when I found out who made it. It was yummy.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
The "Before" picture
Sure, you've seen all those other blogs, from creative parents who already have their child's room already painted and thoughtfully decorated with lovely motifs. This is ours. We are in packing and planning mode. It's a war zone really, with strategies being plotted, decisions being made, supply lines considered.
It will look a lot better after the Target delivery guy gets here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)