Citizenship Day

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

We woke up around 7:00 this morning and called home. The time difference is 12 hours so it has worked out great with timing the phone calls. We wake up just as JT is getting ready for bed and at night here we can talk to him before he gets on the bus in the morning. The confusing part is the international date line. We are on the opposite side so our Wednesday night is your Wednesday morning! It kind of reminds me of that movie "Ground Hog Day". When we leave Guangzhou on Friday night at 9:00pm, we land in L.A. at 6:50pm on Friday night...2 hours 10 minutes before we left Guangzhou. I'll give you a few minutes to think on that one!!

We had yet another wonderful breakfast this morning and hung out at the hotel until 11:30 when we met our guide and all of the other families to head out on our tour. This morning, Judy, our guide, went to the US Consulate and submitted our U.S. paperwork. Everything went well and we were surprised to find out that our Swearing-In Ceremony was moved from tomorrow to this afternoon. So plans quickly changed and our tour will be tomorrow instead.

We didn't have to meet for the Ceremony until 2:45 so we decided to take the famous "Red Couch" photos since all of the girls were together. The White Swan has these beautiful red velvet couches throughout their lobbies and it is a tradition among the adoptive families to have the travel group photo of the girls together on the red couch. Now, getting five little girls to sit on the couch together and all look at the camera is nearly impossible. Most of the girls want to be held 24/7 so that adds to the difficulty, but we got our photos anyway.

Afterward, we decided to do a little shopping since we have a few hours to spare before the big Ceremony. Everything is within walking distance on the island so we enjoyed the stroll and popped in a few of the shops to pick up some souvenirs. One street in particular reminds me of Atlantic Avenue in the summer with all of the tourist shops. Everyone here is very friendly and most of the shop owners speak English very well.

At 2:45 we all met in the lobby with a few hundred other families to head over to the U.S. Consulate. It was a 45 minute bus ride from the hotel and you guessed it, Lea fell asleep. The Consulate is located in a very beautiful part of Guangzhou with a large park right in front of it that has the world's largest man-made waterfall. The scenery here is just breathtaking. At home we have the overgrown grass in the median strips with trash littered throughout. Here they have beautifully manicured hedges, Palm trees and beautiful flowers lining all of the streets.

We entered the Consulate showing our passports and surrendering our cameras. We were led to a large waiting room of chairs across from a long line of windows. Very similar to the DMV at home, but much, much better service. First we had to take Lea up to one of the windows and the clerk checked our paperwork and photos to make sure that we were who we were supposed to be and that Lea was who she was supposed to be. We all matched so we took our seats again. After all the families did the same thing, a representative came out and spoke over a microphone (remember, there are hundreds of babies in this one room, it was a little noisy - Lea's still sleeping). She congratulated all of the new families and spoke of the importance of the consulate for U.S. travelers abroad. After her speech, we were all asked to stand and raise our right hands and take the oath of citizenship for our daughters. This was the last step in the adoption process. After exactly four year from our first meeting with our adoption agent on October 21, 2005 to today, October 21, 2009, we finally have our daughter. She is now ours forever!

What an emotional release this event was. I was fighting back tears of joy when the comic relief I so needed came out. The representative was leading us in the oath as we stood with our hands in the air and she said, "I do solemnly swear or affirm...." and we, all 200+ parents in the room said, "I do solemnly swear or affirm..." Randy and I looked at each other and lost it! We laughed, silently, of course. You know that "church laugh" the one where because you are not supposed to be laughing it makes it that much harder to not laugh. All I could think of was that line from the movies where the preacher says, "Repeat after me, I, state your name, ..." and the other person says, "I, state your name, ..." For some reason, that just cracked me up and I couldn't stop laughing. I don't think anyone besides the lady in front of me noticed and since I had tears running down my cheeks from laughing so hard, maybe she just thought I was getting emotional. After taking the oath, we looked down at Lea and, ironically, she slept through the whole thing.

We got back to the hotel and decided to eat dinner with some of the other families at the Italian Restaurant by the river. Once again, my meal was very good. I had spaghetti with tomato and basil sauce. Randy, on the other hand, has issues - again. He ordered the mixed seafood plate. Wisely, he asked the waiter what kind of seafood was is the dish and was told prawn, salmon, and squid. So, he asked if it was possible to leave off the squid and the waiter said no problem. So everyone else at the table got their meal and Randy's came about 10 minutes later. We figured that they forgot about the squid request and had to redo his order. So finally, when his order came, there was no squid - good- however, they replaced the squid with clams - not so good. Randy does not like clams. I got him to try one just in case and he then reconfirmed that he does not like clams. So, I had clams for dessert. I loved them...sorry honey.

We got back to the room and Lea took a nice bath. She loves to splash in the water now. The first bath - not so much. I'm not sure if she had ever had an actual bath before since after the first bath the water was like mud and I swear she was two shades lighter. She was so funny after we were ready for bed. She was worn out from all the activities of the day and got funnier and funnier the sleepier she got. She kept giggling tonight right up until she fell over sound asleep.

It was a wonderful day!!

Medical Examination Day

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Once again, another great night of sleeping. The breakfast buffet here at the White Swan was wonderful. It's huge! I can't get over how big this hotel is...there's a three-story waterfall in the lobby! Lea, once again, had a very good breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, scrambled eggs off of Randy's plate (between bites off of her plate), yogurt, oatmeal, banana bread and watermelon. I have yet to find a food she doesn't like.

After breakfast, we met all of the families in our group in the lobby and walked toward the medical office. On the way, we dropped off some laundry at Ladybug Corner Laundry right across from the hotel. Next stop was the Photo Shop to get the girls pictures for their Visas. It was raining today so we had umbrellas and didn't get to take many photos. We walked through a very quaint park called Friendship Park with lots of bronze statues of people and children playing. Hopefully, if it's not raining tomorrow, I'll go back and take some photos.

We entered the Health Care Center of Guangdong building and were ushered to the back room. Over the door was "Examination Room for Adopted Children". There was a large waiting area with three small rooms attached. When we first arrived, one of the nurses came in and was trying to get the flat screen TV on the wall to work in English for us. Then another nurse tried to figure it out and then a third gentleman came in and started working on it. Finally, they got it to play the movie in English. As the movie began playing, we were all anxiously waiting to see what had taken so many people and so long to get going. As the title screen appeared the room erupted in laughter. It was "Kung Fu Panda"! Too funny.

The medical examination was very quick and simple. The first room was the physical examination. The nurse had a quick peek at all of her parts and made notes of any markings on her skin (birthmarks, Mongolian spots, etc.) and measured her head circumference. At this point, Lea was asleep (the appointment was at 10:00 - naptime). Well, she woke up and was not happy to be half-naked on an exam table. But the nurse was quick and then let me hold her for the rest of the check-up.  In the next room, the nurse weighed her - 6.9 kilograms, with clothes and diaper on, by the way - and measured her height. Since Lea got very upset every time I put her down, I didn't see what her height was. We will get a translated copy of her medical report before we leave here though. She also took her temperature under her arm - 97 degrees F - normal. The last room was the ENT room. The nurse tested her hearing by playing a keyboard on Lea's left side and a tambourine on her right side, one at a time. As Lea looked from side to side depending on which noise she heard, the nurse shook her head "yes". Then the nurse looked in her ears and told me, "No infection. Good." She then attempted to look at Lea's throat with the aid of a tongue depressor, but Lea would have none of that. I think the nurse finally gave up and said good anyway. And then we were done. Relatively painless.

We walked back to the hotel and all of the families met in the Swan Room. It's a playroom for the children sponsored by Mattel. It was a nice big room filled with toys of all age ranges. Lea was a bit overwhelmed at first but she got more comfortable and started playing with the toys before too long. While the kids played, the adults sat with our guide, Judy, and filled out a stack of forms for the US Consulate. It took about an hour and a half to complete them. Just to put it into perspective, the Chinese forms consisted of about 3 pages, two copies each and took about 20 minutes to complete.

After the paperwork was complete we headed back up to the room. Lea ate lunch and took a good long nap. Randy and I ate some left-over pizza and he read a book while I caught up on the computer. Much needed down-time. 

After Lea woke up we decided to take a walk around the hotel. First we walked back across the street to the Photo Shop where we were this morning and bought a nice folding stroller for about 110 yuan (that's about $16). Lea loves to ride in the stroller and we figure it will come in handy on the 3.5 hour layover in L.A. on the way back home. 

The hotel is gorgeous. Beautiful flowers everywhere and a coi pond with a waterfall in the center of the first floor lobby that goes up at least 3 stories. We walked around the first floor which has numerous shops and gallery pieces. Jade statues and carvings, beautiful wood furniture, jewelry shop, porcelain shops, clothing stores, cigar shops, shoe stores, handbags and accessories...I'm telling you this place is huge. We only walked the first floor and it took over an hour. The breakfast and tea room is also on the first floor and overlooks the Pearl River - very nice.

Later we met two of the other families and went to dinner at Lucy's Restaurant. Lucy's is famous among the adoption community for their much desired "American" cuisine. After you have been in China for almost 2 weeks, you crave a real American hamburger and french fries. Randy was very happy. I had tomato cream soup and a Cesar Salad. Well, I had some of my tomato soup, Lea likes that too!

We got back to the room and Lea went right to sleep. Randy watched a little TV and I worked on our journal. Well, off to sleep now...tomorrow is another busy day!

Leave Nanchang and off to Guangzhou

Monday, October 19, 2009

Today was a travel day. We got up early and talked to everyone back home (gotta love Skype!) and then headed down for breakfast. Once again Lea ate everything we offered her. She loves hard-boiled eggs. She ate two of them with her breakfast this morning. Well, the white part. The yolk, not so much. She spit that back out in my hand and then Randy gaged. Good grief!

 

After breakfast, we went back up to the room and Randy & Lea played with her toys while I packed our bags. Lea and Randy took a short nap and then it was time to head out to the airport. As we were checking out I got to see a few friends of mine from Austrailia that I have been talking with through the RQ website (Rumor Queen - ChinaAdoptTalk.com). They had just received their daughters this morning. They were so adorable. It's so nice to finally meet the people who have been in this waiting game with us for the past 3.5 years.

Checking out was very easy and then we all piled into the tour bus and headed for the airport. Or so we thought. Two of the carry-on bags were accidentally left behind so we turned around and headed back to the hotel. We weren't too far away when the hotel called to let us know they had found the bags and we had plenty of time to get to the airport. Which we were glad we had plenty of time because when we checked in at the airport, none of the babies had tickets for the flight. Our wonderful guide, Echo, sprung into action and got the tickets for us. We were so lucky to have her with us this past week. I would feel comfortable limping my way through a conversation in French, Spanish, or even Italian (it's so close to Spanish and French), but Mandarin is so not close to anything I learned in school. Not many people speak English here in Nanchang unless they work the front desk at the hotel, so without Echo we would have really been up a creek.

The plane ride was a short one and Lea slept for half of it. She was really good the rest of the time. She kept wanting to go back and forth from me to Randy during the flight. Which was okay, except that we were on different rows, diagonally across from each other. But Lea enjoyed "walking" back and forth and it gave her something to do. We landed in Guangzhou and my hair immediately curled up. Very hot and humid here. It will be shorts and t-shirts for the rest of this trip! Guangzhou is on the southeastern coast of China across from Hong Kong.

On the way to the hotel, we drove by a 7-eleven and I thought Randy was going to jump off the bus. He hasn't had a slurpee in 11 days now. If you know Randy, he might as well have quit smoking cold-turkey. He has a slurpee every day at home. It's his morning coffee. As we arrived at the hotel, he was very happy to see another 7-eleven right across the street. We checked into our room and dropped our bags and he said, "I'll be right back!" About 15 minutes later, he walks into the room with his lip poked out. A 7-eleven with no slurpee machine...who's heard of such a thing! Well, the only saving grace tonight was that Papa John's delivers. We had pizza and root beer for dinner...and it was great!

Our hotel is called the White Swan and it is located on Shamian Island. The view from our window is fantastic. We are right on the Pearl River. With all the lights reflecting off the river at night, it's absolutely gorgeous. Well, it's time for me to turn in. Lea and Randy are already snoring so I'd better join in. Tomorrow is Lea's medical examination and paperwork day (Visa application). After that we are done with appointments until Thursday's Citizenship Ceremony at the US Consulate.

Good night from Guangzhou!!

Day of Rest...

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Today is my parents 43rd Wedding Anniversary. Happy Anniversary, Maw & Pop!

And...a day of rest for us. We had a lazy morning in the room and after breakfast, Daddy & Lea played with toys on the bed. She has really come out of her shell today. She's smiling and laughing and playing with everything. She loves the "uh-oh" game. You know, the one where she drops something and you say, "uh-oh", pick it up and give it back to her, only for her to throw it down again. Yes, she loves that one.

Daddy decided to go to the gym for a little stress relief today and then for a relaxing massage (it actually was this time). While daddy did that, mommy and Lea went out for a stroller ride. We stayed mostly inside the hotel, which is huge I might add, but went outside only on the sidewalk in front of the hotel. There was a wedding inside the hotel this weekend so there were plenty of beautiful decorations to look at with lots and lots of fresh flowers everywhere. Every so often they would light the extremely large fire-cracker snake right outside the lobby doors. Talk about loud! It didn't seem to phase Lea, but I always went in the opposite direction just in case. It was almost dinner time so we went back to the room to see what Daddy wanted to do.

Daddy's McNuggets story.............

"We were trying to think of something innocuous for dinner on our last night in Nanchang.  While the hotel restaurant was okay, we had  eaten dinner there 3 of the last  4 nights.  We were, however,  a little too intimidated to strike out on our own for some authentic local cuisine.  I had been passing a McDonalds next to the RT Mart each time we went for supplies, so I decided some french fries like home would be a comfort and I could order Chicken McNuggets without having to modify anything - like a "plain" cheeseburger, fish sandwich with no tarter, etc.

Renee stayed with Lea while I made the six-block run to Mickey D's.  On the way, the streets and sidewalks were crowded as  usual and that ever-present gray hue to everything that is found in all big cities dominated the mood.  One of the stores, as a promotion I guess, had  a band of sorts playing out front to attract attention.  By "band" I mean about 12 people, all dressed in formal red and gold silk outfits, beating drums and cymbals in concert not unlike a marching band in the states.  The way it was presented was something uniquely Chinese and I stopped for a few minutes to take it in from across the street.

When I got to McDonald's there were mostly teenagers in front of and behind the counter.  In the middle of a string of Mandarin speech I was able to glean the words for hello, Ni Hao. I was proud of this as Mandarin is next to impossible for me to unravel when it's casually spoken.  While waiting in line, a young man asked me if I was here for business or vacation.  I explained that I was here to adopt our daughter and he smiled.  About that time it was my turn to order.  I had to jump right in or someone else would  step in front if I showed any sign of hesitation.   As soon as the person behind the counter saw me, she handed me a laminated menu that they give to the tourists so we can pick out what we want without having to talk - a good idea.  I pointed to the french fries first and held up 2 fingers - low hanging fruit.  Whatever I got was okay: large, small, medium.  Whatever. Then came the McNuggets. There were 3 choices: 4-pack, 10-pack and 20-pack.  I pointed to the 10 pack and the employee pointed to the 20-pack.  I pointed again to the 10-pack on the picture and she seemed to acknowledge this.

I started to get amused when the wait for my food began to drag on.  "Just like home", I thought.  At home I would get impatient, but here I just laughed to myself and watched as all the customers were moving in and out.  Finally, a woman dressed like one of the managers said, "Sorry", (for taking so long) in a heavy accent and handed me what looked like a small shopping bag.  I looked inside and noticed the fries on top and a box of  McNuggets, so I was good and left.  If something was wrong with the order I would just have to eat it anyway, the language barrier being what it is.
 

After walking back to the room and opening the bag for the last time I noticed not 10 but 30 McNuggets.  Guess we're eating good tonight.  I even talked Renee (the vegetarian) into eating a couple dunked in heavy sweet & sour sauce just to get rid of them.  They weren't great, but they weren't bad either.  We ended up with about 15 left.  Oh yea, the fries were excellent.  Just like home."

Well, I should get packing as we leave for Guangzhou tomorrow at noon and Lea is sleeping like an angel.

August 1st Square and Bayi Park

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Another good night's sleep. Lea woke up just before 8:00am. We took our time this morning since we didn't have any early morning obligations. We had a nice leisurely breakfast and played in the room for a while. Lea played with Daddy on the bed until she fell asleep for her morning nap.

She took a good long nap and then we ate lunch in the room. Afterward, we met the other families in the lobby and went for a long stroller ride to see a few more of the local tourist attractions of Nanchang. We left the hotel right after lunch and headed to Bayi Square.

Bayi Guangchang, literally August 1st Square or People's Square, in Nanchang was built from August 1, 1977 to January 8, 1979, in memory of the Nanchang Uprising (aka. August 1st Uprising). The size of this square is 840,000 ft² now after reconstruction that took place beginning in 2002. It is the second largest square in China, after Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

Ever since it was constructed, this square has been the main site for most of the big-scale ceremonies and marches. To ordinary residents, due to the extremely hot and humid climate in Nanchang, the square was a popular place to hang out during hot summer nights until recent years when more and more families are able to afford air-conditioning.

A musical water fountain, which was built in the south of the square has become a favorite destination for people especially in the evening. The water "dances" to the music played through a P.A. system and if the wind is right...everybody gets wet. After the show, there are many men with brooms that sweep up all the water. It's quite impressive.

After a stroll through the Square we took a scenic tour through a neighborhood and into another beautiful park. Bayi Park was again decorated for the anniversary celebrations and was just beautiful.

The park is free to enter and the landscape is typical of all great Chinese parks - walkways, pagodas, bridges and beautiful willow trees sweeping down into the water. The park is set around a central lake, in the middle of which is an island covered in shady trees. We actually caused quite the scene here as there were four American families with Chinese daughters and everyone in the park wanted to have their picture taken with us. We were the only Americans in the park. Our guide, Echo, had stopped to buy some oranges from a vendor and we discovered that Lea loves oranges. She almost ate the whole orange by herself. They were very good and sweet.

After the park, we headed back toward the August 1st Square and went to Wal-Mart for more supplies. We bought some more baby bottles for Lea and a piece of luggage since we've maxed-out our carry-ons. I had planned on checking a bag on the way home assuming we would have lots of souvenirs (I was right).

Randy had to stop and take more pictures of the meat section in Wal-Mart. We really couldn't identify most of the selections. Speaks volumes for being vegetarian, I keep telling him!

On the walk back to the hotel it had begun to get dark and the sidewalks were very crowded with people. Our group stayed together as best we could, dodging cars, bicycles, scooters and other people. We were all together in a group at the point where one of the other moms just about stepped right on a dead rat laying in the street. She must have come up two feet off the ground when she realized what it was. She screamed, jumped, danced and screamed again. She was pushing an empty stroller at the time (her husband was carrying the baby) and I swear she and the stroller levitated right off the ground. After the horror was over, we all laughed until we cried. Then Randy wondered aloud, "How long do you think it'll be before that's an entree?" (he's a little bitter about his food experiences here).

As we got to the hotel, the wedding party that took place earlier today was still celebrating the ceremony with more firecrackers right in front of the hotel. It must have gone on for 5 minutes. It was easily a 4-5 foot string of firecrackers and really, really loud. We said our goodbyes to the other families and decided to stay in for dinner tonight. We'll give room service a third try (fingers-crossed for Randy). I got a great vegetarian pizza. It was actually better than most that I've had at home in the states. I actually ate the whole 10" pizza by myself. Randy decided to give the filet another try, this time ordering medium-well...hockey puck mean anything to you?!? Oh well, at least he's losing the weight his been trying to lose for years now :)

Lea went right to sleep tonight. It was a long day for her.

On our own today...

Friday, October 16, 2009

We were on our own today. We had to wait for Lea's passport and the tailors were going to deliver the girl's dresses today so we hung out in the room this morning. After another good breakfast, Daddy went to the gym and then got a massage (he's getting more comfortable with this now that he's figured out where to go to get a legitimate massage). Lea and I went for a walk and then she took a nap. I spent the day trying to catch up on the journals and get organized. We'll spend the weekend here in Nanchang and then head out for Guangzhou on Monday.

This afternoon we took a walk to RT Mart for more bottled water and some snacks. On the way we passed a store that had a band of drummers playing so we stopped and watched for a while.


Randy had to break up a "fight" between three school boys who were wrestling on the sidewalk. It appeared to be two against one and the two were winning. I think he shocked them when he walked over and started saying "Boo-ya" (means "no" in Mandarin). I don't know if he was pronouncing it right or not, but the boys got up and ran off.

Four school girls, about 9 or 10-years-old, I guess, started walking with us. They were speaking English as best they could. They said, "Hello, how are you, nice to meet you." (All in one breath, of course.) Then they would giggle. They asked how old Lea was and smiled at her. They were very nice. School days are different in China. The children go to school in the morning from 7:00 to 11:00 and then have a couple hours break for lunch and naps (although, we didn't see much napping...mostly playing) and then they go back to school until 5:00pm.

For dinner tonight we decided to brave the restaurant downstairs in the hotel. Randy ordered some type of scallop dish and I had spaghetti with tomatoes and garlic. Mine, once again, was wonderful. Randy's, well, he doesn't have the best of luck when it comes to food. While we were eating dinner, Echo, our guide came in and delivered all of the paperwork for the US Consulate to us. She was going to bring it earlier in the day but she had to take one of the other families to the airport. They have to go to Guangzhou a few days earlier than we do because their daughter is over 2-years-old and had to have a TB test before leaving China.

After dinner we called it an early night and got some much needed rest. Tomorrow will be another busy day.

Nanchang's Tengwang Pavilion

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Again, another great night! Lea is definitely a good sleeper. After another big breakfast, we were headed out for our tour of one of Nanchang's great temples.

The Pavilion of Prince Teng or Tengwang Pavilion is in the north west of the city on the east bank of the Gan River and is one of the Four Great Towers of China. It has been destroyed and rebuilt a total of 29 times since it was first built in 653 AD. It was last rebuilt in 1989 on the original site.


The Tengwang Pavilion was built by Li Yuanying, the younger brother of Emperor Taizong of Tang and uncle of Emperor Gaozong of Tang. In 652, he was assigned the governorship of Nanchang where the pavilion served as his townhouse. Twenty years later, the building was rebuilt by the new governor. Upon its completion, a group of local scholars gathered to write prose and poetry about the building. The most famous of these is the Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng by Wang Bo. This piece made the Tengwang Pavilion a household name in China. The building itself changed shape and function many times. The second to last reconstruction was in the Tongzhi era of the Qing Dynasty. That building was destroyed in October 1926 during the chaotic warlords era. The present Pavilion was completed on October 8, 1989, and is now a landmark of Nanchang.

The building is a reinforced concrete structure, but decorated in faux-Song Dynasty style. It is 57.5 meters tall and has nine stories. The building has a total floor area of 13,000 square meters (140,000 square feet). The building sits on a 39-foot tall concrete platform, which is supposed to symbolize the now-destroyed ancient city wall. A stainless steel tablet at the entrance is engraved with the calligraphy work of Mao Zedong. The building mainly serves as a tourist attraction now. Apart from beautiful decoration, inside the Pavilion there is a theater with period musical performances which we were able to watch while we were there. Thanks to my brothers for the Flip video camera, we can watch it again at home! There were also displays of reconstructed ancient instruments, furniture, restaurants and souvenir shops. The area has now become the center of Nanchang's antiques trade.

When we got back to the room, a tailor from one of Nanchang's clothiers came to our room and we picked out custom tailored traditional Chinese dresses for the girls. The dresses were beautiful and it was quite difficult to pick just one. They will make the dresses and have them ready for us on Friday.Today was also laundry day...and not a day too late. We had just run out of clean clothes this morning so at breakfast I was a bit self-conscious about wearing the same clothes I had on the day before. Whatcha gonna do? The clothes were all freshly laundered and individually packaged in cellophane bags. However, they were not pressed...so now I'm clean, but wrinkled. Oh well. The baby's clothes were laundered for no charge. That was nice.

Randy decided to give room service another shot tonight and ordered a burger. I'm not sure what it was that he got, but after two bites, he turned a slight shade of green and said, "I'm not sure what kind of animal this is, but I'm not eating it." The fries were good. I ordered the Cesar Salad...another winner. Sorry honey. Lea ate her dinner and then went off to sleep quite contently. I'm so diggin' this!

Nanchang's People's Park

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Lea slept through the night last night. She went to sleep at about 6:45 and didn't wake up until almost 8:00 this morning. I'm really liking this!!

Today was Mommy-Daughter Day. Daddy was not feeling so well today. I think it was a combination of things...the food and his stomach, the hard bed and his back, and the fact that we were going shopping today may have done him in. So, we all had breakfast together and again Lea ate everything that came near her, including some off of my plate. After breakfast, Daddy retired to the room and Mommy and Lea headed out for the park.


It's called the People's Park and it was absolutely beautiful. It's right in the middle of the city with buildings and high-rises everywhere, but when you enter the gates to the park, it's like you're in another world. There were beautiful flowers everywhere you looked and the decorations were just stunning.


The decorations from the 60th Anniversary Celebrations were still up and they were very elaborate. I took 60 photos at the park in about 2 hours. We met quite a few people in the park. Everyone likes to "practice" their English when they see Americans. They also love to have their pictures taken with Americans. We definitely attract a lot of attention here.

The park is intended as a place for people to exercise. Lots of people walking and doing tai chi. They have exercise equipment that resembles the "jungle gyms" that we see in parks and playgrounds for children, but these are for adults to exercise on. It was fascinating to watch. There were mostly older, retired people and grandparents with grandchildren or younger women with their children. Lea slept most of the time again. I think 10:00am is her naptime. She woke up happy and hungry as usual. I gave her a bottle and then we were off to the shopping district.

We drove through what I would call China's 5th Avenue with lots of high-end shops, shoe stores, bridal boutiques, and clothing stores. Then we parked the tour bus and walked through the "flee market" section. They were smaller shops with really good prices...10 Yuan for a shirt (that's about $1.47). I bought Lea a cute pair of shoes for about $7. They are way too big for her now, but they were the smallest size she had in that style. She'll grow into them one day.

We decided to head back to the hotel to check in on Daddy after our shopping trip so we opted out of lunch and just ate in the room. After we ate, Lea took her afternoon nap and Randy walked up to the store with one of the other mom's in our group. He just went for more water and to take pictures of the grocery store. We just had to document the inside of the store. It's like nothing I've ever seen before.

Later that night Randy was craving a good ole American meal so he decided to try the Tenderloin Steak on the room service menu...

"Now the price for a room-service steak in Nanchang is about the same as your average Western Sizzler in the US. So I decided to go in, for 98 Yuan (about 15 bucks), a "New Zealand Tenderloin" sounded down right mouth-watering good. I couldn't wait. I called room service, the waitress answered the phone in mandarin and immediately handed it to the "English-speaking" waiter after hearing my English babble. His English wasn't bad and he asked how I liked the steak cooked - a pleasant surprise - to which I responded without thinking, "medium rare." I'm thinking this is going to be great.

About a half-hour later the doorbell rings and a small Chinese woman is there with not one but 2 pretty good-looking steaks on a platter with fries and steamed broccoli. In a separate dish is some mushroom sauce. Not bad. I cut into the steak and it's so rare it's actually cold in the middle. The very outside is brown, everything else is raw. Not rare, but raw. Now I have a decision to make: do I try to eat it, which wouldn't be easy - even if you like steak rare, or do I throw the dice and call room service to see if I can get them to keep it on the burner a little longer? I came down somewhere in the middle.

First, I tried just sucking it up and eating the steak as is. After about three bites I decided I wasn't going to be able to eat both filets in this condition. Next, I called room service and explained my problem. The waiter was extremely apologetic and someone came to the room immediately and took the whole plate back down to the kitchen. Problem solved? Not so much. After about another 30 minutes the young lady returned with a whole new plate (I had already eaten the steamed broccoli from the first plate) with what appeared to be an extra couple of pieces of maki role, but with ham in the middle. I've eaten a fair amount of sushi in my day and have never seen *ham* in the middle of any role, anywhere. I pushed those off to the side, ate the new steamed broccoli, a couple of the fries - which weren't bad - and cut open one of the new steaks. Raw...just like before. This begs the question of what the waiter thought he was fixing when I called to complain. Apparently, he didn't get that I wanted the same steak cooked a little longer, so he took the shotgun approach to trouble-shooting and rebooted the meal hoping to get lucky and fix whatever I was jabbering about. I ate both steaks. I felt a little queasy, but at least I was full."

My meal, on the other hand, was wonderful. I had asparagus and orange salad. Moral of the story...go vegetarian and you never have to worry about undercooked meat!

A Day at the Nanchang Zoo

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Lea only woke up once last night in need of a diaper change but went right back to sleep afterward. She slept well and ate a good breakfast. Well, actually, she ate everything. No matter what I put on her plate she ate it. She drank her bottle of formula and then ate banana bread, congee (a rice-based porridge), scrambled eggs, watermelon, and cherry tomatoes. She also loves the Gerber Banana Puffs that I brought with us. She definitely has a healthy appetite.

After breakfast, we all loaded up on the tour bus with our strollers, diaper bags, and our guide, Echo, and headed off to the Nanchang Zoo.



It was a small zoo compared to some that I have been to, but I must say, it was quite interesting. Entering the zoo, the first thing we saw were a couple of elephants. They were quite active. The bigger one would come over to the rail and put it's head over toward us. Then it would walk forward across the front of the habitat and then stop and walk backwards. It was quite funny. As we were looking at them a zoo keeper brought a baby elephant down the sidewalk right behind us. After the elephants we saw some horses and camels and then the baby Panda. He was eating though and wouldn't turn around so I got pictures of his backside only. Then there were the penguins. They were very active. The girls really enjoyed watching them.



Unfortunately, it was Lea's nap time and she slept almost the whole time.

Next was the monkey cage with some small "gold-faced" monkeys running all around and playing. We wandered through the reptile house and saw a few alligators and a couple of crocodiles, all in separate cages. There was one large python doing what all pythons do - nothing. Although it had recently shed it skin because there was a rather large pile of snakeskin in one corner. Around past the reptiles were a bunch of ostriches that would reach out and bite you if you got close enough - clearly, that cage could use a redesign. Past the ostriches were a pair of lions sharing a cage - one male and one female. We passed some more monkeys and a chimp, a couple of wolves, two bears, more camels, a large coi pond and then the pentacle of the entire Nanchang Zoo experience: Dogs! That's right, dogs. There was a large area with a single medium cage in the center and several smaller cages along one side. The center cage housed a pair of Dobermans and the end cages contained, one each, a Rottweiler, a German Sheppard, a Husky and a couple of others that I couldn't make out. There were a couple of what looked like Chows running around in the main area. Basically, it looked like our street on any weekend except they were in cages. Our guide told us that they rarely keep dogs as pets here.

After the zoo we had another traditional Chinese lunch at a very nice four-story restaurant. We were on the fourth floor and had our own private room with one large round table with the same lazy-susan in the center for sharing each dish. There was also a sitting area with couches and a coffee table along one side of the room, which was nice as 3 of the 4 girls were ready for diaper changes. Lunch was great. We had noodles, rice, stir-fried spicy green beans, shrimp with cashews, and some other meat things that didn't appeal to me, but everyone else liked them. Randy did bite into one of the red peppers that flavor the green beans and I thought his head was going to explode. He drank all of his water, the rest of my water, and then order 5 more bottles of water for the table. I thought it was very good, and very spicy, but Randy's palate was not quite ready for it.

We finished lunch and got back in the tour bus. Now, it's off to Nanchang's Wal-Mart. Most of the clothes I brought for Lea were too big. I was told that she weighed 18 pounds, but after weighing her on the scale in the hotel room, she's barely 14 pounds. It's also very warm here so I wanted to look for something light-weight that might fit better. All the clothes in the Wal-Mart were long sleeve and winter-weight clothes. Apparently, they go by time-of-year rather than temperature when they dress here. Most everyone is in long sleeves and sweaters. I'm in short sleeves and sweating!

For dinner tonight, we decided to try the buffet in the hotel restaurant. It was very good, I thought. Randy was very happy with the fried cod fillets. There were lots of vegetables for me and Lea, once again, got plenty to eat. After dinner we decided to turn in. It was a long day with lots of walking and tomorrow is a shopping trip!

Good night from Nanchang!

Gotcha Day!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Today's the big day! We didn't sleep much last night...way too excited and a bit nervous too. This morning at breakfast we saw the little girl who arrived last night and she was doing great. She was smiling and eating a good breakfast. It was very comforting to see that much change in her over night.

After breakfast we went to RT Mart for some groceries. RT Mart looks from a distance like any other department store. They have two floors, the upper floor was standard clothes, electronics, baby supplies, etc. The bottom floor - fresh produce - was the grocery part. As in Beijing, when they say "fresh" they mean still alive. And when they say produce, they include live fish, crabs, and frogs. Yes, frogs. Additionally they have a section I like to refer to as the "wall of death" with a bunch of dead animals turned into some sort of jerky item. They have whole chickens - head on - and other as yet to be identified animals. Suffice it to say it was different. After a nice walk back to the hotel, we could hardly wait for 1:30 to get here.

About 1:00 we got a call from one of the other fathers in our group to let us know that the girls were here early. Randy was just getting out of the shower. We quickly grabbed the camera and diaper bag and ran to the elevator. We were so nervous and so excited. My heart was beating a mile a minute.

Trying to maintain my composure and not sprint across the lobby of the hotel, I broke into a sort of speed-walk when the elevator doors opened. Having short legs put me at a disadvantage, though, and Randy beat me to her. Lea sat on the knee of one of the caretakers from the orphanage, who was sitting on one of the lobby's couches. She was just looking around. So tiny. So beautiful. I was overcome with an incredible sense of urgency to hold her and let her know we were here - finally. While I can't imagine what she's been through during her short life, I knew, above all else, that her life was about to get a whole lot better. When Randy picked her up, we noticed the cuts on her legs from the ligatures they use to hold them while they are eating or sleeping or whatever. I will never understand what she's been through, but I know this is the last she would ever have to see of those injuries. She weighed next to nothing. Her only possessions were the clothes she had on, the photo album from the orphanage, and a cherry tomato which she held tightly in her little hand. It took everything I had to fight back the tears - sadness for what she's had to endure and absolute joy at the prospect of what lies ahead.

She went right to Randy without a problem...not a single tear. Randy held her long enough for me to snap a few photos and then I couldn't take it anymore. "Okay, okay, it's my turn. Give her to me!" She came right to me also. She was so quiet. All the babies were quiet. I'm guessing that they were all a bit overwhelmed with the whole situation. There were 3 babies received today and the one older girl last night. The fifth family in our group was going to a different orphanage and will meet up with us later in Guangzhou. After a few minutes of photos and group pictures, all of the families headed back upstairs to our room for the paperwork meeting. (Somehow, we ended up with the largest room :)



We all signed and put our red thumbprint in the appropriate places and then it was off to the official government offices to file our papers. First, we went to the adoption registrar and had our family photo taken. We had a short interview and then filed our papers. I must have been a little nervous because I couldn't remember the year we got married. But, apparently, we passed the interview because the Chinese portion of the adoption is now final.

Next, we were off to the notary office to register for her passport. That went just as well...I forgot how old I was when he asked me in the interview. I'm not sure if it is lack of sleep or just nerves, but I did remember my name and Lea's name when I was asked. We should receive her passport on Friday. Until then we are finished with the official paperwork and we just hang out here until we leave for Guangzhou on Monday.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at RT Mart again to pick up some formula, rice cereal and diapers. Once we got back to the hotel, we decided to stay in and eat sandwiches in our room. Lea was wonderful. She drank her formula and ate her cereal with no complaints. She even went to sleep without a tear. I didn't sleep much that night as I couldn't stop staring at Lea.

What a beautiful baby girl! What a great day!!