Friday, July 30, 2010

Hope

I hope the barrage of posts comes through properly as we cannot see them from China. We are in Guangzhou and Julie and Shan-Shan are at his medical exam and I have three very, very tired kids with me in the hotel's free Wi-Fi zone. Will post our last day's journey once we get it written up.

A tale of terra-cotta

5AM must be hard coded into my DNA somewhere because no matter where I am, that is when I get up, even if I am 12 time zones away. This time I try laying in bed and try not to toss and turn and wake up Julie. I am excited because today we are going to see the terra-cotta army outside of Xi'an, something I have wanted to see for as long as I can remember. I eventually get up take a shower and when I get out Veronica is awake, too. Max follows quickly and then Sydney. Shan-Shan is a snooze-a-holic and we have to get him up to head down for breakfast.

When we get down there, it is packed and have to wait for a table. We eventually get seated, though at a 4 top which doesn't exactly work with a family of 6 even if I use new math. ;). We all eat though I do it standing up and Julie is holding Shan-Shan on her lap. We have just enough time to dash to our room, collect our stuff for the day and head down to meet Rea. While waiting in the lobby, Shan-Shan starts crying. We check the usual suspects, diaper, he just ate, is being held, etc to no luck. He is destined to cry today apparently. Of course today is when Rea is about 15 minutes late after we watch a number of other groups gather and leave the hotel, probably headed to the same place we are.

We load into the van and are off. Rea tries to tell us some history of the terra-cotta army but Shan-Shan's crying disrupts her and she eventually gives up. Traffic in Xi'an is heavy and crazy (that seems to be the norm in China) and it takes almost an hour to get to the army. After we get on the highway, we are told to pull over by someone in a green uniform that we were told in Beijing indicated military. This might not be a good thing as I doubt he wants to say "Ni hao" to the car load of foreigners. What seemed like a heated exchange ended with us driving off and Rea said that they wanted to check our driver's license and permit for tourism. Either way, we are not in jail or stranded along the road so we are pretty happy. At one point in time Rea is holding Shan-Shan (because he reached out to her)but the upside for us is that even being held by a Chinese woman and hearing Chinese, she cannot soothe him either. We are very fortunate that we are not packed in to a tour bus like the others are because our driver drops us off about 100 yards from the entrance. If we look to the other side of the road we see tour groups running a gauntlet of vendors and pickpockets whereas we stroll to the entry gate, present our tickets and we are in. I've read so much about this place that I had been dreading the entrance, so really appreciate the close drop-off. We get in and head straight for the building that covers pit 1. If you've never seen or heard of the terra-cotta army, you deserve it to yourself to Google it. For those without Google capability, we have a stone tablet for you that is in the mail. LOL! The building that covers pit 1 is like an airplane hangar in both shape and size - it is HUGE! It literally takes your breath away as you see the rows of statues spread out before you. We stand there for a while just taking it in as well as plenty of pictures. There are around 8000 soldiers and horses in pit 1, but only 1000 are re-assembled and/or unearthed.

Rea then takes us to another building that shows a movie about Emperor Qin, the guy who built the army as well as started the Great Wall and unified China for the first time. The movie is cheesy but does the trick. Qin is not a nice guy and the more they excavate the tomb complex, which is the largest in the world and covers more than 50 square kilometers, the meaner dude they find him to be. Burying the workers who helped with the tomb and army alive (skeletal remains have been found where it appears the people were struggling to get out when they died) high levels of mercury that were used as part of protective rivers around his tomb and more all point to a pretty bad guy. After the movie we buy a book about what quite honestly is the archaeological find of the 20th century and have it signed by one of the four original farmers who found the army by accident when they were digging the well. How's that for cool?

We then head towards the building that contains pit 3 where the commanders and officers were found having a "meeting" based on the way they were facing. This is much smaller than pit 1 but still very cool. You can also tell that the Chinese are learning more and more about how best to preserve the objects they unearth and this pit is much darker than the others to minimize damage. We finally reach pit 2 which is a huge building that was constructed before they started excavating. They were able to use sonar and other technology to determine where the artifacts were before they dug them up, so they were protected from the beginning. Pretty darn cool. Finally we head to another building that was created after the site was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site and see the two bronze chariots they found on the site, too. All of this is impressive in it's own, but considering it is more than 2,000 years old just blows your mind. We see artifacts that were chrome plated when they were buried and while that sounds kind of cool - think about when chrome plating was "re-discovered" in the 1950s (according to the sign in the display, I need to verify that fact for myself, but if it is true - wow!). Keep in mind that this whole time Julie and I have been playing pass the Shan-Shan as he is still crying. He varies from all-out wailing to just crying to whimpering. When you have that, plus the crowds, plus the heat, it makes for a tiring experience. We are stopped multiple times by other tourists to have pictures taken with Sydney. They'd like to get Veronica in on the action, but she wants no part of it. Trust me, the novelty wears off pretty quickly and it is hard not to remember that they probably have never seen anyone with blonde hair and certainly not as cute as our crew. :)

We head back to the car and again are thankful that we don't have to run the vendor gauntlet but instead hop into the cool AC of the van. We are on our way to Weinan, the city where Shan-Shan lived until just a few days ago. We have been told that there were heavy rains the day before we arrived and that part of the highway has been washed out. Apparently whatever repair needed to be made has not been completed so we take the "old" way to get there. This is the equivalent of a 2 lane road that the Chinese drive on as if it is a 3 lane road (and sometimes 4 lanes). It is slow going and we get to see more of the authentic Chinese countryside as we drive through smaller towns, cornfields, manufacturing plants and who knows what else. Julie and I both comment that the living conditions look a lot like other poor places we've seen, like Mexico, Peru, Grenada, etc. So sad and makes you really appreciate the blessings we've been given. Even out here the pollution haze is palpable. I thought it might dissipate as we distanced ourselves from the 7+ million people in Xi'an but it doesn't seem to. Good news is that Shan-Shan is asleep so he must have wore himself out - poor little guy.

We eventually get to a larger city that they say is Weinan and Rea breaks out a hand drawn map that she and the driver discuss before deciding which way to go. We drive around for a while before stopping for directions and during the conversation hands are waved and fingers pointed as if we were in Italy. LOL! Everyone decides which way to go and we are off again. After more driving and taking pictures along the way, the camera's batteries die! Normally we'd have extra, but they are in the big backpack at the hotel. No way did we come all the way out here to NOT get pictures of the city and orphanage. While driving/wandering we stop in the middle of the intersection and ask a police woman for directions. I figured for sure we'd be told to move along as we were blocking traffic, but she does her best to give us directions. More driving and a U-turn ensue and we stop for directions two more times. As we are sitting at a light, we spot the building and head towards it. I get out and snap a few pictures before the camera gives up the ghost. Not to sound like a plug for a camera company, but this camera is perfect for travel because it uses normal AA batteries, which can be found just about anywhere, including the small store across the street from our son's orphanage in Weinan, China. Try that with your proprietary, camera specific battery. LOL! I owe that tip to my good friend Mark Wagner - it paid for itself today when I was 6500+ miles from home, dozens of kilometers from our hotel and NEEDED to take some pics. As a side bonus, this store also sells the small French bread rolls Shan-Shan loved when we met him Monday so I picked up two AA batteries and six rolls. I snapped a few more pics and we were off on the way back to the hotel.

Now for those of you who are keen readers, you'll recall that we were told that we couldn't visit the orphanage because it was a mess from all of the construction of the new orphanage. Maybe it is just me, but I missed the construction and it looks pretty much like no work is going on there at all. Refer to my conspiracy theory thoughts earlier for more details on that. As we drive back, both Julie and I notice that we waste no time jumping on the highway back to Xi'an. Hope the washed out part doesn't mess us up in some way. :) It is smooth sailing until Xi'an traffic, Veronica falls asleep in Julie's arms while I hold Shan-Shan and then we are back at the hotel.

Rea is headed to the notary office do get more paperwork and she'll bring it back to the hotel to review it. We head upstairs and war, rummy the usual time-killing techniques that are employed. Shan-Shan is in a better mood and is happy to re-explore the hotel rooms. He seems to be getting more and more used to us and we get occasional smiles and laughs from him. Rea calls and I go downstairs to review the paperwork with her. All seems to be in order and we are on our own until tomorrow. Back upstairs and hanging out in the room until dinner when we head back to what is now our old favorite. We load up and everyone is winding down and apparently I am getting grouchy, too. :)

Julie starts packing and organizing the suitcases because we leave Xi'an tomorrow and fly to Guangzhou. We are on our own until 1:45 when we meet Rea and she'll take us on a tour of the city to see the Muslim quarter, the Bell Tower and whatever else we can do until we go pick up Shan-Shan's passport around 4:30 or 5PM. Then they will drop us off at the airport and we catch the 7:50 to our next to last city, Guangzhou. It will be a long day so we hit the hay. Shan-Shan does something new tonight and cries when we put him to bed. Not sure if having the light on to read helps him see that we are right there in the room with him and thus the crying. Unfortunately for Julie, I don't know how it ended as sleep overcame me.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Taking a rest

South east corner of the wall

Surveying the scene

On top of the wall

Ready to take on the wall

Sporting the split pants

Our first solo adventure

Making new friends

Catch, ma ma

You put your right foot in...

Seal the deal

Flick my Bic

Bath time

We were excited last night that we didn't have to set the alarm to get up and that we'd be able to sleep in as late as we like. Fast forward to 5AM and I am wide awake and Julie and Veronica are up, too. They are laying in the bed and I am sitting on the other one writing yesterday's summary. At 6AM we hear classical music and assumed it must be coming from the square where I am wagering older people are doing Tai Chi or some other exercises. Sydney eventually comes in and is shortly followed by Max, so we're all up except Shan-Shan. We moved over to the other room and let him sleep while we continued writing, playing war and Nintendo DS. The Nescafe in Xi'an has creamer and sugar included and I like it, but Julie does not. We start getting ready and get to the point where we are not trying to be quiet, but he's still out like a light. Apparently massively life changing events are tiring. :). Veronica seems to have some stomach issues, but they are not debilitating so that is good. I am guessing it is from washing her hands in the non-potable water and then sucking her thumb. Too late now though, whatever bug is in her is there. Let's hope the yogurt and probiotics minimize the impact.

We get him up a little after 8 and head to the feed trough that is the buffet. We load up for the day and learn that he loves Cheerios and doesn't like eggs over hard. Julie gave him some small pieces and he put them back on her plate so he knows what he likes. LOL! He eats more noodles and rice and is a good eater. We head back to the room to gear up for the day. Our plan is to walk down the road to the city wall and walk as much as our crew can handle. We were hoping for an earlier start to beat the heat but c'est la vie. We are still out the door by 9:30 so how bad can it be?

As soon as we walk outside, I know we're in for a treat as the humidity is very high and it feels like it is in the upper 80s. We head down the road and cause our usual disruption with the locals between 4 kids and a double stroller, we are quite the sight. The wall is about 2.5 blocks away but the sweet irony is that the blocks in Xi'an are more rectangular than square and we need to walk the long sides. We make it to the wall and start looking for a way up. As luck would have it, there is one close by and we go to it and pay to climb up. It is spectacular and the wall is at least 40 feet wide - it is huge! There are lanterns hanging on the outside edge of the wall that would be super cool to see lit at night. We head East and stop periodically to take in the sights and sounds of the city. The bad news with a fortified wall is that there is no shade so it is pretty warm. The wall slopes from the front (outside) to the back for drainage. Pretty smart people hundreds of years ago. Along the walk we encounter some people from Texas and see dozens of bikers. They rent bikes at the top of the wall and both Sydney and Max bemoan how we don't have bikes and are forced to walk. You'd think this was the Battan Death March or something. Considering neither of them are strong riders, there are no helmets and the top of the wall is paved with hundreds of years old bricks, riding a bike seems like a bad idea, so we walk. ;)

We eventually reach the corner, which was our goal and take a breather. The moat and associated park around it are very beautiful and we've seen older Chinese out exercising and socializing. It is an interesting foreground to the chaotic urban scene just beyond the moat. It is a nice break to be on the wall away from John Q Chinese Public but even here, we are asked to be in pictures and many bikers almost wreck looking at us. We head back to the entrance we came up and take in the sights on the inside of the wall. It is pretty depressing stuff as the houses/apartments have tin roofs with bricks holding them down, decrepit looking structures and just a poverty look and feel to them. We finally make our way back to the steps we came up and stop in the shade of a pagoda to rest. Some Chinese come up and ask to take our picture and then we try to make small talk about the heat, which I apparently cannot say "hot" correctly, and they tell us they are from Nanjing, but when I say Nanjing, they all shake their heads no. So much for my communication skills. While sitting there we see a blimp fly over and later when it turns we see it is the Goodyear blimp. I snapped some photos to share with the people I work with from Goodyear. We begin our trek back to the hotel and by now are getting pretty good at crossing the street - at least the small ones.

Back in the hotel room we are all gross with sweat and Shan-Shan is wiped out and takes a nap as does Veronica. Julie and I lay down while Sydney watches a movie and Max plays Nintendo DS. After a bit he wakes up, but another side effect from institutionalization is that he doesn't cry or make noise. He seems very content to sit and watch events around him. Guess that is all he really knows how to do as the broader world hasn't been very interactive for him. How much action can you do from your crib or in a walker? Max, Sydney and I play cards and after getting sick of war, I teach them to play Blackjack and Rummy. We all laugh at how much my mom wouldn't like me teaching her grandchildren to play Blackjack. At least we were not gambling, just working on the basics of the game. LOL! Sydney wins the first hand of Rummy but they don't want to play anymore as war is apparently more exciting.

The kids have been hinting all day that a trip to the hotel's pool sounds great so we finally go. Shan-Shan just seems baffled by what we're doing and sits there with Julie taking it all in. Sydney can't touch the bottom in the pool and my right knee is killing me so squatting in the water holding her afloat isn't going to happen. We float and splash around for a while before heading back to the room for baths. I bet you were wondering why we called this bath time, huh? I didn't forget. :)

Max and Sydney take showers (they are getting so big) and Julie gives Veronica a bath. Shan-Shan and I poke our heads in so he can see what she is doing and he starts to cry and get very anxious. We decide to implement some tough love and still go forward with the bath. He cries but doesn't struggle like I thought he would as we clean him up. I play the role of bad guy (little does he know that'll be a recurring theme in his life - LOL!) and let Julie be the nice ma ma and save him from the evil bath. We all survive and he doesn't seem to be too traumatized by it. As a matter of fact he is playing with the phone in the hotel room right now and enjoying some freedom to explore and walk around on his own. I am so glad to see him walking around because at one point in time we were concerned that he'd need therapy, but apparently, love will do the trick.

Dinner time approaches and we decide we'll be adventurous and try the Chinese restaurant in the hotel instead of the Western one. We get off of the elevator and the lady dressed in traditional garb tells us that we are on the second floor and that this is a Chinese restaurant. This is our first hint that we might not be eating here. We politely let her know that we understand and would like to look at a menu. As we flip through such classic delicacies as shark's fin soup, sheep head meet with garlic, squid booty (that last one is for Max's enjoyment) and more we realize that maybe the Western place is the right one for us. We all smile conciliatory smiles that yes, she was right, this is a Chinese restaurant, and head downstairs to our usual stomping grounds. Shan-Shan does well eating as does everyone else and we hit the hotel's business center on the way to the room and check email. Apparently our alarm system is on the fritz so I am sure we'll owe the Sheriff when we get back for the false alarms. Julie's sister sends a few photos of Zeus the dog and Enzo the cat for us and lets us know that Enzo is good at supervising her cleaning of his litter box. Our friend, Carl, is taking care of the yard and let us know he cut the grass and now needs replacement kidneys. Our yard was a farm field before we built and is pretty rough. Couple that with a few hours on a tractor and it is a good time. Mow north and south, not east and west Carl - trust me, it is smoother that way! He also sends a picture of Zeus and said that Zeus jumped in the car with him when he pulled up to the house. What a great guard dog, huh? LOL!

We hit the room and wind down for the evening and eventually call it a day. Tomorrow is our opportunity to visit the famous terra-cotta army and attempt to visit Shan-Shan's city, Weinan.

Ready for Lil Bubba

Quality time in the hotel room

Gotcha day!!

Hang in there

Sorry, Wi-Fi hasn't reach Xi'an China yet and our iPad doesn't have a wired connection.  Everything is going well and we'll update the blog as soon as we can with lots of pictures and details.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

It is complete

Shan-Shan sleeps through the night while the rest of us toss and turn on the rock hard beds. We got lucky in Beijing as our beds were nice and soft - not quite pillow tops, but soft. The ones here remind us of Japan so guess it is an Asian hotel thing. We start getting ready for the day that we get to complete the adoption and formally make Shan-Shan ours. We all wear our shirts Julie bought that have our roles (daddy, mommy, big brother, big sister, little sister and little brother) in Chinese characters on them. I boil some water in the hot pot while Julie is getting ready to mix up our first attempt at milk/formula. Not having done bottles before, this is all pretty new to us. I was getting ready to dump the formula powder in to the bottle but realized in time that there was no bottom and that we needed a liner. Of course I have no idea if the liner can handle boiling water - I doubt it based on the look and feel of it, so we let the water cool in a coffee cup for a while. Shan-Shan doesn't seem to like the formula so we're off to a rocking start on this aspect of parenthood. It was always easier when Julie nursed them. Apparently we have a lot to learn which would be a recurring theme of the day. :)

Breakfast is in the buffet downstairs which as usual is a zoo! All six of us walk and present the hostess with the buffet tickets and go to sit down only to learn that I grabbed the tickets from the wrong day! Julie and the kiddos go ahead and find a place to sit while I go back to the room and get the right tickets. Everyone does a pretty good job eating, including our newest addition. He's not a huge fan of their congee and after eating some in Beijing and then again on the flight to Xi'an, I agree. If you've not experienced congee, imagine runny rice oatmeal....mmmm, mmmmm, good, huh? Not! He does eat some of it but seems to like the noodles and fried rice the best.

We head back to the room, quickly grab our stuff, pack our dirty laundry for the hotel to do and head back downstairs to meet Rea. We load up in the van and head back to the civil affairs office to complete the adoption. When we get there there is another couple from Spain from the sound of the conversation that is there with an older child. We come to learn that they are not completing the adoption and are in effect "returning" her to the CCAA. How sad! Her guide as well a Rea and the other officials in the room take turns talking with the girl and we can only hope that they are being nice to her and not berating her or anything. She looks sad and dejected - it is heartbreaking. No wonder they didn't return our excited smiles when we walked in. We start sorting out the paperwork, which consists of copies of the TA, copies of our passport photo pages and the homework Rea gave us in a pamphlet of Chinese to fill out. Julie and I are asked a few questions from one of the officials, a nice young girl, about why we want to adopt, if we have the resources to take care of him medically and provide an education, etc. She tells us that the Chinese people thank us for adopting Shan-Shan and ask if we have any other questions. We of course do not so we start signing our names multiple times and then stamp our signatures with our thumbs that we put in blue ink. Shan-Shan seals his end of the deal with his right foot stamp. We pose for pictures with the director, sign more papers with the notary, pay administrative fees and stuff and we're done! He is officially ours! We give them our gifts and they don't seem very interested. We'll chalk that one up to a cultural thing and be happy about it. Funny to watch how the Chinese interact with children. While we were waiting and doing paperwork a fun game to occupy Shan-Shan's time was to play follow the cigarette lighter. The director's driver had a blue lighter that he'd flick his Bic and move it around and Shan-Shan would follow the flame with his head. Not exactly a game we'd endorse at home. LOL! We also learned that he likes to play with paper airplanes and we have some good pictures of him playing with the kids.

Now we head to a place called the Security Bureau (scary name for a joint that ends up being the passport people) to get Shan-Shan's picture taken and apply for a passport so he can come home with us. The traffic in Xi'an looks a lot like Beijing now and it takes about 30 minutes to go four miles (I know because I saw a sign that said the Bell Tower was 6km away) and we were close to the Bell Tower. By now the kids, including Shan-Shan are all winding down. Boring paperwork and sitting in stop and go traffic isn't a ton of fun.

Rea let's us know that we're done for the day and that we have Weds. as a free day. We'll see the Terracotta Soldiers on Thursday and also will drive to Weinan to take pictures of the outside of the orphanage and see if we can locate Shan-Shan's finding spot. We want to collect as much information as we can while we are here so when he gets older and starts asking questions, we have something to share with him. Who knows by the time we come back his city could be gone from flooding, earthquake, who knows? A funny, but frustrating, side note that we wanted to share with other adoptive parents from this orphanage. We asked if we could visit the orphanage to take pictures but were told that it is chaotic there with construction on the new building that they will be opening in Sept. Sound familiar? Other families who have adopted from here over the recent years have heard similar responses. Must be a very nice building, if they ever get it done. If I put on my conspiracy theory hat, I guess that they are a poorer orphanage and don't have nice resources and don't want outsiders to see the conditions so they use this excuse. Either way, we're not getting in so no use fretting about it. Just thought it was funny that the same excuse gets used year after year.

Back at the hotel we get to the room we settle in and begin to restart the bonding process. We wonder if he walks because all we have seen him do is sit and stand. Shan-Shan still seems like he is in shock and just looks around and tries to take it all in. We snack on munchies in the room, play war, which isn't like normal war when you play with Veronica as she likes to look at the cards and gets upset when she loses. That must be Julie's competitive streak coming out. LOL! Julie puts Shan-Shan down for a nap and Sydney and I go exploring the hotel while Julie and Veronica lay down and color and Max watches Percy Jackson on the iPad. Sydney and I find that there isn't much of the hotel to explore and we decide to venture out. We walked around for a while and with our shirts on we got a lot of smiles and thumbs up signs. We walked down a dark, dangerous looking alley (do you really think we're that dumb? Hehehehe) a nice wide street and enjoyed looking at the fancy dresses and the various shops. This obviously isn't a tourist area because they are selling exciting things like power strips, pliers, and assorted things. We came back to the hotel and in a version of trust, but verify, I asked a number of hotel staffers about wireless access using Wi-Fi, WLAN and anything else I could think of but no joy. I pay a little more than a dollar to use a shared computer in the hotel's business center to send a quick email to let the folks back home know what we are doing. The girls at the business center love Sydney and ask to get their picture taken with her. Of course she is gracious enough to oblige. We head to the pool to check it out and apparently wandering a hotel isn't common in China as we were told where the elevator was a number of times. LOL!

Back in the room, Shan-Shan is still napping. We eventually wake him up and he starts to re-learn who we are. Poor guy, he probably keeps thinking he'll wake up back in the orphanage, but nope, you are ours, buddy. :) We gear up to venture out and try the stroller with him. So far we have been in and out of the van so much we have not used it. We go downstairs and get him strapped in. He's not a fan of change at all and this is no different. We decided to walk to the square in front of the big government building which also means we get to practice our car and bus dodging skills crossing the road. Along the way we get all kinds of looks from the curious to some that look almost angry to some who could care less. The double-wide stroller and 4 kids obviously draws a bit of attention though. It it pretty hot in Xi'an and we are only out for maybe 45 minutes or so before we head back to the room. We cool off a bit before we head to dinner. We decide that the hotel is still the best bet for now and enjoy spaghetti. Max has Bolognese, Julie and Sydney have plain and I enjoy an arribiatta. Shan-Shan loves the noodles but not the broccoli garnish no surprise there and we head back to the room.

Shan-Shan shows us that he can walk, hold his sippy cup and try to drink - all things we were not sure if he could do earlier. He and Veronica enjoy watching The Wiggles so Julie and I can only hope we have another Wiggles fan in the making. He really seems to be opening up, which is terrific! We are all hitting the wall and getting tired but are waiting for our laundry to come back. They are later than they said they'd be, but we don't know who to call or how we'd even communicate the issue. We are concerned that with our allergies that they'll use some wicked lead based detergent made from recycled computer parts or some overly perfumed stuff that'll drive us crazy. We've asked a number of times and everyone says to have the hotel do it or wash your own. The water in the tub comes out yellowish and is very hard based on the lather we got in the shower earlier so we're concerned about ruining our clothes so we are gambling with the laundry. The ladies show up with our laundry and they have wrapped them in clear cellophane like plastic bags, so we have dozens of them now. They seem to struggle with the same issue we were concerned about as the heavier clothes, like jeans, don't feel 100% dry. Good news is that we don't smell any perfumes and the whites are white. We get them all sorted, hang the ones that could use a bit more drying and call it a night. Another exciting day in China where we finalized our adoption. Not something that you do every day, huh?

Gotcha Day!!!

Gotcha Day!!
It is finally here, the day we've been waiting so long for, Gotcha Day. We woke just a few minutes before the alarm and started getting ready for our 5:30AM bus departure. The kids did great and we were downstairs and mingling with the the anxious families before loading on the bus. The same family that had a daughter faint in Tianamen Square had one of their other daughters faint this morning and their third daughter vomited last night. Tough, tough start to the trip for them. Hopefully they get everyone sorted and can enjoy the rest of their trip! We rode to the airport and learned what terminal and flights we'd all be on. We are departing from terminal 2 and flying on Eastern China Air to Xi'an at 7:55AM. So imagine me, the detail oriented planner learning that our flight to the adoption city leaves in less than 2 hours and we are not at the airport. Apparently God is working on my control issues with this trip, so I take a deep breath and give the worries to him knowing that it'll all work out. (I hope!!!)

We drop the first group of families off at terminal 3 and wished them well before we headed to our terminal. We unloaded and Mandy, our guide who picked us up Friday, walked us to the check in area. This is a pretty crazy sea of people and I would have loved to take a picture, but after Mom's experience in Paris' CDG, I wasn't going to take a chance, so you'll have to trust me. We checked in with no issues and that was as far as Mandy could take us so we played roulette with which security line we would pick. We opted for the wheelchair line since we had the stroller. In China, security is tight and each person needs to approach the security desk individually, stand in a specific spot where they use a camera to match you with your passport photo. Then you proceed to the scanners to have your bags x-rayed. I had to lift Veronica up so the camera could see her and then to her dismay I had to pull her thumb out of her mouth. I hope they enjoyed the scene as she wasn't a big fan of that at all. We cleared security and headed to our gate. We did what we thought was a gate check of the stroller and waited for our flight to board. Our planes was a nice 737 and was packed. Max was hoping for an A-380, but apparently a 737 will do for the 1h40m flight to Xi'an. :). I guess we'll have to go to Singapore so we can catch an A-380 for him. Good problem to have, huh? Heheheh maybe we can time it so that we can catch the F1 night race around the city - But I digress (just need to plant the seeds, you know).

Our flight to Xi'an was nice and we were glad to see that more Westerners were on the flight, too. Apparently Xi'an is booming as we deplaned on the tarmac and took a bus to the terminal. We collected our bags and met Rea, our guide. She walked us to the van and we loaded off and headed to the city. Already we can tell that Xi'an is different from Beijing as we can see maybe 1 mile instead of 1/3rd mile from the smog and haze. The airport is about 45 minutes from the city and we pass through farm fields before we start bumping into the city traffic and skylines. Tall apartment complexes are very common and we can see that Xi'an is developing quickly from the number of cranes. Rea jokes that the national bird in China is the skyscraper crane. As we get closer to the hotel we come upon the 600+ year old city wall and drive along it for a while before entering via the South gate. Very impressive as it is very wide and must have taken tens of thousands of people to build the 9 mile long ramparts. The inside of the wall is the packed dirt from the moat that surrounds it and I can't wait to explore it but only after we get our son.

We check into the hotel and Rea helps us to our room. It is around noon and our appointment at the civil affairs office is at 3:00 so we have some time to burn. We start getting settled in to the room, preparing the gifts, etc and head to lunch in the hotel's restaurant. Their Western buffet features fried rice, fried noodles and an assortment of Chinese looking dishes but apparently if you have silverware on the table, it's Western. LOL! We finish and head back to the room with over an hour to kill so Ron and Julie lay down for a quick snooze before the big deal. We meet Rea in the lobby and head out. The civil affairs office is less than a block away so it was funny that we drove, but if you've seen the traffic in China, you can appreciate the relative safety of a van. We unload and go into the building that says it is the Xi'an Science and Technology Museum, but looks like an office building to me. The Adoption Affairs office is on the 6th floor and we get off, turned to the right and then another quick right. We walk through the door and can see our son sitting on the floor surrounded by adults. Holy cow! Can this be real? I think we both expected to have to sit there and wait for them to bring him to us, but nope, there he is! We say hello and his name but he isn't in to it. Who are these people and why are they so excited to see me? I thought they were just pictures in an album, but here they are, large as life. The orphanage director and one of his caregivers (not Mary Ann, sorry mom) are there with him and brought some pictures and a box with some dirt from Weinan for him wrapped nicely. We'll leave it wrapped for him so he can open it some day in the future when he is ready and wants to learn more about where he was born. We sign some papers and we're off to do some shopping. We pick out a few outfits from the limited selection including split pants for him to sleep in and then go to get formula (they call it milk) and water. Buying items in China is different in that usually you pay the cashier first then get your item. In the Carrefour you checked out at the end like we do back home, but apparently formula is different. So I paid and then we headed to the checkout lanes, back to the van and to the hotel.

Hard to believe it is really happening. We are trying not to overwhelm him, but it is hard. You want to let him know that he is loved so much by us, but we're really rocking his world. He is overstimulated and will glance at the ceiling or wherever someone isn't. We were told not to call him by his English name until we get back to the states and his caregiver told us that he goes by Shan-Shan so we're going with that. :) We continue to bond and build the trust that he needs and the older kids do great not crowding him and giving him room, while still being there for him to see. Shan-Shan can stand and sit in various poses, but we've not seen him walk yet so wonder if that is due to his institutionalization. We'll probably learn all kinds of things that we can attribute to that over the years.

We enjoy a meal of oatmeal and "Cream of Wheat" in the coffee cups in the room and try our hand at mixing stage 3 rice cereal that is green and smells horrid. The good news is that he loves it. We all start getting ready for bed and sack out for the evening. Shan-Shan seems to rock himself to sleep and he is out. We clean our dinner cups, try to get things ready for tomorrow and not long after, we are out.

Today was a busy day....

Today was a busy day and started with the Veronica-powered alarm clock coming in and laying down with us. Julie and I got ready and enjoyed the Nescafe instant coffee in the hotel room. Who'd have thought instant coffee would be so welcome? We headed down for breakfast and enjoyed the buffet again. The kids really enjoy the freedom to go get their own drinks (where we can see them) and the bacon is extra greasy so that's always fun to deal with, too.
After breakfast I exchanged currency. Due to the exchange rate, I had a pretty fat stack. :). We went back to the room and got ready for the day out and about.

Our first item was to go to church, which was a non-denominational Christian church. It was a nice service with a lot of singing and a decent sermon. It was cool to see all of the different people there from all over the world. After church we went to a jade "factory" to learn about jade for 5 minutes and shop for a long time. We did end up buying small jade animals for each of the kids including Emerson that represent their animal on the Chinese zodiac. Emerson is a rat, like Julie and I, Max is a snake, Sydney is a sheep and Veronica is a pig. We'll have to look up the meanings when we get home. They told us, but we are on information overload.

After the jade factory we went to lunch where we are getting pretty good at using the lazy Susan and using chop sticks. The family we are paired with isn't a big fan of Chinese food though two of the girls are from China. The father is willing to try new food, but the others are about as picky as Max - well, maybe not THAT picky. :). We tried some local wine, but it was more like straight alcohol and a sip was about all we were in the mood for. The restaurant was a Chinese equivalent of Cracker Barrel back home as it had a shop attached to it, but no old time, down home country stuff. We finally loaded on the bus and were off to the great wall!

The section of the wall we went to was Ju Yong pass, which was awesome as I was afraid we'd be in Badaling, which is the most popular tourist section of the wall and very crowded. There were other people at Ju Yong, but it wasn't crazy at all. To say the wall is steep is an understatement it is easily 30-35 degrees of vertical and the steps are not consistent heights. Some are eery small, a few inches, and others are more like 14"! The first section we came to was more or less an inclined sloping section where there were padlocks attached to a chain along the one side. These are for newlyweds or families to show and strengthen their love. You have your name etched into the lock, attach it and throw away the keys. We did this on the way back down and have a great in-action photo of the keys flying through the air (thank you, Stephanie!). All five of us made it to the first terrace on the climb and we started the long steep section up to the first tower. After about a third of the way, Max decided he didn't want to go any further. Can't say we blame him; it was nerve wracking having people pass you at different speeds, some sitting along where the railing is, etc. Julie offered to stay on the terrace with Max while the girls and I journeyed onward. The girls did awesome and we made it to the top where the first tower was. No rest for the wicked and we started our way down, which was more of a worry for me knowing that getting down off a mountain is usually more dangerous and getting up. The good news is that they did super and we all made it down to flat land with no issues. While climbing down we were stopped along the way and the girls were asked to be in pictures. Sydney was happy to accommodate her adoring public, but Veronica was focused on getting down and didn't want to be in pictures. I also had a travel faux pas when an Asian man was climbing up the steps and said Hello I responded back ni hao and he let me know he was Korean! D-oh! Unfortunately for one of our travel families, their daughter fell on the way down and they are not sure if she broke her arm or not. They were going to spend the rest of the evening in the hospital in Beijing so we hope and pray everything is all right. What a rough start to the trip for them!

After the Great Wall, we had a quick dinner in a restaurant that had birds cages in the atrium and koi in water features. Wonder if any of them are on the menu? :). Dinner was quick we were off to the hotel and then to see an acrobatic show. We are all dragging and also just found out that our checked luggage needs to be picked up tonight at 10PM! The how is supposed to go until 8:30 so that will be tight. The show was good and I really think we almost sW one of the performers die twice only to be aver at the last minute. I can appreciate showmanship, but the look on his face and the way he was breathing didn't look like it was part of the show to me. The girls made it to the intermission but after that, were out like a light. The performers had amazing skills and the way they contorted, wow! We went back to the hotel room and put the kids to bed and started the packing process. We make a great team and knocked it out in about 30 minutes and called to get our bags picked up and went to sleep dreaming of meeting our son tomorrow!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Sydney, the ambassador for peace

We made it!!!

Veronica, Sydney and Ron made it to the first tower! Think of the steps at Chitzen Itza only taller. Pretty scary stuff but we braved our way to the top! Very steep angle.

We're going where?

Fun at JuYong Pass section of the wall

Great Wall

Saturday, July 24, 2010

The Forbidden City

Told you it was crowded

The bird's nest

Wonder if Big Mac is on the menu?

Veronica and her adoring public

Chairman Mao

Our first day

Where to start, where to start? To say experiencing China with our day one itinerary is like jumping into the deep end of the pool doesn't do it justice. Wow, wow, wow! We are totally in China and loving it. Our day started with all of the usual morning routine stuff of getting ready before we hit the breakfast buffet. The hotel has as awesome array of food to cater to breakfasts of the world including cold cereal, made to order omelets, Asian selections, salmon, assorted breakfast meats, yogurt and more. We all loaded up on food and enjoyed seeing some of the other families from our agency. It looked like an adoption convention there were so many of us!

We loaded on the bus at 8:30 and rolled out. Our guide today is Sherry along with Lineaker and Mandy. Sherry gives us a brief history of Beijing while we rumble through the city on our way to Tianamen Square, the largest public square in the world. Traffic is horrid and you couldn't pay me enough to drive a bus here unless it was in a Road Warrior type of scenario where I could just plow my way through the traffic. :) We get our first glimpses of the Square as we are driving to a drop off spot and we see it is jammed with people. The Chinese people like to see Chairman Mao's body which is in a crystal coffin. The line literally is MILES long. Good news is that seeing Mao isn't on our agenda today. We come to appreciate why there are so many Chinese with umbrellas after walking for a bit - it is HOT - like over 100 hot today in Beijing. We walk past the monuments and across the Tianamen towards the Forbidden City and stop for a photo op where you can see the gate where Chairman Mao declared the People's Republic of China and where his portrait now hangs. While baking in the sun, one of the daughters of a family in our group succumbs to the heat and almost at the same time Max started saying his stomach hurt pretty bad. The other family takes a taxi back to the hotel and fortunately Max's affliction passes with some shade, water and a few burps. :).

We head towards the Forbidden City where we learn to appreciate just how many people are in China. The crush of people is unreal as we squeeze on to bridges leading into the complex. We are totally awed by the size and beauty of the City. Seeing this palace has been a dream for years and to be here us just surreal. The splendor of the Forbidden City is different from say a Palace of Versailles but equally tangible. The kids are rock stars here and we are literally stopped multiple time to have a group picture featuring us or just Veronica. As usual with
Veronica, they get mixed results; some get smiles and cuteness others, well let's say that dragons don't just live in China. LOL! We work our way through the city and take over 100 pictures. The large open spaces in the palace offer brief respites from the crowds only to be funneled back into a small gate or tunnel. We'll have to come back sometime when we can spend more time seeing inside the buildings and really enjoying the grounds.

We load back on the bus and it is off to our first Chinese lunch! Lunch was great and we tried a lot of different things. Sydney was awesome and ate just about anything and Max tried a few items, so that was good, too. They had a vegetarian entree so Julie was covered as well. The kids all enjoyed Coca Cola, something they don't get at home so it was a winner all around. Back on the bus to see a pearl store where we learned how freshwater pearls are cultured, graded, etc. I can appreciate how some would like to get something as an heirloom but we spent way too much time here for our liking. The next stop was the Summer Palace. Due to the heat we didn't get to explore it much so I guess we'll save that for the next trip. While at the Summer Palace we saw a fight between some vendors over one of them selling ice cream without a permit. Surprisingly there were not many police around and it went on a lot longer than I would have expected but I suspect the small teenager in the police uniform didn't want to get his butt kicked by these older people. It all ended ugly when a lady who was somehow associated to one of the vendors had her head cut pretty badly by some broken glass. Not a pretty scene at all and thankfully we left shortly thereafter.

We then stopped by a silk "museum" code for factory where we learned about silk and had the opportunity to buy some if we wanted. We stayed here longer than we would have liked, too.
Our next stop was a quick photo op of the Olympic stadium, the bird's nest, and the water cube. Finally we were off to dinner where we experienced Peking Duck and an assortment of a lot of other foods. We all struggled to stay awake on the short ride back to the hotel. We came back and even the allure of watching F1 qualifying on Eurosport couldn't overcome jet lag and heat.
Today (I am writing this in the morning) we get to see the Great Wall and finally, tomorrow we get to meet Emerson! Time to get ready for the day. Hope all is well back on that side of the world.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Whoa!

The infamous Chinese kid eating beds strike again! Oh the joys and energy of a new hotel room. :)

I'm not tired

Is what Veronica told me just before sleep took her over and I snapped this pic.

Ready to roll!

The iPad doesn't seem to let me send multiple pics in an email, so guess we'll post a few one by one. If anyone knows how to send multiple, please let me know. I didn't find anything on Google but with the jet lag, who knows how weak my search skills are? :)

We made it!!!

Wow!  We are in Beijing after so much waiting, planning and one long day of travel.  We were fortunate that none of our flights were delayed and traveling with kids that are pros at long haul flights makes it even better!  Max and I enjoyed the in flight movies and watched "Diary of a Whimpy Kid" and "Clash of the Titans" while Veronica enjoyed the loop of "Toy Story."  unfortunately neither Julie or Sydney's screen worked, so we'll take that up with United when we get back. The good news was that the iPad worked as planned and they were able to watch movies on it.  12 and 1/2 hours is a long time to be in a plane and we were all glad to get off finally!  Sleep came few and far between courtesy of people who felt compelled to open their blinds when the rest of the plane is very dark.  Gotta love John Q. Public, huh?
All that aside we are here!!!  Beijing is scorching and 94 today with high humidity.  You could feel it hit you as you walked off the plane.  We cleared customs and met one of our guides, Mandy, at the exit.  We also met two other families from our agency who were on our flight so it was nice to have someone in the same boat as we were to talk with.  Max and I exchanged money and bought bottles water - something that'll be a common theme for us this trip. While we waited in the airport, the girls took a bathroom break and actually waited in line for a squatty potty.  We'll see how long the excitement will last.  We waited about an hour for another family who was flying in to arrive before they load us on a bus and took us to the hotel.  We have adjacent rooms and the hotel seems very nice.  We need to run out to the store to buy bottled water and I think we'll hit the hay soon.  We are seeing Tiannamen Square, the Forbidden City and Summer Palace tomorrow so tomorrow is a busy day.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

We have a name!

Alrighty, it has taken us a LONG time to finally make his name "official". We were beginning to think we would just keep the name "Lil' Bubba". :) Actually, he will always be "Lil' Bubba" to us anyways; but, we certainly cannot put that on his paperwork. Hee, hee! So, here it is...drum roll please...

Emerson John Shan ******

It is so exciting to think we leave TOMORROW and Emerson will be in our arms on MONDAY!!!! (See our itinerary on the right.)

Thank you again to everyone who prayed for our sweet little girl, Sydney. She seems to be doing just fine now. Trust me, I still worry when she starts playing around. I probably always will!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Please pray for Sydney!

Please pray for our daughter, Sydney, who is 6 1/2 years old. She slipped today and hit her arm pretty hard apparently. She ended up fainting and having something similar to a seizure. We have to check on her every two hours for the next 24 hours and watch her carefully until Monday. Please keep our girl in your prayers. Thank you!!!!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Someone pinch me

So I figured it was time for my $0.02 on our big news. Is this really happening? Did we really just get our TA? WOW! First and foremost, I wish I hadn't been in San Jose for work when the call we've been waiting for 4069 years (or so it seems) came in but as luck would have it I was. To make it worse, I was on a conference call and saw Julie stalker-dialing my cell phone and then lighting it up with text messages. She's gotten very proficient at getting my attention when she needs to regardless of what I am doing. :) Needless to say it was weird to be sitting in a cube in Building 6 on a conference call with tears running down my face - thank God it wasn't a video call. LOL! That'd have been fun to discuss. We bounced texts back and forth also meaning my attention to the call was less than 100% but I figure I have a good excuse. After the initial shock was over the planner in me started searching for airfares and investigating options - no time for crying, we've got a trip to go half way around the world to pick up our son to plan! Thankfully the customer meeting we were supposed to have was cancelled and my co-workers pushed me to go to dinner with them rather than hang in the hotel room and hit kayak.com, cheapoair.com and anyplace in between with OCD fervor.
Flying home yesterday/today (flying west to east sucks for the record and the red eye is not a ton of fun) I couldn't help but think that I'd be back on a plane in a few weeks but instead of the usual suspect airports (IAD, RDU, DEN, SJC, SFO) we'd be on our way to PEK (Beijing!) How totally awesome is that?! Sleep didn't come easy on the plane when all I wanted to do was validate how many flier miles we might be able to use on our China trip to cut costs, what the weather would be like, how much we'll stand out - Godzilla, a hot lady and three adorable kiddos at the start and finally adding Lil Bubba part way through. Just blows my mind.
I can't wait to get home and see my family - it was hard to focus on an all day meeting with our customer even though it was on a topic I am passionate about (Data Centers - how's that for uber-nerdy?). I couldn't get out of there fast enough to start the journey home. I am in Washington DC right now but in a few more hours I'll be home.
Please pray that we get our consulate appointment so we can book travel and get the show on the road - we've got a little boy to go get and smother with love. I bet he likes Formula 1 racing - he looks like he does in his pictures. ;)

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

YIPPEE!!!!

We got it! We got it! Our TA is finally here! (Imagine us doing flips, jumping, singing, crying-happy tears of course, etc. during this.)

We may not be able to will the phone to ring; but, we can certainly pray and pray we did. Thank you to everyone who sent a prayer up for us. If you could send one more at this time, we would GREATLY appreciate it. Please pray that our agency can get us a consulate date so that we can leave in two weeks.

Can you believe it? Our little guy will be with us soon. God is AWESOME!!!!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Our July 4th weekend

We had a great 4th of July weekend. It all started on Thursday when Ron called and said he was headed home from work early and asked what fun stuff we wanted to do that evening. We totally were not expecting that. It was a wonderful surprise. After much thought, we decided to go to a park and walk a trail. It was so quiet and beautiful. We had a great time. At the end of the trail was a play ground. Of course, we HAD to check that out. :) It was flat dab out in the sun; so, we could not play too long as we did not have any sunblock on and we did not have our Coolibar with us. (I am a stickler for protecting our skin.) After that, we went to a small Italian restaurant. It reminds me of a restaurant that I used to work at years ago which used to actually be just across the street before it went out of business. It is now an ice cream place which we visited after dinner. :) The small restaurant is simple and very casual. Ron and I were joking that we did not know if any of the food was made fresh or came in frozen; but, whatever, it is a neat little place. The owner (?) could use a personality check and/or lessons in customer service that is for sure because he led us back to our table, put the menus on the table, and walked away. No, "Enjoy your dinner." or "So and so will be your server." Again, whatever, we were there as a family having a good evening together. Like, I mentioned earlier, we went across the street for ice cream afterwards. Yum, yum!

Friday brought another hard day at work for Ron as he and several of his co-workers had decided to have a "meeting" outdoors...at the golf course. :) The kiddos and I went shopping...oh, bummer. It was pretty funny though because we bumped into (almost literally, with the carts) the family of one of the guys Ron was golfing with at that very moment. Max was thrilled with this shopping trip because he was able to purchase the last Star Wars figure he needed to in order to get a FREE Captain Rex helmet. He was also very pleased with the ICEE that I bought him because he says that it has been 2 years since he has had one. I think he is being a little dramatic there. I do have to mention that I bought one for each kiddo, big spender I know, and the only child who would not let me sample their creation was Veronica. That is so her. She is a little spitfire, for sure. Planning ahead, we picked up Indian food for dinner. Ron and I are the only ones who wanted anything from the restaurant until that evening and the next day when the girls decided they too wanted some. That drives us crazy when they end up eating our food! :) We tried to enjoy some bottle rockets, fountains, and roman candles that evening. However, Veronica was NOT enjoying them. We went ahead and put her to bed and then went back outside to do them. It was passed her bedtime anyways.







After mass Saturday night, we went to a party at our friends' house. It was nice to see them and some of our other friends. The kids had a great time in their bounce house, playing tag, doing sparklers, etc. Plus, we got to talk about Lil' Bubba and share his pictures. That is always nice as I am sure other people are tired of hearing about the whole thing.

Sunday evening was spent with Ron's side of the family. We had a great time talking over dinner. Afterwards the kids went swimming with their cousins, Ma, aunt and uncle. Veronica got a little wet, but prefers dry land like Mommy. She and I spent time swinging together.








Our town had all of the festivities on Monday. The kids had been looking forward to the parade for a LONG time. They were running low on candy and they always get hooked up at this parade. Pa, Ron's dad, led the parade (along with some other men) carrying the American flag. We are always so proud seeing him march down the road. Ron's sister and two of our nieces were also in the parade. Not only did the kiddos leave with a TON of candy, they also had received gifts from my sister. My sister had recently gone on vacation and brought them each a shirt back. She stood with us during the parade which was nice. She brought the kids a pop to share; so, they were very happy campers. :) Afterwards, we walked up the street to the flea market and had popcorn and homemade ice cream. This has all become tradition over the years. The bonus of the day was that the weather was beautiful (albeit very hot) and we were able to take the convertible out for a drive. Ron laughs at me because I get so nervous in this car. I love it. It is beautiful. Yes, it does make me nervous though. Ron started teasing me about going to my "happy place" during the drive. It is true...I pray a lot while we are in it. :)



Sydney and Max played with a bug while waiting for the parade to begin.




Of course, the weekend would not be complete without a game or two of Candy Land...






Hope you had a wonderful weekend too!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Did you know...

that it is not possible to will the phone to ring? Still waiting and praying for "the call" to go pick up this little cutie...

Please say a prayer for us. Thanks. :)