Shopping Day

Today our guide Wei met us at 9 AM in the hotel lobby, and took us out shopping for a few necessities for Hope.  A few blocks down the street and around the corner is a very large department store, and grocery.  We hit the grocery store first.  We bought some Chinese diapers, which we discovered later may be a little big for Hope, in fact, they may just fit me (Just kidding, but they are a little bigger than we expected.  We're going to try them, though).  We also bought some wipes, snack items for Hope, a couple of jars of the baby food that we are used to, and a couple of boxes of the type that Hope is used to, which is a powdered baby food that you add water to.  We bought "ice cream" flavored Oreos, which are just a little bit off, but not too bad.

I wanted to explore the store a little bit more, but was sensitive not to take up too much of our guide's time.  I did, however, wander over to the seafood area....Big tanks filled with all assortments of fish.  One tank had turtles (not intended to be pets), and another had some sort of eels.  Yummy.

We then headed to the department store...Very modern, at least 7 floors (that's as far as we got).  It had all the designer names.  Things were actually more expensive, at least as far as clothing was concerned, than here in the U.S.  A pair of Levi's was about 75 US dollars.  Toys, though, were less expensive, and we picked up a few for Hope.  A Sea Horse plush thingy that lights up and plays music, some stacking cups, a little toy car thing with bells in the wheels, and toy cell phone.  You pay for things a little differently here.  You tell the sales clerk what you want to purchase, they give you a ticket.  When you're done shopping, you take your hand full of tickets to a counter and pay.  You then go back to each department, show the clerk your receipt, and they give you the item(s).

We saw a couple of kids in split pants.  If you don't know what these are, Google them.  I wanted to take a photo, but couldn't take one on the sly, so I didn't get one.  It's definitely a little strange to see, as is the rack of split pant outfits that we saw in the children's section.  No adult sizes, though, which is a good thing.

Back at the hotel, our guide gave us a run down of how much money we needed to exchange for the orphanage donation, and other fees.  It's not a small chunk of change, and hence was the reason that each of us wore money belts on the trip over (also to keep the money crisp and new looking - they are very particular about their American dollars here).  Our guide said farewell, we gathered the cash together, and nervously walked to the bank a couple of blocks down the street.  I said something like "exchange money" to the girl that greeted us, and fortunately, she seemed to understand, and we were escorted upstairs.  The exchange took about an hour.  Now, a stack of U.S. dollars translates into an even bigger stack of Chinese Yuan, so we loaded up the back pack with our stack, and again, nervously, retraced our route back to the hotel.  Whew, what a process.

We rested then rested a little bit, and headed back out to pick up a passport photo that I had taken earlier.  We then found the local Pizza Hut, and decided to eat there.  It seemed to be a popular spot for the younger crowd, and we didn't get as many stares.  There was a lot more on the menu than just pizza, with plenty of pictures for us to point to, so we'll probably revisit.  On the wall, in English, in big letters it read "Let's share and have".  Not sure what they were actually trying to say there, but we ordered a Cheese Lovers pizza.  There was barely any sauce, but I washed it down with my Ice Milk (sort of like a watered down milkshake), and it was fine.  We both realized after a few sips of our respective beverages that they contained ice.  Foreigners are cautioned against drinking anything with ice, because the water can have unpleasant side effects on our sensitive tummies.  We'll see how we fare tomorrow, I guess.

Tomorrow is the big day.  At 3:00 PM, we will we meet Hope.  4 1/2 years in the making.  Not sure how to put it all into words.  Both of us are very nervous, but very excited at the same time.  I hope that we sleep tonight, but I doubt that we will get much, which has been the trend lately.  Anyway, stay tuned.  Tomorrow I'll be posting pictures of Hope!

Chinese flag at half mast.  It's a national day of mourning due to a mudslide that occurred about a week ago.

Statue near the entrance of the department store

Getting ready to have my passport photo taken.  That's my stand-in on the box.

Shopping with our guide Wei

Eels for sale

Woman selling lotus seeds 

We are in Wuchang

We made it to Wuchang.  I had previously referred to this city as Wuhan, but Wuhan is actually made up of 3 citites, Wuchang being one.  The flight on China Southern from Hong Kong was uncomfortable, the food suspect, but the flight was fairly short: about 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Our guide Wei met us after we picked up our bags.  She lives in Wuchang, and seems very nice.  She will be with us for the next 6 days or so.  We hopped in the van for the 1 1/2 hour drive from the Wuhan airport to Wuchang.

The drive took us through very heavily trafficked areas.  A lot of cars, and pedestrians.  Wuhan is home to 8 million people.  Cars dart in and out of their lanes, and from side streets, and pedestrians cross in front of vehicles regularly.  The areas we passed through were a mixture of semi-modern buildings, run down buildings, buildings and housing either demolished or in the process of being demolished, and new construction.  There was not another Westerner in site.  When we finally arrived at the Best Western Wuhan, our guide checked us in and escorted us to our room, then bid us adieu until tomorrow morning at 9 am.

So we were on our own, and in need of a bite to eat.  We were a little intimidated: unlike Hong Kong, where everyone spoke English (or so it seemed), no one seems to speak it here.  We chose one of the hotel restaurants.  Fortunately, the menu had pictures, but there was very little that appealed to either of us.  Strange sea creatures, chicken feet, black chicken (literally, a black, featherless chicken, head and all, in a soup bowl), etc.  I ordered scallops and shrimp, which were edible.  Jen ordered a pork spare rib, which she actually liked, but also ordered beef brisket in chili sauce.  It was the hottest thing I've ever tasted, and she ate only a few bites, just to be polite.  She ordered a Coke, but got Coke Light with Lemon.  Not too bad, though.

After dinner, we decided to venture out.  We were hesistant at first.  Our fear stemmed from the fact that a) we didn't speak the language, and no one spoke ours, and b) we stood out like sore thumbs.  We finally decided to overcome our fear, however, and walked a few blocks from the hotel.  To our pleasant surprise, we really didn't see anything that I would consider to be "strange" - just people going about there daily business - and the experience was actually quite nice.  At the end of our stroll, we crossed under the street via a pedestrian tunnel, which led straight to the Wuchang McDonald's!  Jen pointed to "Ice Cream" in our Chinese phrase book, and the girl behind the counter brought out a picture with a sundae on it.  Perfect!  They only had pineapple and strawberry topping, and so we went with just the plain 'ol vanilla ice cream.  It was delicious!

Tomorrow is a free day.  Our guide is going to take us shopping in the area.  Should be interesting.  Hopefully we'll get some sleep tonight: neither of us has had much lately.  Talk to you soon!

Our plane at the Hong Kong airport

Sign at the airport with our flight into Wuhan, CZ3076

Sign outside of the Wuhan airport

Typical street scene

The old, and the new behind it

More rubble

Busy traffic

View from our hotel room

Welcome to Hong Kong!

We made it to Hong Kong!  It was very difficult leaving Bella this morning.  Neither Jen nor myself slept very well the previous morning.  But we made it out of the house, and all the way to Hong Kong.

At the airport in Orlando

The first leg to Detroit was uneventful.  Nothing much to speak of there.  We were a little worried about the next leg, however: the trip to Hong Kong.  15 hours in the air.  Thank goodness, though, for the business class upgrade, courtesy of Delta Skymiles.  The seats were actually "pods", that fully recline into a bed.  Very cool.

Jen and I were kind of at an angle to each other, which was a little strange.  We had a look around our "pods".  There's a little gift bag with some socks, chap stick, and a few other goodies.  Ah, yes, and slippers.  Now that's traveling!

I felt like a little kid.  There's a TV screen that swivels out.  Jen played video games.  I kicked back and watched almost 3 full movies.  There's a full service menu, complete with hot fudge sundaes, just like the Seinfeld episode, and Jen and I both had a couple of much needed drinks.

The plane took us north from Detroit, passing over Canada, and whatever cold place is above that, then down through Russia, and then China.  We both finally did fall asleep on the plane, and felt somewhat refreshed when we landed in Hong Kong.

The airport in Hong Kong wasn't too difficult to navigate, and we made our way through customs, and eventually to the shuttle to our hotel.  We talked with a young Chinese man who was headed to the U.S. tomorrow to go to college.  He gave us his email address when we arrived at the hotel, and said that he would answer any questions about China that we might have.  Very nice.  The hotel itself is very nice.  Here's a pic of our room.  we couldn't figure out to turn on the lights.  We finally figured out that you have to stick your key in a slot in the wall, and leave it there.

      

We grabbed a little bite in the hotel bar, and now it's off to bed.  On to Wuhan in the morning.  We'll post again tomorrow.  Good night from Hong Kong.

For when we return...

One part of our adoption journey, the long wait to meet Hope, is almost over, but the more challenging part of the journey will then begin, which is helping Hope to feel like a part of our family. One advantage of the long wait is that I have had plenty of time to learn about attachment issues.  I've talked with Jen, who has spoken with many adopted families about this issue, and I've read many articles about attachment issues in adoption.  I’ve learned that it can take adopted toddlers (or adopted children of any age) a long time to trust that their parents will take care of their needs and be there for them.  We’ll have plenty of on the job training very soon.

Although Hope is a year old, in many ways we will be treating her like an infant in order to help create a bond.  Her needs will be responded to immediately, so that she will know that we will always be there to take care of her, and that we will always keep her safe.  It's recommended that the parents be the only ones to meet the needs of the newly adopted child. With this in mind, Jen and I (with some help from Bella) will be the only ones to hold, feed, change, and comfort her for at least the first month that we are together. I know that this will be hard for some family and friends to understand, especially if she seems to be adjusting well and appears eager to go to others, but often the child has learned to try and please everyone, because he or she never knew who would be taking care of them next. In some cases that I've read, the child went more willingly to relative strangers than to their own parents, most likely because they were protecting themselves just in case their parents left their lives as so many others had done.

With this in mind, we will be laying low for a while once we return home to give us time to come together as a family, and to allow Hope time to start to adjust to the changes in her life. I can’t imagine what it will be like for her to have her world turned upside down, yet again.

We appreciate the support we have received from everyone in our lives and know that you will be very eager to meet Hope. Please be assured that we will be eager to introduce her to you when the time is right. 

Here are a few links to articles that I would recommend everyone read:

http://www.deborahhage.com/articles/guest_authors/hholman1.html

http://www.a4everfamily.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=92&Itemid=90

http://www.a4everfamily.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=93&Itemid=90

Leaving for China tomorrow!

I haven't had time to post until now, but on Monday, our agency called and asked if we could be in China by Saturday!  The whole thing has to do with expiring paperwork, which would have delayed our travel had we not left this early.  So we spent Monday making flight arrangements.  We leave tomorrow!  We arrive in Wuhan on Saturday.  No stop in Beijing for touring - there's just no time.  We meet Hope on Monday!  We leave China on August 25th, but we are flying into Tokyo, and don't arrive back in the States until August 29th!  Not ideal, but that's how we were able to make it work.  The good news is that we were able to use Skymiles for upgrades, and we're flying either first or business class the entire trip.  That will help eleviate some of the stress that we're feeling right now, I hope.  I'll post our itinerary when I get a chance.

Waiting for TA

We're currently waiting for our TA (Travel Authorization), which will give us our travel dates.  We've learned  that some families who received referrals in mid-July, as we did, have received their TA's, and so we expect to see something soon.  Things will then kick into high gear as we scramble to book flights, etc.  Stay tuned!

The Gate

Hope is currently in the province of Hubei (often referred to as "China's oven", due to the heat and humidity).  So I thought I'd search the web for other adoption blogs from families whose children are also in, or were in, Hubei.  I found a link to another family's site, who had documented their journey to China, just as we will.  As I read through each entry in the the blog, to my surprise, not only was their daughter was found in Xiangfan City - the same city where Hope was found - but also at the exact same gate at the city's Civil Affairs Department!  (According to the blog, the gate is a common spot for children to be left in that city).  What really put a lump in my throat, though, was the accompanying picture of the gate, as well as a picture of a row of cribs taken in the same orphanage where Hope had lived.

After staring at the pictures for a while, I began to think about the day that she was left at that gate.  Was it dark?  Did the parents stay nearby and watch her to make sure that someone found her?  How long was she there?  How hard must it have been for them to leave her there?  She was only one month old.


Here's a picture of the gate: