1. Do not attempt a shopping trip between the hours of 11:30 and 1:30. Everything shuts down for lunch.
2. If you get hungry while shopping, make sure you stop shopping and go eat when everyone else is eating. There's a high likelihood the restaurant you want to eat at will be closed by 1:30 or 2:00PM. We got incredible scowls when we walked in to a restaurant at 1:45 and were seated for lunch. Literally, everyone on that shift had to wait for us to get our food before they could leave. We gave our juice bottle to the waitress as she ate a prepackaged sandwich for lunch at the next table with her friends waiting for us to finish. We felt SO bad about being so ignorant.
3. Fake antiques are way more expensive than the quality, unchipped new product. Jonathan's province is know for the Chinese porcelain and clay tea pots, tea cups, vases and other creations. We hoped to buy one vase. We quickly decided not to attempt to buy an "antique" vase, but a newer one
Our guide picked us up at the hotel and brought us and our belongings to the airport at 4PM for our 6:20PM flight. It's only a 70 minute flight from Nanchang to Guangzhou. Slight problem, though. About 20 minutes after we were at the airport and happy with the idea that we would be in our new hotel room just after the childrens' bedtime, we noticed the reader board changed the status of our flight to delayed. Looking around the waiting area for our flight, there were about 10 adoptive families all awaiting the now delayed flight. And every single one of them were looking a little lost without their guides. So, off I went to the information counter with my handy-dandy phrase book in hand. Goal: To find out some type of accurate information regarding the status of our flight. I quickly thumbed through and had three different pages marked with fingers to help with the ease of translation. God is good, though. Not only did my limited Mandarin skills help us find out some pertinent information, I was also able to find the only girl who spoke some English and worked in the airport. SCORE! And not only did I get pertinent information, I was now the designated foreigner to get ALL the information for the foreigners on our flight! And the Chinese young lady who helped me became a quick friend. She would page me over if she got updates or wanted me to tell the other Americans the information (as all of them were trying to pump her for more information than she actually possessed). I was just praying they would all try to avoid fitting the stereotypical American visitor/tourist and be polite and understanding. Most actually were...of which I was very thankful. So, while waiting for a plane which was stuck in Guangzhou due to massive thunderstorms to arrive in Nanchang, I found another flight was possibly an option, but would cost us almost $700. As 7:00PM approached and that flight was delayed I sent a text to our guide in Guangzhou with the details. She responded letting me know that only one flight had taken off and one flight had landed in the last 3 hours. Oi vay! (A little Yiddish for my East Coast friends! I gotta spread some cultural diversity in Idaho somehow!) I let all the Americans know that we will either be spending another night in Nanchang or the one plane that took off was ours. The latter was it! Just about the same time the information came in about our flight, we were considering taking the bus, which would take about 8 hours. We had one very brave and persistent pilot. (He did cause me to pray as we arrived in Guangzhou at 10:15PM and ended up circling THROUGH all the lightning strikes for almost 45 minutes before landing safely.) Several of us applauded his safe landing. The runway was covered with several inches of water and I just praised God that we landed safely. It did make me wonder if the pilot just said to himself, "No one else is landing now and there are a LOT of crying babies on this airplane. I'm landing this plane!" We found out later that all the other surrounding airports for about 100 miles were at full capacity with flights diverted from Guangzhou due to the storms. We arrived and are now in Guangzhou and it is REALLY humid here! (Today it was 90% humidity!) (After living in Idaho, I forgot what humidity does to my hair. Now that it's long...I forgot WHY I got a perm when I had long hair in college...this is NOT a pretty sight!)
We arrived at our hotel, The Garden Hotel, and WOWZER it is nice! For Kathleen's adoption, we stayed at The White Swan Hotel (one of the nicest hotels we've every stayed in...beats Westin hands down) in Guangzhou. The White Swan catered to the adoptive families from around the world when Chinese adoptions were moving quickly. They have a play room, sponsored by Mattel (the toy company), for children to play in, beautiful outdoor pools and the hotel is located on the the European architecture-rich walking island, Shamian Island. Kathleen even received a special Barbie doll holding an adopted baby as a gift. It was a perfect setting for our first adoption. Right now, the island is getting a face lift and EVERY road is torn up. Brick is being replaced with large 8-inch thick granite curbing and 3-inch slabs. It will be a nightmare to walk during rainy season, but it will be beautiful when they are finished. In true Chinese style, they are making the city look fabulous for the 2010 Asian Games later this year. Thus, our guides felt it best we stay off the island as it is really hard to get around on now. I'm so glad we are at The Garden (even nicer than the White Swan!). The room is much bigger and the proximity to things is perfect. We are able to walk out of our hotel and hop on the subway. Fabulous restaurants surround the hotel - and they are all much less expensive than the meals we could find on the island. I much prefer spending $10 to feed my family dinner than $40 or more.
On May 15, we celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary. Kimmer sweetly had an espresso waiting for me at the breakfast table and then took me (and the kids) our to a scrumptious dinner at Sultan Restaurant (a Turkish Restaurant across the street from our hotel). A Mediterranean feast in China - humus, cucumber/tomato/feta/lettuce salad, flat bread, BBQ chicken and lamb, cheese & veggies on flat bread, garlic/yogurt dip, and finished with a Turkish coffee and a rolled dessert similar to baklava. That was a heavenly meal, especially since we have primarily eaten Chinese food since we arrived 12 days ago. It was also nice to be in the minority in a different way. We were the only white folks among Middle Eastern, Turkish and Indian folks. The owner was a little confused why we had Chinese children, though. I told him in Chinese (as he didn't speak English) that I was Chinese. For some strange reason, he didn't buy that. To them Kathleen and Jonathan are adopted is A LOT of Chinese words, so I haven't learned it, yet.
The daytime, though, on the fifteenth, was not a very joyous experience. Every child up for adoption in China has at least two medical exams. The first is done when they enter the system in an orphanage. The final medical exam must take place in order for the child's visa to be granted. Unfortunately, the United States government makes arbitrary rules to which they have no experience or knowledge of it's ramifications. Since our last adoption (July 21, 2008), the US government (State Dept. or Homeland Security?) instituted a ruling that all adoptees from CHINA (not other countries) be vaccinated PRIOR to their visa being granted even if the vaccinations have already been received. That means that a child who has been removed from everything they have ever known just days before is being subjected to six to eight shots (depending on the age) - not gently administered. Something they already had to complete in order to be entered into the orphanage system in China. My question, why only Chinese adoptees? A visa is granted to a visiting Chinese citizen and they are not required to be tested for TB nor vaccinated prior to entering the country. At least 50 babies and children were seen at medical clinic while we were there from 10:30AM-noon and all of them had to have immunizations required by the CDC. I am glad I brought my vaccination card from Idaho this time so that Jonathan will not have to go through a THIRD set of immunizations. And all of this was done in a building which only had air-conditioning in the back exam rooms for the doctors. 85 degrees F with about 85 percent humidity and no air-conditioning makes for lots of cranky children and Westerners.
I was able find a bit of humor in the day, though: the band-aids they put on Jonathan were "Apple" (as in the Mac computer - see photo; we ARE Mac people, too!); the nurse administering the shots gave us the box for each immunization in the event there was a recall or problem with that batch...so glad she gave them to me as they are in Chinese and I can't read a single thing on it, except the company name. The hearing test was the best part of it all - a rubber ducky squeaked next to the right ear, then next to the left ear. YUP! He can hear! I just laughed and said, "Thank you God for Seattle Children's and Lakeside Pediatrics!" Jonathan did great with all the exams...he even found the light switch for the exam room and turned them off for everyone! His thought, "This is a bunch of hooey! I'll show you!"
Jonathan's measurements came in at:
Height = 86 cm (I don't think they did a very accurate measurement on that one, though, as they sort of eyeballed it)
Weight = 13 kg
Head circumference = 47cm (BIG brain capacity!)
Heart rate = 112 (also...not super accurate as the doctor held the stethoscope on his heart for a whopping 5 seconds)
We decided to fork over the $40 for a stroller for Kathleen (3, almost 4 years old) who is now vacillating between wanting to be a big sister and wanting to be a baby. It's a hard place! I'd much rather be a baby myself. Responsibility is sometimes a killer! I told Kimmer it was to save Mother Hen's sanity in the airport and around town. The only problem is that today (May 16), my large right foot made full contact with the wheel and it bent the axle. Uh oh! Kimmer said he would "fix" it. Kathleen has been thrilled with her stroller, though. So glad we already did the Great Wall!
I did locate Starbuck's today...right around the corner from our hotel!
Today, all the Small World and LIfelines (adoption agencies) adoptive families (four in all) went to the Botanical Gardens. Can I just say that is was flat HOT! We arrived at 10AM and by the time Kathleen and Jonathan finished feeding the fish it was 11AM and we were melting. Kathleen was quite the girlie girl feeding the fish one little pellet at a time. Jonathan decided, "Why feed the pellets to the fish when I could eat them myself?" Since when do statues of Buzz Lightyear, Hello Kitty, Spiderman, Pokemon, Garfield, and lots of monstrous (like 5-8 feet long) Dutch wooden shoes go with a botanical garden? It did make for a few fun pictures, though. We did find out that Jonathan does not like ice cream, yet. Kathleen didn't like it either when we first adopted her. I guess we should have kept her away from it because now in China when she gets hot she asks for ice cream. This is our one vacation of the year!
The Botanical Gardens were beautiful and immaculate, though. It was a joy to see and I hope we can come back when it is a little cooler.
It's almost midnight and I need to head to bed as both Kathleen and Jonathan wake up for "MAMA" when the sun comes up!
Tomorrow (May 17 China time/May 16 US) dear friends of ours, the Andrews family, have their Gotcha Day for Liqu (pronounced Lee-chew). Please keep them in your prayers as they are in China now adopting Jesse, age 3, and Liqu, who turns 14 on May 29. This will be a big transition for their family and for Liqu, who would have become a ward of the state of China had he turned 14 and not been adopted. I am so thankful that the Andrews and other families see themselves as giving hope to these teenagers who would otherwise have a very limited and sad future if not adopted. Liqu was born with a cleft lip and palate and as a result of poor nutrition and eating habits and possibly genetics, has experienced stunted growth. Pray for his Gotcha Day and the weeks following to go smoothly. Pray for Liqu as he is gaining a family, but is also facing so much change from everything he has ever known (language, food, culture, etc.). Pray for the Andrews biological teenage children and their developing relationship with Liqu. They are looking forward to having him for a brother and are 100% behind the decision to adopt him. Pray for more families to answer the call to adopt teens who are approaching the end of being adoptable.
We have met some great families during our time in China. So many people see the need of the more than 150 million orphans in the world. I just pray more will answer the call.
