Clueless Americans Dine Out

We decided we didn’t want to eat in the hotel tonight, nor did we have time to catch a taxi someplace so we headed out by foot to find a restaurant tonight. Down the block and around the corner and Jeannette immediately ducked into the first restaurant she saw. We were in a bit of a hurry but, still, I was interested to find out what the menu and prices looked like.

It was a very nice, fairly formal restaurant of (to us) undetermined Asian origin. Chinese? Japanese? Something else? All I knew was that we were the only white faces—well, except for MelodyJoy—and that there were chopsticks on the tables. They handed us menus . . . all in some foreign language. Didn’t matter which foreign language really since we don’t read anything except English. We felt a sense of panic.

Tea? Do we want tea? I understood the word “Jasmine.” Even though I don’t like tea, I ordered tea all ‘round. But what to do about the menu? We were just about to make a run for it. No one spoke more than a few words of English. But we could tell that one of the supervisors was running to get something . . . perhaps someone who spoke our language. She came back with something almost as good: A menu with pictures. Just like Denny’s.

After quite a bit of confusion, even with pictures, we finally ordered Fried Salty Fish, a chicken dish, a pork dish and four bowls of rice. Based on our guide’s advice, we knew better than to order “tiger,” which usually is cat, or “dragon” (snake). We still didn’t even know what type of restaurant we were in, though! Then the supervisor suggested we get broccoli with wasabe sauce. Ah, we’re in a JAPANESE restaurant!

I pulled out the card that AWAA gave us that explains in Chinese what we are doing in the country and shared it with the waitresses. They read it with great interest and then Laura showed them pictures of Jordan, Phillip and Jameson. Laura took a photo of us with the supervisor.

The food came and it was great—especially the pork and the fish, tail and all. The entire meal came to 225 yuan, or less than $30, and we felt like triumphant explorers who survived a great adventure.

The Details You Want – No Travelogue, Just MJ

MelodyJoy is doing very well overall. She’s still reserved but smiles and giggles are coming more frequently. She plays with her toys (we should have brought more) and often clutches onto things for long periods of time. This morning she carried a sugar packet for at least an hour and a half. For awhile, we could trust her not to throw or drop things but we’ve moved past that now and she’s getting more active in banging things around. However, she never puts anything into her mouth other than her thumb or the bottle. (Well, she did chew on my finger yesterday. I thought she was going to draw blood after awhile.)

She loves to scratch things and to sense different textures. Jeannette thinks she does this instead of putting things in her mouth; it’s her way of exploring and experimenting. I suspect she did not have a great variety of different textures to experience in the orphanage and so it’s of great interest to her to feel the various fabrics around her.

When she’s unhappy, she has a little cry that sounds a little like the mewing of a cat . . . but when she’s mad (i.e., bath time or diaper changes), she can wail with the best of ‘em. (She’s taking a nap at the moment but it was pretty loud and tense around here for ten or fifteen minutes while Jeannette got her geared down for sleep.) A doctor here in Guangzhou told another couple that she suspects these babies scream bloody murder when they're having their diapers changed because in the past they have been laid down on their backs and simply left alone for long periods of time and they don't want that to happen again.

Health-wise, she has some congestion in her chest and head but it doesn’t seem like anything more than just a cold. Most of the babies are in good shape but there are a few fevers and one child apparently had had an ear infection for several weeks that eventually led to a ruptured eardrum, so her parents have had a few rough days. MelodyJoy has a funny bump on the back of her head that we can’t quite see so it’ll be interesting to hear what Dr. Cherry has to say about that.

Scabies can be a common problem for the MaoNon girls but I think that only MelodyJoy and one other girl in our group have them, and Melody’s are very slight and don’t seem to bother her.

Unless I’ve missed something, all the adults in our group are doing fine, too. John Faircloth tweaked his knee playing basketball yesterday but it didn’t seem too bad. I haven’t heard of anyone getting sick from the food, etc. Jeannette had some stomach cramps last night but is not having any trouble today. I’m curious to hear about the other group’s experiences in Hubei, where it is not as westernized, when they get in tonight. We’re anxious to see the Lymans again and to meet their Sophie.

Sorry for the dearth of photos today. For some reason, they just won't upload for me . . . and I have a few good ones I was hoping to share with you.

A Trip to the Garden of Eden

Yesterday, our guides told us that today would be a light day, with nothing but a brief trip to a local garden. When we awoke to a gray, drizzly day, at least half of the families opted out. We had already seen the park across the street, which is very nice, and the weather just didn’t seem conducive to walking outside.

As Northwesterners, we knew we could handle a little rain so we jumped on the bus and, boy, are we glad we did. They said this 30-acre park was a little different and they were right. We went to Yuntai Garden, which apparently is where many couples go to have their wedding pictures taken. From the moment we stepped through the gate, I was stunned by the beauty of the place, which was enhanced further by decorations left over from the recent Festival of Lanterns celebration. Even on this dreary day early in the spring, it was probably the most beautiful park I’ve ever seen. Perhaps I’m wrong but I thought it was more scenic than Butchart Gardens in Victoria or the old Cypress Gardens in Florida. The fountain at the entrance was especially spectacular.

Midway through our stroll, we came upon a couple of employees with a cart filled with traditional Chinese costumes that you could put on for photographs for 10 yuan per person. The seven kids in our group—meaning the older siblings who had come along with their parents to get their new sisters—tried on outfits (Jameson was a samurai of some sort) and they looked great! It was a lot of fun for everyone and I’m sure we collectively snapped a hundred photos of them all. The setting was so lush and beautiful that when we looked at our pictures later, the background looked like it had to be a fake backdrop in a studio.

After our visit to the garden, I went to McDonald’s to grab lunch. When I walked into the restaurant, right next door to our hotel, I was kind of befuddled because the menu had changed since the first time I was there a few nights ago. At that time, there were only four options on the menu, all were value meals costing about $3.50 and each sandwich came with a box of six Chicken McNuggets. This time, there was a whole variety of meal choices, each one costing about $2, but with no McNuggets included. An employee in the lobby brought me a menu and then stood next to me while I looked at it. Finally, I realized she was waiting to help me so I pointed to the first meal I wanted and she whipped out a Palm Pilot and started writing my order down on it. When I finished giving her my three meal selections, she wrote a number on a small Post-It note and gave it to me. I got in line and when I got to the counter just handed the note to girl there. She put the order together, took my money and I was out of there. Cost us $6 for a Big Mac, double cheeseburger, six McNuggets, three fries and three drinks.

Laura and Jeannette are now down getting massages in the health center while I’m keeping my fingers crossed (well, when I’m not typing) that MJ will stay asleep. I think she’s starting to stir now, though, so I probably need to get back on duty. Tonight, she gets her picture taken for her visa (I think) and then tomorrow it’s time for the health inspection, er, medical check.

I'm Ready for My Close-up

A Zoo of a Day

This morning, the group loaded onto a bus—after a 15 minute wait for one couple who shall remain nameless—and headed to the Guangzhou Zoological Garden. Having heard that the Beijing Zoo is not very nice, we did not have high hopes for the venture. However, it turned out to be a great outing.

The animals’ enclosures are much more concrete-based than in most US zoos nowadays but the park itself was very beautiful with lush greenery, manmade lakes and piped-in muzak. We got to see many of the animals at a closer distance than is common in the States. There were full-maned lions, tigers, rhinos, red pandas, monkeys, alligators and turtles. No elephants or giraffes or zebras but the highlight of the tour was supposed to be the giant panda. Unfortunately, there was only one on display and this was the one cage that they kept back a bit from the rail so it was pretty hard to see him.

The highlight for me may have been a concrete pen where there must have been four or five dozen large rats of some type. They looked like they may have been nutria. Several of us speculated that a bunch of rats came up from the sewer and the zookeepers just decided to make an exhibit of them. Interestingly, just to the left of the rats (and to the right of the porcupines) was a clothesline with six or seven articles of clothing hanging on it . . . yes! someone, probably a caretaker of some sort, actually lived in a small home right above the rat pit!

I also got a kick out of the school children again on their field trips. I swear that all 500 million elementary-age kids in the country of China paraded by us as we rested at some picnic tables. For a second, I even thought they must be marching their way around the lake and passing by us over and over. “Heh Heh, look at the stupid Americans. They don’t realize we have walked by them five times already. ‘Hello! Hello!’”

MelodyJoy was a huge hit in her stylish pink sunglasses. Incredibly, she did not mind wearing them at all.

From the zoo, it was on to Pizza Hut for MelodyJoy’s first experience with American chain restaurants. The pizza was okay. We ordered thin crust and it came in a square, the way that Little Caesars does (or used to do) some of their pizzas. While there we got to see a neat thing as Peter and his wife sat at the next table with their new 3-year-old son Joshua. Joshua has a cleft palate and has been quite nervous and serious, with very sad eyes, since being given to them earlier this week. They told us that in their hotel room they had seen a different, brighter side of him but none of us had witnessed it. Suddenly, in Pizza Hut, he broke out with smiles and started giving his mom kisses. It was very special.

This afternoon, a bunch of guys got together at the hotel to play basketball, the first time I have played in years. It took all of three minutes for me to get winded but we had a good time and I even managed to remember a few of my moves from back in the mid-1980s. Lineaker, one of our guides, came to play as well, which was kind of cool. He played barefoot and his offense consisted of shooting ‘most every time he touched the ball. His defense was dubbed the “Woo Defense” because it largely was characterized by him yelling “woo!” at us as we drove by him. I asked him if Chinese players talk trash. We gave him some lessons in trash talking today.

Today we had to review all of the paperwork from the Chinese notary for accuracy (yeah, right, we’re supposed to make sure all the Chinese writing there is correct?) in preparation for getting our kids’ visas this Saturday.

This evening, we went to dinner in one of the hotel restaurants with Kenn and Deb Anderson from the Chicagoland area and their new daughter, Rebecca. It was a very pleasant evening, though there are several things we noted. First, it’s strange how you can order your dinner and it takes 20 minutes for them to figure out that they’re out of what you ordered. Second, Kenn was ready to go through the buffet (which looked phenomenal but was a bit spendy) until he spotted one of the guests at the shellfish display repeatedly sneeze and then dive right back in to grab more food with the tongs he had been holding. Third, a bottle of water costs more than $6 and a can of Coke Light is $5 in this hotel . . . but several of us had entire dinners that cost only $8 or $9.

MelodyJoy became a little more interactive today. Each of the girls is very different, some are physically active or strong while others are very flaccid, some are talkative, some are crawling, some are eating solids, but all seem to be younger than their reported ages. A prime source of conversation is asking one another, “How old do you think she really is?” Amy, one of our guides, says that it’s typical for the ages to be overreported by about two months.

Anyway, a real highlight of the day was after dinner when Jeannette was holding MJ as she stood near Jameson and she held out her arms and reached toward him. Jameson’s face lit up! So Jeannette put Melody in his arms and let him hold her.

At dinner tonight, one of the Andersons asked Jamey what the best part of the trip had been so far. He immediately said the zoo but then he said the zoo was the second best thing. The first was getting his baby sister. It was pretty cool.

By the way, I changed one of the settings on the blog tonight so that fewer of the posts appear on the first page when you open it. I’m hoping this will help the blog load a bit more quickly for you. The older posts will still appear in the Archives, though, if you want to check them out. You can also check out Kenn and Deb's blog and photos at http://360.yahoo.com/profile-bJ0MlFc6fqjr5tRIjU06SbCOIe44kOyT8MDO1E1iJr0-?inv=bq7I2xtpLg--&r.

First Time in a Tub

Just a Walk in the Park

A Change of Pace

Today was a free day. We were going to sleep in, especially since I was up past 1 AM last night checking e-mail and posting the blog, but Melody decided 5:30 AM was a good time to wake up. After a late breakfast, we spent awhile instant messaging with Jordan and Philip in Klamath Falls . . . pretty amazing to be able to shoot notes instantly all the way around the globe. We’ve been gone a week and this was really the first chance we’ve had to find out how and what they’re doing (or at least the part they’re willing to tell us about).

After that, we walked across the street (which is accomplished by going down into the subway station and following the tunnels under the street) to Yue Xiu Park. After we paid our $2.19 admission—total cost for all five of us—to enter the park, we discovered a lush park covering about 95 acres. At first, it looked like it was just going to be walking paths through the greenery but soon we discovered an area that was a combination of playground equipment and exercise equipment, such as elliptical trainers and chin-up bars. There were some strange contraptions that we figured out were stand-up teeter-totters.

We also came across a small, somewhat run down amusement park and Jameson and I took a ride on a little roller coaster. The price was 8 yuan each, or $1. However, I wasn’t sure exactly what currency I had on hand and when I showed it to the girl in the ticket booth she just took it all! I’m pretty sure I ended up paying 30 yuan for our two tickets. She then directed us to enter the ride via the exit. We kept trying to go to the entrance where the line was but she insisted that we go the other way so finally we obeyed. Turned out that she was basically telling us to cut to the front of the line rather than waiting behind all the school children.

Speaking of school kids, there were a number of groups on field trips today and we felt like celebrities as they all gathered around us and said “hello” and waved to us.

As we left the park, we spotted an area of the park with old statues of jungle animals, Tarzan and Jane and, for some reason, a couple of dinosaurs.

One interesting note: We were the only people wearing shorts today in the park. We’re not sure if they’re considered immodest or, more likely, the locals think it’s too cold for shorts now. The weather has been very nice with no rain (it rained all of last week) and a high today of about 75 degrees.

This afternoon, we moved from the apartment into adjoining rooms in the hotel. I think we’re glad we did. The rooms are much cleaner and it feels more like what we expected from this place. We don’t have quite as much room now but it’s a pretty good set up. The view from the 16th floor is of the city rather than the back side of a tenement building with laundry hanging from every balcony. I felt a little bad complaining about our dirty, ill-equipped apartment, knowing that right across the alley were hundreds of people who gladly would have traded places. Still, it feels like we’re getting what we paid for now.

Since we now had a bathroom and bathtub that sparkled, Jeannette decided to give MelodyJoy her first bath in a tub. MJ wasn’t sure what to make of this at first but eventually she calmed down and we all survived the experience without any permanent scarring.

Being all cleaned up and wearing yet another new pink outfit, MelodyJoy wanted to go out for a night on the town so we met seven other couples from our group and took a string of taxis through Guangzhou’s rush hour traffic to a restaurant called Little Italy. They seated us on the roof and we just had a very relaxing and enjoyable time. There were occasional translation issues that led to things like one of the women getting three different dishes of penne pasta, but we just thoroughly enjoyed being together. We decided that we’ll try to put on some sort of mini-church service on Saturday night in one of the family’s large apartments. (Some of the apartments are gigantic and pretty nice . . . just not ours!)

Tomorrow is a short trip to the Guangzhou Zoo and, perhaps more importantly, Pizza Hut. Thanks for your continued prayers and interest in our journey. One week from today we’ll be home!

If you would like to check out the blog for another family that is traveling with us, go to www.fairclothadoption.blogspot.com.

MelodyJoy on the Town

MelodyJoy at Civil Affairs and reading at Lucy's Bar and Grille

MelodyJoy is Officially Ours!

This morning, leaving Aunt Laura and Jameson at the hotel to swim and relax, we went back to the Civil Affairs office to be interviewed by a Civil Affairs staffer and a Notary. We simply had to answer some very basic questions . . . our names, our occupations, whether we promised never to abandon her and so on. (One of the other dads kidded that he had responded, “Well, what do you mean exactly by ‘abandon?’” Needless to say, none of us would ever try to joke with one of these officials that way!)

Actually, we did struggle with several questions. Nerves, I guess. In the first interview, with the Civil Affairs representative, she asked us to say Nan Cai Jing’s name and when I did, she said I did it correctly. The Notary however seemed to think we completely butchered the pronunciation. Jeannette had trouble when they asked for her age. In the first interview, she underreported her age by two years and then in the second, she overstated it by two years! Fortunately, their standards for determining parental competency must be rather low. It was interesting, too, that both interviewers were very surprised that we have been married for 22 years and seemed to think that was quite a long time.

At the end of the Civil Affairs interview, we signed the questionnaire and the woman immediately said, “Congratulations, the child is officially yours!” It was both surreal and exciting. When one of the couples returned to the waiting room after hearing this pronouncement themselves, the wife announced that today was her husband’s birthday and so we all sang “Happy Birthday” to him . . . twice . . . so he could get it on video!

From there, they shuttled us to the police station where an official simply looked at us to see if we matched our passport photos and MelodyJoy’s official paperwork and photos. There was a brief moment of confusion when it appeared that the officer thought I was much uglier than my passport picture portrayed me but it turned out that she just didn’t like the dark photocopy we had given her. Amy, our guide, ran across the street for a new copy and all was resolved easily.

We then spent an hour and a half in a huge Friendship Store for the purpose of buying some baby goods and groceries. Most of the parents bought strollers and all sorts of baby stuff, even though the prices were pretty high. The grocery store was upscale but still had decent prices overall and we grabbed apple juice, water, Oreos, coffee, apple chips, some Chinese candy to give to Jameson’s class and several bottles of Coke Light with Lemon.

The afternoon was spent trying to figure out how to get a few items of clothing washed (quite the drawn out and difficult venture) and then we took a taxi over to Shamian Island where we got to see the famous White Swan hotel. But we’re not bitter about the fact that we’re currently in a 1 Star apartment rather than the celebrated 4 Star adoption inn. Tomorrow we hope to get moved over to the main China Hotel, which we hope will be much nicer, even if we have a little less space. At Lucy’s Bar and Grill, we had an American dinner. (Well, can you call it an American dinner when one of us had a burrito, one a quesadilla and another had fettuccini?) We ate outside near the Pearl River while MJ entertained herself with one of the books Jeannette brought. Tomorrow we may go back to do some shopping . . . it looks like there are some bargains to be had.

Jeannette made MelodyJoy pretty mad tonight as we smothered her entire body and head in a prescription lotion for scabies. This should supposedly clear them up very quickly. Melody no longer has any compunction about letting us know when she isn’t happy about something, but overall she is a very contented and pleasant baby. After all the solemnity yesterday, this morning just before we boarded the bus, she let loose with smiles and a burst of activity, even doing a bit of walking across the hotel lobby with Jeannette’s assistance.

Before I close, I just wanted to mention that we would love to hear from anyone who has visited this blog. Just click on the “comment” link on any of these updates and type in a note. We’ll receive it by e-mail the next time we log on. Now that MelodyJoy is “officially ours,” we’re frankly quite ready to just get back on the plane and come home! We have to wait five business days to get her visa, though, so we’ll just make the best of it. You can help us pass the time!

Found Her Thumb

When MelodyJoy is getting ready to go to sleep, she likes to suck on her left thumb, with her hand held palm up.

Branded

When we received MelodyJoy yesterday, we decided to check out her toes so we pulled her socks off. The first little foot we examined had brown dirt caked into the lines on the sole. The other one, lo and behold, was quite clean . . . but they had written Nan Cai Jing on the bottom in blue ink! We told others in our group about this and found that most of the MaoNon babies had their names written on their feet!

Nan Cai Jing Becomes MelodyJoy

Today began with a two and a half hour China Southern flight to Guangzhou, where we were to meet our new daughter. The flight was pretty good, though it was the first time I've experienced dumplings as airplane food and the in-flight entertainment was a silent showing of old Mr. Bean reruns from England.

When we landed, they jammed us onto a bus and took us to our hotel. One twist was that our five star hotel was sold out so they were going to put us in some apartments owned by and adjacent to the hotel. "Very nice. Just like hotel. Internet and laundry." Well . . . no, not very nice . . . one of the women in our group found a dead cockroach in her apartment and I'm now sitting in the lobby using the wireless there because after two tries it wasn't possible to get web access. But we can probably move over to the hotel in a couple of days when the big convention leaves town. We'll survive, but it's kind of a disappointment. We do have quite a bit of room, at least. (And while the beds in Beijing were some of the most comfortable we've ever slept in, it appears these are simply a board covered with fabric!)

But no one cares about any of that . . . they want to hear about babies! About an hour after we got to the hotel, at the most, they loaded us back on buses to go to the adoption center--that's not really the name of it but I honestly can't remember what it is now. Upon arrival we walked into a room where we thought we would await our girls. Some families from France were just finishing up the process of getting their daughters and it was fun to see their reactions and reassuring to see how quickly the girls had become comfortable with them. Within minutes, we learned that we were in the wrong room and we were shuffled to the next one, a fairly small room with a large oval conference table in the center, with two walls lined with couches, and filled with about 18 very anxious families . . . at least 50 people in all.

Before we arrived there, Amy, our guide, had told us what order the babies would be brought in, which was extremely helpful as it allowed us to semi-plan for the exchange of cameras for the historical moments to come. Within minutes after getting into the correct room, they began bringing in babies in rapid fire fashion, starting with nine girls from another orphanage in GuangDong. It was great fun to watch the parents unite with their daughters. For a few, it was their first child and they were extremely nervous.

Then they started delivering the MaoNon babies. MelodyJoy was the sixth in line and when she first came through the door, we thought she didn't look much like her referral photos, which you can see down further in this blog. She came to Jeannette readily and took the rattle that Jameson offered her. No crying, no fussing. In fact, of all the babies, only one cried much at all and after a nap, she was in a very good mood, too. It was really amazing how smoothly it went for everyone.

Jameson was pretty emotional and excited, as we all were, to see Melody. At times he had a very funny look on his face and it was hard to read his thoughts.

MelodyJoy so far has struck us as somber and reserved. She has smiled only very rarely; once when she saw the face of another baby from her orphanage. She has cried only once, when she bumped her head at bathtime. However, tonight I played a couple of Billy Joel songs and she immediately started swaying and weaving to the music. We had been told that she enjoyed music.

After we got Melody, we met with the supervisor of the orphanage and got to give her our $3000 "donation" and the gifts for the nannies. They also let us ask her some questions about MelodyJoy. We learned that she is an active child (and we're starting to see this already) and that their pet name for her is Jing Jing. They also gave us a photocopy of the little tiny "finding ad" that was placed to try to locate her parents after she was found on June 19 and book with more photographs that were taken about five months ago.

After a little while, she fell asleep and slept hard and long. When she woke up, Jeannette experimented with a couple of bottles and she ate a little. Then it was time for her first bath, which went just fine until the aforementioned head bumping.

MJ seems to be pretty healthy overall. She is a little congested and may have a cold. She also has a small place on her arm that could be a rash or could be scabies, which are common with these children due to the climate and living conditions.

Tomorrow, Jeannette and I turn in some paperwork and have an interview to finalize the adoption. I believe that by the end of the day, she will officially and forever be ours. I'm sure there are a ton of things that I should include in this account that have slipped my mind but, as usual on this trip, by the end of the day, my mind is pretty fried and I'm ready for bedtime myself.

Our First Glimpse of MelodyJoy Marie Muntz

Proof that Jeannette Earned Her "I Climbed the Great Wall" T-Shirt

The Great Wall . . . And the Countdown Begins in Earnest

Today started with going to church at one of the international churches in the city. It was a great service and we really enjoyed worshiping together. From there we visited a jade factory where we learned that there are many colors and qualities of jade. They did an outstanding job of making us feel guilty if we didn't buy the best possible bracelet for our new daughter (one bracelet cost $5000!) but we resisted.

After a very good lunch, we shopped at a Friendship Store (they know how to drain our wallets here, that's for sure) and then it was on to the Great Wall. We don't have great photos today because of a camera mishap on the Wall and because I haven't uploaded the pictures from Laura's camera yet. The Great Wall is truly astounding. It is more immense than you can really comprehend without seeing it for yourself. Jameson and I climbed to the first watchtower of the section our group visited and it was a pretty challenging hike. Laura, Jeannette and Beth Lyman insisted on going all the way up to the the top, to the fifth or sixth tower (over 1500 uneven, worn away steps), a pretty impressive feat. Frankly, I was afraid that if I went on, I'd have trouble walking back down and I think I made the right call there. My left knee was complaining as I neared the bottom as it was.

After dinner, we rushed off to see a Chinese acrobat show. It was something I kind of regarded as a "must do" on this trip and we enjoyed it. Acts included things like THIRTEEN girls all on one bicycle.

The talk on the bus much of today was about tomorrow . . . Gotcha Day as most people call it. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that term yet. People would gladly have sacrificed the day of touring to get to their daughters sooner. Pictures were exchanged, birthdates compared, feeding plans discussed. The family from Durango who we have sat with at every meal has six children already and this will be their seventh. Others are coming to get their first child. Needless to say, their anxiety level is just a little higher than that of the experienced parents, but we're all heading into the unknown. Our guide told us today that this group's daughters are younger than most--MelodyJoy at just over eleven months may be one of the older girls--and assured us all that this means the transition will be much smoother for them. We'll see!

We leave Beijing about 9:00 in the morning, get to our hotel in Guangzhou between one and two, then travel to meet our girls around 3:00.

Following the Blue Flag

Saturday was spent following a bobbing flag carried by Sherry, our tour guide. Sixteen families, some of whom did not arrive in Beijing until after ten o'clock on Friday night, started the day at Tiananmen Square adn the Forbidden City, though I must confess that I often had only a most tenuous grasp on where exactly we were and what we were seeing. It was all pretty awesome, though I did not get the sense of grandeur or immensity of scale that I had expected. In fact, at the risk of sounding like someone who is completely Americentric, I think that Washington DC's Capitol and the Mall area is much more impressive. I didn't even find that I had a huge sense of antiquity, even though we were walking through buildings that were 600 years old. It didn't help, of course, that we were kind of rushing through it all and there was not much in English to read.

Jameson did his turn as tour guide, too, when Sherry needed to go check on something. He was an able leader and everyone waited confidently by his flag.

We also visited the summer palace, which has the largest manmade lake in China.

For lunch and dinner we sat with a family from Durango, Colorado. The food was pretty good but not spectacular. The biggest issues for me have probably been the lack of good serving utensils and these little tiny dishes they give you to eat on. Fortunately for me, forks have been standard issue. I think we were all glad to have had the "authentic" dining experience on Friday night with Hamilton.

Our bus driver, James, gave us some real thrills. We sat right in the front of the bus so we had a perfect view of him honking his horn just as a mother pulled her baby's stroller back from the front bumper of the bus as we flew by and of James suddenly veering into a lane where all of the arrows painting on the street were pointing directly at us. Sherry said that they call him James because he drives like the James Bond of Beijing.

We also got to visit a pearl market and a silk factory. At the start of each visit, they gave us tutorials. The owner of the pearl market pried open an oyster to show us about thirty pearls inside! Most of us had thought that there was only one pearl per oyster. He gave Jameson one of the little pearls from that shell. He also used Laura as a model to demonstrate the different colors of pearl. At the end, he put a golden pearl necklace in her hand and said, "For being my model, you may have this necklace . . . for five minutes!" He was quite the showman.

At the silk factory, we got to see them pulling the silk from the cocoons, making it into thread and so on. Then, of course, they had all kinds of things there for us to buy. The most interesting thing to me was that they specialized in silk quilts. I had never heard of such a thing. The inside of the quilt is all silk, very lightweight and durable, and then it is covered in cotton or silk. They say that it is cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Jeannette exercised great discipline and bought only one little pink outfit for MelodyJoy.

By the end of the day, we were all zombies. Again, I can't imagine doing it without having come in one day early. We were just dead tired. Jameson was a real trooper. No complaints at all . . . though he did fall asleep at dinner.

Today, it is off to church, then to a jade factory and the Great Wall, and tonight we will go to an acrobatic show. Tomorrow . . . MelodyJoy!

This Man Needs Help from Marleigh's Folks

Marleigh's parents own a sunglasses store in Hawaii. Clearly this man has never shopped there. I saw him at the Summer Palace today and his big ol' glasses just cracked me up. His demeanor, however, said, "Mock me at your own risk, chump."

It was a good but incredibly long day with what seemed like nonstop walking. It's 9 PM and I'm ready to zonk out so I'll try to post some photos and commentary tomorrow before we go to church and the Great Wall.

A Laid Back Day

Today was pretty mellow, which was great. I am so glad that we came a day early. It might have been stressful to have to hit the sack knowing that the next day was a full day of touring. As it is, Jeannette's eyes are drooping as she sits behind me in a chair and Jameson crashed early as we drove through the streets of Beijing to and from dinner. Tomorrow sounds like it'll be 12 hours or more of sightseeing and shopping, so I have a feeling we'll be wiped out at the end of the day.

We had breakfast in the hotel's buffet, which was pretty good, then walked some of the blocks surrounding the Radisson . . . nothing very adventurous. We walked through WalMart, which I believe is called CarreFour here. Some great bargains to be had, such as a t-shirt that said "Praise the Lord," along with what appeared to be some rather random English words, for $1.25, wheeled suitcases for $10 and sandals for $1.25. In the grocery (clearly this was a "Super WalMart"), we witnessed a fish jump out of its tank and flop around on the floor until it was tossed back in with its friends awaiting purchase. Interestingly, as far as I could tell, there was no way to get out of the store without buying something . . . there was no exit except through the cash registers. We played dumb (or perhaps we weren't playing) and to escape snuck through an area that probably was closed.

Tonight, one of the guidance counselors from International School of Beijing, Hamilton Gregg, picked us up for dinner. We had never "met" before except for on the NACAC listserv so it was beyond the call of duty for him to go out of his way for us. He weaved through some amazing traffic--bicyclists may be the biggest hazard, to themselves and others, and there's obviously no mandatory helmet law here . . . in fact, I don't think we saw a single helmet of any kind all day today--all the while commentating on the "scenery," including the old wall that used to surround Peking.

He told us we were going to a restaurant famous for its Beijing Duck, then took us to what, in my opinion, was a total hole-in-the-wall restaurant, converted from an old house, at the end of several very rundown alleys lined, in part, with people selling various items set on the street or small shops. The picture of Al Gore on the wall (as well as many other dignataries from around the globe was, I guess, proof of the chef's fame. We were seated at a tiny table with beat-up chairs and Hamilton ordered several dishes in addition to the two ducks that were already waiting for us. It was a new experience for us, of course, highlighted (at least for Jeannette and me) by the garlic-covered snow pea and broccoli dishes. There was also boiled peanuts, wonton soup and a chicken dish that was way too spicy for me, though that's not saying much. The whole thing came to $38 for five people.

Going back to the hotel, he drove us past Tiananmen Square so we could see it lit up at night. We'll visit there tomorrow with our tour group.

For the first time today I did develop an appreciation for OSHA and some of the other regulatory bodies we have in the US. Sidewalks that end in 24-inch drops, buildings with crumbling exteriors, and doorways with raised threshholds like you would find on a ship. Paying attention to traffic signals and lanes would be a nice idea, too.

Well, it's 10 o'clock and everyone else is sound asleep (I spoke to Paul Lyman about an hour ago and they made it safely here after an exhausting flight from Portland) and my eyes are drooping so I'll sign off and head to bed myself.

Phillip and Jordan, hope you have a great time at Acquire the Fire in San Fran. We tried to call you today but got cut off before you answered or the call went to voice mail. Sorry! If you try to call us, we're in room 412. Love you!

Safe and Sound

Well, that couldn't have been much easier! The most difficult thing probably was trying to get Jameson to wake up and stay awake. He was totally unconscious on this last flight and in a stupor even as we got off the plane. All our flights were on schedule, our seat assignments worked out just fine, we got off the plane in Beijing and all our luggage was there on the carousel, we scooted right through the three normal checkpoints and immediately found, Sherry, our AWAA guide for the next few days. She loaded us in a van and while the driver took us to our hotel, she gave us a quick orientation . . .

> Stay out of dark alleys at night.
> Don't drink the water in the hotel.
> The ice at Pizza Hut and KFC is from America so the soft drinks there should be safe.
> If people approach you to practice their English, be sure to cut them off before they get to the part about needing money.
> There's a WalMart right next door to the hotel.
> We don't want to go to the Blue Zoo aquarium tomorrow since it is at least an hour's taxi ride.
> Rush hour on weekdays lasts from 6 AM to 10 PM. (Based on what we observed tonight, I think this was a slight exaggeration.)

. . . and so on. She was very helpful and speaks excellent English.

Our rooms at the Radisson are adjacent to one another and are pretty nice. Several interesting aspects to them, of course, such as the fact that you have to use your room key to turn on the lights in the room. The beds, as we expected, are small. Each room has two beds that are somewhere between a twin and a double. Tonight, it won't matter at all. We're so tired, our heads are spinning. But it could be worse. At baggage claim we met a family who is also adopting through AWAA and they had left from VIRGINIA on Wednesday morning. They were zombies in the true sense of the word.

Internet access at the hotel is a piece of cake and it looks like I'm able to post photos to the blog. However, I'm not able to actually SEE my own blog so I'll have to take it on faith that the picture I just inserted of Jamey and me is now on there and nothing is formatted too horribly.

So the trip is off to a great start. Thanks for your support and prayers!

Palmer and Jamey on the Big Bird

So Far, So Good

It’s hard to imagine ten hours on a plane, but it’s also hard to imagine how a flight that long could be any more comfortable than the one we are on now from Portland to Tokyo. Well, I suppose business class would have been nice, but we sure can’t complain.

Our day started with dropping Jordan and Phillip off at school then going on straight to the Klamath Falls airport. You gotta love flying out of K Falls . . . We left our driveway at 7:50 and were through security by 8:30 and on the plane by 9:00. Free parking, free wireless, nice people working for Horizon and TSA.

The flight to Portland was, as far as I could tell, smooth and easy. It wasn’t until we were walking through PDX that I learned Jeannette was feeling airsick. Needless to say, my assertion that the flight really wasn’t bumpy at all didn’t win me any brownie points with her. I kept any further commentary to myself.

In Portland we connected with Laura, grabbed some food at Wendy’s and hit our flight. We managed to rearrange our seating assignments so that all four of us were together. Jameson got the window seat but, other than a few minutes over Alaska, there wasn’t much to see except blinding sunlight. As I mentioned, it’s not a bad way to travel. Every seat has its own personal entertainment system with several dozen movies and TV shows, hundreds of music clips, games and more. Jamey and I watched Chicken Little—a somewhat odd little Disney movie—and Jeannette started off with Line of Fire. Jameson enjoyed being able to track our flight on an interactive map of the world. (At this moment we are at 40,199 feet altitude and have 854 miles to go to Narita International. Apparently we will land in one hour and 46 minutes, to be precise.)

About two-thirds of the way through the flight, we discovered that the woman sitting right behind Jeannette is also traveling to China for an adoption.

It’s hard to comprehend what we’re doing and the fact that in about eight hours we’ll be walking in China. I think that as we get close to landing in Beijing I’ll finally feel some jitters. So far, so good!

PS: I am sending this during our layover in Tokyo. Jamey finally fell asleep about 45 minutes before landing (or about 11 PM Oregon time). Now we're trying to keep him awake enough that he'll be able to sleep when we get to Beijing. It's gonna be a long day/night/whatever.

All Our Bags Are Packed, We're Ready to Roll

I'm watching "The Amazing Race" as I blog this, waiting to start our own amazing race to MelodyJoy tomorrow morning.

January 25th we received our referral. Eight weeks ago, all we had was a picture of MelodyJoy on a computer screen and now, in just another week, we'll have her in our arms. All the paperwork is collected, our bags are packed--and we actually have a little extra room left over. We had a "last supper" tonight as a family at Applebee's . . . a well-deserved break for Jeannette after several hard days of packing and cleaning . . . and did some debriefing with Jordan and Phillip prior to abandoning them for the next two weeks.

On January 5, 2005, we submitted our initial adoption application. Fifteen days from now . . . and exactly fifteen months since we plopped down that first $225 and hit "send" on that app . . . MelodyJoy will set foot in the US of A for the very first time.

Another Journey to China

You may want to also follow Paul and Beth Lyman's journey to Sophie by visiting www.thestoryofyou.net/SophieAnn.html. Paul and Beth, along with Bob and Tanya Morgan, are the ones who "got us into this" about 14 months ago. Bob and Tanya brought Brenna home several months ago from China. Paul and Beth will be traveling to China at the same time as us to get their Sophie. The first and last parts of our own trip to China will overlap with theirs.

Pure and Lasting Religion

"Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us." (James 1:27)

Care for orphans - check. We'll be in China soon.

Care for widows - sure.

Refuse to let the world corrupt us - dang! Why did he have to throw that in there? There's always a catch.

As Taco Bell Would Say . . . "Good to Go"

The dates are set and the packing has begun. We finally got our "in-country" travel itinerary today. Jeannette, Jameson and I will fly out of Klamath Falls to Portland on March 22. Phillip and Jordan will stay in Klamath Falls under the watchful eye of Aaron and Kim Knapp from our church. At PDX, we'll meet my sister, Laura, and continue to to Beijing via Tokyo. We're getting to Beijing a day ahead of the other families who are in our "travel group." We're staying at the Radisson in Beijing, which looks pretty darn swanky. We're scheduled to visit the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City (and are really excited to hear that Beijing should be unseasonably warm in the next week or so!).

After several days in Beijing, we'll fly to Guangzhou, where we'll be for the balance of our trip. We should receive MelodyJoy on Monday, March 27 (which is the 26th in the USA). In Guangzhou, we'll have a lot of appointments but also should have quite a bit of down time to get to know MelodyJoy and explore the city. Please pray for an easy transition for her and for us! We're scheduled to stay at the China Hotel by Marriott . . . which looks really swanky.

We will fly home on April 5, arriving around 8:30 in the morning at PDX. We have about a six hour layover in Portland so we plan to camp out at the Rose City Cafe at the airport. We're hoping to see my folks, Laura's husband and perhaps some other friends there during the layover before we jump back on the plane around 2:30 to fly back to K Falls. Let me know if you want to join us!<

My Three Sons

If you had asked me back in 1990 if I thought I'd ever have three sons, I'm sure I couldn't have comprehended it. I remember thinking "we're outnumbered now!" when Jameson was born. Now the thought of having four kids is just mind boggling! I have to say, though, that all three boys have been totally behind the idea of bringing a little sister into our family. This will undoubtedly mean a lot of big changes and sacrifices for each of them but they have not wavered in their commitment to helping us bring MelodyJoy home.

$ $ $ $

We have to give a "shout out" to several people who have been huge in terms of their support financially for this adoption process. Many, many people have given gifts both big and small--even helping us add a bedroom to our house!--but I want to send a special thanks to my parents and Jeannette's mom, as well as Laura and her husband, Jamey, for the backing they have given us. I really don't know how we would have gotten this far without their sacrificial support.

One Last Shower - UEFC

On Sunday, the women at United Evangelical Free Church gave Jeannette one more shower and, again, just blew us away with their generosity. What ever happened to just giving one small outfit or toy??? That would have been more than sufficient but many people insisted on two or even three pieces of clothing. But, hey, we'll take it! We were also thrilled to get more diapers and cash to buy a car seat. We never could have imagined when we discarded our last child safety seat how expensive they would become! Of course, then again, we never thought we'd have need for one until grandchildren come along . . . and we'll be traveling by hovercraft by then, won't we?

In addition to friends from church, Jeannette was pleased that some other friends--including Tanya, who has adopted Brenna from China already, and Laurie, who has a little boy from Russia, and Beth, who is traveling to China at the same time as us to get Sophie--were able to come. It was nice to see the support from women all around the church and how excited they are to have us bring MelodyJoy into the community.

Melody's Orphanage

The amazing thing about the Internet is how much information you can find about almost anything. We know that MelodyJoy is living in the MaoNan Social Welfare Institute in MaoMing. Within hours after learning this, I was able to find video clips and photos of the orphanage. Since we probably won't get to visit the orphanage ourselves (it's a six hour trip each way), it sure has been nice to get to read about the nannies and facilities. We're told that the building is very neat and clean and that the nannies truly care about the children.

The photos here were taken in July 2005. More can be found at http://gallery.jderose.com/album24.