On Saturday, Jeannette, the girls and I had lunch with my mom. We were making small talk and I wondered which was larger in land mass, China or the US. (They're about even, if you are curious.)
After this, a few minutes later, out of the blue and for the first time, Jillian started talking about China. (I am so glad Jeannette recognized it for what it was and didn't just ignore it as random babbling...)
First she told us that her home was small and that there wasn't much food. She told us she was hungry and then said, "Very hungry." We didn't get much else out of her but it was fascinating to get a brief glimpse into her perception of her previous life. I was sad to hear that she felt hungry often but glad to know that we might someday get to learn more about her life before us.
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Monday, May 27, 2013
Friday, December 07, 2012
Twinkle Twinkle Little China Girl
Jillian's teacher from Ben Franklin Elementary's Chinese immersion program sent home a CD with some songs on it and this evening Jillian had a great time singing and dancing along to them. This clip is her final performance of the night.
Sunday, December 02, 2012
Introducing Jillian to Christmas
Yesterday, we put up our Christmas tree so I was careful to catch a shot of Jillian hanging her very first Christmas ornament:
We really don't know what exposure she's had to Christmas, so I used Google Translate to try to give her a little info: 这是一个圣诞树。我们将装饰它。圣诞节是当我们庆祝耶稣的诞生。圣诞节是在三个星期。This is a Christmas tree. We will decorate it. Christmas is when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Christmas is in three weeks.
I also used Google Translate to have a little bit of a conversation with her. We knew from her teacher and her demeanor this week that, for the first time, she was showing evidence of being homesick for China. I asked her if she missed her family in China and she said yes. I assured her that they loved her and that we love her, and that we'll be her family forever. She has spent a lot of time with the video camera that I bought, watching videos from our time in China. She still doesn't seem to be overly upset by these videos but rather just enjoys seeing them. We feel pretty fortunate that our transition issues with Jillian have been so minor.
Saturday, July 07, 2012
Good to Go
MelodyJoy got her passport in the mail today! She's all set now for her big adventure to China to meet her new sister.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
A Visit From China
Last night, MelodyJoy had a visit from China. Well, sort of. Nana and Craig came over for dinner. Craig is a graduate student at OIT and last spring he brought his new wife, Nana, to meet me because she was interested in taking classes at OIT. Nana is from southern China, about 90 minutes from Guangzhou by train. Naturally, we got to talking about our upcoming trip to China to get Nan Cai Jing. Nana was a great deal of help to us. She told us the meaning of MelodyJoy's name, translated some of the paperwork we had received from China and helped us with the notes that we wanted to give to the orphanage's nannies with our little thank you gifts.We watched some of the video from our trip to meet MelodyJoy (Nana informed us that the teapot salesman was cheating us . . . she also was puzzled by the American practice of putting bows and ribbons in the little girls' hair) and had a good American meat-and-potatoes dinner.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Snakes on Planes, Friends at Airports
Okay, we’ve been home for seven weeks and still I haven’t written about the trip home from China. Let’s just say that while everything has been amazingly well since we got home, it’s been a bit of shock to adjust back to work, home, conference planning, the boys and, oh yes, having a one-year-old in the house.
For the sake of getting this over, let me just dive in and see what I still remember of those 24 hours. Getting ready to leave for the airport was made a bit more complicated by the fact that the hotel had shut off all water from 1:00 to 5:00 AM but we survived. I was a little irritated that our guides were making us get up so early and we got to
the airport well ahead of schedule. There, we had the misfortune of having our bags chosen for a random search. Every single item in our three big suitcases was taken out and everything that was, for instance, wrapped in newspaper for safekeeping was unwrapped. Of course, when they repacked the suitcases, it wasn’t done with quite the same amount of care that Jeannette had exercised the night before.
Other than being a bit irritated, everything was still fine. We had to argue with the clerk at the counter about a bag that was supposedly overweight and then we misunderstood the directions to our gate but we finally found the right security clearance area. Time was getting a little short but we were still fine. Then the drama began . . .
Jameson had bought a wooden, toy snake in Guangzhou and one of the security guys decided that it couldn’t be taken on the plane. Okay, I’ve been up since five o’clock and they just ransacked everything in our bags and my son has tears in his eyes because some idiot thinks a toy snake shouldn’t be on board. Without going into details, I decided that they were not going
to get his toy. (At one point, as Jameson tried to fight back the tears, I whispered, “Go ahead and cry. Let them see you cry.”) To cut to the chase, Jeannette worked out a compromise that involved emptying most of the things out of her carry-on, throwing the snake in and checking the bag planeside.
(When we got back to the States, we saw an ad for a horror flick being released called “Snakes on Planes,” about someone releasing a bunch of dangerous snakes on a flight. Go figure.)
The flights themselves were a bit trying for Jeannette as it was hard to help Melody be comfortable (and we had the misfortune to be flying with Northwest Airlines’ LPFA . . . Least Personable Flight Attendant).
Upon landing in Portland, MelodyJoy became an official US citizen! We made our way to the Rose City Café in the airport and my parents, Laura’s husband and our friend Ellen Zarfas were waiting for us there. Later, when the Lymans arrived on a later flight from China, we were joined by some of their family and the Morgans, who had driven up from Klamath Falls to greet them. It was nice to see everyone and feel like our super-long layover at PDX was productive. We were so exhausted, though! Jameson and I had not slept at all on the two flights from China and he just collapsed in the restaurant and conked out. All four of us were the Walking Dead!
In the afternoon, we got on the little jet to Klamath Falls. We knew some folks would be waiting for us at our airport’s one and only gate but were stunned to see not just a few but dozens of people waiting for us! There were neighbors, friends from church, my staff from OIT, Jordan and Phillip . . . balloons, signs and smiles. It was awesome! When we got home, we found flowers and some friends had prepared meals for us.
I don’t know how we could have done all of this without such great support from friends and family. It’s been challenging enough anyway! We have been truly blessed.
For the sake of getting this over, let me just dive in and see what I still remember of those 24 hours. Getting ready to leave for the airport was made a bit more complicated by the fact that the hotel had shut off all water from 1:00 to 5:00 AM but we survived. I was a little irritated that our guides were making us get up so early and we got to
the airport well ahead of schedule. There, we had the misfortune of having our bags chosen for a random search. Every single item in our three big suitcases was taken out and everything that was, for instance, wrapped in newspaper for safekeeping was unwrapped. Of course, when they repacked the suitcases, it wasn’t done with quite the same amount of care that Jeannette had exercised the night before.Other than being a bit irritated, everything was still fine. We had to argue with the clerk at the counter about a bag that was supposedly overweight and then we misunderstood the directions to our gate but we finally found the right security clearance area. Time was getting a little short but we were still fine. Then the drama began . . .
Jameson had bought a wooden, toy snake in Guangzhou and one of the security guys decided that it couldn’t be taken on the plane. Okay, I’ve been up since five o’clock and they just ransacked everything in our bags and my son has tears in his eyes because some idiot thinks a toy snake shouldn’t be on board. Without going into details, I decided that they were not going
to get his toy. (At one point, as Jameson tried to fight back the tears, I whispered, “Go ahead and cry. Let them see you cry.”) To cut to the chase, Jeannette worked out a compromise that involved emptying most of the things out of her carry-on, throwing the snake in and checking the bag planeside.(When we got back to the States, we saw an ad for a horror flick being released called “Snakes on Planes,” about someone releasing a bunch of dangerous snakes on a flight. Go figure.)
The flights themselves were a bit trying for Jeannette as it was hard to help Melody be comfortable (and we had the misfortune to be flying with Northwest Airlines’ LPFA . . . Least Personable Flight Attendant).
Upon landing in Portland, MelodyJoy became an official US citizen! We made our way to the Rose City Café in the airport and my parents, Laura’s husband and our friend Ellen Zarfas were waiting for us there. Later, when the Lymans arrived on a later flight from China, we were joined by some of their family and the Morgans, who had driven up from Klamath Falls to greet them. It was nice to see everyone and feel like our super-long layover at PDX was productive. We were so exhausted, though! Jameson and I had not slept at all on the two flights from China and he just collapsed in the restaurant and conked out. All four of us were the Walking Dead!
In the afternoon, we got on the little jet to Klamath Falls. We knew some folks would be waiting for us at our airport’s one and only gate but were stunned to see not just a few but dozens of people waiting for us! There were neighbors, friends from church, my staff from OIT, Jordan and Phillip . . . balloons, signs and smiles. It was awesome! When we got home, we found flowers and some friends had prepared meals for us.
I don’t know how we could have done all of this without such great support from friends and family. It’s been challenging enough anyway! We have been truly blessed.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Friday, April 14, 2006
Our Last Full Day in China
Our Last Full Day in China
It’s hard to believe that we’ve been home for over a week now. On the one hand, it seems like a very long time since we left China, but we’re also totally still adjusting to life all together as a family. Sorry I’ve been so slow to finish blogging about our trip. It’s been very busy, we’ve been trying to figure out this jetlag thing and, to top it off, my laptop died over the weekend.
Our last full day in China featured two activities: Shopping and a trip to the US Embassy’s visa office. In the morning, we returned to Shamian Island for bargain hunting. There were several small gift items we had in mind and did a halfway decent job of tracking them down.
I was especially interested in watching the finger painters working on the street. By finger painters, I don’t mean little kids messing around with water colors. The finger painter would dip the side of his hand into some black ink spread on a paper plate, or perhaps just the side of his pinkie or a fingernail (his pinkie fingernail was especially long) and then use that ink to create a painting on a small piece of paper. Ink on his finger applied “just so” created a bamboo branch. Ink on his palm might form fog-covered mountains. Ink on his fingernail could become individual bricks on a bridge over a river with a small junk floating in the foreground. And the artists worked so fast!
While we were in the area, Laura and Jeannette returned to The White Swan Hotel and managed to get a few photos of MJ on the famous "red couch," where many groups of adopted babies have their pictures taken.
As soon as we got back to the hotel, Paul Lyman, his father-in-law Dan and I jumped in a cab and headed to the electronics mall in Guangzhou. They had visited there the day before and so I coerced them into a second trip. What an amazing place! They said that there were three buildings of little stores selling nothing but electronics . . . I wouldn’t know, we only had an hour and didn’t even see one entire floor. I won’t detail the things we bought since it might mess up someone’s Christmas surprises but let it suffice to say that there were some great deals to be had. US brand names, it appeared, were not necessarily priced any better than what you might find here in this country after doing some careful shopping but the Chinese brands were often dirt cheap.
I stopped at one booth (some of the businesses were nothing more than display cases mounted in the walls of the hallways) and asked how much their thumb (or flash) drives were. Immediately, the salesgirl asked if I wanted knock-offs and opened a drawer. They were selling 8 GB fake Sony thumb drives for 120 yuan, or $15! After some fairly speedy negotiations—made more complicated by the language barrier—the price ended up at $10. Eight gigabytes! Now, when I got home, I did discover that at least one of the “8 GB” drives I’d purchased was only 4 gig but, still, that’s a pretty good deal.
[Editorial Note upon returning home: Turns out at these wonderful bargains were total junk. At best, one of the thumb drives actually worked for more than a week or so and most of them didn't work at all. Of the two cheap MP3 players I bought, only one worked. Sigh.]
At another place, I checked out some MP3 players and found one that had the most phenomenal sound I’d ever heard. Not to mention that it was extremely cool to look at. Paul, Dan and I stood there and negotiated on buying several of them. We didn’t get the price cut down by much, perhaps 10%, but we were ready to buy. And then I looked in my wallet and discovered that I didn’t have enough yuan to buy even one of them, let alone two! Paul was the only one who had enough cash on hand to complete the purchase. Sheesh!
I was so busy bargain hunting that time rapidly crept up on us. We had to be back at the hotel at 3:00 sharp to leave for the embassy offices. Missing this appointment might mean not leaving China or not getting to keep MelodyJoy. This was perhaps the “highest stakes” appointment of our trip and, as has been documented earlier, being on time is not always a strength for us. We finally grabbed a taxi at about 2:40 and it wasn’t a short drive back to the hotel. To make a long story short, we pulled up to the hotel at 3:00 on the dot as everyone was boarding the busses.
(By the way, the fare for this taxi ride, the longest of our ten days in Guangzhou, was about 30 yuan . . . less than $4. In most US cities, doesn’t it cost four bucks just to start the meter?)
When we got to the embassy building, we all went through security and then sat in a large waiting room. There were perhaps sixty other families there so, needless to say, it was pretty darn noisy in there. Our guides had us come to the counter each in turn and they submitted our paperwork for the babies’ visas. After awhile, one of the embassy employees managed to get our attention and we all gathered in a mob around her while she led us in an oath to the United States on behalf of our soon-to-be not-Chinese-citizens.
We also each received the fabled “brown envelope” with dire instructions to never, never, never open or lose the envelope. Opening or losing it prior to presenting it to the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS) at our port of entry to the US would mean a quick trip right back to China.
Our final dinner in China was at the hotel’s Chinese restaurant and was perhaps the best one of our trip, partly because it was the only time we ate a dinner twice in the same restaurant and we had started to figure out which dishes we liked.
Afterwards, I ran to the little collection of shops next door, determined to spend the last of our yuan. Did a pretty good job, too (though I later discovered that Jeannette had a wad of yuan in one of her pockets), buying a decorative theatrical mask for Phillip, a bracelet made of jade turtles for Jameson, a red necktie for $1.25 and a snuff bottle. Throughout Beijing and Guangzhou, it was easy to find these small glass bottles, each with a different scene painted on the inside using a small, curved brush inserted through the neck of the bottle. I had been planning all along to buy some of these for gifts. At this store, they offered to write someone’s name inside the bottle so I had them write Nan Cai Jing in Chinese characters next to the painting, for a gift to MelodyJoy. For a price, you could actually get a person’s picture painted inside one of the bottles and I wonder if we’ll regret not doing something like that while in Guangzhou.
After packing our bags for pick-up—Jeannette did most of the work of getting everything stuffed into the suitcases—we turned in for a short night, knowing we would have to leave for the airport at 5:45 in the morning.
It’s hard to believe that we’ve been home for over a week now. On the one hand, it seems like a very long time since we left China, but we’re also totally still adjusting to life all together as a family. Sorry I’ve been so slow to finish blogging about our trip. It’s been very busy, we’ve been trying to figure out this jetlag thing and, to top it off, my laptop died over the weekend.
Our last full day in China featured two activities: Shopping and a trip to the US Embassy’s visa office. In the morning, we returned to Shamian Island for bargain hunting. There were several small gift items we had in mind and did a halfway decent job of tracking them down.
I was especially interested in watching the finger painters working on the street. By finger painters, I don’t mean little kids messing around with water colors. The finger painter would dip the side of his hand into some black ink spread on a paper plate, or perhaps just the side of his pinkie or a fingernail (his pinkie fingernail was especially long) and then use that ink to create a painting on a small piece of paper. Ink on his finger applied “just so” created a bamboo branch. Ink on his palm might form fog-covered mountains. Ink on his fingernail could become individual bricks on a bridge over a river with a small junk floating in the foreground. And the artists worked so fast!
While we were in the area, Laura and Jeannette returned to The White Swan Hotel and managed to get a few photos of MJ on the famous "red couch," where many groups of adopted babies have their pictures taken.
As soon as we got back to the hotel, Paul Lyman, his father-in-law Dan and I jumped in a cab and headed to the electronics mall in Guangzhou. They had visited there the day before and so I coerced them into a second trip. What an amazing place! They said that there were three buildings of little stores selling nothing but electronics . . . I wouldn’t know, we only had an hour and didn’t even see one entire floor. I won’t detail the things we bought since it might mess up someone’s Christmas surprises but let it suffice to say that there were some great deals to be had. US brand names, it appeared, were not necessarily priced any better than what you might find here in this country after doing some careful shopping but the Chinese brands were often dirt cheap.
I stopped at one booth (some of the businesses were nothing more than display cases mounted in the walls of the hallways) and asked how much their thumb (or flash) drives were. Immediately, the salesgirl asked if I wanted knock-offs and opened a drawer. They were selling 8 GB fake Sony thumb drives for 120 yuan, or $15! After some fairly speedy negotiations—made more complicated by the language barrier—the price ended up at $10. Eight gigabytes! Now, when I got home, I did discover that at least one of the “8 GB” drives I’d purchased was only 4 gig but, still, that’s a pretty good deal.
[Editorial Note upon returning home: Turns out at these wonderful bargains were total junk. At best, one of the thumb drives actually worked for more than a week or so and most of them didn't work at all. Of the two cheap MP3 players I bought, only one worked. Sigh.]
At another place, I checked out some MP3 players and found one that had the most phenomenal sound I’d ever heard. Not to mention that it was extremely cool to look at. Paul, Dan and I stood there and negotiated on buying several of them. We didn’t get the price cut down by much, perhaps 10%, but we were ready to buy. And then I looked in my wallet and discovered that I didn’t have enough yuan to buy even one of them, let alone two! Paul was the only one who had enough cash on hand to complete the purchase. Sheesh!
I was so busy bargain hunting that time rapidly crept up on us. We had to be back at the hotel at 3:00 sharp to leave for the embassy offices. Missing this appointment might mean not leaving China or not getting to keep MelodyJoy. This was perhaps the “highest stakes” appointment of our trip and, as has been documented earlier, being on time is not always a strength for us. We finally grabbed a taxi at about 2:40 and it wasn’t a short drive back to the hotel. To make a long story short, we pulled up to the hotel at 3:00 on the dot as everyone was boarding the busses.
(By the way, the fare for this taxi ride, the longest of our ten days in Guangzhou, was about 30 yuan . . . less than $4. In most US cities, doesn’t it cost four bucks just to start the meter?)
When we got to the embassy building, we all went through security and then sat in a large waiting room. There were perhaps sixty other families there so, needless to say, it was pretty darn noisy in there. Our guides had us come to the counter each in turn and they submitted our paperwork for the babies’ visas. After awhile, one of the embassy employees managed to get our attention and we all gathered in a mob around her while she led us in an oath to the United States on behalf of our soon-to-be not-Chinese-citizens.
We also each received the fabled “brown envelope” with dire instructions to never, never, never open or lose the envelope. Opening or losing it prior to presenting it to the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS) at our port of entry to the US would mean a quick trip right back to China.
Our final dinner in China was at the hotel’s Chinese restaurant and was perhaps the best one of our trip, partly because it was the only time we ate a dinner twice in the same restaurant and we had started to figure out which dishes we liked.
Afterwards, I ran to the little collection of shops next door, determined to spend the last of our yuan. Did a pretty good job, too (though I later discovered that Jeannette had a wad of yuan in one of her pockets), buying a decorative theatrical mask for Phillip, a bracelet made of jade turtles for Jameson, a red necktie for $1.25 and a snuff bottle. Throughout Beijing and Guangzhou, it was easy to find these small glass bottles, each with a different scene painted on the inside using a small, curved brush inserted through the neck of the bottle. I had been planning all along to buy some of these for gifts. At this store, they offered to write someone’s name inside the bottle so I had them write Nan Cai Jing in Chinese characters next to the painting, for a gift to MelodyJoy. For a price, you could actually get a person’s picture painted inside one of the bottles and I wonder if we’ll regret not doing something like that while in Guangzhou.
After packing our bags for pick-up—Jeannette did most of the work of getting everything stuffed into the suitcases—we turned in for a short night, knowing we would have to leave for the airport at 5:45 in the morning.
Friday, April 07, 2006
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Monday, April 03, 2006
Shop ‘til You Drop
Shop ‘til you drop is an overstatement but souvenir shopping was today’s predominant activity, both near the hotel this morning and on Shamian Island near the White Swan Hotel this afternoon. Jeannette and Laura were on the hunt for bargains . . . it was pretty hard to judge what was a good deal. (I bought one item today for about $1.25 and got back to the hotel to find that I had purchased an almost identical item for $8 while in Beijing. Only the labels were different.) I sometimes just didn’t have the energy, especially toward the end of the day, to haggle. You realized that you were arguing over just a dollar or two and after awhile the weariness and humidity got the better of you. Tomorrow: The grand shopping finale.
Dinner was at a well-known Thai restaurant called The Banana Leaf in a very upscale mall near the Friendship Store. The food was good but the highlight was when some of the servers began singing and dancing, pulling people from their chairs to dance along. We were shocked and amazed when Jameson agreed to join them and he did a great job in front of all those people.
On the MelodyJoy front, she has begun playing with her tongue and sputtering. At breakfast this morning, she enjoyed throwing things on the floor and waiting for the bus boys (bus girls, actually) to come pick them up for her.
It’s been nice having Aunt Laura along for the ride on this trip. An extra pair of hands and eyes, a little bit more flexibility for Jameson, a co-negotiator in the markets and trip photographer. I think she’s enjoyed being part of these first days with MJ, too.
Tomorrow is our last full day in China and we’ll get MJ’s visa for entering the States. On Wednesday morning, it’s back on the big bird for the flight home. Since we’ll have a layover of about six hours in Portland, we planning to get together with family and friends who might want to come by PDX to say hello. If you’re in the neighborhood, come to the Rose City Café in the airport between about 9 AM and noon or 1 o’clock and we’ll be in the upstairs conference room. We would love to see you and introduce you to MelodyJoy!
Sorry for such a boring blog entry! I didn’t have much to work with today!
Dinner was at a well-known Thai restaurant called The Banana Leaf in a very upscale mall near the Friendship Store. The food was good but the highlight was when some of the servers began singing and dancing, pulling people from their chairs to dance along. We were shocked and amazed when Jameson agreed to join them and he did a great job in front of all those people.
On the MelodyJoy front, she has begun playing with her tongue and sputtering. At breakfast this morning, she enjoyed throwing things on the floor and waiting for the bus boys (bus girls, actually) to come pick them up for her.
It’s been nice having Aunt Laura along for the ride on this trip. An extra pair of hands and eyes, a little bit more flexibility for Jameson, a co-negotiator in the markets and trip photographer. I think she’s enjoyed being part of these first days with MJ, too.
Tomorrow is our last full day in China and we’ll get MJ’s visa for entering the States. On Wednesday morning, it’s back on the big bird for the flight home. Since we’ll have a layover of about six hours in Portland, we planning to get together with family and friends who might want to come by PDX to say hello. If you’re in the neighborhood, come to the Rose City Café in the airport between about 9 AM and noon or 1 o’clock and we’ll be in the upstairs conference room. We would love to see you and introduce you to MelodyJoy!
Sorry for such a boring blog entry! I didn’t have much to work with today!
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Part of an Intricate Plan
As we left on this trip, Laura gave us the following poem from The Purpose-Driven Life because it reminded her of MelodyJoy:
You are who you are for a reason.
You’re part of an intricate plan.
You’re a precious and perfect unique design,
Called God’s special woman or man.
You look like you look for a reason.
Our God made no mistake.
He knit you together within the womb,
You’re just what He wanted to make.
The parents you had were the ones He chose,
And no matter how you may feel,
They were custom-designed with God’s plan in mind,
And they bear the Master’s seal.
No, that trauma you faced was not easy.
And God wept that it hurt you so;
But it was allowed to shape your heart
So that into His likeness you’d grow.
You are who you are for a reason,
You’ve been formed by the Master’s rod.
You are who you are, beloved,
Because there is a God!
- Russell Kelfer
Pretty in Pink
Also, take a look at www.thestoryofyou.net and click on the "In China" link and then on "Sophie Ann." Toward the bottom of the Lymans' March 31 posting you'll see a photo of MJ with her new friend, Sophie.
A Tale of Two Melodys
This morning began with more firsts as MelodyJoy was laughing and talking up a storm, saying “DaDa” and babbling. It feels like we’re seeing a year’s worth of development in a week as she comes out of her shell and shows us a new trick every time we turn around. She no longer cries when we lay her down to do diaper changes and she seemed excited about bath time. Today she also refined her crawling ability, began to enjoy peek-a-boo and let me toss her in the air. Just a day or two ago, I would have felt she was too fragile to do that but she was laughing and smiling and wanting more. She still can be quite serious but the smiles are coming very frequently now. And she’s certainly not a quiet little girl anymore. As Jeannette just commented, it’s almost like we’ve had two different babies this week: A quiet, somber little one and now this child that babbles and plays loudly.
Our itinerary today included a trip to the Guangzhou Folk Arts Museum, which was built over the course of four years around 1890, financed by the Chen clan as a temple to worship their ancestors. In 1959, it was converted to a museum to preserve the local arts and architecture as modern construction began to overtake the city. There were examples of embroidery, paper cutting, tapestries and painting, porcelain, wood and bone carving, sculpture and household furnishings. Some of it, especially the carvings, was intricately beautiful.
From there, it was to a tea house where they taught us how to choose a top quality teapot (buy clay and make sure that the tea doesn’t dribble down the side of the pot as you stop pouring), how to make tea (don’t let the tea leaves sit in the water more than ten seconds) and had us sample four or five kinds of tea, from oolong to jasmine and ginseng. As expected, they very generously offered us the opportunity to buy their tea and cups and pots and dolls and so on.
To give Jameson a break, we went back across the street to the park this afternoon and visited the amusement park. Jamey even had his first solo driving experience on the bumper cars. We believe that this is how all of the taxi drivers in China learn to drive.
Dinner tonight was at the hotel’s Japanese restaurant. We were seated in a private dining room with the Lymans—sans Sophie and Lindsey, who was enjoying her babysitting assignment—and Stephanie and Andrew Pollara from Maryland, with their new little one Elaina. We got to sit on the floor (thankfully, they had a little pit under the table so you didn’t have to sit cross-legged, and they provided chair backs for us). It was fun to hear about the Pollaras and Lymans about their time in the Wuhan province since they experienced such a different part of China.
The food was okay but the meal service followed what has become a familiar pattern here in China. The dinner plates are about the size of saucers and napkins are small, or nonexistent. Tonight, the role of Napkin was played by Kleenex, from a box in the middle of the table. From there, the different courses appear in random sequence and timing. One person’s steak arrived five minutes before any rice showed up. Soup came toward the end of the meal. One plate of noodles was delivered to the Lymans early on but my noodles showed up just in time for dessert, which was really the only thing that showed up when it was supposed to . . . at the end! I don’t mind all of this Asian food but I’m really looking forward to having the courses show up when they’re supposed to and having a big plate to eat from again!
Tomorrow will be highlighted by the delivery of our paperwork to the US Embassy (all I have to do is sit by the phone in case there are any problems) and then, in a surprising new development, a shopping trip. As Beth’s dad commented tonight, the folks here are very efficient at separating us from our money!
The day we got MelodyJoy, I said I was ready to come home. At the same time, as we near the end of our stay in China, I can tell that I'm going to miss being with this group and living out this experience. The next two days will go by fast, I think!
Our itinerary today included a trip to the Guangzhou Folk Arts Museum, which was built over the course of four years around 1890, financed by the Chen clan as a temple to worship their ancestors. In 1959, it was converted to a museum to preserve the local arts and architecture as modern construction began to overtake the city. There were examples of embroidery, paper cutting, tapestries and painting, porcelain, wood and bone carving, sculpture and household furnishings. Some of it, especially the carvings, was intricately beautiful.
From there, it was to a tea house where they taught us how to choose a top quality teapot (buy clay and make sure that the tea doesn’t dribble down the side of the pot as you stop pouring), how to make tea (don’t let the tea leaves sit in the water more than ten seconds) and had us sample four or five kinds of tea, from oolong to jasmine and ginseng. As expected, they very generously offered us the opportunity to buy their tea and cups and pots and dolls and so on.
To give Jameson a break, we went back across the street to the park this afternoon and visited the amusement park. Jamey even had his first solo driving experience on the bumper cars. We believe that this is how all of the taxi drivers in China learn to drive.
Dinner tonight was at the hotel’s Japanese restaurant. We were seated in a private dining room with the Lymans—sans Sophie and Lindsey, who was enjoying her babysitting assignment—and Stephanie and Andrew Pollara from Maryland, with their new little one Elaina. We got to sit on the floor (thankfully, they had a little pit under the table so you didn’t have to sit cross-legged, and they provided chair backs for us). It was fun to hear about the Pollaras and Lymans about their time in the Wuhan province since they experienced such a different part of China.
The food was okay but the meal service followed what has become a familiar pattern here in China. The dinner plates are about the size of saucers and napkins are small, or nonexistent. Tonight, the role of Napkin was played by Kleenex, from a box in the middle of the table. From there, the different courses appear in random sequence and timing. One person’s steak arrived five minutes before any rice showed up. Soup came toward the end of the meal. One plate of noodles was delivered to the Lymans early on but my noodles showed up just in time for dessert, which was really the only thing that showed up when it was supposed to . . . at the end! I don’t mind all of this Asian food but I’m really looking forward to having the courses show up when they’re supposed to and having a big plate to eat from again!
Tomorrow will be highlighted by the delivery of our paperwork to the US Embassy (all I have to do is sit by the phone in case there are any problems) and then, in a surprising new development, a shopping trip. As Beth’s dad commented tonight, the folks here are very efficient at separating us from our money!
The day we got MelodyJoy, I said I was ready to come home. At the same time, as we near the end of our stay in China, I can tell that I'm going to miss being with this group and living out this experience. The next two days will go by fast, I think!
Saturday, April 01, 2006
From the Ridiculous to the Sublime
%20040%20dad%20and%20MJ%20compressed.jpg)
Today began with an exercise that MelodyJoy clearly saw as ridiculous: A trip to “The Examination Room for Adopted Children.” We were herded through three medical examinations along with a string of . . . who knows? . . . hundreds of Chinese orphans all receiving perfunctory reviews required by the US government. They checked Melody’s hearing (and, frankly, it appeared to me that she failed the test but perhaps they were grading on a curve), listened to her chest and eyeballed her from head to toe, measured her and more. She was thrilled with each aspect of this process, especially being weighed. We found out that she weighs 18.4 pounds and is 27.9 inches tall. The third doctor also told us that the bump on her head is a boil and wrote a prescription for us.
I spent two hours this afternoon jammed into our guides’ hotel apartment with over thirty other parents as Amy led us line by line and form by form through the process of filling out paperwork for the US embassy. (Not to mention turning over the last official payment--$460—of this adoption process!)
It was tedious but I was so grateful for Amy’s guidance as some of the questions appeared simple but were not. For instance, one form asked for the names of MelodyJoy’s siblings. I would have quickly listed Jordan, Phillip and Jameson. Uh, no, the correct answer was “Unknown,” because we can’t know if she has any biological brothers or sisters. In fact, it was a stark reminder to me of Melody’s situation as I saw how many unknowns there were on the children’s forms. Birth city? Unknown. Parent’s names? Unknown. Health history? Unknown.
We all get along well so at times it was hard for Amy to get us through the forms as we were entirely too busy chattering away over this and that, helping one other keep up with her instructions. One very light moment came as we came to a series of questions that asked things like whether the applicant was of average appearance and average intelligence. Naturally, we simultaneously thought the same thing: NO! Our daughter is well above average! Amy insisted we all write “yes” and move on. Another item asked if the applicant plays sports and games with others and Amy again told us to write in “yes.” Pretty funny when you consider that two-thirds of the kids can’t even walk yet.
This evening, after dinner in the hotel’s Chinese restaurant, we went up to an apartment that has been assigned to two of the couples—a huge penthouse place on the 17th floor—and Peter organized a worship service for us all. I’d guess that about fifty or sixty of us, including babies, were there. Our daughter’s first “church” service. After some singing, Pete brought a short “message,” several people shared their thoughts, and one of the pastors in our group led us in communion. I closed in prayer after reading the verses that God gave us as He led us to decide to move back to Oregon from Kentucky six years ago:
“. . . the Lord who created you says, ‘Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. . . . . For I will give you abundant water to quench your thirst and to moisten your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit and my blessings on your children. They will thrive like watered grass, like willows on a riverbank.’” (Isaiah 43:1-2a, 44:3-4)
May God indeed be with our children as they go through difficult times and provide for all their needs!
Returning to our room, we experienced a couple more firsts just before bedtime. Jeannette put MelodyJoy down on the floor and convinced her to crawl for what we assume is the first time. (Another unknown!) Afterwards, Jeannette sputtered and nuzzled MJ’s tummy and elicited our first full-out laughter. We also tried out the “squeaky shoes” that Jeannette bought today—little shoes that squeak with every step—and Melody had fun being walked across the floor for a few minutes.
We also got good news today that my dad is finally home from the hospital after his overnight visit turned into overnight-after-overnight for the last week. Our travel group had prayed for him several days ago as we drove through Guangzhou’s traffic on our way to a meal. Glad you’re home and able to read this blog now, Grandpa!!
Tomorrow we will visit a folklore museum (if I understood what Lineaker was telling us) and go to a tea ceremony (where Jeannette is sure they will figure out a way to sell us something), then have the rest of the day to ourselves. Thanks for following our journey. For another viewpoint, visit www.thedriskills.blogspot.com.
Friday, March 31, 2006
Clueless Americans Dine Out
%20059%20dinner%20compressed.jpg)
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.
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)