A day in Nanchang

Short version: We met our group at 10:00 am for a trip to a local historical site in Nanchang, the city in which we're staying.  Then we returned to the hotel where Alexis took her afternoon nap and had her first swim in the pool.  With two others from our group, we walked a few blocks this evening to Walmart for some supplies and then to Pizza Hut for dinner.   There were no appointments today.  We received some documents and are waiting for Alexis' passport to be completed.

Longer version: Most of our appointments with Chinese officials are done now.  They are processing our paperwork, and we don't have to go to any more appointments here in Nanchang.  Our guides go and pick up completed paperwork and bring it to us, while we go about trying to bond with our children and learn how to parent them.  We did a 2 hour sightseeing trip today, and the pagoda we visited had lots of beautiful artwork and views of Nanchang.  The city is huge, much bigger than we expected, with a population over 4 million.  We expect to get Alexis' Chinese passport late Thursday and then we'll be ready to fly to Guangzhou Friday afternoon.

Alexis had her first swim today in the hotel kiddie pool.  At first she was a little tentative but she gradually warmed to the idea of being in the water.  By the end she was doing some splashing and seemed to enjoy herself.  Each night when we give her a bath she is becoming more accustomed to the water.

Our guides told us that the Chinese potty train their children at a very young age, and that if we held them over the toilet, they would "go potty".  We had a hard time believing this based on the children's age.   We gave it a try once and it worked.  However, this is impractical for Americans traveling with their children and for our American culture.  It's probably more polite to explain in person so if you're interested in knowing more, feel free to ask us when we arrive back home.

For some reason, Alexis didn't want to go to bed until 10:00 tonight.  We're supposed to leave at 9:30 for sightseeing tomorrow, so hopefully she'll get a full night's sleep.  She has been waking up once in the night for a feeding.  After just over two days with Alexis, we're still trying to understand her and figure out her patterns.  Today she seemed a little frustrated at times, but we also had some wonderful moments where she giggled and laughed and made us laugh with her.   She is super observant and is always looking around to see what's going on, particularly when we are out walking the city streets of Nanchang.

We ate dinner at Pizza Hut tonight.  After 100% Chinese food for the first three days of the trip, we've taken the opportunity to eat some American food the last couple of days.  To our surprise our waitress spoke some English.  I'm sure she waits on all the Americans that show up at the restaurant.  The hotel staff are all able to communicate in English at some level, but once you leave the hotel, you can't (and shouldn't) expect any English.  It's all part of the adventure.

Please pray that we'll have wisdom to understand Alexis' needs.  It is a challenge at times.

Getting adjusted

Short version: 
Alexis is a great sleeper
She is gradually eating better
We are totally charmed by her
Nanchang is incredibly hot, humid and crowded
Today we went to Wal-Mart here in Nanchang
We feel somewhat clueless; Alexis seems to be giving us clues, but we are a bit slow on determining what they are
We are getting to know the other families better and enjoying them

Long version:
Alexis slept well last night.   She went to bed about 8pm and woke up about 2:30am.  After feeding and comforting her she was finally back to sleep about 1 1/2 - 2 hours later and slept soundly until about 8:45am.  We enjoyed a video Skype with Marilyn's family and introduced Alexis to her adoring fans.  There is an amazing breakfast buffet here at the hotel as there was at our Beijing hotel, but this morning our focus was clearly directed at trying to find out what Alexis could and would eat.  Although we expected her to love conjee (over-boiled watery rice), she seemed a bit mediocre on it this morning. 

After breakfast our group went to the Notary Office (a ten minute drive) with our passports and adoption certificates in hand.  We had a very brief meeting with an official who asked a few questions and then we signed a document.  As usual, we really didn't know what we were doing - we just followed our guide's directions.  Then we went shopping at Wal-Mart.  It was so funny to see the normal Wal-Mart signs (blue with the yellow flower-like symbol) but with Chinese characters.  It was also quite amazing to explore the food department as the products of the meat counters, etc were TOTALLY different than those in the states.  Surprisingly, it was very hard to find paper towels and they had a small selection.  They must not be used much here.

We spent the afternoon in the room and Alexis took a good, long nap.  She is so sweet and likes to babble a lot.  She makes us laugh and then laughs because we are laughing at her.  She likes to snuggle and be kissed - not a problem for us!  We are really trying to decipher what she seems so intent on trying to communicate with us through her babbling and signs.  Hopefully we will understand more and more as time goes on.

We walked to dinner with 2 other families from our group.  It was so interesting to experience the crowded streets of Nanchang with their pungent smells, many lights and various sounds (such constant horn-honking that it would put Washington D.C. to shame).  There were bicycles and scooters everywhere, and repair shops operating at full speed even at 7:30 at night with bicycles and scooters overflowing onto the streets and people all working by flashlight.  There are few traffic lights or street crossings in our section of the city, but things work.  The basic rule appears to be that everyone (drivers, cyclists, pedestrians) states their intentions by starting to go in the direction they want and whoever most emphatically states their intentions gets the right of way.  When we were crossing the street, we would wait for a small break in traffic on our side of the street and start walking across.  Then we'd negotiate are way in front of the oncoming traffic.

Alexis tolerated her bath better tonight - daddy was speedy and she was well-distracted by bath toys.  She also ate much better this afternoon and tonight (daddy prepared the formula).  Maybe daddy is the secret for things going better.  We are really thrilled that she seems to be attaching well to both of us.

Note from Malcolm: As you can see from today's pictures, Marilyn is doing a better job of taking photos.  I'll have to be a more purposeful photographer so you can see Marilyn in action as an amazing mom.

We're parents!

Wow - what a day today!  We're finally parents after all these years of waiting.  In many ways it hasn't sunk in yet because today was such a whirlwind of activity.  Alexis is beautiful and a lot of fun (when she's not crying).  We had some nice moments late this afternoon when she was in a very cheerful mood.

Short version:  Up at 4:45 am and to airport by 6:00 am.  Flew to Nanchang after 1.5 hour delay.  Received Alexis upon entering hotel (utter chaos).  Back to room for 45 minutes to prepare for civil affairs office visit.  Did paperwork and met orphanage director from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.  Back to hotel, enjoyed some time with Alexis, ate dinner at the hotel, gave Alexis a bath and put her to bed.  She was out like a light.  We expect to be too.

Long version: Malcolm didn't sleep much Sunday night but Marilyn did better.  We got up early to get to the airport to catch our 8:20 am flight. Four other families went with us to Nanchang.  Other families went to Shanghai, Xi'an, Guangzhou and one other province to get their children.  We'll meet up with them again on Friday night in Guangzhou.  The five families going to Nanchang sat on the tarmac for 90 minutes in Beijing due to air traffic control, which seems to be common.  Flew on an Airbus 320 to Nanchang and didn't arrive until around 11:45 due to the delay.  This put us behind schedule.  We had all expected to get to the hotel late morning and then get our children early afternoon.  We were all full of nerves during the morning and the delay didn't help, as we were all antsy.  When we got on the bus in Nanchang our guide Mary gave us the most important in-country adoption paperwork to review.  So here we were, just arriving in the city to pick up our children, bouncing along on the road, trying to review and fill out paperwork.  They don't waste a minute.  Then Mary told us that due to our late flight we would get our children upon arrival at the hotel.  What a surprise!  No time to change clothes, get our baby items prepared, or eat lunch.  We pulled up to the hotel, got out, walked in the door and there was a group of caregivers with the children all waiting for us in the lobby.  We dropped our bags and within a minute we were handed Alexis.  There were definitely tears, but it was so different from what we expected that we rather shell-shocked.  The five Nanchang families expected to receive their babies one at a time so we could all witness each other receiving our children, take pictures and video, and enjoy the moment.  Instead, everyone was handed their child at the same time.  It was a crazy and joyous moment - one that for many years we had been waiting.  It just went much faster than we expected.

By now it was just after 1:00 pm and we were told that we needed to be back in the lobby at 2:00 pm with some paperwork, fee payments, and gifts that we had brought.  Now it was true craziness.  First, our minds couldn't think straight because we had just received beautiful Alexis and we trying to pay attention to her, change her diaper, and make her feel comfortable.  At the same time, our luggage was delivered to our room, along with a crib, stroller, and baby bath tub.  Our luggage was strewn all over the room so that we could find the necessary items for the civil affairs appointment.  We hadn't yet figured out how to use the Baby Bjorn carrier so we just picked up Alexis, the gifts, our paperwork, and diaper bag and went down to the lobby.  We met our guides and the other families and then embarked on our first life threatening adventure with our new child - crossing the street to get to the civil affairs office.  Chinese traffic is crazy and walking across the street in busy traffic is basically a death wish.  We somehow made it across and went into the civil affairs office.  Nanchang is very hot and humid as was the civil affairs building and office.  There we did some more paperwork, paid some mega-fees, had a photo taken, were interviewed by a civil affairs employee, met and asked questions of the orphanage director, and got our adoption certificate.  One of the more interesting things we learned is that Alexis has been in foster care with a 50 year old nanny since around 2 weeks after she was born.  Another child lived in the same house with her, who was adopted by another family in our group, so Alexis and Mya are already pals.  We distributed our orphanage gifts and received a gift, too.  Then we went back to the hotel and were on our own - this after another harrowing street crossing.  The ironic thing was that we had just promised not to harm our children and then we walk out of the civil affairs office and go right into harm's way crossing the street.  It was funny once we made it across.

We got back to our hotel room and fed Alexis some food after some failed attempts earlier.  She seemed to prefer eating from a spoon rather than formula from a bottle.  Poor Alexis had quite a day - leaving foster care, driving to Nanchang, meeting new parents, seeing all sorts of new sights and sounds, enduring civil affairs office appointments, and getting a bath.  We found a few skin issues that hopefully will go away with some more frequent diaper changing and lotions.  Please pray about this because Marilyn's medical background causes her to always consider the worst, and she can sometimes obsess about things like this. 

Alexis is so cute!  We can't get over her beautiful eyes, and we spent a lot of time just hanging out with her and looking at her.  She kept us quite entertained - funny faces and lots of babbling (and we probably we entertained her, too).  She has been charming us and it's an amazing feeling to be parents.  Things are still surreal.  She seemed quite happy once we were back at the hotel, and had a good evening with us until we bathed her, which she didn't like very much.  After the bath she quickly fell asleep.  She has short hair because Chinese often shave the baby's hair a few times at a very young age to encourage thicker growth.  She had 2 major crying times - both of which were just before she fell asleep - this afternoon and tonight.  Otherwise, she has been calm and/or happy.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we have a notary appointment and we'll shop at Wal-Mart (there is a literal Wal-Mart here!) which is down the street from our hotel, the "Galactic Peach International Hotel" - quite a name.

Almost there!

Today was the last day in our long adoption wait.  The adoption agency must intentionally keep us busy because we hardly had time to dwell on the big day Monday.

Summary: Good night's rest Saturday night.  Breakfast, then on the bus at 9:15 to go to an international, English speaking church.  Then to jade store, then lunch.  Drove to Great Wall and climbed up to the top of the section we were on.  This was thrilling, and a highlight of the trip so far.  Drove back to downtown and enjoyed a quick meal, then back to the hotel for a 15 minute stop before going to see an acrobat show, which was very entertaining.  Then we returned to the hotel and packed for our trip to Jiangxi province.  We fly there in the morning, will be taken to our hotel, and then in the afternoon we will get Alexis!

More detail: We we're getting used to the wonderful buffet breakfasts here at the hotel, but we learned this afternoon that we need to get up at 4:45 am Monday morning to be on the bus at 5:20.  No buffet tomorrow.  We'll be taken to the airport with our group, and we'll all get on flights to the province where our children await us.  Most of us go to Nanchang in Jiangxi province, but other families are going to Xi'an, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.  We'll all be back together again Friday night in Guangzhou.

We'll be going to Nanchang, and we were told today that we will meet our children across the street from our hotel.  We're happy that we go to the hotel first because we'll have a little time to unpack and get all the things together we need for meeting Alexis and any paperwork we need to do.

There's definitely a nervous tension among all the families as we eagerly await tomorrow.  Some have adopted before so they know the excitement, joy, emotions, and challenges ahead.  We're expecting a very emotional day.

The Great Wall was definitely a highlight.  To finally see this great wonder in real life - we just kept pinching ourselves as we took in the views and the experience!  We had about an hour to spend there so we did the very steep climb to the highest point at our location - about 35 minutes straight up.  The wall varies considerably in width, and the steps are very uneven so caution was necessary.  As with all the other places we have visited here, it was crowded but thinned out considerably as we kept climbing.  Although the trip up was aerobically challenging and somewhat slow, the trip down was quick but tricky with the uneven steps and steep enough to cause the leg muscle jiggles.  The weather was lovely - it would be a killer in super hot weather or if the steps were slick in wintertime!

The group meals yesterday and today were very similar - a huge lazy susan filled with traditional Chinese dishes, rice and soup.  There are generally variations of pork, chicken, duck, seafood and vegetarian dishes.  Some are much more flavorful than others.  Our Saturday lunch was probably the best. 

The acrobatic show tonight was hilarious!!!  It was like David Letterman's stupid people tricks meets the highest skilled/strongest Olympic gymnasts.  The feats were amazing and funny - a male juggler with an inappropriately-revealing outfit, gymnastic feats while spinning plates on poles, riding bicycles, jumping through an ever-higher ring, etc.  The strength and skill needed to do most of the acts was just unbelievable.  The strangeness of some of the acts was funny.  The showmanship of all the participants was just so entertaining!  An event not soon forgotten.

Now we are back at the hotel packing frantically as our checked luggage had to be ready by 10pm tonight, and there is a weight limit of 44 pounds per person for checked baggage.  I think we will easily make it. 

Tonight will likely be a fitful night of sleep with the ridiculously early wake-up call time and with our thoughts focused on finally meeting Alexis tomorrow!  It's hard to put into words the emotions we are experiencing!

By the way we have been humored (and frustrated by the ongoing delays) of the domestic flights here so far.  There is really no such thing as a line, boarding was super fast and the flight attendants are super zippy with their service (there is minimal selection and no ice for drinks which probably helps).  But on Friday night during our flight the "dinner" was a box with 2 wrapped pieces of bread in it.  So after the flight being delayed more than 5 hours, we had bread and water for a meal!  We didn't know whether to laugh or cry at that point but have since been laughing more and more as we remember it.   

We're in China!

It's Saturday night, September 4, Beijing time, and we're back at our hotel room after a long day of sight seeing.  We're exhausted.  Here's a brief update on the last few days...

Travel to Beijing went fine.  Arrived late Thursday night, slept a little in the airport terminal, flew to Xi'an Friday morning.  Saw the Terra Cotta warriors (quite impressive) and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.  Flew back to Beijing after 5 hour flight delay due to storms.  Arrived at hotel at 4:00 am Saturday morning.  In bed at 5:30 am, up at 7:30 am for breakfast.  Met group at 8:30, left to see Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, pearl store, Summer Palace, and silk store.  Had yummy Chinese food in between.  Sunday we'll go to church, see the Great Wall, go to a jade store (shopping seems to be a popular activity for these adoption groups), see an acrobat show, and pack for our flight Monday morning which will take us to Jianxi province to pick up Alexis!

Here's more detail for those that would like it...

We arrived in Beijing around 11:30 pm Thursday night.  Customs was uneventful.  After getting our luggage we found that the airport sleeping rooms were all taken and decided to find a bench to sleep on for a few hours while waiting for our early morning flight to Xi'an.  Flew to Xi'an after a one hour delay on the tarmac.  Was met by a driver and tour guide.  Stopped at a business where they make Terra Cotta Warrior statues (everyone wants you to shop, shop, shop!).  Went to site of Terra Cotta Warriors.  It's huge.  Archeological sights were impressive, but not as many statues were restored as we expected.  Drove to and toured grounds of Big Wild Goose Pagoda, a famous Buddhist site.  Drove by famous Xi'an city wall (Xi'an has around 7 million citizens), and then back to the airport for 8:50 pm flight.  Storms came in, so we were delayed until 1:50 am.  At least they didn't cancel our flight.  We arrived in Beijing around 3:20, were met by a driver, picked up our luggage that we had stored at the terminal, and drove to the Radisson Hotel.  We checked in around 4:00 am and were glad to finally see a bed.  The hotel is very, very nice.  Got two hours of deep sleep and then had to get up to get breakfast.  Met Sherry, our Beijing guide, who briefed us on the day's activities.  Met our group members at 8:30 and departed on a bus for sightseeing.  It was amazing to be at Tiananmen Square and to see the Forbidden City, which was more expansive than we could ever have imagined.  There were people everywhere sightseeing, many of them Chinese from other provinces.  It was quite hot - probably in the upper 80s.  We were constantly drinking bottled water.

We had a very nice lunch at a nearby restaurant and then went to a pearl store for shopping.  Next we went to the Summer Palace grounds, which were very beautiful.  We stopped at a silk store, went to dinner for Peking Duck, took pictures of the Bird's Nest stadium built for the Olympics, then back to the hotel.  Sunday is another full day of activities and then we fly out early Sunday morning to Jianxi province to get Alexis!

It's amazing to be in China.  We keep pinching ourselves and try our best to enjoy every moment.  Beijing is huge (around 20 million people), and very impressive.

We have met all the other group members and they are very nice.  It has been interesting hearing their stories and getting to know them.  Monday is going to be a very emotional day.

That's all for now, we need to get some sleep.

Itinerary

Many are curious about what we will be doing during our 17 days of travel.  Here's a summary:

Sept 1 - Depart to China
Sept 2 - Arrive in China (late at night).  We lose a lot of time due to the time change.
Sept 3 - Sightseeing on our own.  Meet up with our adoption agency guide and our travel group late evening.  Go to hotel.
Sept 4 - Beijing tour with travel group (other adopting parents)
Sept 5 - Church, more sightseeing
Sept 6 - Morning flight to Alexis' province, meet Alexis!  Start paperwork.
Sept 7 to 10 - China Civil Affairs and notary appointments.  Sight-seeing and shopping in free time.
Sept 11 - Alexis' medical exam, more sight-seeing.
Sept 12 - Fill out forms for U.S. Consulate appointment.
Sept 13 - U.S. Consulate appointment.
Sept 14 - Consulate oath taking ceremony, pick up Alexis' visa
Sept 15 - Travel to Hong Kong airport hotel.  At this point we're on our own again.
Sept 16 - Our wedding anniversary! Celebrate in Hong Kong while trying to figure out how to be romantic and sight-see with a small child in tow.
Sept 17 - Fly out of Hong Kong, arrive back in USA

Travel plans finalized

We've got our travel dates to go and pick up Alexis!  We leave Wednesday, September 1 and arrive home Friday, September 17.

Thanks for your interest in our trip.  Please pray for safe travel, good attachment with Alexis, and for all of us as we go through this exciting transition!