Today was pretty uneventful.This morning, we went to a place called the Summer Palace, which was a summer resort for an empress.The place is huge and we walked several miles.It was beautiful, though.There were gardens and galleries and gorgeous buildings.
After that, we came back to a shopping mall near our hotel and had Pizza Hut for lunch.I (Sherry) have been hit pretty hard with jet lag, so I took a nap this afternoon.I just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.
This evening, we're taking it easy and just hanging out at our hotel.
Tomorrow, we have a pretty full day.We have our adoption agency's Orientation meeting after breakfast.Then we have lunch with other families from the agency and then a tour of The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.Then we have to pack because we leave very early Monday morning for Jacinda's province.
First, we have to tell you about the traffic here.Lane markings are merely suggestions, as are traffic lights.There are cars, bikes, scooters, mopeds, etc.It's a complete free-for-all.Crossing the street is an adventure.When we need to cross the street, we get behind people who look like they know what they're doing and we just follow and hope for the best!
Second, Starbucks are everywhere!Even at the Great Wall!!!!!
Third, China is MUCH different than I expected.Well, we've never been to a Communist country, so I'm not sure we had any idea what to expect.Beijing is a very modern city … lots of people are everywhere.From what we hear, 99% of China is not like Beijing.
Fourth, you can't drink the water here.We have to brush our teeth with bottled water, which is kind of a pain.Apparently the water is clean enough that you can shower in it, though.I think that's weird.
My dad has a business contact in Hong Kong, Mark.He arranged for his friend in Beijing, Sun (pronounced Soon) to take us around Beijing.So he shows up at our hotel this morning with a driver.They took us to the Great Wall.It is truly amazing.We climbed part of it.Then we went to the Olympic Park.We got to go inside the Bird's Nest.We walked through the plaza and saw the Cube and the Indoor Stadium.I'm really glad we went there!
This is where it gets interesting.Sun took us to a Chinese restaurant.Now, I'm sure you've all heard that Chinese food in China is much different than Chinese food in America.That's definitely true.On the menu, there were seriously hundreds of choices.Sun ended up ordering for us.Besides some shrimp that we ate, we don't have a clue what the rest of it was.Honestly, no idea.Plus, the restaurant didn't have air conditioning, so I was hot and hungry, and didn't know what I was eating.It might be better that we didn't know, actually!
Then we were scheduled to meet Mark for dinner.He comes to our hotel and tells us he's taking us to a Peking Duck restaurant (uh-oh).Being the good guests we were, we smiled and said that would be great.We told him we'd never tried duck, but we were willing to.There ended up being 7 of us and we had a private room.This was a good thing because in the main dining room, there was a very loud show going on.Again, one of the other people ordered for all of us. You see where this is going, right? When the food came out, it was put on a lazy susan in the middle of the table so we could all share. I have never seen so much food in my life.Besides the duck, again, no clue what we were eating.The duck wasn't bad.They showed us how to put it in a little tortilla-like pancake and fold it up and eat it.I'm not sure I'd order duck again, but it was pretty good.
Needless to say, I think we'll be finding some American food tomorrow!!!!!!Our plan for tomorrow is to eat a leisurely breakfast at our hotel – fabulous buffet, by the way.Then we might do some shopping, or sightseeing.We want to take it easy because the next day is when all the fun starts!!!!
(The dates may not match up since we're 12 hours ahead, but I'm writing this at the end of the date in the title of the post. Sorry if that's confusing.)
Our flight from Norfolk to Newark was very bumpy the entire time.Fortunately, it was a pretty short flight.I (Sherry) am not a great flyer, but we survived, except for the claw marks in Aaron's leg!!!
We then had over 4 hours to kill in the Newark airport.We found some internet access and watched a few TV shows.
Our flight to Beijing was fairly uneventful.We each had video screens on the seat backs in front of us, so we could choose movies and TV shows to watch.The guy next to me watched all 3 Pirates of the Caribbean movies with Chinese subtitles!
We made it to our hotel in downtown Beijing.Beijing is HUGE.The people have been nice so far.There is a lot of smoking here, so it's strange to smell cigarette smoke in the hotel lobby.
Our plan for tomorrow is to go see the Great Wall and the Olympics buildings.
2 days until we leave. I can't believe it's really time to go. The packing insanity continues. The picture above is what our guest bed looked like yesterday. We have since packed 1 suitcase, and we have 2 more to go, plus our carry-ons. We have just a few last minute things to get done.
Several people have asked if Luke is going with us. He is not. There are several reasons for this: 1. China is quarantining people for fever or flu-like symptoms (swine flu exposure). The State Department has warned that China may separate children from their parents and give the kids medical treatment without parental permission. Aaron and I both would end up in a Chinese prison if this happened!!! 2. Luke does not sleep well when we travel. 3. He has a great place to stay while we are gone, so we feel comfortable leaving him ..... well, as comfortable as we can! We're really going to miss the little guy! We have Skype all set up and we've practiced. So hopefully we can see him and talk him a lot while we're gone.
Our flight leaves Norfolk at 6:10 am Wednesday morning. We're pretty much ready!
Things you can pray for (if you're the praying type): 1. Safe traveling (Sherry is not a great flyer.) 2. Good health for all of us 3. Jacinda's adjustment. She is likely to have a very hard time with this.
We'll be updating this blog while we're gone, so stay tuned!!!!!!!
While we are in China, we will not be able to access Facebook. So if you want to find out how things are going, you need to subscribe to this blog!!!!!! On the right side of the page, there is a link to subscribe by email. Click that link and enter your email address. You will receive a confirmation email, and you need to read that email and follow the instructions. If you don't get the email within a few minutes, check your spam folder!
We got our Travel Approval today!!!!!! I (Sherry) was in the waiting room at the eye doctor's office when Aaron called me. Of course, I burst into tears and then they called my name! I'm sure everyone was wondering what in the heck was going on!!!!!!!
We're not sure yet the exact date we'll leave, but it will probably be around October 7th or 8th. We have to be in Beijing by Saturday, October 10. We want to go a couple of days beforehand to get over jet lag and do some sightseeing. We will get Jacinda on Monday, October 12. We will get home somewhere around October 24th.
More details to come! Now the serious travel preparations start!!!!!
We got a little travel news yesterday, but nothing major. We do not have official Travel Approval yet. Our agency got a batch of them yesterday, but ours was not among them. The agency expects ours to be in the next batch. They have no idea when they will get that batch, though. It could come today, next week, who knows?
We did find out that we will definitely not travel before October 9th. October 1-5 are holidays in China, so the offices we need to visit will be closed. So our agency has delayed travel until after those holidays. The 2nd tricky part about October is that there is a big trade festival that happens the whole month. That means that hotel rooms will be more expensive. But our agency is still allowing families to travel in October as long as they are willing to pay the extra cost. We're going even if it's more expensive. We want our girl!!! The money will all work out.
Hopefully we'll hear soon when we'll travel. We're really hoping for as soon in October as possible. The later it gets in the fall, the more we have to be prepared for a H1N1 flu situation.
For me (Sherry), this part of the waiting has been the hardest part. We're SO close. Every time the phone rings, I practically knock stuff over trying to get to it. I check my email incessantly. Jacinda is almost 20 months old and I try not to think about all the things we're missing ...walking, talking, etc. I'm trying to stay busy getting ready for the trip and getting the house ready. We're stocking the freezer with meals, although we have some friends who'll be helping us out with meals, too. The guest room is a disaster at the moment, so that's this week's project! My parents need somewhere to stay when they come to help us out.
We've also been talking with the team that will repair Jacinda's cleft lip and palate, so we think we're ready! (Her lip has already been repaired, but the team wants to redo it at some point because they think they can improve it a little.) The team asked us to call them as soon as we get home and they will get a team together to meet with us.
The last we heard from China, she has no issues with eating and drinking, so that is a good thing. Her weight and height are in about the 25th percentile (for US standards), which is not unusual for Chinese kids. Her pediatrician here, who is experienced with international adoptions and works closely with the cleft team, is confident that we can handle any issues that come up. When we travel, we will have access to his personal cell phone so that if anything medical comes up while we're in China, we can call him and he'll help us out.
So that's what we've been up to! Lots of people have been asking us when we go, and the answer right now is still ... we don't know. Hopefully soon we'll have a more definite answer to that question. And trust me, when we know, you'll all hear us screaming!!!!!!!!!!!
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