Xiangjiang Safari Park

There was no official business today and some of us wanted to go to the safari park on the outskirts of Guangzhou. It reminded me of the San Diego zoo/safari park in many ways, but what you will not see in the US is an open range section where you drive among the animals...wild animals ("safari on wheels"). We were on a tram thingy, but locals just drive their cars along the meandering path with nothing separating most of the animals from the cars, and some moats/low natural material fences for the meat-eaters (e.g., lions, tigers) and large animals (elephants, but not the giraffes). After that, we walked from one end of the park to the other ("safari on feet") and it was hot and sticky, but also enjoyable as the grounds are tropical and beautiful. There were frequent reminders that we were not in the US in the form of kids just peeing wherever their parents placed them on the sidewalk - I was pleased that Harper was happy in the stroller. Some cultural differences I will never understand.

We got back to the hotel late afternoon, sans a nap. So now the trick was not to let her fall asleep until an early bedtime so we played her current favorite game - put all the toys on the bed, push all the toys on the floor, laugh, put all the toys on the bed, ... you get the picture (tsk, tsk, right? encouraging her and then hoping she doesn't do it on that hellish 12 hour flight home?!? one day at a time...). And then she was rubbing her eyes so out we went into the rain, which started when we were finishing the safari park (and washing all that pee off the sidewalks, sorry, that's what I kept thinking as we took cover for the worst to pass). I had my travel umbrella and we took the 2-block stroll to Starbucks. Yes, in China, great new experiences, but I need my fix so I had a mocha while Harper ate all the chicken out of the panini they sell. And she plucked a biscotti off the rack and she had that, too. We continued our stroll around the block to get more diapers and she went right up and grabbed a cup of noodles, so once back to the room she devoured those, too. Add a night time bottle of milk and she was out like a light by 7:30 pm. If you are interested, I had a power bar and oatmeal brought from home.

In our one week together, she has changed so much. Much of it is expected as the traumatic experience of Gotcha Day (and I think "trauma" is an accurate word for what many experience, including Harper) ebbs and trust develops with her forever mama. Harper has not been sad since we have arrived in Guangzhou. She is still a little dubious of me on waking in the morning, and kind of looks at me sideways before putting her head down, then looking again (hmmm, that mama lady is still here). This morning was the first time she sat herself up pretty quickly and gave me a smile. Progress. There are mirrors in the elevator of the hotel and we practice saying "Mama", "Harper (or Yin Yin)". She has the cutest little voice!

This is just the wackiest mascot, but everyone else was getting a picture with him. Before this
picture, Harper was touching his nose. Amazing I don't look as hot and miserable as I felt at the time!

A very popular animal exhibit, as you can imagine. Pandas were inside because of the heat.

I liked this guy because he was rubbing his neck on the tree - reminded me of
our Mickey cat at home always wanting his ears rubbed. And you can see the road for tram and cars  -
nothing separating it from the animals.

Harper demonstrating her noodle slurping at lunch.

No-nap girl at Starbucks enjoying her biscotti.

Medical Appointment Day

The medical appointment is a big deal because it is a requirement before bringing the "new immigrant" into the US. Up until 2 months ago, the location of the facility was on Shamian Island, a block away from our hotel. But now, it is about a 40 min drive to a much larger facility, which compared to last time, seemed absolutely chaotic. Crowded, many exam rooms, screaming kids going in and out, people waiting all over in various groups of chairs. There was a section for "adoptive families" and there were a lot of them; most special needs children (about 80% of adoptions are of this type vs. non-special needs, which is the route under which I got Harper). Michael did a good job of shepherding us through the three stops: general screening (physical exam); E&T (ears and throat); and height/weight. Harper only got teary eyed watching one little boy wail and wail. When it was her turn, she was super duper:  cooperative, smiling, even with that large tongue depressor jabbed down her throat. But the real trouper came out for the TB test, which is needed for all kids over 2 without exception (I could sign an affidavit that she not be immunized at this time given she has received most on schedule at SWI). She watched them inject the inside of her forearm (sc for my medical readers), didn't make a peep, and came out smiling. We will go back on Tuesday for the results.

I was feeling good about the day until we went up to the room after our medical appointment. The room had a VERY strong chemical odor (ethanol?). I went immediately downstairs to ask Michael to find out more, but I think he forgot. We left the hotel for lunch, came back, and the room smell was worse, and I wouldn't even let Harper in there. I found someone from hotel on the floor who agreed. After going up and down to the lobby multiple times while Harper entertained herself with a bag of Skittles (the color palette noted on my white shirt), I got a different room. Threw most things into the crib and rolled it down the hall, and had two hotel gals helping me to throw the rest into our bags or just carry it. Room is noisier, but wifi appears stronger (yeah!). I hate to think what they were pumping in that room....sorry, I don't trust that this country is going to have adequate safeguards for dangerous things. Obvious cases in point, no seat belts, no car seats...

We entertained ourselves tonight with walking around the island to find a laundry place. I may treat myself to flying home with all my laundry done, so I have to check it out. The guy at "Judy's Place" said we could borrow a stroller and I didn't think Harper would have anything to do with it, but she was quite agreeable. It will come in handy tomorrow when we are out and about because it is so stinkin' hot and humid here. For dinner, rice noodles with beef for the girl (she loves them so); I had Subway again!

Harper with Tenley who is being adopted, too. Her family is from
the same adoption agency as me and thus also using Michael this week.

Another test? Sure, no problem.

Outside new medical facility. The white shirt before the Skittles!

Evening multi-tasking: combing hair, having a snack, and playing on the iPad.

Arrival in Guangzhou

Harper has taken her first airplane flight and you will be pleased to know that she can amp up her shriek by 10 decibels or more to match the extra noise at take-off. Why did my guide book a flight in the middle of nap time?!? The accusatory glares of everyone sitting around us were ten times worse than the curiosity stares of the last few days. One man sitting in the row in front of us, however, gave me a sympathetic nod; thank you sir! And an attractive flight attendant came by to ask if she could help, said something to Harper in Mandarin, and returned with two little books of Chinese cartoon characters. Tears stopped, smile appeared, and the flight was now okay. But for the remaining 40 min she found it fun to throw the empty water bottles we had onto the floor, and what other option did I have but to keep picking them up. Hardly a time to start setting limits on the 2 year old, not with that crowd.

My guide for this week is Michael, who is Chris' 26 year old son. I can already tell he is going to get a bit uptight on all the details like his father since as soon as we reached the hotel, he had me filling out the US consulate paperwork. No time to change Harper, find her a snack, geez. Finally he left and room service menu looked too much like the one in Nanchang and I am about noodled out. So off we go to find food, and it is easy here on Shamian Island since it was once a European colony and has certainly a different look and feel from the neighboring areas. Lots of western or westernized eating places. Dinner was from Subway and it was the best sandwich ever, even had them put on tomatoes and cucumbers (following the rule if it has a peel, it is okay to eat). A Coke Zero from the 7-11 around the corner and I was good. Harper really liked her dinner of chicken sandwich and orange juice. I suspect we will be going back!

The best part of the day? Skyping with Jaden although we could not see her; she could see us. She could see Harper jabbering away and I could hear what Jaden has been up to (it seems like I left home a looong time ago). And Jaden wanted to see/hear Harper laugh. She also declared somewhere in the call "I like her!". Whew.

Ok, no yelling, but I just spent the last 30 min watching a fraction of one picture upload and it got stuck. Tried a couple times. Could be the wireless here at the hotel; will have to see if there is a hard cable connection in the morning. Long explanation short, no pictures! She spent most of the day running away from me laughing anyway (well, except for that plane ride....). Goodnight!

Update (Saturday):  FINALLY, I think I have some tricks to get the pictures loaded.

At breakfast, good with a spoon, one cereal at a time (sans milk). She is
definitely right handed (noted because Jaden and I are left handed).

Waiting for transport to airport. What a ham, and how different sitting here was as compared to
when we sat in this same area 5 days earlier on Gotcha Day.

At airport waiting for flight. Typical toddler, just out of arm's reach.

Washing down that Subway sandwich with juice. Bottoms up! And she is
wearing the necklace Jaden made her in jewelry class. She loves it jie jie!!

Tengwang Pavilion

Yesterday was my last day with Lucy as our guide; today brought Chris who is the head coordinator in China for my adoption agency and the person who guided our seven-family group through the 2-week process when I adopted Jaden. I was given no explanation for the hand-off, and honestly, it is at the bottom of my list of cares, so c'est la vie! (My Mandarin has not improved to the level to quip a suitable equivalent in the local tongue.) But I digress... We stopped back to that notary office so I could pay the chunk of yuan owed there for Harper's official adoption documents, which also were available for review before they received the embossed seal. And although most of the pages were in Chinese characters, the English parts seemed only to lack correct grammar until I saw the part about who on behalf of the orphanage was attesting to the child. Hmmm, name seems familiar (that of the Director who handed me a business card at the orphanage the day before), but the notation "female"? "Uh, Chris, isn't this wrong?" He did not pick up on it but did say the associated Chinese character was for male. All noted in the document as female would be okay, an inconsistency could mean a problem come time to get Harper's visa. So off he went to the back room to get it fixed, only a short wait, the notary jokes that perhaps the Director should have his gender notarized, ha, ha. Done. Find a taxi.

Our field trip for the day was to the Tengwang Pavilion, which was completed in 1989 as a replica of the original pavilion first erected in 653 AD. It has been destroyed and rebuilt 29 times (wars, fires, etc.) according to Wikipedia! It was built at the command of Prince Teng as a vacation home of sorts and was a place where poets would come to recite their work. Now as a tourist attraction, it houses the history of the pavilion and the Nanchang area, which is known for its porcelain (if you are reading this grandma, we have a nice gift for you!). On the top floor is where there are shows depicting the traditional dances and music from the time period when it was first built. We enjoyed the outing and fortunately it was not raining when we were out and about both then and later after nap so that Harper could take in the last bit of sights and sounds of her province, for now, as we leave tomorrow for Guangzhou.

Harper Yin Yin (mind you I realized that I had written her nickname phonetically when I got it that afternoon along with her, despite that they spell it Yan Yan; again, not so easy to say!) is doing well and more freely smiling and exploring and initiating interaction. But the tired girl is not so pretty right now as she is voicing (and she has quite the shriek) her frustration? anger? grief? It was the same with Jaden and part of the process I assume. She did get tired of yelling tonight and was then content to just rest her cheek on my chest and look at me, eye to eye. I tell her she is a brave little girl and it will get better, especially when she meets her jie jie!

In front of Tengweng Pavilion amid the puddles (note to self: don't wear light colored pants
when carrying around a toddler on a rainy day).

Performance on top floor of pavilion.

Up high overlooking the river.

Empress and empressette for a minute! Too funny.

Favorite Harper photo today (well, at least that is in focus) as she is checking things out.

Yujiang County SWI

It is the start of monsoon season here, so the rain today was not unexpected. It was the day we traveled to visit Harper's Social Welfare Institute (SWI), of which the orphanage is just one part (also elder care, adults with disabilities). Harper was fortunate in that she was in the SWI during the day, and with a foster mother at night. One of the reasons I wanted to go was so that she could see her foster mother and me in the same place - maybe it would help her make sense of the upheaval in her life the past few days. After 3 hours of travel (almost continuous honking by the driver who I thought did a great job of maneuvering around all the things that appear on the road: cars, trucks, bicycles, carts, animals....), the last bit of road leading to the SWI was under construction. So we were met by a woman from the SWI and led through pathways and side streets. When we reached the front gates, the woman yelled and said she was calling for the foster mother who lived close by down the path. And then the foster mother appeared with her arms outstretched yelling "Min Yan, Min Yan" and smiling. I set Harper down and she was staring in disbelief as her foster mother came and scooped her up (Lucy had told me in the car to "hold the baby" so the foster mother could not - are you kidding? - that is why I came so she could hold her and they could have a little more time together). The SWI had a banner welcoming Min Yan back and fireworks were set off to announce her return visit.

We spent about 15 minutes with the foster mother in the Director's office, in which I heard via Lucy's translations about the orphanage and Min Yan's time there, and watched Harper down a banana in about 1 minute. Another food like - check! The foster mother then indicated she was leaving, but wanted me to know I had a "good girl" and a "beautiful heart" to take her. I had to keep it together because the Director and a few others were waiting for us to join in for lunch, but I hope Lucy translated my gratitude to this special woman who I will do my best to tell Harper about as she gets older. The lunch was delicious (best food so far, well, tied at least with yesterday's donut holes), in part because the vegetables came from gardens maintained by the SWI. We then went to visit the babies in the orphanage, most if not all going into the international adoption system, and I tried to bend down and talk to each one scooting around in a walker. This was the only part of the visit where Harper became agitated and started to cry, probably because this building is where she spent so much of her day time. But she mellowed out and was in a good disposition the rest of the day after a little nap during the ride back to the hotel. Noodles for dinner with our hotel friends (the single mom with now two kids - I am paying attention to those dynamics!). I questioned my decision to take Harper back to her SWI, but after the fact have no regrets. The understanding I now have of her life before we met is immeasurable. In contrast, I know almost nothing of Jaden's first year, although on inquiry once home with her I was told she was never fostered. One day we will come back to China to visit her SWI, too (it was not an option at the time of adoption).

Harper and foster mother. See the look on her poor face?!?

At lunch, the Director knew exactly how to make her laugh.

With Director at entrance of SWI.

SWI gardens and countryside.

Pre-noodle dinner.

City Sightseeing

As Harper's Chinese passport is being processed, we have a couple of "free" days. Today Lucy took us to a Buddhist temple and then People's Park. It has been nice weather, warm and kind of humid, with a breeze that has cleared out some of the polluted air (one of the worst cities in China for this, which is probably why my eyes are burning a bit as I type). Harper Yin Yin (she is not really responding to my pronunciation of Yin Yin - harder to say than you would think - so I thought I would step it up a notch) would have nothing to do with with stroller loaned to us by the hotel, so she walked a lot (hey jie jie, take note!) toting her plastic snack holder. She figured out last night how to extract the tasty Cheerios and other things I was hand feeding her from the holder and they have been almost inseparable ever since!

After a nap (just her, I have water to boil and bottles/cups/containers to clean) I loaded her into the toddler carrier on my back that is part of my plan for how I can get her and all our luggage through the airport or train (that is coming later in the story...) without assistance. She came up to me and turned around as if she has done this before, and I know that often foster mothers carry the babies on their backs to/from the orphanage. She was very content back there as we walked 10 or so blocks, which sounds like a nice outing unless you know a little something about adopting in China. Our duo of caucasian mother with Chinese baby was stared at by virtually everyone, with a spectrum of facial expressions; partly because they do not see that many non-Chinese in Nanchang, but mostly because of the combination. According to Lucy, most know that it is an adoption. I forgot from Jaden's adoption how uncomfortable the staring makes me feel, but I took the notoriety and crossed the major street in front of the hotel figuring I would be noticed and avoid getting hit (mind you this is at an intersection with a light, crosswalk, etc., but that hardly seems to matter here). Anyway, there was a bakery across the street so I took the risk. A wonderful skewer of donut holes was the reward that Miss HYY and I shared. My gumption gone, we ate dinner at the hotel; I swear she ate a whole chicken. LOVES chicken.

At entrance of Buddhist temple.

Having a snack while we wait for Lucy to offer prayers to the buddhas.

One of the three larger buddha statues. This one has the dragon above it.

Simply cute.

On a kid's ride at People's Park.

Official New Member of the Family!

It is Monday evening and there was a lot of official business that took place today. The first stop was the Civil Affairs Office where the adoption was finalized, recognized by both China and the US. Then right to the Notary, which has to be revisited on Thursday before passport pickup because the printer was down and no receipt could be issued. After a bit of shopping, including Walmart, lunch, and a nap (Yin Yin, not me), we sped around town in typical crazy, unbelievable-how-anyone-survives Chinese style to go to the police station that handles the passport. Whew!

Another hard day for Yin Yin (happy - sad - pensive - happy - sobbing), but we ended well with dinner at a local noodle place with another family from the hotel (single mom, brought her 9 yo, adopting an almost 3 yo). Miss Yin Yin is a PRO noodle slurper. Back to the hotel room and she took a bottle of milk (her first, the trip to Walmart produced a bottle she is likely more used to than what I brought) from me while I rocked her to sleep. Progress. A few pictures of the day, and good night!

At breakfast. She is saying "meow meow" while pointing to her kitty shirt. Bummer, the only such shirt that I brought so better go find a laundry soon!

Outside Civil Affairs Office after adoption is finalized.

I told her to call jie jie (big sister in Mandarin).

She really likes wearing the shades!