8/8 Going Home

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8/7 Consulate Appointment

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8/5 Sightseeing in Guangzhou

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Special Bonus: 7/27 - 8/4 Picture Catch-Up

We shared some pictures amongst a few of the families today... mostly for the purpose of posting to the http://www.mulert.com/ website (Mark Mulert is a board member for FRC), which has lots of pictures from our group and also past FRC travel groups.

Here are some "Best Of..." pictures from our share session this morning - you can see the rest on http://www.mulert.com/

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8/4 First Day in Guangzhou

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8/3 Travel to Guangzhou

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Friday was moving day. Our schedule required us to have our bags packed and waiting outside our hotel room by 2:00 in the afternoon for the bellhops to pick up, and for us to be ready to board the bus at 2:30. In hindsight, I'm glad we had this generous afternoon deadline for "bags in the hall" in preparation for the upcoming 5:00 a.m. suitcase call on our last day in China. More about this in a moment.

To start the day, I decided to take another walk - I wanted to get some pictures of the large square 2-3 blocks away from our hotel that commemorated the formation of the People's Liberation Army (the "Red Army") in Nanchang on August 1, 1927 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People's_Liberation_Army). This square used to be the 2nd largest square in all of China (2nd only to Tianenman Square) until they started chipping away at the square to make room for construction. Insert your own joke here, but the square is bordered by a Walmart and KFC now.

On my way out of the hotel, I met Tom (parent Tom, not coordinator Tom) and he went on the walk with me after some creative early morning "charades" with the hotel staff to ask for a bandaid for a blister he'd developed. We walked through the Square and were on our way back to the hotel throught a very nice neighborhood that bordered some government offices and also a large athletic training complex, when we met a fifty-ish man on the street carrying groceries home. He stopped us and, in fairly good English, explained that he was a pediatrician and asked us about our experiences so far. We talked with his gentleman for 15-20 minutes and touched all the bases on our adoption experience, our visit to China, and even some of the changing Chinese perceptions about women. Our conversation could not have gone better: as the doctor shared basically every "best case" perspective we could have drawn up relating to the children and Americans adopting in China (and much deeper than the simple "happy baby" and "lucky baby" we'd been greeted with on the street before). Some of the things we discussed included the changing economic situation in China: many parents are starting to be less worried about their financial futures when they reach retirement age, so they are less apt to focus on the need for a son to support them in retirement. The doctor shared that there is a fundamental trend/difference in perceptions of many Chinese: that women are being viewed as equals to men.

Finally, he also shared his belief that these girls are going to get a better life as adoptive children in America. The odds were that if they had remained in the country, they could have only hoped to get jobs on farms and would have run high risk of disease. Now, it is very difficult for me to sit here and tell you how much "better" Jillian's life will be with us in America. Different - definitely! But as I am sitting here getting caught up on my notes from our trip watching this 9-month old girl figure out how to pick up Cheerios and feed herself across the table, I see a flexible, rather well-adjusted little girl. Her health and demeanor show that she was very well cared-for by her foster parents, and we had the chance to get a letter from her foster mother that further supports this.

We got back to the hotel at 7:30 (after an hour and a half!) and our sweet little girl was still asleep! After breakfast, we ventured out with Coordinator Tom back to Ju Bingtai's shop to order a scroll for Preston and pick out some artwork for some of our family. Back to the hotel for lunch and packing then off to the airport.

Going back to the "weigh-in" post... there is a 44 pound/person limit on luggage for domestic flights inside China (versus 50 pounds/suitcase for international... subject to a 2-bag limit). Like one of my co-workers at Johnny Mac's Sporting Goods used to say when I worked there during high school.... "I have an associates degree in box-handling and consolidation" - and our Nanchang-->Guangzhou flight represented the 2nd test of this skill. Basically, I packed and weighed, then re-packed and re-weighed our 3 suitcases until about 1:58 p.m. then stuffed some last minute things in the top of one of the suitcases as the bellhops were rolling them away.

OK - then at 2:28, I ran out to the bus and pulled a pair of socks out of Jillian's suitcase before the luggage was loaded on the bus for the trip to the airport. Hey - I'm getting getting better at this. Almost ready for the ultimate 5:00 a.m. test at the end of the trip!

We took the hour-long bus ride to the airport and were there about 2 hours in advance of the flight (as planned). We lined up all of our luggage at a designated check-in counter about 45 minutes before the counter opened for check-in (also per plan). One of the things I will take away from our trip is how well-programmed the trip was. We were always where we needed to be, waiting in line, for whatever door would open next.

While we waited for the check-in line to open, we were greeted by some large groups of other tourists who wanted to meet our daughters and have their pictures taken. This included a group of girls doing acrobatics and gymnastics right there in the airport concourse. On the subject of the airport concourse, the "arrivals" section of the airport from earlier in the week looked like a completely different airport than where we stood now. The "departure" concourse was sparkling and just as modern as O'Hare (the parts that aren't under construction anyway) while the "arrivals" section in the basement looked like a third-world country, complete with brown water flowing from the faucets in the bathroom. Thank goodness for Purel!

Our flight from Nanchang to Guangzhou was relatively on time, and we caught a bus from the Guangzhou airport to the White Swan. We checked in to the White Swan at about 9:30 Friday night.

8/2 Sightseeing in Nanchang

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With no adoption-related obligations on Thursday, August 2nd, Coordinator Tom rented a bus for the group during the day. We left after breakfast to visit Prince Teng's Pavilion. Originally built in 629 A.D. - it has been destroyed and rebuilt 28 times (check Wikipedia via the link above for more details).

We took the elevator to the top floor then worked our way down floor-by-floor, pay-for-photo opp- by photo-opp and gift-shop by gift-shop. Each floor showcased a different style of artwork. The top floors featured some amazing views of the city via some accessible balconies. On one of the other floors, you could buy 10 coins that you threw into (or "towards", in Kim's case) a metal urn for good luck. You also got a bracelet for your 10 RMB contribution. Our little Jillian drew huge crowds in the pavilion - as did the other little girls. This was our first exposure to their celebrity as locals and other tourists seemed to enjoy checking the girls out and getting pictures taken with groups of them.

Next, we took our bus to a small street where one of Tom's friends, a watercolor artist named Ju Bingtai, had a small shop. In advance, Tom had ordered scrolls for each of the girls with their name and birthdate on them - so we went there to pick them up. Many of the families found souvenirs there for family and friends. There is lots of beautiful artwork in China - and it was very nice to have some connection to the actual artist himself.

We got back to the hotel in time for lunch and some downtime, then ventured out again in the afternoon to an artists retreat called Qingyunpu - which is now a memorial to a Chinese artist and calligrapher named Bada Shanren. Tom had promised us that it was "shady" - so despite it being a typical warm (hot!) August afternoon in Nanchang, we went along. At Qingyunpu, we saw some 500-year old trees that had little concrete fences around them, Bada Shanren's grave, and some terrific calligraphy and artwork. The drive out to Qingyunpu was also interesting as it gave us a chance to see more of the ever-growing and developing city of Nanchang. (another Bada Shanren link...)

Finally, we got back to the hotel - and after a dinner of leftover pizza, we decided that we hadn't had enough walking out in the heat, so we headed down the block to the department store. Jillian fell asleep on the way back- smart girl.

While the trip has continued to be go-go-go, it seems like the best use of our time here to soak in as much of the scenery and culture as we can. Kim and I are also crashing about 9:00 each night - so we're getting more rest than normal to help us keep going. Of course, our little Jillian is a trooper: developing a reputation within the group for always having a smile or giggle, despite how long we've been on whatever busride we're currently in the middle of.

8/1 Visit to Fuzhou

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Wednesday morning, I woke up fairly early (around 5:00 local time) - I guess the early bedtimes each night are catching up with me. After Jillian goes to bed, there's only so much hanging out in the bathroom (keeping voices low and room lights down) we can do. Luckily, there's a phone in the bathroom, so we've been able to make our calls home after Jillian goes to bed. This morning, I went for a walk to the park near the hotel that we'd heard about from some of the other members of our group.

I walked through a somewhat sketchy area of town - although looking through the alleys to the streets "one block over," it could have been worse. On my way to the park. there were lots of decorations - streamers, lanterns and big inflatable arches - commemorating the formation of the Red Army on August 1, 1927 in Nanchang

At the entrance to the park, there were several street vendors selling food and t-shirts from carts, and one person selling peppers from a burlap sack. Across from the park entrance is a Buddhist temple. This morning, there was a big fire was burning amidst a large crowd of people. Later in the week, Coordinator Tom saw the picture I had taken and asked me what time of day it was that I was there because it seemed like such an unusually large number of people.

Inside the park, there were a wide variety of people doing a wide variety of morning exercises: jogging, Tai Chi, badminton, organized dancing. The park had a long path that wrapped around a lake and there was a series of bridges connecting a series of small islands. Aside from how warm it was getting - even at that time of the morning - the walk was a good, relaxing way to start the morning.

I worked my way back to the hotel and had breakfast with Kim and Jillian - then we met the group to go out to Fuzhou where we would have lunch with Mr. Zhou (the orphanage director) and go see the places where the individual girls had been found.

We took a two-hour bus ride from Nanchang through the Jiangxi province countryside to the town of Linchuan (formerly called Fuzhou). As we left Nanchang, we passed a large amount of new construction that is happening as Nanchang expands: new apartment and office buildings, new roads, and even a new large athletic complex that included a soccer arena and other fields and buildings. We got on a tollway that was less than 5 years old and very empty for the bulk of the drive to Fuzhou.

Along the way, we passed through all sorts of farmland - rice patties (of course), but also many small man-made ponds where one of the dads in the group said that farmers raise a variety of fish, eel and frogs to sell. We passed an occasional temple and even passed the Chinese version of a "tollway oasis" (with a gas station and restaurant).

Surprisingly, two of our group were able to talk on their cellphones during the drive - because cell towers lined the tollway at efficient intervals.

We finally arrived in Fuzhou - and passed through another section of construction as Fuzhou/Linchuan expands also. We met Director Zhou at a restaurant for lunch, during which he shared a brief presentation on Fuzhou SWI.

Fuzhou has had a 13-year relationship with FRC - and there have been approximately 70 Fuzhou orphans adopted by FRC parents during this time. Overall, there are over 1200 Fuzhou orphans that have been adopted by U.S. parents since 1994.

Fuzhou currently employs 42 people and is responsible for approx. 200 orphans currently (down from 300+ at its peak). 70 of the orphans are staying a Fuzhou while 130-140 are in foster care arrangements.

There are strict regulations for prospective foster parents, who must also go through a a rigorous interview process. When children are placed with a foster family, they are visited by SWI officials twice / month and then the child also comes back to the SWI 1x / month.

The biggest surprise of Mr. Zhou's presentation was that 5 of the 8 Group 50 girls had lived with foster families (including our Jillian) whereas we'd thought that all the girls had lived in the SWI.

Our meal was served in a private dining room with two large circular tables that had glass lazy susans on them. It included two kinds of soup; an excellent eggplant dish; a "sweet and sour" fish dish - served "on the fish" (they de-boned and cleaned the fish in such a way that the meat stayed intact on the body of the fish, then was battered, fried and covered in sweet & sour sauce. There were also some egg rolls, and egg and bean dish, some thing baked cheese pieces that almost looked like pizza, and some amazing wontons. We had fried sugared dough for dessert.

Mr. Zhou toasted FRC and the families - thanking us for our support and care for the children. Then, John toasted Mr. Zhou and the Fuzhou SWI - thanking him for his hospitality and his (and his staff's) care for the children.

As we left the restaurant, we paused to take a lot of pictures with the staff and also other patrons. People were very keen on taking pictures with John (a tall African American guy) and the 17-month old bright blonde daughter of another family who'd come along to meet her mei mei (little sister), as well as with some of the taller women in the group (including Kim).

We loaded the bus and completed a brief tour of Fuzhou/Linchuan city. Luckily, we were able to see all of the abandonment locations for our girls. There was a wide range of emotion for different family members. Kim and I tended towards the "this is an important part of Jillian's history" end of the spectrum and focused on getting some pictures and trying to soak it in so we could share this information when she gets older and asks questions. One of the other fathers in the group thought to take a bit of earth from the place where his new daughter had been found - I thought that was a neat idea.

Jillian had been found by a government worker on November 12, 2006 in front of a place called "Senior College" (loosely translated). This was a place where senior citizens learn about art, music and calligraphy. She was 3 days old at the time - her age was determined based on a doctor's exam of her belly button.

On the subject of belly buttons, we noticed that Jillian's looked a little different - not an "outie", but simply that it looked like it had new stitches on it. We had the opportunity to have her checked over by a local doctor in Nanchang - the retired head of pediatric medicine from a local hospital, who Coordinator Tom knew, actually - and asked him about it. He gave us a little chuckle and said "That's dirty - all the country kids have dirty belly buttons like that" Good thing Jillian likes baths so much.

The rule for the abandonment sites seemed to be that all of them were VERY public places, where the girls were sure to be quickly found: often in front of government buildings (one girl had been found in front of a clinic)

The last stop in Linchuan for the day was at a small local air conditioning store. The Group 50 families had pooled resources to make a donation to the Fuzhou SWI - and one of the mothers from the group had done some aggressive fundraising before our trip. For about $3000 U.S., we were able to but the SWI four large in-room A/C units. These would be installed in the orphanage building and ultimately moved to a new orphanage building that was currently under construction on the grounds of the SWI. Mr. Zhou was even able to negotiate a case of bottled water for the Group 50 families as part of the deal.

With that, we waved goodbye to Mr. Zhou and his staff members that had spent the afternoon with us, and headed back to Jiangxi Hotel. It had been a long day, but we were glad to learn so much about our daughters' histories.

Upon returning to the hotel, we stopped by the front desk and ordered a pizza from a Pizza Hut (yes Pizza Hut) that was about 4 blocks from the hotel. For 100 RMB - about $13 or $14, we got a 12" Cheese Lovers pizza (70 RMB - we didn't dare try sausage or pepperoni), taxi-cab delivery (20 RMB), and a small service charge (10 RMB). That pizza was worth every penny and more! It arrived in less than 30 minutes and surprisingly, included packets of ketchup (in case we needed more tomato flavor, I guess). That night, we sat on the floor of our hotel and had a pizza picnic dinner. Jillian eyed the pizza hungrily, but we resisted letting her try some (because of the cheese... which will wait until she's 1) Our running joke is "it's not like she hasn't done that before" because she is so open to trying "new" foods.

After dinner, I returned to the camera shop to get the photos from the disposable camera - all of the pictures were of Jillian "posing" around the grounds of the SWI with the same woman who'd handed her to us at the Adoption Center. No pictures of "a normal day in the life" of our little girl. The pictures did help confirm how long that day was for her - as they were taken Gotcha Day morning when she'd returned briefly to the SWI from her foster family only to get on the bus and travel to the adoption center in Nanchang.