I got the pictures to load, although there actually are no pictures of Shamian Island in the second batch, despite the title of the post. The only picture from Shamian Island is the one with CoCo, from one of our favorite shops, "Home of Love."
We're starting to long for home. We have our routine down, but we're craving a little more space to run and fewer people. Today, John came back from "Street Number Nine," where our hotel is located, saying "en-uh, en-uh, en-uh." That's what Nora says when she's a little overwhelmed or tired or just bored. It's her version of a slow leak. A few of you will know what that means :-)
Street Number Nine is just like the French Quarter in February, but instead of beer, everyone is double-fisting shopping bags. It's insanity. We can barely move out there, and forget finding anything to eat or a place to sit with a two-year-old. We don't even take Nora in that direction at peak shopping time. It's just way too much. She'd be "enning" like crazy.
Today she learned "shhhh," "bounce," "uh-oh," "peek-a-boo" and "yuck." She says "guck" and makes the cutest face! She can wrinkle her nose with them best of 'em.
Happiest New Year to everyone. We're having a blast but missing you all!
Monday, December 31, 2007
The Peaceful Market
2. Bundle of snakes
3. Plants at market
4. At a shop on Shamian (with CoCo, another "spicy"
Anhui girl)
5. Eating noodles
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Six Banyan Temple and Shamian Island
2. View of GZ from the top of the O.P.
3. Temple where Nora was blessed (by the monk in the
picture)
4. Nora close-up on the way down from the Octagonal
pagoda
5. Nora with the calligrapher who relieved us of a
bunch of our money
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Sunday, December 30, 2007
Shamian Island and Six Banyan Temple
The sun came out today! This has been such a treat for us, as it has been days since we’ve seen the blue sky. Daniel (our guide here in Guangzhou) took us to the Six Banyan Temple, which is a Buddhist temple built in 537 AD to house relics brought to China from India. The exiled poet, Su Dongpo, named the temple in 1099 at the request of the Chinese government. Nora slept through most of the visit, including her blessing by the Buddhist monk--which was very cool. There was chanting and incense and soft drum playing just for Nora in the temple of the three giant buddhas. I don’t care what the schedule says (the orphanage gave us Nora’s daily schedule) this kid takes a nap at 10:00 a.m. It’s like clock work. She woke up when we reached the top of the “Decorated Pagoda,” the 8-story, octagonal pagoda built to store the relics. It was quite a walk up, especially as the stairs are steep and I was carrying 25 extra pounds (and then some, I’m sure, from all the noodles I’ve been eating). It was very crowded at the temple, mostly with devotees attending the prayer service, which was beautiful. No one can chant like the Buddhist monks! On the way home, we stopped at a shop where somehow I was talked into buying a scroll with a poem written for Nora by a Chinese calligrapher. Picture John here rolling his eyes at my terrible haggling skills. John said he thinks I’m secretly working for the shop keepers, I do such a bad job getting a good price. Whatever. We paid $50 U.S. to get our laundry done, and I wasn’t in charge of that. I’d rather be dirty and get some scrolls or jade pendants.
Just outside of our hotel is one of the most notorious markets in Guangzhou, the Qingping Market, or “Peaceful Market.” There are two full city blocks of pets: buckets and tanks full of fish, turtles, and various wiggling sea things; and cages of kittens, puppies, birds, rabbits, gerbils, and other animals. We’ve read that there used to be monkeys, owls and bats for sale, but we haven’t seen any. I would say the scene is disturbing, but honestly it is no more disturbing than a pet shop in the United States, and it is extraordinarily clean! The vendors sweep the sidewalks constantly. The next block is just herbs, neatly displayed in hundreds of sacks. Then the next block is piled high with dried sea things, like seahorses, sea cucumbers, and starfish. At one shop, there was a bundle of dried snakes. We came across a small group of people selling tiger paws, and rhino and antelope horns on blankets on the sidewalk. They quickly cleaned up when the police drove through; we saw them later in a different location.
We had dinner at “Lucy’s” on Shamian Island, near the White Swan Hotel. John had a burger; I had fried rice, and Nora ate an entire bowl of mashed potatoes, an entire bowl of congee with chicken, a bunch of cheerios, and some French fries. The child can eat. That’s all I have to say. Her belly is getting bigger, but her digestion seems to be fine. She is acting like a typical two-year-old; she has to feed herself or she gets frustrated. She did great with the mashed potatoes! They don’t fall of the spoon so easily. She now knows the sign for “more,” which has helped cut down on the screaming during meals.
We’re on our own for the next day and a half. We’re going to do some shopping in the Pearl Market and on Shamian Island. We need more things. We don’t have enough to carry home, what with a two-year-old, six or seven scrolls, a box of cheerios, and enough toys to entertain an army of restless children. ☺
I just tried to post some pictures, but they haven't yet made it to the blog...hopefully they will get there eventually.
Just outside of our hotel is one of the most notorious markets in Guangzhou, the Qingping Market, or “Peaceful Market.” There are two full city blocks of pets: buckets and tanks full of fish, turtles, and various wiggling sea things; and cages of kittens, puppies, birds, rabbits, gerbils, and other animals. We’ve read that there used to be monkeys, owls and bats for sale, but we haven’t seen any. I would say the scene is disturbing, but honestly it is no more disturbing than a pet shop in the United States, and it is extraordinarily clean! The vendors sweep the sidewalks constantly. The next block is just herbs, neatly displayed in hundreds of sacks. Then the next block is piled high with dried sea things, like seahorses, sea cucumbers, and starfish. At one shop, there was a bundle of dried snakes. We came across a small group of people selling tiger paws, and rhino and antelope horns on blankets on the sidewalk. They quickly cleaned up when the police drove through; we saw them later in a different location.
We had dinner at “Lucy’s” on Shamian Island, near the White Swan Hotel. John had a burger; I had fried rice, and Nora ate an entire bowl of mashed potatoes, an entire bowl of congee with chicken, a bunch of cheerios, and some French fries. The child can eat. That’s all I have to say. Her belly is getting bigger, but her digestion seems to be fine. She is acting like a typical two-year-old; she has to feed herself or she gets frustrated. She did great with the mashed potatoes! They don’t fall of the spoon so easily. She now knows the sign for “more,” which has helped cut down on the screaming during meals.
We’re on our own for the next day and a half. We’re going to do some shopping in the Pearl Market and on Shamian Island. We need more things. We don’t have enough to carry home, what with a two-year-old, six or seven scrolls, a box of cheerios, and enough toys to entertain an army of restless children. ☺
I just tried to post some pictures, but they haven't yet made it to the blog...hopefully they will get there eventually.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
We are in Guangzhou!
On Friday afternoon, we left Chongqing for Guangzhou. We will spend 6 days here, completing more paperwork and seeing more historical and otherwise important places (and shopping) before heading back to the United States. We spent our last morning in Chongqing at the Chongqing Zoo. Nora didn’t care much about the animals but John got a fantastic video of the youngest Panda at the zoo, a one year old, climbing a tree and eating bamboo shoots. We also went to an art gallery near the train station and I bought more paintings. Some of the pictures below were taken at the zoo and outside of our hotel in Chongqing. One of the sideways pictures is of our hotel. I think the fifth picture down, if I remember, is of the view from our hotel in Guangzhou—I know it doesn’t make sense, but I had room for one more attachment. The very last picture (way at the bottom) is of John's "noodle ladies" in Chongqing. They made him this really amazing hot noodle dish with beef every night that cost about 70 cents. It was the best food we ate in Chongqing!
Leaving Chongqing was emotional for me. I cried nearly the entire way to the airport—much more so than when the nanny first handed Nora to me. This brave little girl sat so quietly and so happily on my lap, looking up at me with her big brown eyes and eating her Cheerios (sharing one or two with me or John), while we drove her away from the place where she was born. Just like that, her life there was done. I am grateful to get to be her mother. I am grateful beyond words. But I am heartbroken for her, for all her little friends at Wanzhou, and for her birthmother who had to leave her at the door of the orphanage. I can’t imagine anyone could leave this sweet creature in the middle of the night and not feel utterly devastated. She is heavenly.
Except for that screaming bloody murder habit. Nora did about as well as I expected on the airplane. She was very tired and didn’t want me to hold her, but didn’t want to sit in her own seat. We fed her cookies until it just seemed wrong to feed a two-year-old so much sugar, and then she screamed and screamed and screamed until we landed.
The theme from “The Exorcist” was playing as we exited the aircraft. I am not kidding.
Once we got her into our hotel room and peeled off her sweaty clothes (we had to keep her dressed in her heavy winter jacket even INSIDE the airport, lest we get accosted by old Chinese women--which we did during the 2 milliseconds that I took off one of her layers) she was as happy as a clam. She ran around naked for about 10 minutes and then peed all over the bathroom floor, much to our delight!
Guangzhou is dreamy. I wouldn’t have said that before visiting Chongqing, but we’re really happy to be here. The air is cleaner and it’s warmer, so we can get away with just one medium-weight jacket instead of the “Santa snow suit” that she came with from the orphanage. Our hotel is next to the Pearl Market, which rocks. And we are walking distance from everything--and our girl loves to walk! Especially now that we have our “Squeaky Shoes.” The people here are so friendly, and they love Nora. We have solved the “staring” problem by simply waving to everyone who looks at us for too long (I can tell Nora “say hi. Ni hao” and she waves and babbles something in Chinese…I think). This works very well, and most people then smile and speak to Nora in Chinese (which she LOVES) and once she smiles back, they are completely disarmed. At dinner this afternoon we literally had a crowd of people standing around us watching me feed Nora noodles with chopsticks (I’m sure, for them, it was like watching someone who has never used a computer trying to surf the web). They were waving at her and she was smiling…noodles all over her face and hanging out of her mouth through her little cleft lip. It’s hard not to be drawn to her. She’s a riot. Everyone here comments on her pretty eyes and her friendliness.
She had her medical appointment today, which went very well. The doctor gave us more Zithromax because Nora is still a bit congested. He said she is small but not malnourished. I asked him to check her heart twice and he said it was normal (I’m a freak, I know, but I wanted to make sure she didn’t have any heart anomalies associated with the cleft). The doctor loved her and played with her for a long time. Then he scolded us because we didn’t immediately put her coat back on after he checked her heart. Meanwhile people were SMOKING all around us. The ENT checked Nora’s ears, which were clear (YAY). They actually had a real sound booth and audiometer for hearing testing, which they did not use. They just checked off her hearing as “normal.” Nora only weighs 23 pounds, poor thing! She’s eating like a horse, still, so I think she’ll start gaining weight soon. If she even hears something being opened that sounds like it might be food, she comes running over, looks up at us, and opens her mouth like a little bird. My poor baby! She is trying so hard to eat with a spoon, and she knows she has to turn the spoon upside down to get all the food off (because of her lip), but she’s not quite fast enough to get the spoon into her mouth before all the food falls off. I bought her some really thick cereal to see if that helps.
She’s babbling a lot. She says “bye bye” to everyone, spontaneously. She imitates all sorts of vehicle and animal sounds (not entirely accurately), as well as the sound of John blowing his nose, which is really funny. She understands “bu” (no), although she doesn’t always care to comply. She is testing A LOT and we are working on “be nice” which she now understands perfectly. She understands how to use a phone, and we bought her a little plastic cell phone which she “talks” into. She talks to herself in the mirror and she also talks to people on T.V. (and tries to feed them). She says a lot of different sounds, including sounds that I would think would be tricky because of her lip, like “m”. She loves to feed me and say “mmmm um um.” Oh, and today she kissed me right on the lips for the first time! That was cute. She even made the smacking sound! Her favorite sound is “n” and she says “en-uh” a lot. Today, she scolded John about something using that sound and he said, “don’t you en me!” These two crack me up.
Okay, off to bed!
Leaving Chongqing was emotional for me. I cried nearly the entire way to the airport—much more so than when the nanny first handed Nora to me. This brave little girl sat so quietly and so happily on my lap, looking up at me with her big brown eyes and eating her Cheerios (sharing one or two with me or John), while we drove her away from the place where she was born. Just like that, her life there was done. I am grateful to get to be her mother. I am grateful beyond words. But I am heartbroken for her, for all her little friends at Wanzhou, and for her birthmother who had to leave her at the door of the orphanage. I can’t imagine anyone could leave this sweet creature in the middle of the night and not feel utterly devastated. She is heavenly.
Except for that screaming bloody murder habit. Nora did about as well as I expected on the airplane. She was very tired and didn’t want me to hold her, but didn’t want to sit in her own seat. We fed her cookies until it just seemed wrong to feed a two-year-old so much sugar, and then she screamed and screamed and screamed until we landed.
The theme from “The Exorcist” was playing as we exited the aircraft. I am not kidding.
Once we got her into our hotel room and peeled off her sweaty clothes (we had to keep her dressed in her heavy winter jacket even INSIDE the airport, lest we get accosted by old Chinese women--which we did during the 2 milliseconds that I took off one of her layers) she was as happy as a clam. She ran around naked for about 10 minutes and then peed all over the bathroom floor, much to our delight!
Guangzhou is dreamy. I wouldn’t have said that before visiting Chongqing, but we’re really happy to be here. The air is cleaner and it’s warmer, so we can get away with just one medium-weight jacket instead of the “Santa snow suit” that she came with from the orphanage. Our hotel is next to the Pearl Market, which rocks. And we are walking distance from everything--and our girl loves to walk! Especially now that we have our “Squeaky Shoes.” The people here are so friendly, and they love Nora. We have solved the “staring” problem by simply waving to everyone who looks at us for too long (I can tell Nora “say hi. Ni hao” and she waves and babbles something in Chinese…I think). This works very well, and most people then smile and speak to Nora in Chinese (which she LOVES) and once she smiles back, they are completely disarmed. At dinner this afternoon we literally had a crowd of people standing around us watching me feed Nora noodles with chopsticks (I’m sure, for them, it was like watching someone who has never used a computer trying to surf the web). They were waving at her and she was smiling…noodles all over her face and hanging out of her mouth through her little cleft lip. It’s hard not to be drawn to her. She’s a riot. Everyone here comments on her pretty eyes and her friendliness.
She had her medical appointment today, which went very well. The doctor gave us more Zithromax because Nora is still a bit congested. He said she is small but not malnourished. I asked him to check her heart twice and he said it was normal (I’m a freak, I know, but I wanted to make sure she didn’t have any heart anomalies associated with the cleft). The doctor loved her and played with her for a long time. Then he scolded us because we didn’t immediately put her coat back on after he checked her heart. Meanwhile people were SMOKING all around us. The ENT checked Nora’s ears, which were clear (YAY). They actually had a real sound booth and audiometer for hearing testing, which they did not use. They just checked off her hearing as “normal.” Nora only weighs 23 pounds, poor thing! She’s eating like a horse, still, so I think she’ll start gaining weight soon. If she even hears something being opened that sounds like it might be food, she comes running over, looks up at us, and opens her mouth like a little bird. My poor baby! She is trying so hard to eat with a spoon, and she knows she has to turn the spoon upside down to get all the food off (because of her lip), but she’s not quite fast enough to get the spoon into her mouth before all the food falls off. I bought her some really thick cereal to see if that helps.
She’s babbling a lot. She says “bye bye” to everyone, spontaneously. She imitates all sorts of vehicle and animal sounds (not entirely accurately), as well as the sound of John blowing his nose, which is really funny. She understands “bu” (no), although she doesn’t always care to comply. She is testing A LOT and we are working on “be nice” which she now understands perfectly. She understands how to use a phone, and we bought her a little plastic cell phone which she “talks” into. She talks to herself in the mirror and she also talks to people on T.V. (and tries to feed them). She says a lot of different sounds, including sounds that I would think would be tricky because of her lip, like “m”. She loves to feed me and say “mmmm um um.” Oh, and today she kissed me right on the lips for the first time! That was cute. She even made the smacking sound! Her favorite sound is “n” and she says “en-uh” a lot. Today, she scolded John about something using that sound and he said, “don’t you en me!” These two crack me up.
Okay, off to bed!
Friday, December 28, 2007
Here are more!
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Thursday, December 27, 2007
More pictures...
Lian feeding John cheerios, which she loves to do.
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Visit to Ci Qi Kou
how to fix that right now. So you'll just have to turn
your computers :-)
Today we went to Ci Qi Kou, or "Porcelain Village"
which dates back almost 1700 years. There are a few
long flagstone streets lined with shops, restaurants,
fortune tellers, and street vendors. The main street
ends at the riverfront (the Jia Ling River), where
there is a beach and several riverboats docked.
Charles told us that in the summer, this is a popular
vacation spot and that tea and dinners are served on
the boats. Ci Qi Kou is famous for tea, porcelain,
painting, and embroidery (and I bought a few samples
of each) :-). There is also a beautiful temple at the
top of a long flight of stairs where people pray and
leave burning incense, food, and drinks for the "happy
buddha" and the goddesses. These pictures give you a
sense of exactly how foggy it is here this time of
year. Charles assured us that in the summer, you can
see the sun, but I'm not buying it.
Chun Lian (that is Nora's Chinese name, and pretty
much what we've been calling her, since she responds
to it so readily) is still doing well. She has pretty
much recovered from her URI and is eating even MORE
now! John calls her the "vacuum cleaner." We
discovered that she hates the car (and not in the cute
way that she hates carrots) but only after breakfast
(which is when we need to get in the car every day to
tour).
She screams bloody murder.
This upsets John quite a bit, but I like it when she
cries loudly. When we first got her, her cry was very
feeble, and it concerned me that maybe she had just
given up trying to get her needs met. She has changed
that tune. To the level of about 110 decibels :-)
I think, actually, she is tired right after breakfast
and really wants to lie down but she doesn't want to
be held when she is falling asleep. It distresses her
and of course she isn't used to falling asleep in
someone's arms. She flings her body around restlessly,
like she can't get comfortable. After about 15 minutes
of ear-splitting protest this morning, she finally
fell asleep in my arms and was perfect for the rest of
the day. Many old ladies fed her oranges and called
her "good girl." John took Chun Lian for about ten
minutes, but a gang of old ladies swarmed him and
scolded him for letting her legs go bare. We are
anxious to get to Guangzhou, where it is much warmer
this time of year!
In general, she prefers me to hold her. This is a
little tough for John because he is positively IN LOVE
with this little girl (on Christmas Day he said "Thank
you for doing all of this. This is the best thing that
has ever happened to me"--but DON'T TELL HIM THAT I
TOLD YOU). I think Chun Lian doesn't like John's
facial hair (she hates cold or rough textures anywhere
on her body) and of course she probably rarely saw
men at her orphanage. She follows me everywhere and
asks me to pick her up all the time now. She holds
John's hand when she walks, and she will no longer
holdvanyone else's hand (our guide, for example). She
seems to really like being carried in the Ergo, and
it's a heck of a lot easier on my back. We keep a
steady stream of cheerios coming at her, and she is
perfectly content for a long time. She even fell
asleep in it today.
Needless to say, we are NOT looking forward to the
plane ride home. I don't think sitting for 16 hours
straight is in this child's repertoire of skills yet.
It's going to be a party. Oh, and speaking of
repertoire's she is talking quite a bit and says "bye
bye" while waving. Smart cookie.
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Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Pictures, pictures, pictures
civil affairs office. She was so wonderful and Nora
clearly loves her very much. She responded immediately
to her voice (not surprisingly, Nora is very tuned-in
to Chinese, particularly to young women speaking
Chinese). The nanny gave me her email address and
asked me to send pictures of Nora after the surgery.
She thanked us many times for helping her and was a
little bit emotional when she said goodbye. John gave
her our gifts for all the nannies and the orphanage
and then said "thank you so much for taking such good
care of our daughter." i just about lost it. It was a
good thing he was there to say that; I don't think I
could have gotten through that sentence. I asked the
nanny a few questions about Nora's personality,
development and health. She said she has been very
healthy and she said many times "she's a smart girl."
She said she loves to read and sing and play with
other children. So far, we have found all of these
things to be true!
Walking around town, we have encountered a bit of
staring, but actually, many people have been quite
friendly towards Nora. We've met one or two people who
speak English and they have asked us about her lip but
have also said "that can easily be fixed in America."
We met a really lovely young woman (I'd say in her
early twenties) with her mother; we walked with them
for several minutes and she asked us lots of questions
about Seattle. She said, about the cleft, "that's easy
to fix in America, but some families here don't have
enough money." One young woman with her baby stopped
and talked to Nora for several minutes but her friend
got very annoyed and pulled her away from us. When
Nora smiles at people, she is very hard to resist, and
everyone immediately wants to talk to her. Men,
especially older ones, stare directly at her and for a
long time. Generally, the young women are very, very
nice, though, and Nora LOVES LOVES LOVES when they
speak Chinese to her. Her whole face just lights up
instantly. My Chinese is clearly not "right" for her.
I use her Chinese name, and I tell her "good girl" and
"thank you" (when she feeds me cheerios) and "I love
you", but I don't get nearly the same reaction as the
native speakers.
Today we spent the day touring the People's Assembly
Hall and the Three Gorges Dam Museum. It was a little
bit too much for the princess. She was cranky and
still has a cough and it was really, really hot in the
museum but I had to keep her covered in heavy clothes
the entire time because if one piece of Nora's body
was exposed, someone would come over and cover her up
and say how cold it is outside (which it wasn't
really). We got back to the room and I peeled off her
sweaty clothes and let her run around in her diaper
and she was as happy as could be. She was downright
giddy about being naked--and COOL. After playing
peek-a-boo with me through the slats in her crib for
about 15 minutes, she finally fell asleep.
Oh, and she's starting to talk a little--just to
herself, although she is trying to imitate me a bit.
It's hilarious. She is delightful. I honestly could
not have given birth to a more perfect creature. She's
amazing.
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Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Carrots.
She hates carrots. It's so funny to watch her hate carrots that I want to keep feeding them to her. Is that terrible? She also thinks it's really funny when I eat her food. Then, instead of eating it, she feeds it to me. We do this with her water bottle about ten times--I'm trying to get her to drink more water but she'll have none of it. She also HATES having sticky fingers and gets very distressed about food on her hands. I am not surprised by that...we'll have to work on her tolerance of some of that stuff. No time for sticky fingers at the orphanage. She even prefers to be fed than to pick up food herself. Her fine motor skills are good, but you can tell she doesn't have a lot of practice using her pincer grip with food--she will sometimes miss a cheerio, or try to grab one when there are none left, and then she just looks up at me for more. She is concentrating hard on a lot of developmental tasks--it's no wonder she is so tired! She walked so much yesterday! And she didn't want to stop. She walks and walks and walks--the whole time watching her feet, to make sure they are going in the right place (also we bought her new shoes, which I think are a little less stable than the shoes she came with). The stairs are a riot.
She could also entertain herself for hours with stacking cups...I mean HOURS. She works very, very hard at stacking and knocking down, stacking and knocking down, stacking and knocking down. When she stacks them all (or I help her), she puts her little yellow ball on top and then she looks at me and I say "yay" and clap, and then she looks at John and he does the same and then she smiles and wiggles around and is tickled to death with herself. I am teaching her to clap, which she loves but can't figure out how to do, so she puts the ball on top of the stack and then gives me her hands to help her clap! Do you love it? It's hilarious! And John is positively convinced that this one small skill makes her the smartest child who has ever walked the earth.
The other thing she loves is being chased. She will follow one of us to the bathroom, peak through the door at us, and then run as fast as she can (like a drunken sailor) to the other end of our hotel room SQUEALING with delight.
She follows me EVERYWHERE and watches everything I do with utter amazement. She likes to play with John, but she likes me to hold her. When we're on the bed and she's starting to get tired, she wiggles all over me, trying to find a way to get comfortable. And as soon as I cover her with her blanket, her finger goes in her mouth (right in her cleft) and her other hand grabs one little piece of her blanket and she is out--for hours. She is just like her mother! I fact, I have several hours a day to post to the blog because she's a great sleeper.
We haven't heard her talk yet-she has babbled a little, but not much. Mostly she just giggles.
She could also entertain herself for hours with stacking cups...I mean HOURS. She works very, very hard at stacking and knocking down, stacking and knocking down, stacking and knocking down. When she stacks them all (or I help her), she puts her little yellow ball on top and then she looks at me and I say "yay" and clap, and then she looks at John and he does the same and then she smiles and wiggles around and is tickled to death with herself. I am teaching her to clap, which she loves but can't figure out how to do, so she puts the ball on top of the stack and then gives me her hands to help her clap! Do you love it? It's hilarious! And John is positively convinced that this one small skill makes her the smartest child who has ever walked the earth.
The other thing she loves is being chased. She will follow one of us to the bathroom, peak through the door at us, and then run as fast as she can (like a drunken sailor) to the other end of our hotel room SQUEALING with delight.
She follows me EVERYWHERE and watches everything I do with utter amazement. She likes to play with John, but she likes me to hold her. When we're on the bed and she's starting to get tired, she wiggles all over me, trying to find a way to get comfortable. And as soon as I cover her with her blanket, her finger goes in her mouth (right in her cleft) and her other hand grabs one little piece of her blanket and she is out--for hours. She is just like her mother! I fact, I have several hours a day to post to the blog because she's a great sleeper.
We haven't heard her talk yet-she has babbled a little, but not much. Mostly she just giggles.
Monday, December 24, 2007
More pictures from Christmas Eve!
little girl is starting to show the "obstinate" side
of her personality a bit more--some back arching when
she is tired and doesn't want to be held anymore, or
doesn't want to get dressed. She loved taking a bath
this morning, but HATED having her hair rinsed.
She is a very, very clever little girl! She is now
waving goodbye to people and raising her arms for
"up." She fed herself today with a spoon--although
this is a challenge due to her cleft. She loves every
type of food we put in front of her: bananas, congee,
melon, grapefruit, steamed rolls, hard boiled egg--she
will try anything and she will pick around the things
she doesn't like (she has a hard time with melon if it
is sliced too big because she can't bite it easily).
She is running all over the place but she keeps her
eye on me or John. She was standing up in her crib
today right before her nap and as soon as I came in
the room, she laid right down! Clearly there was no
room for negotiating at the orphanage. When she sees
me with a diaper, or her clothes, she lays down and
lifts up one foot at a time for her socks and shoes.
She is quite something!
____________________________________________________________________________________
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Merry Christmas
It's Christmas morning here and don't let anyone tell you that the Chinese do not celebrate this holiday. Only, it's more akin to Mardi Gras than Christmas! The streets last night were packed with people partying and shopping and making a lot of noise. We met some really nice families from Indiana at breakfast a few days ago and last night we had a Christmas celebration in one of the rooms with all the kids and then we all went out for Italian food (and you all know how I feel about bad Italian food...just imagine what that means in China). Nora had been with us for all of three hours (during which time, she played on the bed with those stacking cups, Emma, that Parker loves so much!) and we dressed her up in her best Christmas attire, popped her into the Ergo and went to a party. She did amazingly well, and everyone was very impressed. The other babies were all under 12 months of age and adorable-one little girl was in the 90th percencile for weight and the 50the percentile for height. She was a chunk. Nora stayed close to me, although she loved watching the other babies. The guide for the other group was there and spoke to Nora in Chinese, which Nora just loved. She smiled and smiled. I have learned how to say "good girl" in Chinese, which also makes her face light up. I almost always use her Chinese name, because she responds to it instantly (oh, and she hears perfectly, as far as I can tell).
John, BTW, is positively smitten! I can't tell you how much he adores her, it's amazing. He had a much, much bigger reaction to first holding her than I did. And he can make her giggle! This will come as a shock to no one, I'm sure. I think it won't be hard for me to talk him into another one :-)
We have been getting a lot of stares from the locals, but no more than we got before getting Nora. Literally we have seen only 8 other Americans since we got to Chongqing, all of them here to adopt. We have been thanked by several people for "helping" her, although the younger people are less taken aback by her cleft lip than the older men. Speaking of her cleft, remember when the international adoption specialist said "you won't know about her palate until you hang her upside down by her ankles?" It turns out she really loves to hang upside down. In fact, she hung upside down within five minutes of being placed in my arms. Most of her palate is completely intact, amazingly. The only part of her palate that is cleft is her gum line, about 3/4 of the way up. She does not have a cleft all the way through the floor of her nose, so there is no communication at any point between her oral cavity and her nasal cavity. This is good news on several fronts, but mostly it means she will only need one surgery (or maybe two) when we get home, and then nothing for several years. We have some serious orthodontia in our future though! :-)
She is still asleep right now, going on 9 hours straight. She went down instantly last night, with one finger in her mouth and her blanket in her other fist. But we had a fair bit of crying when she woke herself up coughing (she has an upper respiratory infection that we are treating with Zithro) and didn't know where she was. It was traumatic for her and she didn't really want me to hold her and she didn't really want me to put her down--this is very typical--and so we did our favorite thing which is to look at ourselves in the mirror (Amy, you were so right about the mirror!!! She loves it!).
She is just starting to wake up right now, so I'd better get the bottle and cheerios ready. When John moves the next set of photos to the computer, I'll be sure to post!
John, BTW, is positively smitten! I can't tell you how much he adores her, it's amazing. He had a much, much bigger reaction to first holding her than I did. And he can make her giggle! This will come as a shock to no one, I'm sure. I think it won't be hard for me to talk him into another one :-)
We have been getting a lot of stares from the locals, but no more than we got before getting Nora. Literally we have seen only 8 other Americans since we got to Chongqing, all of them here to adopt. We have been thanked by several people for "helping" her, although the younger people are less taken aback by her cleft lip than the older men. Speaking of her cleft, remember when the international adoption specialist said "you won't know about her palate until you hang her upside down by her ankles?" It turns out she really loves to hang upside down. In fact, she hung upside down within five minutes of being placed in my arms. Most of her palate is completely intact, amazingly. The only part of her palate that is cleft is her gum line, about 3/4 of the way up. She does not have a cleft all the way through the floor of her nose, so there is no communication at any point between her oral cavity and her nasal cavity. This is good news on several fronts, but mostly it means she will only need one surgery (or maybe two) when we get home, and then nothing for several years. We have some serious orthodontia in our future though! :-)
She is still asleep right now, going on 9 hours straight. She went down instantly last night, with one finger in her mouth and her blanket in her other fist. But we had a fair bit of crying when she woke herself up coughing (she has an upper respiratory infection that we are treating with Zithro) and didn't know where she was. It was traumatic for her and she didn't really want me to hold her and she didn't really want me to put her down--this is very typical--and so we did our favorite thing which is to look at ourselves in the mirror (Amy, you were so right about the mirror!!! She loves it!).
She is just starting to wake up right now, so I'd better get the bottle and cheerios ready. When John moves the next set of photos to the computer, I'll be sure to post!
We have Nora!
(skip this post to see a couple of pictures)
She is glorious.
She is funny, and good-natured, and smart, and beautiful. And believe me when I say, this kid's smile is heart-stopping. Her eyes are HUGE and she has these super-long eyelashes and when she smiles her eyes get kind of crinkly and sparkly. She is cute! Things could not have gone better today. I thought I was going to throw-up on the way to the civil affairs office--really. I was so, so afraid of how we would react to each other. John saw her right away and he said "she looks just like in the pictures." It was very cute. The nanny handed her to me and I can't remember what happened after that. I think I probably cried for few minutes and then we just stared at each other. She didn't cry. She sat on my lap very quietly and looked at everything and everyone. The nannies and babies (there were four others from Wanzhou) drove about 4 1/2 hours from the orphanage on a bus, so I think Nora was feeling pretty stunned all around. When I called her by her Chinese name, she smiled. then John tickled her a few times, and she all out giggled! She looked for her nanny several times, but that was all.
We had a very full evening, so we're all pretty exhausted--we went out to dinner with four other families from the U.S.
Oh, and this child eats anything I put in front of her. She especially loves cheerios! She's pretty skinny, but a great eater. She's walking, talking a bit. She understands a lot.
I'm off...she's ready for bed. And so am I!
She is glorious.
She is funny, and good-natured, and smart, and beautiful. And believe me when I say, this kid's smile is heart-stopping. Her eyes are HUGE and she has these super-long eyelashes and when she smiles her eyes get kind of crinkly and sparkly. She is cute! Things could not have gone better today. I thought I was going to throw-up on the way to the civil affairs office--really. I was so, so afraid of how we would react to each other. John saw her right away and he said "she looks just like in the pictures." It was very cute. The nanny handed her to me and I can't remember what happened after that. I think I probably cried for few minutes and then we just stared at each other. She didn't cry. She sat on my lap very quietly and looked at everything and everyone. The nannies and babies (there were four others from Wanzhou) drove about 4 1/2 hours from the orphanage on a bus, so I think Nora was feeling pretty stunned all around. When I called her by her Chinese name, she smiled. then John tickled her a few times, and she all out giggled! She looked for her nanny several times, but that was all.
We had a very full evening, so we're all pretty exhausted--we went out to dinner with four other families from the U.S.
Oh, and this child eats anything I put in front of her. She especially loves cheerios! She's pretty skinny, but a great eater. She's walking, talking a bit. She understands a lot.
I'm off...she's ready for bed. And so am I!
Here she is...
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Sunday, December 23, 2007
It's Christmas Eve morning
And we will meet Nora in about 7 hours. Obviously we got the pictures to load (I have to email them to the blog, but that's easy enough). I slept 10 hours last night, hard. I know I should be a wreck, but I'm feeling quite calm right now. I can't say the same for everyone in the room. I'll leave it at that, though. We're lucky that we have free internet in our hotel here! We won't be as lucky when we get back to GZ, but by then you will have all seen her!
And even more!
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And a few more...
Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page.
Some Pictures of Da Zu (if it works!)
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Ugh!
Well, the bad news is (and there isn't really any good news) that I can't post pictures to the blog, no matter how hard I try. And I've been trying for about two hours. Sadly, I just can't get blogger to work well from here--i don't have the same features and I have tried to email pictures to the blog, but that's not working either.
I doubt I'll have any time after tomorrow afternoon for this project, so unfortunately, no pictures until we get home :-( apologies!
I doubt I'll have any time after tomorrow afternoon for this project, so unfortunately, no pictures until we get home :-( apologies!
Da Zu Rock Carvings
We slept as late as we possibly could today, 4:45 a.m. Then we checked email, wrapped gifts for people and eventually made our way down to the breakfast buffet where we met two other families with their very cute adopted daughters. This won't really be interesting to most people reading this, but one of the families was from the Indianapolis area, where I have been all of twice, once just last month for a few days. I said, "I was just in Fishers, Indiana in November for work" and the woman said "we're from Fishers!" So that's my "small world story" from the middle of a city of 34 million people, 8000 miles from the United States.
The coffee at the Golden Resources is not as good as the coffee at the Shi Fu Holiday Inn. In fact, the coffee here is plain undrinkable. But, of course, I drank it-- two cups of it--because that's what addicts do.
We met Charles and Michael at 9:30 and drove about 180 km to the Da Zu Rock Carvings. John wasn't happy about sitting in a car for two+ hours without something to read. He doesn't sit still very well (he almost never goes to the movies with me) and we have been sitting a lot already lately so this was difficult for him. Also, the drive to Da Zu was not very scenic, mostly because we could not see a thing, particularly as we drove into the hills. The fog/smog was VERY thick today. We drove through many heavily polluted industrial and agricultural areas; it was depressing at times. The landscape was completely ravaged in places and the living conditions were grim.
The Da Zu grottos were beautiful, though. The carvings are about 800-900 years old and there are hundreds of them!
The coffee at the Golden Resources is not as good as the coffee at the Shi Fu Holiday Inn. In fact, the coffee here is plain undrinkable. But, of course, I drank it-- two cups of it--because that's what addicts do.
We met Charles and Michael at 9:30 and drove about 180 km to the Da Zu Rock Carvings. John wasn't happy about sitting in a car for two+ hours without something to read. He doesn't sit still very well (he almost never goes to the movies with me) and we have been sitting a lot already lately so this was difficult for him. Also, the drive to Da Zu was not very scenic, mostly because we could not see a thing, particularly as we drove into the hills. The fog/smog was VERY thick today. We drove through many heavily polluted industrial and agricultural areas; it was depressing at times. The landscape was completely ravaged in places and the living conditions were grim.
The Da Zu grottos were beautiful, though. The carvings are about 800-900 years old and there are hundreds of them!
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Things I have learned so far on this trip:
1. How to say "I love you," "thank you,", "don't cry," "kisses," and "beer" in Chinese.
2. How to go to the bathroom on a Chinese toilet (which is actually a lot like going in the woods, only less scenic).
3. The Chinese definition of "waiting in line."
4. The digestive benefits of Congee.
5. That there are nearly as many people in our daughter's city as there are in ALL of Canada.
6. What happens when you pour hot soy milk on your cereal.
7. The many ways in which prescription sleep medication can alter one's state.
It is AMAZING here! The flight was long, but bearable. I slept a lot, much to John's dismay as I mostly slept on him. We were fortunate to get an exit row to ourselves from Tokyo to Guangzhou, although that was by far the short leg of the trip (6 hours vs. 11 from Portland to Toyko). We spent our first night at the ShiFu Holiday Inn in Guangzhou and now we're in Chongqing at the Golden Resources Hotel, which is very nice, but kind of..."disco." We haven't suffered from much jetlag, thanks to our Ambien. I have never taken sleeping pills before. WOW. It was strange and I think John was actually hallucinating ("Are the letters on your computer wiggling?" "Do you see those sheets moving around?"). It was kind of hilarious. He has been looking forward to bedtime since we woke up this morning.
It's been very foggy and muggy here (both in Chongqing and in Guangzhou). Visibility is quite poor and our guide told us that this is the time when many people get sick from the smog stagnating in the valley. My throat already hurts; I'm buying bottled water by the truck load and eating vitamin C like candy.
Outside our hotel is a pedestrian walkway that is jammed with people shopping. There are giant Christmas trees everywhere and a 50 foot inflatable Santa Claus in front or our hotel--thank goodness or we might not be able to find the place. John has been out walking quite a bit, but I honestly have been feeling a little overwhelmed and overstimulated--which I know must come as a shock to many people! I can't even imagine what this will be like for Nora. It's super noisey and there is very little in the way of personal space. It reminds me a lot of Times Square--blocks and blocks and blocks of it.
Our guides, Charles and Daniel, have been wonderful! It's good for us that they appreciate John's sense of humor--and they really do. He joked with them that he was disappointed not to have a "young pretty" guide and Charles responded (very astutely, I thought) "Why? You have a young pretty wife." Later he asked John, "You are much older than your wife?" John said "yes," and Charles said "about 10 or 15 years?" It's only 9 years, but Charles will still be getting a big tip from me.
John is also very pleased that he is finally in the 90th percentile for height. He comments on this almost every time we leave the room. I, on the other hand, am less than thrilled to be in the 90th percentile for weight :-)
This evening, we went to an incredibly crowded Chinese grocery store under our hotel, where all manner of dead and living foods were sold, including eel, frogs, soft and hard shell turtles, and chickens. It was so crowded; I've never experienced anything like it--it was more crowded than the REI garage sale. And loud! It smelled delicious--lots of spicey, Szechuan foods. Afterwards, we ate dinner at a restaurant where literally no one spoke a word of English and the menu was entirely in Chinese. The waitresses and other patrons were very patient with us and also very amused. We managed to order a big hot pot of chicken soup (that could have fed four adults) with noodles and vegetables. John ordered a cold beer entirely through pantomime ("cold" being the operative word. It was easy enough to point at a picture of the beer, but to watch a handful of waitresses and John all shivering...that was a treat). I've been concerned about getting sick, but John assured me with these words: "It's too late, Kim. We're worlds away from our bacteria. The new e.coli are already fighting the old e.coli and the old e.coli aren't going to win."
Ah, to be married to a biologist.
I'll try to post pictures tomorrow. Off to bed!
2. How to go to the bathroom on a Chinese toilet (which is actually a lot like going in the woods, only less scenic).
3. The Chinese definition of "waiting in line."
4. The digestive benefits of Congee.
5. That there are nearly as many people in our daughter's city as there are in ALL of Canada.
6. What happens when you pour hot soy milk on your cereal.
7. The many ways in which prescription sleep medication can alter one's state.
It is AMAZING here! The flight was long, but bearable. I slept a lot, much to John's dismay as I mostly slept on him. We were fortunate to get an exit row to ourselves from Tokyo to Guangzhou, although that was by far the short leg of the trip (6 hours vs. 11 from Portland to Toyko). We spent our first night at the ShiFu Holiday Inn in Guangzhou and now we're in Chongqing at the Golden Resources Hotel, which is very nice, but kind of..."disco." We haven't suffered from much jetlag, thanks to our Ambien. I have never taken sleeping pills before. WOW. It was strange and I think John was actually hallucinating ("Are the letters on your computer wiggling?" "Do you see those sheets moving around?"). It was kind of hilarious. He has been looking forward to bedtime since we woke up this morning.
It's been very foggy and muggy here (both in Chongqing and in Guangzhou). Visibility is quite poor and our guide told us that this is the time when many people get sick from the smog stagnating in the valley. My throat already hurts; I'm buying bottled water by the truck load and eating vitamin C like candy.
Outside our hotel is a pedestrian walkway that is jammed with people shopping. There are giant Christmas trees everywhere and a 50 foot inflatable Santa Claus in front or our hotel--thank goodness or we might not be able to find the place. John has been out walking quite a bit, but I honestly have been feeling a little overwhelmed and overstimulated--which I know must come as a shock to many people! I can't even imagine what this will be like for Nora. It's super noisey and there is very little in the way of personal space. It reminds me a lot of Times Square--blocks and blocks and blocks of it.
Our guides, Charles and Daniel, have been wonderful! It's good for us that they appreciate John's sense of humor--and they really do. He joked with them that he was disappointed not to have a "young pretty" guide and Charles responded (very astutely, I thought) "Why? You have a young pretty wife." Later he asked John, "You are much older than your wife?" John said "yes," and Charles said "about 10 or 15 years?" It's only 9 years, but Charles will still be getting a big tip from me.
John is also very pleased that he is finally in the 90th percentile for height. He comments on this almost every time we leave the room. I, on the other hand, am less than thrilled to be in the 90th percentile for weight :-)
This evening, we went to an incredibly crowded Chinese grocery store under our hotel, where all manner of dead and living foods were sold, including eel, frogs, soft and hard shell turtles, and chickens. It was so crowded; I've never experienced anything like it--it was more crowded than the REI garage sale. And loud! It smelled delicious--lots of spicey, Szechuan foods. Afterwards, we ate dinner at a restaurant where literally no one spoke a word of English and the menu was entirely in Chinese. The waitresses and other patrons were very patient with us and also very amused. We managed to order a big hot pot of chicken soup (that could have fed four adults) with noodles and vegetables. John ordered a cold beer entirely through pantomime ("cold" being the operative word. It was easy enough to point at a picture of the beer, but to watch a handful of waitresses and John all shivering...that was a treat). I've been concerned about getting sick, but John assured me with these words: "It's too late, Kim. We're worlds away from our bacteria. The new e.coli are already fighting the old e.coli and the old e.coli aren't going to win."
Ah, to be married to a biologist.
I'll try to post pictures tomorrow. Off to bed!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
We made it out of the house
And John didn't kill me (or hasn't yet, anyway).
Just this morning between the hours of 5 a.m. and noon, I
- repacked once more before getting dressed to go
- spilled wiper fluid all over the trunk of the car while loading the luggage
- forgot my cell phone (but remembered it as we were driving away)
- reorganized my suitcases while waiting in a long line to check in at the airport
- almost lost our money
I'm not even going to get into the cyclone of disorganization that is my carry-on luggage. Every time I unzip a pocket, things fly all over the place. John is in a nearly perpetual state of eye-rolling. Then, to make matters more embarrassing for him, I read People Magazine and Us on the plane ride from Seattle to Portland, while he did the New York Times Crossword puzzle (show off!). He asked the flight attendant if he could be moved.
He would have never gotten "Actress Jessica" (four letters, starting with "A") if not for me, though. It so happened that she was on the cover of People this week! So there. I'm his popular culture connection.
I have to share this "kid language" story, which I'm sure many of you will appreciate. We were at a holiday party on Monday night and one of our very cute, very fashionable 4-year-old friends was there (with her parents). This adorable friend refers to John as "silly John." She loves him. She follows him around and draws pictures of him that look like potato chips. As she was leaving the party on Monday (reluctantly) she said to her parents, "but I only beed with John two times!"
Okay, off to Tokyo, on route to Guangzhou!
Just this morning between the hours of 5 a.m. and noon, I
- repacked once more before getting dressed to go
- spilled wiper fluid all over the trunk of the car while loading the luggage
- forgot my cell phone (but remembered it as we were driving away)
- reorganized my suitcases while waiting in a long line to check in at the airport
- almost lost our money
I'm not even going to get into the cyclone of disorganization that is my carry-on luggage. Every time I unzip a pocket, things fly all over the place. John is in a nearly perpetual state of eye-rolling. Then, to make matters more embarrassing for him, I read People Magazine and Us on the plane ride from Seattle to Portland, while he did the New York Times Crossword puzzle (show off!). He asked the flight attendant if he could be moved.
He would have never gotten "Actress Jessica" (four letters, starting with "A") if not for me, though. It so happened that she was on the cover of People this week! So there. I'm his popular culture connection.
I have to share this "kid language" story, which I'm sure many of you will appreciate. We were at a holiday party on Monday night and one of our very cute, very fashionable 4-year-old friends was there (with her parents). This adorable friend refers to John as "silly John." She loves him. She follows him around and draws pictures of him that look like potato chips. As she was leaving the party on Monday (reluctantly) she said to her parents, "but I only beed with John two times!"
Okay, off to Tokyo, on route to Guangzhou!
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
In five hours, we're off!
This is my last U.S. post...yikes!
I have so much to say to everyone, but I'm so tired! I have to get a few hours of sleep before the long day of flying tomorrow.
Thank you everyone for all your well-wishes, support, gifts, parties, shoulders, books, toys, advice, baby gear, wine drinking, movie seeing (oh, and "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"--dark, dark, dark), breakfast eating...I could go on forever. But I have to get to China!
I am working on Thank you notes (and holiday cards...and letters of recommendation...)
I'll do my best to update the blog!
I have so much to say to everyone, but I'm so tired! I have to get a few hours of sleep before the long day of flying tomorrow.
Thank you everyone for all your well-wishes, support, gifts, parties, shoulders, books, toys, advice, baby gear, wine drinking, movie seeing (oh, and "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"--dark, dark, dark), breakfast eating...I could go on forever. But I have to get to China!
I am working on Thank you notes (and holiday cards...and letters of recommendation...)
I'll do my best to update the blog!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Thirty Seven Pounds!
Yes! I did it. And I'm ready a full 18 hours ahead of schedule. This is so unlike me. I'm tempted to go to bed early (since this might be the last full night of sleep I get for 16 years). But I'm thinking maybe I can get one more report written tonight...
All my SPAM is packed and I'm ready to go
Sung to the tune of "Leavin' On A Jet Plane."
Kidding.
This is how the past several days have gone: Pack, unpack, repack; unpack, repack; unpack, repack; unpack, repack...
John: What exactly is all that stuff?
Me: Toys, medication, clothes, wipes, every drinking vessel imaginable.
John: What are the weight limits again in China?
Me: Can't remember. I'll look online. Again.
John: I'm just getting concerned we won't be able to carry all this and a two-year-old.
Me: Oh. That. She's small, it'll be fine.
Unpack. Take out one pair of socks. Repack. It still weighs the same.
John: Here's the rule--"Take out half of what you've packed and bring twice the money."
Kim: That's just not going to happen. We're out of money.
Although it might come down to that if we can't get below the 44-pound checked bag requirement in China. I've carried heavier packs for a two-day hiking trip! And here's the real problem; I never, EVER bring the right stuff for any trip. I always underestimate or overestimate the temperature or the conditions. And if I do bring the right clothes, I wear them on the wrong day. Luckily, most days, the consequences are minor. And even though John knows that I'm bringing all the wrong stuff, he never tells me, because I would just get annoyed and remind him that I've done this before and I'm not stupid (all evidence to the contrary). Instead, he brings extra stuff (without telling me) and when I'm freezing to death, or soaking wet, he says "I have an extra jacket if you need one."
This reminds me of the story of when I met John. I was visiting his sister in Portland for the holidays, and we all went cross-country skiing--it was my first time on any kind of ski. It was really, really icey and I had awful rented skis (this is the story I tell) and I could not stay upright to save my life. And every time I fell, I pointed my skis down the hill and fell again. And again. And again. John watched me fall about 100 times and finally said, "do you want me to give you some advice? I only ask because you seem like the type of girl who doesn't like to be told what to do and I don't want to get yelled at."
And pretty much that's how we stay married. He doesn't know that I know that he's got me figured out. But I'm onto him.
Kidding.
This is how the past several days have gone: Pack, unpack, repack; unpack, repack; unpack, repack; unpack, repack...
John: What exactly is all that stuff?
Me: Toys, medication, clothes, wipes, every drinking vessel imaginable.
John: What are the weight limits again in China?
Me: Can't remember. I'll look online. Again.
John: I'm just getting concerned we won't be able to carry all this and a two-year-old.
Me: Oh. That. She's small, it'll be fine.
Unpack. Take out one pair of socks. Repack. It still weighs the same.
John: Here's the rule--"Take out half of what you've packed and bring twice the money."
Kim: That's just not going to happen. We're out of money.
Although it might come down to that if we can't get below the 44-pound checked bag requirement in China. I've carried heavier packs for a two-day hiking trip! And here's the real problem; I never, EVER bring the right stuff for any trip. I always underestimate or overestimate the temperature or the conditions. And if I do bring the right clothes, I wear them on the wrong day. Luckily, most days, the consequences are minor. And even though John knows that I'm bringing all the wrong stuff, he never tells me, because I would just get annoyed and remind him that I've done this before and I'm not stupid (all evidence to the contrary). Instead, he brings extra stuff (without telling me) and when I'm freezing to death, or soaking wet, he says "I have an extra jacket if you need one."
This reminds me of the story of when I met John. I was visiting his sister in Portland for the holidays, and we all went cross-country skiing--it was my first time on any kind of ski. It was really, really icey and I had awful rented skis (this is the story I tell) and I could not stay upright to save my life. And every time I fell, I pointed my skis down the hill and fell again. And again. And again. John watched me fall about 100 times and finally said, "do you want me to give you some advice? I only ask because you seem like the type of girl who doesn't like to be told what to do and I don't want to get yelled at."
And pretty much that's how we stay married. He doesn't know that I know that he's got me figured out. But I'm onto him.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Poor George Bailey
He never did make it to China.
But we're off, pretty soon, and here's our itinerary:
December 20th: Leave from Seattle at 9:00 a.m.
December 21st: Arrive in Guangzhou in the evening. Rest up.
December 22nd: Fly to Chongqing at about 10:30 a.m. Shop.
December 23rd: Tour the Da Zu Rock carvings
December 24th: Meet Nora at the Civil Affairs office in the morning
December 25th: Celebrate Christmas and do some paperwork
December 26th: Tour Ci Qi Kou Old Town
December 27th: Visit the Three Gorges Dam Museum
December 28th: Fly back to Guangzhou at 5:00 p.m.
December 29th: Nora's medical examinaton
December 30th: Tour Six Banyan Temple
December 31st: Day of Rest
January 1st: Visit Sun Yet Sun Memorial Hall
January 2nd: Consulate appointment at 9:30 a.m.
January 3rd: Pick up Nora's visa
January 4th: Fly back to Seattle at 8:30 a.m.
January 5th on: Rest, rest, and more rest.
P.S. Favorite movie line ever: "George Bailey, I'll love you till the day I die." I'm watching It's a Wonderful Life for about the 50th time.
Incidentally, who doesn't roll on the ground laughing when Mary comes out of the library dressed like a spinster? Like Donna Reed couldn't find herself another guy in three seconds with those legs (or lead a perfectly happy life as a single woman with a masters degree in library science).
But we're off, pretty soon, and here's our itinerary:
December 20th: Leave from Seattle at 9:00 a.m.
December 21st: Arrive in Guangzhou in the evening. Rest up.
December 22nd: Fly to Chongqing at about 10:30 a.m. Shop.
December 23rd: Tour the Da Zu Rock carvings
December 24th: Meet Nora at the Civil Affairs office in the morning
December 25th: Celebrate Christmas and do some paperwork
December 26th: Tour Ci Qi Kou Old Town
December 27th: Visit the Three Gorges Dam Museum
December 28th: Fly back to Guangzhou at 5:00 p.m.
December 29th: Nora's medical examinaton
December 30th: Tour Six Banyan Temple
December 31st: Day of Rest
January 1st: Visit Sun Yet Sun Memorial Hall
January 2nd: Consulate appointment at 9:30 a.m.
January 3rd: Pick up Nora's visa
January 4th: Fly back to Seattle at 8:30 a.m.
January 5th on: Rest, rest, and more rest.
P.S. Favorite movie line ever: "George Bailey, I'll love you till the day I die." I'm watching It's a Wonderful Life for about the 50th time.
Incidentally, who doesn't roll on the ground laughing when Mary comes out of the library dressed like a spinster? Like Donna Reed couldn't find herself another guy in three seconds with those legs (or lead a perfectly happy life as a single woman with a masters degree in library science).
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Vegans Beware
People are nosey. I don't mind, because I love talking about my daughter, but people are nosey.
I was at the grocery store buying Nix (lice treatment for our trip), and SPAM. A little bit of background on the SPAM. My inlaws live in Hawaii, on the Big Island, and my sister-in-law is the BEST COOK EVER. She makes this deliciously salty snack, called SPAM Musubi which is very popular in Hawaii. On occasion, when I am severely craving salt and seaweed (and SPAM), I will make it myself. It's so so tasty, really. But, of course, terrible for you. We love it in this house. Have I mentioned that I was a strict vegetarian (the real kind, not the kind that eats fish and chicken) for 15 years before I met my husband? Now, I'm a salted meat junky.
So, I'm at the grocery store, stocking up on SPAM and lice medicine, and the checkout person says, "Looks like a fun night." I'm not really sure what she meant by that, but it can't be good, right? I said, "my daughter is in an orphanage in China and she has lice." Yeah. Just like that. Because why should I be polite when she wasn't? Granted, she was probably a high school student and I recently attended my 20 year high school reunion, so I should be the bigger person. But I frankly wasn't in the mood. I was craving salt and I don't have one more teachable moment in me this week.
She said all the "oh that's so wonderful" stuff, which I also don't mind because it is pretty darned wonderful. Then, "Is the SPAM for China too?"
"Oh no. That's my dinner."
I don't know what she thought was ickier, the Nix or the SPAM.
I was at the grocery store buying Nix (lice treatment for our trip), and SPAM. A little bit of background on the SPAM. My inlaws live in Hawaii, on the Big Island, and my sister-in-law is the BEST COOK EVER. She makes this deliciously salty snack, called SPAM Musubi which is very popular in Hawaii. On occasion, when I am severely craving salt and seaweed (and SPAM), I will make it myself. It's so so tasty, really. But, of course, terrible for you. We love it in this house. Have I mentioned that I was a strict vegetarian (the real kind, not the kind that eats fish and chicken) for 15 years before I met my husband? Now, I'm a salted meat junky.
So, I'm at the grocery store, stocking up on SPAM and lice medicine, and the checkout person says, "Looks like a fun night." I'm not really sure what she meant by that, but it can't be good, right? I said, "my daughter is in an orphanage in China and she has lice." Yeah. Just like that. Because why should I be polite when she wasn't? Granted, she was probably a high school student and I recently attended my 20 year high school reunion, so I should be the bigger person. But I frankly wasn't in the mood. I was craving salt and I don't have one more teachable moment in me this week.
She said all the "oh that's so wonderful" stuff, which I also don't mind because it is pretty darned wonderful. Then, "Is the SPAM for China too?"
"Oh no. That's my dinner."
I don't know what she thought was ickier, the Nix or the SPAM.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Oh my god.
How CUTE is my kid?!
I love that I can say that without even sounding like I'm bragging. It's just empirically true that she's cute, and I had nothing to do with it!
Lucky, lucky life.
I love that I can say that without even sounding like I'm bragging. It's just empirically true that she's cute, and I had nothing to do with it!
Lucky, lucky life.
Speaking of drugs...
I finally caved and got two months worth of doggie Prozac for Murphy. Those of you who have known the Smurphs since puppyhood are probably wondering what took me so long! I am a big believer in cognitive behavioral therapy, so for the past eleven years, I've been trying to talk Murphy through his anxieties and change his thinking, but alas, I fear this new little mammal is going to send him over the edge. When Maia came into our lives (I say that like I played no part in her arrival), it was all Murphy could take. The vet and I agreed that the little guy is just too wound up to take one more insult. She says the doggie drugs are the same as the people drugs. Which has me thinking...maybe a little Prozac for the plane :-)
That brings me to the next item on the agenda. The plane. We leave next Thursday!
A profound calm came over me right after I booked our flights. It probably will not last, but it feels great right now. Immediately after pushing "send" to confirm payment for our tickets, I grabbed my pruners and headed into the garden for several satisfying hours of clipping, raking, pulling, and wrestling with mutant rose bushes. I haven't been able to get myself into the yard for the past several months, I don't know why. I've been too stressed or something...I wonder what about?! But it was heaven today. Just heaven.
And in the spring, I'll have a little weed puller extraordinaire to play in the dirt with me! Imagine that.
I hope she's messy.
That brings me to the next item on the agenda. The plane. We leave next Thursday!
A profound calm came over me right after I booked our flights. It probably will not last, but it feels great right now. Immediately after pushing "send" to confirm payment for our tickets, I grabbed my pruners and headed into the garden for several satisfying hours of clipping, raking, pulling, and wrestling with mutant rose bushes. I haven't been able to get myself into the yard for the past several months, I don't know why. I've been too stressed or something...I wonder what about?! But it was heaven today. Just heaven.
And in the spring, I'll have a little weed puller extraordinaire to play in the dirt with me! Imagine that.
I hope she's messy.
And the rollercoaster goes up again.
Consulate appointment confirmed for January 2nd.
Phew. Christmas Eve it is.
Phew. Christmas Eve it is.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Labor has got to be easier than this.
Today was kind of rough. Really, really rough, in fact. The agency called early this morning to tell us their version of great news: "You have CA on the 27th. You need to leave this Friday!"
This Friday. As in four days from today. As in wrap up your grading, shopping, packing, checking things off lists, taking dogs to the vet, cleaning, finishing book chapters (not me), grant writing (also not me), getting thousands of dollars in crisp, brand new 100-dollar bills (me), doing laundry, because you need to be in Chongqing by Saturday night at the very latest.
On some other planet, we might have been able to accomplish this. People get on planes and travel around the world with much less notice than four days. But on our planet, this simply wasn't going to happen. First of all, in this house, some of us need A LOT more notice than four days to make the biggest transition of our lives. Second, leaving on Friday was going to give us ZERO room for error--no delayed flights, no cancelled flights, no missed flights. No nothing. Perfect air travel for nearly 20 straight hours. This never happens to me. And finally, it's impossible to find one seat (much less three) on an airplane to China during the week of Christmas for under 8 million dollars.
So I did the hardest thing I've had to do so far in this process (besides, perhaps, letting go of Miss A). I emailed the agency and requested a later consulate appointment. I have been physically sick about this all day; I've literally not eaten since breakfast. I'm heartbroken, positively.
We need things to go very well in China tomorrow. We need the consulate to be sympathetic and give us new dates that will allow us to leave next Wednesday.
It has got to be easier to give birth than to adopt a baby from China (or probably anywhere). I just can't imagine anything harder than this. And, as many have pointed out already, at least during childbirth you can take drugs legally.
This Friday. As in four days from today. As in wrap up your grading, shopping, packing, checking things off lists, taking dogs to the vet, cleaning, finishing book chapters (not me), grant writing (also not me), getting thousands of dollars in crisp, brand new 100-dollar bills (me), doing laundry, because you need to be in Chongqing by Saturday night at the very latest.
On some other planet, we might have been able to accomplish this. People get on planes and travel around the world with much less notice than four days. But on our planet, this simply wasn't going to happen. First of all, in this house, some of us need A LOT more notice than four days to make the biggest transition of our lives. Second, leaving on Friday was going to give us ZERO room for error--no delayed flights, no cancelled flights, no missed flights. No nothing. Perfect air travel for nearly 20 straight hours. This never happens to me. And finally, it's impossible to find one seat (much less three) on an airplane to China during the week of Christmas for under 8 million dollars.
So I did the hardest thing I've had to do so far in this process (besides, perhaps, letting go of Miss A). I emailed the agency and requested a later consulate appointment. I have been physically sick about this all day; I've literally not eaten since breakfast. I'm heartbroken, positively.
We need things to go very well in China tomorrow. We need the consulate to be sympathetic and give us new dates that will allow us to leave next Wednesday.
It has got to be easier to give birth than to adopt a baby from China (or probably anywhere). I just can't imagine anything harder than this. And, as many have pointed out already, at least during childbirth you can take drugs legally.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Preparing to Travel (emotionally)
I've gotten to a pretty good mental space now with the whole "I'm going to be a mother" thing. Nora's room is ready. We have TONS of great books, thanks to all my great friends and students. Our bags have been packed and unpacked at least 6 times (well, my bag and Nora's bags. My husband isn't going to pack until the day before we leave). We have a house sitter. We have a high chair. We have puzzles.
Lately, I've been having a lot of "this is the last time I'll _____" moments. Two weeks ago I spent four glorious days out east staying up late and being completely irresponsible for the last time. Yesterday, I got my last pre-travel massage [I'd like to take a moment here to rave about my massage therapist, who gives the best massage that I've ever had in my entire life. And cheap! Tears come out of my eyes when I'm on the table. Yesterday, there was a moment--I think he was working under my left shoulder blade--when I literally stopped breathing and he had to check to see if I was still alive. I am a deep tissue kind of girl; I don't like any of that wimpy, relaxing, Swedish stuff].
Also, I've been talking to the dogs about their new sister. I'm not sure they're quite getting it, although they sure like the stuff that has been coming into the house:
I swear I did not put him in it. He made his own way. That's Murphy, by the way, for those of you who have not been to our house and had the pleasure of the full-on "zoo" experience. Murphy really wants to be a good dog. You can tell watching him that he thinks all of the barking and making a big, loud, schnauzer scene is helping us somehow. It's for our own good. How else will we know that SOMEONE! IS! IN! OUR! HOUSE!!!!! after all?
And then, we have Maia, A.K.A. "the Smees." She LOVES LOVES LOVES all things baby. She is not a dangerous dog, unless you consider drowning-by-licking to be risky business:
I admit that I did put those sunglasses on her face. She didn't like it very much.
And here's Daly, the border terrier (of somewhat questionable ancestry). She is our "rock star" dog, in that, every time she is on a walk, people ooh and ahh over her uniqueness (border terriers are the most rare dogs in North America) and she just won't give them the time of day. She can't be bothered--she's the Scarlett Johansson of the small dog world.
Other ways in which I've been saying goodbye to my old life and preparing for my new one: cutting off all my hair; seeing every movie I possibly can with M.B. and B.M. [That's so funny I never realized that two of my dearest friends actually comprise a palindrome]; eating breakfast out; building big fires in the wood stove (that's also actually because our furnace just died); sleeping-in really, really late; taking long hot bubble baths; napping; reading books for pleasure; shopping for shoes; saying "yes" to everything.
Lately, I've been having a lot of "this is the last time I'll _____" moments. Two weeks ago I spent four glorious days out east staying up late and being completely irresponsible for the last time. Yesterday, I got my last pre-travel massage [I'd like to take a moment here to rave about my massage therapist, who gives the best massage that I've ever had in my entire life. And cheap! Tears come out of my eyes when I'm on the table. Yesterday, there was a moment--I think he was working under my left shoulder blade--when I literally stopped breathing and he had to check to see if I was still alive. I am a deep tissue kind of girl; I don't like any of that wimpy, relaxing, Swedish stuff].
Also, I've been talking to the dogs about their new sister. I'm not sure they're quite getting it, although they sure like the stuff that has been coming into the house:
I swear I did not put him in it. He made his own way. That's Murphy, by the way, for those of you who have not been to our house and had the pleasure of the full-on "zoo" experience. Murphy really wants to be a good dog. You can tell watching him that he thinks all of the barking and making a big, loud, schnauzer scene is helping us somehow. It's for our own good. How else will we know that SOMEONE! IS! IN! OUR! HOUSE!!!!! after all?
And then, we have Maia, A.K.A. "the Smees." She LOVES LOVES LOVES all things baby. She is not a dangerous dog, unless you consider drowning-by-licking to be risky business:
I admit that I did put those sunglasses on her face. She didn't like it very much.
And here's Daly, the border terrier (of somewhat questionable ancestry). She is our "rock star" dog, in that, every time she is on a walk, people ooh and ahh over her uniqueness (border terriers are the most rare dogs in North America) and she just won't give them the time of day. She can't be bothered--she's the Scarlett Johansson of the small dog world.
Other ways in which I've been saying goodbye to my old life and preparing for my new one: cutting off all my hair; seeing every movie I possibly can with M.B. and B.M. [That's so funny I never realized that two of my dearest friends actually comprise a palindrome]; eating breakfast out; building big fires in the wood stove (that's also actually because our furnace just died); sleeping-in really, really late; taking long hot bubble baths; napping; reading books for pleasure; shopping for shoes; saying "yes" to everything.
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