Monday is apparently a good day for LOAs. Yesterday, about 10 families received their "Letters of Acceptance/Seeking Confirmation of the adoptive parent." The CCAA has sent LOAs to families whose dossiers were logged-in on or before May 17th, 2007 (special needs applications). A few families got "skipped"--such a bummer, and nobody really understands why this happens. It just does. That's the way international adoption goes.
Of course, this will happen to us. It just will. I'm prepared to wait (says the woman who can't wait for anything). If we're lucky, we will hear something in two or three weeks, at which point, it will be too late for us to make arrangements to travel before the quarter starts, and probably even before November.
Here's the reason. In October, lots of things happen in China. Things related to commerce and celestial bodies (moons and such). Things that close government offices (i.e. the CCAA). Things that cause airline fees to rise astronomically (as if it were not expensive enough to fly to China).
First, we have the "Autumn Moon Festival" or the "Mid-Autumn Festival." It's a celebration of the harvest, and apparently the 14th century uprising against the Mongols, and there is a lot of cake eating...moon cake eating. Here is a funny quote from a travel page:
"Admire the moon and all its Taoist connections, whilst stuffing your face with the delicious mooncakes prepared for the occasion. The Moon Festival is always on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month and takes place in green spaces and parks all over China, so wherever you are, you should be able to find the Moon and the cakes!" I just like the "stuffing your face" part.
This celebration occurs on a different day each year, and this year falls on September 25th and is apparently followed by a national holiday that starts on October 1st and continues through the first week of October. Bad week to travel. Bad week to adopt...as the CCAA will be closed that week.
[you might be asking yourself right now, as I myself have, "why can't we just fly to China and get her?" Also, you might be thinking, as I myself have, "how many holidays do the Chinese take?" These questions are simply not worth answering. They are not even worth asking anymore. I'm exhausted just from thinking about them.]
Following the Moon Festival is the Trade Show in Guangzhou. This takes place from October 15th-30th (or thereabouts). It's crazy expensive to travel during that time, by some accounts, three- to four-times as expensive as any other time of year. I don't even know what happens during the trade show. But it's a big deal, and no one goes to China during that time...unless they're "trading" stuff. Certainly no one goes for the silly reason of...picking up their child!
Anyway October is out for us.
Of course, there doesn't seem to be any good time to travel to China. If you travel in August, you run into "The Festival of the Hungry Ghosts." Not as popular, perhaps, as the Moon Festival, but I'm sure brings in the tourist dollars.
In other exciting news, there are several families in China right now, picking up their little ones! Check out "Shen's blog" (bottom right) for some fun stuff!
And check out this wonderful blog (if you are strong enough to turn down any of these cute little faces):
http://lwbchinablog.blogspot.com/
That's all for now. My thanks to "Ling" for talking me through my computer problems this afternoon (for two hours) and enabling me to get back on line to craft this lengthy post.
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