Catching up and Gotcha day

I have a lot of catching up to do!!  Things have been so busy since we left Beijing.  We left Beijing for Xining on Sunday June 24th.  Well, we sat on the runway for two hours before taking off so we were 2 hours late arriving in Xining.  Luckily the airport is very small and we spotted our guide while waiting for our luggage.  Our guide's name is Pencil and this is his very first adoption.  He wasn't supposed to be our guide and I have no idea what happened, but we were very concerned.  The driver brought us to the hotel and helped us check in...let me tell you, our room was tiny.  We couldn't even move around each other.  I didn't know how we were going to manage with 4 people and 4 pieces of luggage, a walker and a stroller.  I wanted to cry (and this wouldn't be the first time).  Our guide was supposed to take us for supplies...we were tired, hungry and needed water and food for the room.  Instead he told us where to walk to a store...WHAT?  He expected us to walk where nobody speaks English, down a side street maybe a mile away from the hotel with a child in a walker and then carry the stuff back with us.  I was so frustrated at that point I figured we would just eat in the room and deal with supplies later.  WRONG.  The hotel restaurant was closed.  Haha...the laugh was on us.  They had a little store where we bought some water and coke and some noodle bowls which were too spicy.  Luckily for Wyatt we had some oatmeal packets.  Poor kid has been surviving on oatmeal, poptarts and granola, but I am thankful that I brought them.  If anyone is wondering if they should bring snacks to China, I would say yes.

We were told we would be met at 8:30 the next morning to go get Elise.  Everything was such a mess in the room that I didn't even prepare properly.  We brought cheerios for her, but no drink.  Ooops.  She was carried in and came right to me, calling me Mama and Devin Baba.  She smiled and laughed and played.  I brought out some toys and she was through those fast and looking for more.  I could tell she was going to be active.  Then she spotted a sippy cup from another little girl being adopted.  I felt so small...I should have known better.  They poured water into a cup for her but it was boiling hot...they drink everything hot here.  It hadn't even cooled off by the time we left.  We sat there with her for a while though I don't know how long while the guides worked with the officials on our paperwork.  It was very stressful.  We didn't have enough copies of things.  By this time Elise (Yu Meng) was done with me and started having a fit.  She would not stay with me or go to Baba.  One of the officials took her from me and she calmed down.  It makes you feel bad when that happens, a little rejected, but I have to understand where she is coming from.  Then we had to go have our pictures taken.  She was hitting me and headbutting me the entire time we were in the car and while I carried her to the building.  I have many bruises to prove it.  They told me she had to go potty...and to just do it in the bushes.  Ok, we tried, but she was just having too much of a fit.  The picture was supposed to be of all three of us, but instead they took Devin and I and photoshopped Elise into it like she was sitting on our lap.  They did a good job too.  When we left the guide carried her back to the van.  We sat Elise between us and a little tickling later she moved closer to me and let me pick her up.  She even refused the guide.

So back to the room we go and the guide took Devin to go get some food, water and a stroller.  Elise was very cute in the room.  She played and got into everything.  Now, you have to remember that our room was tiny so she didn't even have room to move.  But boy was she active and wild, still hitting and kicking.  We played with hairbows and stacking cups.  She let me help her and hold her.  She would not take a nap unfortunately.  Devin came back and left us alone so I could try to get her to take a nap.  He took Wyatt down to get some lunch which turned out to be a big mistake.  He ordered Wyatt apple juice and they brought back some awful green apple thing.  Two minutes after getting back to the room Wyatt was throwing up.  He wasn't acting right before, but I am sure the drink didn't help.  Poor kid.  He threw up again and then started to run a fever.  I felt so bad for him.  Elise fell asleep in her crib and Devin slept on the chair in the room.  It was not the best of circumstances and you want to stay positive but it didn't make the day any more pleasant.  But in any case, we have Elise and here are some pictures of our GOTCHA day.

Here is a picture of her province. It is one of the poorer provinces in China.  Unfortunately we really didn't go out much, though Devin did and I will post those on another day.

These gasmasks were in the closet of our hotel room...thought that was interesting.

 Speaking of hotel room, here is our first room.  What you see is all of it.  Where I was standing was basically at the door.  It was impossible to move.

Here is the first time I help Elise.  She called me Mama and smiled and laughed.

Here is the picture taken with the orphanage director.  She was holding Elise because by this point Elise wanted nothing to do with me. 



 Back at the hotel, Elise was all giggles.  She is very active and was into everything.  She is also a little daredevil...not sure how much my heart can take.

Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square

Saturday we went to Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City.  There was a lot of smog in the air so it was hard to get some good shots.  And it was crazy busy.  This is a holiday weekend...Dragon Boat Festival...so even though the pictures don't show the crowds, it was worse than a busy day at Disney.  We stuck to the middle of the squares because the walkways were smoothest there and our guide was wonderful with the guards in allowing us to enter where it was blocked off because there were fewer stairs or easier access for Wyatt.  It is a little scary moving along while everyone has to wait in the security lines.

After, the guide showed us the Olympic Stadium.  It was pretty awesome, but a shame in what it has become.  For such a beautiful place it is just a tourist attraction.  Again, the pictures aren't very good because of the smog, but it was really neat being able to see it in person.

Our guide says there are 19 million people living in Beijing.  You wonder where everyone lives, but when you see the place you understand.  The roads and sidewalks are packed with people walking, on bikes, driving.  I wonder what they do each day?  I saw my first pair of split pants (pants open at the crotch for kids) and observed a young child relieving himself in the middle of the sidewalk.  It is very different.  As we drove out of Beijing the skyline is full of huge buildings in various stages of construction.  It is hard to really grasp how many buildings I mean, but I saw at least 25 in a very short span of highway and they were all residential buildings.  Then you have those that are living in the middle of the city, crammed into nooks and crannies along the streets.  I guess you have no choice with so many people living here.  Here is a picture ouside our hotel window...people are living in these little buildings, lots of people.  It is like this everywhere here.  Incredible.

We are here!!

I realize that I have not been the best at keeping this blog current, but we have been very busy planning a 16 day trip to China!!

We left on Wednesday morning, June 20th.  We flew Korean Air for the longest legs of the trip from Dallas to Korea and then from Korea to Beijing.  I heard many good things online about Korean Air and I will just say that it doesn't matter how good the service is, any economy seat is going to be uncomfortable sitting in it for more than 14 hours.  The service was excellent, the food was pretty good, and each seat had its own tv with onboard movies and games.  Wyatt was kept occupied pretty much the entire time, sleeping for only 7 hours.  I watched 4 movies because I just could not sleep no matter how hard I tried.  I knew it was going to be a miserable few days catching up.  On top of all that I woke up with a killer sore throat that was on fire by the time we arrived in Beijing.

It was night when we finally arrived, but you could see how bad the smog was.  Our guide later told us that it usually is pretty sunny but the winds were bad the past couple of days and blew the smog in.  It is disappointing because it makes everything look so depressing here.

I have been running on very little sleep and when we arrived I slept a blissful 6 hours.  Even the very hard bed felt heavenly.  I woke up ready to go on Thursday (little did I know that I was going to peter out in the early afternoon).  We had breakfast in the hotel which had everything we could want...a nice mix of Chinese and Western foods.  Though the western foods weren't exactly like we eat at home, they were close enough.

We left at 8:30 to go to the Great Wall about an hour and a half away.  I was expecting it, but was still surprised, when our guide took us to a Jade factory.  And of course, like the impulsive, rich, overspending American's that we are, we bought stuff.  Not cheap stuff either.  Oh well, not exactly how I had hoped to start our trip.  I did buy the younger kids, Elise and Wyatt, jade necklaces with pendants representing the animal of their birth years...Ox for Elise and Dog for Wyatt.  Yeah, they will not be allowed to wear them...ever.  If anyone who reads this ends up there, they were really nice, not pushy at all, and they do have cheaper items in the very front...wish I had started out there :)

So after spending our life savings on jade (just kidding...we have no life savings) we were off to the Great Wall.  Before I go any further I just wanted to comment on the traffic in Beijing.  It is crazy!!  And the bicycle riders are everwhere.  Nobody stops for anyone and I am just so glad I didn't have to drive.

Here are some pictures from our day:
Wyatt in the Novotel Peace Hotel lobby.

Entrance to the Great Wall:

This is the sign when you leave...funny the way things translate:

The cable car....Wyatt favorite part:

Wyatt on the wall...lots of steps so he is little uncomfortable, but he did great:

Ok, so maybe he wasn't very happy here:

Went to lunch...nobody spoke English.  Asked for coke refills and she said $5, so we gave her 10 dollars of Chinese money for two cokes.  Turns out it was only like $1.58.

Yes, this is the fish they serve in the restaurant.  Wyatt was fishing for his lunch:

On the streets, the people lay the wheat out to dry.  Literally in the street where the cars drive.  Crazy.

First time seeing a squattly potty.  And no I didn't use it.

TA, CA and Travel Confirmed!!!

I have been a little behind in updating my blog.  Things have been happening fast, finally, and we are in the home stretch.  Our TA (travel approval) came on June 5^th, only 13 days after our Article 5 pickup.  I am thankful that it came so quickly considering some of our more recent slowdowns.  I thought after receiving TA I would be relieved and finally be able to relax, but I was wrong because getting TA just meant another painful wait though thankfully not as long.  And it meant a whole new kind of stress.  As soon as our agency had our TA in their hands they called us and asked us when do we want to go.  Some people choose to go the following week and some wait because they have other commitments.  In a way, things worked out perfectly for us because now we could go right after Devin finishes his class without having to be the ones to delay our travel.  We had to give our agency 5 consulate appointment (CA) dates and they would try to get us scheduled for one of those.  So began a grueling, stressful, agonizing, nail biting 30 hours.  The agency finally called me at 11:40 p.m. on June 6^th, right after I started to drift off to sleep (I haven’t been sleeping well) and informed me that we were given our second choice of July 5^th for our CA.  Good and Bad.  Good because we don’t have to wait another week, but bad because it means we have to stay in China for an extra 2 days.  I don’t care, I just want to go get our daughter and come home. 

 

After confirming our CA we were allowed to book our travel, both our international flights as well as our hotels and in country flights.  Did I mention this was stressful?  I used Todd who is well known in the adoption circles to get good rates and the best flight plans…BUT we only were given two choices…and they were both OUTRAGIOUS.  Now this is not Todd’s fault, not at all.  This is because summer is a very busy time to fly to China and the rates are doubled.  Seats were nearly impossible to find, but we did finally get flights out on Korean Air for June 20^th.  I have heard great things about the airline and if it is half as good as I have heard then we should be golden.  Our agency partners with a travel agent in China and she worked her magic and got us our flights in China and our hotels for 16 nights.  We will be traveling to Beijing, Xining and Guangzhou.  Of course, as is typical with our luck, the weekend we are arriving is a public holiday, Dragon Boat Festival, so hotels are nearly booked and more expensive than other dates.  It just doesn’t matter anymore…I just want to go.

 

But now, well now I am panicking.  I don’t have enough time.  How can I possibly get everything done that I want and need to get done?  I have work to tie up, clean my house, pack, pack, pack.  And along the way, I keep realizing I am missing things and having to buy them…cell phone rental, VPN, swim caps, converter, medicines, suitcases, car seat.  I have only a few more things to get, which is a good thing because we only have 9 more days before we leave.  NINE.  Here comes the panic again. 

 

I would like to say thank you to the Facebook group I belong to, DTC Winter, because without them I probably would not be as ready and organized as I am right now.   But then again, without them, I would probably spend less time reading all the great posts and might actually clean my house.  I am not overly active on the group, but they are a great group of people and I am really looking forward to traveling with some of them.

 

I will be back before we leave….