Top 10 things...

...to do in hotel room with 4 people for 7 days while in Chongqing China:

10. Watch teenage Japanese game shows
9. Entertain 19 month old with the same and only 4 toys you can fit in your suitcase
8. Bypass 007 movie on Cinemax in favor of National Geographic channel because 5 year old also likes TV
7. Play dress-up
6. Drink warm Heineken
5. Read novel, if you remembered to bring one written in English
4. Watch Caillou video for the 15th time
3. Spend 10 minutes ordering spaghetti with no sauce from room service
2. Wonder how you will get through the day on the strict toilet paper rations
1. Yoga!

We went to visit Chongqing Children’s Welfare Institute on Friday. It is about an hour drive from the hotel, across the Yangtze River. Chongqing is a gigantic city. Most of the drive looked the same as what we see from our hotel, but as we got closer we drove through some pretty poverty stricken areas. It is such a contrast to see the crumbling old buildings and people sitting in old shacks after walking through the malls with Givenchy, Calvin Klein, and all those fancy designers. The young 20ish people in the city center are all smartly dressed and go out to dinner, to movies, and ice skating in the evening. There are two different worlds here.

At the orphanage we were taken upstairs to the area Kate spent most of her time. They showed us her bed and the playroom. The nannies sit on the floor with the babies for playtime. The ratio is great: One nanny to every three babies. Half the Sky Foundation makes this level of care possible. It is great to see the results of their hard work. We were there before lunch and got to see all the babies playing. They are all so sweet! The staff told us they are all special needs children.

Kate was excited at first to see familiar faces. She ran over to a couple nannies and started showing off her new clothes. Our guide translated for us—Kate said to them, “look at my pretty shirt.” Our new daughter loves sparkles and anything fancy. So cute! But later when we went into the crib room Kate started freaking out; crying, kicking, etc. It took quite a while to calm her down.

We asked about a little 4-year old girl that another family is adopting next month. The family had asked me to check on her if at all possible. The family just got their approval to travel to China, so the staff allowed us to see her. She came downstairs with one of her teachers from the preschool. When she saw us she started crying—she knows her family is coming soon. Her teacher calmed her down by telling her we were not her family, and that we were just checking on her for them. It is so scary to leave everything you’ve ever known, even if it is living in an orphanage with no family.

After the orphanage we drove to the location Kate was found. We will keep that private for Kate to hear first when she gets older, but I can tell you we had the most amazing experience. It is beyond anything I could have ever imagined.

"Yay," says Kate!

Thursday July 24

Thursday morning we all gathered for breakfast and some paperwork. Both Kylie and Kate like congee and tried different foods. After finishing the paperwork and giving our guide everything she needed to process our adoptions, we just relaxed in the room and played. Randy headed over to the supermarket with Mike. They had quite the little adventure. First they tried to go into the store through the wrong doors. For some reason that made a guard very suspicious, so he followed them the whole time they were in the store. Then, Mike tried to get a few bananas from the huge bunches they have there. As he reached over to tear a few from the bunch, a woman started yelling at him. Very confusing! He somehow managed to convey to her what he wanted, and she took her special scissors out and cut them for him. As he started to walk towards the checkout stand, she yelled, “Hey!” and kept shouting. Huh? Well, in China, they weigh the produce and give you a special price tag that you take to the counter with you to pay. We are figuring all this out slowly.

We headed back to the CAB at 1:15 to process our adoptions. It all went very smoothly, especially compared to last time. Wow-what a difference! We got our adoption certificate picture in just one take! It was extremely hot outside and inside the office. We were sweating everywhere. Ugh. The first few days were uncharacteristically cool here, so we got a little spoiled. So, we are now officially the new parents of Kate XueEr. Our guide is trying to teach us how to pronounce her name. It is “Shweh-Er.” We use it a bit because that is what Kate responds to right now. She can say “MaMa” and “Xie Xie” (thank you). Those are all the words we recognize, but she talks quite a bit. We just don’t understand Chinese!

Later in the day after naptime Kate had a little trouble. She woke up, looked around, and realized she was still with us strange people in this strange place. She then cried off and on the rest of the evening. Poor girl! She allows us to comfort her, and we do our best. She is grieving the loss of her nannies and everything she knows, so it is to be expected. Isabel has been really great through everything, and a big helper. She also has been sharing her sticker books with Kate, which is a very big deal. I’m very proud of her.
Today, Friday, we will visit Chongqing Children’s Home.

more pics

Wednesday July 23

I’m writing this on Friday morning (my computer is still set for U.S., so my posts record in U.S. time). The last two days have been a whirlwind of activity. On Wednesday afternoon we went to the Civil Affairs Bureau (CAB) to meet Kate. We walked in, and there she was, playing with her caregivers. With Isabel, the last time we adopted, we had to wait in a room and they brought her in, and I thought it would be the same--so I was totally surprised. I recognized Kate immediately. She looks exactly the same as her pictures. She came right to me and was very interested in all of us. I think she is quite the little socialite. But, when it came time for her nanny to leave without her, it was a different story. She has powerful lungs and she cried for a long time.
There is just one other family traveling with us (Jen and Mike), so it all went pretty quickly. They got their little girl, Kylie, and we headed back to the hotel. Randy and Isabel headed out for some take out from the food court and Kate and I hung out in the room and played with toys and snuggled. She did really well the first night. She loves all kinds of food and is not at all picky about her bottle. Her caregivers told us she has a bottle in the morning and one before bed, so we will stick with that for a while to ease her transition. But she definitely needs to be weaned from the bottle. She is HUGE. Good thing it is summer, because it is pretty hard to get pants on her. I gave the cute capris I brought to Kylie, because I couldn’t pull them up over Kate’s legs. She’s a healthy girl.
We also found out that Kate has been part of a program called Half the Sky. It is a fantastic program started by an adoptive U.S. mom that helps orphans all over China. They go in and teach the nannies how to care for the children. We have sponsored a child through that program since January 2007, which is coincidentally when Kate was born! The nanny gave us a beautiful memory book with pictures of Kate from 10 days old to now. There are also handprints and footprints in the book. It is a wonderful gift! I feel very blessed and am so thankful.

Tuesday

We ventured out to find a grocery store today. I definitely felt culture shock. There were so many people everywhere. To cross the street you have to walk right in front of traffic, kind of weaving through the cars—a little nerve racking to say the least, especially with your 5-year old daughter in tow. But, that is how they do it here.
EVERYONE stares at the three of us, but they stare at Isabel most of all. It is very uncomfortable, so I think I have to take my outings in small doses. It will be interesting to see how they stare after we get Kate.
There are many children here, and unlike the media portrays in the U.S., there seems to be equal amounts of boys and girls. We are right next to the city center and a large mall, and I saw a lot of families shopping with their kids.
Isabel wanted grilled cheese for lunch today. Instead, yes, you guessed it, she had more rice! This time with a little roast duck. There is a food court connected to our hotel. Very handy.
We are all excited to meet Kate tomorrow (and a little nervous). Our appointment at the Civil Affairs Bureau is at 2 p.m. They do marriages in the morning, and adoptions in the afternoon. We tracked down the other family—they are due to arrive sometime this evening. Hopefully they get here safely.
Later: We went out again, this time with a little ammo. Armed with a camera, the staring wasn’t as bad. I just held it up as we walked along and pretended to shoot multiple pics. It worked like magic! My new secret weapon… with the added benefit of pics to post to the blog.