Friday, July 31, 2009
Thank you!
We want to take a moment to thank everyone who supported us through this adventure - financially, emotionally, with best wishes and prayers. There have been many blessings, but many challenges too and we couldn't have done it without your help.
Apologies to all the folks who are wondering where we have gotten to since we landed back in Nova Scotia. We have been staying pretty close to home, partly to help little Miah adjust to her new home and her new family, but partly also to help all of us adjust back to Atlantic time zone.
In truth, we can't wait to see all of you again and "show off" our new addition. In truth also, this is just the beginning of the journey. We'll see you on the road.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Early Riser
Good Morning! Miah was up really early this morning, and dozed a bit on the sofa in the early morning hours. Angelina slept until 6 am.
Miah says some things unprompted, such as; thank you, our names, apple juice, all done, bath time, change my bum, etc. She sings 'twinkle twinkle' and the 'E-I-E-I-O' portion of Old MacDonald's Farm song, humming the portions she doesn't know or adding unknown sounds/words.
She likes to get her bath, and loves to eat. Her favorite food so far, that we have noticed is eggs, which are easy enough. She's a good eater, and has a very pleasant nature. More later.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
The Sleep Conundrum
So this is day 4 back home in Halifax. Everything seems to be going well. Miah is adjusting well and seems to like her new home, with the extra space and more toys than we could ever offer in a hotel room.
Yesterday Angelina had the opportunity to go next door and play with her friends for a few hours. We were happy for her... she had stared at all of us for the past 2 weeks, so I was glad she could get a change of scenery and change of "role" for a while.
The only issue we are still struggling with is... sleep. Not that this is a surprise, we knew it would come but its still a challenge. The first day we got home, Miah decided that 1am was breakfast time and wanted up... and its hard to convince a 2 year old otherwise. So, Mum and Dad grabbed about 4 hours sleep that night.
Day 2 Miah snoozed most of the morning and had another big nap in the afternoon. To bed in the evening and she made it to about 3:30. Bad, but still progress.
Day 3 was more normal in terms of nap times. We were hopeful at bed time, but she only made it to 2:45. Mum took an early shift while Dad snoozed to about 6am, just to be able to function.
Day 4 was another 3:30 start. This time though Mum and Dad had called it a day around 8pm the previous night, so we still managed to grab 7 hours uninterrupted sleep. That's not too bad (and notably, the most we have had probably since last Thursday).
It'll come around in time, but it's never fun to go through it.
Yesterday Angelina had the opportunity to go next door and play with her friends for a few hours. We were happy for her... she had stared at all of us for the past 2 weeks, so I was glad she could get a change of scenery and change of "role" for a while.
The only issue we are still struggling with is... sleep. Not that this is a surprise, we knew it would come but its still a challenge. The first day we got home, Miah decided that 1am was breakfast time and wanted up... and its hard to convince a 2 year old otherwise. So, Mum and Dad grabbed about 4 hours sleep that night.
Day 2 Miah snoozed most of the morning and had another big nap in the afternoon. To bed in the evening and she made it to about 3:30. Bad, but still progress.
Day 3 was more normal in terms of nap times. We were hopeful at bed time, but she only made it to 2:45. Mum took an early shift while Dad snoozed to about 6am, just to be able to function.
Day 4 was another 3:30 start. This time though Mum and Dad had called it a day around 8pm the previous night, so we still managed to grab 7 hours uninterrupted sleep. That's not too bad (and notably, the most we have had probably since last Thursday).
It'll come around in time, but it's never fun to go through it.
Bonus Day!
Ok so our plan to get home didn't quite go to plan... and we were gifted a "bonus day" in China. Here's the story...
We got up Friday morning, did some quick packing then ventured out for one last trip... a short subway run to the silk market (we werent entirely sure about getting to the silk market from the subway, but the subway station actually opens out into the silk market - who knew?) We did some last minute shopping, then back to the hotel around lunchtime for an afternoon check-out.
We got to the airport, through the various security and customs desks, took the train ride (yep - in Beijing you catch a train to your boarding gates) and reached the gate around 4:30, ready for a 6pm departure. Then, we waited.
Around 5:30, we noticed the absence of a plane at the boarding gate, so we doubted the 6pm departure was still "real" but hey, nothing else to do but to wait.
6pm came and went... then 7pm. I should pause here and colour this chapter with a couple of observations about China. These are not complaints or whines... we love China and in any different culture there are differences - thats what keep things interesting, but this story really can't be told properly without noting some observations, namely:
1) In the west, companies generally try to have 1 policy for all, and stick to it. Not so in the east.
2) Whatever this policy may be, companies in the west generally try to communicate what it is, so people know where they stand. Not so in the east.
3) In the west, if people encounter a lineup, they will wait in line at the back of it. Not so in the east.
4) In the west, you can always get someone to speak to you in English, and/or understand your English questions. Not so in the east.
Ok, those things understood... 7pm came... then 8pm. We asked at the boarding gate what was happening. They said that due to bad weather the plane flying into Beijing had diverted to another city to land. It would take 1.5 hours for it to fly to Beijing when it took off, but it had not left yet. This was a bit confusing since we had been at the airport for 4 hours at this point and had been watching planes take off and land the whole time, but hey, ok.
Then came 9pm. Around 9:30 we saw an Air Canada plane touch down and taxi to our gate. Yay! Then we waited some more. We watched through the windows as they unloaded luggage, as cleaning crews boarded, and we tried to think of all the other things that need to be done to turn around a plane. Then around 10pm the Air Canada folks at the gate started talking about hotel vouchers. The implied message being, this plane wasn't leaving tonight. I heard from someone else that apparently the delays had pushed the pilot over his maximum flying hours, so he wouldn't be able to fly back to Canada (something they would have known at least 1.5 hours ago when the plane left to head towards Beijing, but hey).
So, someone with a big Air Canada flag arrived and everyone was to follow them. This is where #3 above got a little frustrating as we found ourselves bustled back and forth, with the little ones taking a few bumps as people tried to jostle to the front. I'm all for respecting culture, but when people start bumping the kids around they get my "very western" reaction. Not going to budge on that one. Oh and the train to get to the boarding gates... seemed quite cute on the way to the gates, was just another chore to negotiate when you are just following a flag without being entirely sure where the flag is going. Back through customs (little Miah's passport now has an exit stamp, with a "CANCELLED" stamp over the top of it, as a souvenir of this night) and out to the street where we were loaded onto buses (more jostling and bumping of little ones) to be taken to a local hotel.
At the front desk of the hotel we had more hassles as it is standard practice to use your passport to check into hotels in China. Since Miah was still under her Chinese passport, they wanted to know her permanent address in China. I tried to explain that up until yesterday, her address was the Grand Mercure hotel in Beijing. Before that it was the Dongfang hotel in Guangzhou. He didn't seemed to buy this one bit. Still, as we "negotiated" (and my mood degraded from "hello, its nice to meet you" down to "just give me the stupid room key") we eventually went from 2 rooms down to 1 (5 of us!) but at this stage we just wanted some sleep.
After some determined questioning, the AC staff at the airport told us that the flight would be leaving 9am the next morning, and the buses would return to the airport for 6:30 for check-in. They also told us that the flight would leave, same plane, same seat allocations, same everything in the morning. We tried to ask why, if we had boarding passes and assigned seats, why did we need to check-in again, rather than just going to the boarding gate... but that couldn't get over the language barrier.
Anyway, the buses were going to be at the airport at 6:30... no one could tell us what time they were leaving the hotel, so we just approximated from the time it took us to get there, and set our alarms for 5am. By now it was about 1am, so not a whole lot of sleep to be had, but we'll take it.
Up at 5am, we were all ready to go around 6am when they pushed something under the door saying that the buses would leave at 8am and everyone would get an alarm call at 6:30. So, we could have slept longer. Oh well. We grabbed some breakfast and the personal highlight was Jon leaving his backpack in the restaurant after breakfast... you know, THE backpack... the one with passports, adoption forms, visa forms, absolutely EVERYTHING in it that we needed over the next 24 hours. Fortunately, as he ran (literally) back down to the restaurant, the staff there had found it and set it aside.
We chatted to a Canadian girl in the hotel lobby and she said she was going to grab a taxi back to the airport. Get ahead of the crowd, avoid the jostling and it would be pretty cheap from the fairly local hotel. Good idea. So we grabbed a taxi and were at the airport at maybe 7:30am.
Next hurdle... at the check-in desk there were no Air Canada counters open. Maybe 10 other people had got there early and were waiting. Somehow, word flowed down that some desks would be opened around 7:45. Then, someone else appeared and said "everyone follow me" and took us around to some other counters, where they started checking folks in. It looked like a complicated process though as they spent maybe 10-15 minutes on each person, and we wondered at that rate just how long it would take to check back in a 777 of maybe 450 people. Well, as we waited we saw our troop of buses pulling up outside and the lobby flooding with people anxious to get to Canada. Next speed bump (and next "western moment")... we get to our place in line and are told that these desks are not really Air Canada desks which is why it is taking so long, so we should go back around to where we were before and line up behind the 200 or so people now waiting in the lobby. It may not have been polite, but we declined, and invited them to check us in anyway. They did.
Back through customs again, the train ride (we were getting pretty good at this by now) and back to the boarding gate, and this time to a real plane, that actually took off.
The flight itself went quite well... about as well as it could for a 13 hour flight with a 2 year old and a 4 year old. Angelina snoozed off and on throughout, and Miah slept for a good chunk of the time too. Mum and Dad had no such luck, but didn't really expect to. Fast forward several hours of staring at the map screen and imploring the little plane to move to the right, and here we are in Toronto.
Toronto represented another little challenge, but we were on the home stretch now. Our stopover in Toronto was about 1.5 hours. Normally more than enough time to find a new boarding gate, but this time around we had to...
1) Clear customs, since this was an international flight
2) Go to the immigration office and process Miah's Canadian residency paperwork
3) Re-claim our suitcases and re-check them onto our new connecting flight to Halifax
4) Clear security again and find our gate
We made it, but with not a whole lot of time to spare. The flight to Halifax was not uneventful, as we hoped for. Angelina threw up all over herself and her seat. We called for a flight attendant but none were available. We took her and her vomit bag to the bathroom, and proceeded to stand her on the toilet while we washed her down and changed her clothes. We sat Angel in Miah's seat, as Jon held Miah for landing. By now, the announcement that we should fasten our seatbelts as we approach Halifax since it will get "pretty bumpy" on landing brought no discernable reaction. By this point, if we could touch down in a field someplace in HRM I think we would have accepted that. We touched down on the runway as planned then to the blur of meeting family, finding suitcases and on to the drive home.
It was after supper time by the time we were home so we didn't do too much... basically got the kids into bed and put an end to a day that somehow felt like it spanned about 72 hours.
It's good to be home.
We got up Friday morning, did some quick packing then ventured out for one last trip... a short subway run to the silk market (we werent entirely sure about getting to the silk market from the subway, but the subway station actually opens out into the silk market - who knew?) We did some last minute shopping, then back to the hotel around lunchtime for an afternoon check-out.
We got to the airport, through the various security and customs desks, took the train ride (yep - in Beijing you catch a train to your boarding gates) and reached the gate around 4:30, ready for a 6pm departure. Then, we waited.
Around 5:30, we noticed the absence of a plane at the boarding gate, so we doubted the 6pm departure was still "real" but hey, nothing else to do but to wait.
6pm came and went... then 7pm. I should pause here and colour this chapter with a couple of observations about China. These are not complaints or whines... we love China and in any different culture there are differences - thats what keep things interesting, but this story really can't be told properly without noting some observations, namely:
1) In the west, companies generally try to have 1 policy for all, and stick to it. Not so in the east.
2) Whatever this policy may be, companies in the west generally try to communicate what it is, so people know where they stand. Not so in the east.
3) In the west, if people encounter a lineup, they will wait in line at the back of it. Not so in the east.
4) In the west, you can always get someone to speak to you in English, and/or understand your English questions. Not so in the east.
Ok, those things understood... 7pm came... then 8pm. We asked at the boarding gate what was happening. They said that due to bad weather the plane flying into Beijing had diverted to another city to land. It would take 1.5 hours for it to fly to Beijing when it took off, but it had not left yet. This was a bit confusing since we had been at the airport for 4 hours at this point and had been watching planes take off and land the whole time, but hey, ok.
Then came 9pm. Around 9:30 we saw an Air Canada plane touch down and taxi to our gate. Yay! Then we waited some more. We watched through the windows as they unloaded luggage, as cleaning crews boarded, and we tried to think of all the other things that need to be done to turn around a plane. Then around 10pm the Air Canada folks at the gate started talking about hotel vouchers. The implied message being, this plane wasn't leaving tonight. I heard from someone else that apparently the delays had pushed the pilot over his maximum flying hours, so he wouldn't be able to fly back to Canada (something they would have known at least 1.5 hours ago when the plane left to head towards Beijing, but hey).
So, someone with a big Air Canada flag arrived and everyone was to follow them. This is where #3 above got a little frustrating as we found ourselves bustled back and forth, with the little ones taking a few bumps as people tried to jostle to the front. I'm all for respecting culture, but when people start bumping the kids around they get my "very western" reaction. Not going to budge on that one. Oh and the train to get to the boarding gates... seemed quite cute on the way to the gates, was just another chore to negotiate when you are just following a flag without being entirely sure where the flag is going. Back through customs (little Miah's passport now has an exit stamp, with a "CANCELLED" stamp over the top of it, as a souvenir of this night) and out to the street where we were loaded onto buses (more jostling and bumping of little ones) to be taken to a local hotel.
At the front desk of the hotel we had more hassles as it is standard practice to use your passport to check into hotels in China. Since Miah was still under her Chinese passport, they wanted to know her permanent address in China. I tried to explain that up until yesterday, her address was the Grand Mercure hotel in Beijing. Before that it was the Dongfang hotel in Guangzhou. He didn't seemed to buy this one bit. Still, as we "negotiated" (and my mood degraded from "hello, its nice to meet you" down to "just give me the stupid room key") we eventually went from 2 rooms down to 1 (5 of us!) but at this stage we just wanted some sleep.
After some determined questioning, the AC staff at the airport told us that the flight would be leaving 9am the next morning, and the buses would return to the airport for 6:30 for check-in. They also told us that the flight would leave, same plane, same seat allocations, same everything in the morning. We tried to ask why, if we had boarding passes and assigned seats, why did we need to check-in again, rather than just going to the boarding gate... but that couldn't get over the language barrier.
Anyway, the buses were going to be at the airport at 6:30... no one could tell us what time they were leaving the hotel, so we just approximated from the time it took us to get there, and set our alarms for 5am. By now it was about 1am, so not a whole lot of sleep to be had, but we'll take it.
Up at 5am, we were all ready to go around 6am when they pushed something under the door saying that the buses would leave at 8am and everyone would get an alarm call at 6:30. So, we could have slept longer. Oh well. We grabbed some breakfast and the personal highlight was Jon leaving his backpack in the restaurant after breakfast... you know, THE backpack... the one with passports, adoption forms, visa forms, absolutely EVERYTHING in it that we needed over the next 24 hours. Fortunately, as he ran (literally) back down to the restaurant, the staff there had found it and set it aside.
We chatted to a Canadian girl in the hotel lobby and she said she was going to grab a taxi back to the airport. Get ahead of the crowd, avoid the jostling and it would be pretty cheap from the fairly local hotel. Good idea. So we grabbed a taxi and were at the airport at maybe 7:30am.
Next hurdle... at the check-in desk there were no Air Canada counters open. Maybe 10 other people had got there early and were waiting. Somehow, word flowed down that some desks would be opened around 7:45. Then, someone else appeared and said "everyone follow me" and took us around to some other counters, where they started checking folks in. It looked like a complicated process though as they spent maybe 10-15 minutes on each person, and we wondered at that rate just how long it would take to check back in a 777 of maybe 450 people. Well, as we waited we saw our troop of buses pulling up outside and the lobby flooding with people anxious to get to Canada. Next speed bump (and next "western moment")... we get to our place in line and are told that these desks are not really Air Canada desks which is why it is taking so long, so we should go back around to where we were before and line up behind the 200 or so people now waiting in the lobby. It may not have been polite, but we declined, and invited them to check us in anyway. They did.
Back through customs again, the train ride (we were getting pretty good at this by now) and back to the boarding gate, and this time to a real plane, that actually took off.
The flight itself went quite well... about as well as it could for a 13 hour flight with a 2 year old and a 4 year old. Angelina snoozed off and on throughout, and Miah slept for a good chunk of the time too. Mum and Dad had no such luck, but didn't really expect to. Fast forward several hours of staring at the map screen and imploring the little plane to move to the right, and here we are in Toronto.
Toronto represented another little challenge, but we were on the home stretch now. Our stopover in Toronto was about 1.5 hours. Normally more than enough time to find a new boarding gate, but this time around we had to...
1) Clear customs, since this was an international flight
2) Go to the immigration office and process Miah's Canadian residency paperwork
3) Re-claim our suitcases and re-check them onto our new connecting flight to Halifax
4) Clear security again and find our gate
We made it, but with not a whole lot of time to spare. The flight to Halifax was not uneventful, as we hoped for. Angelina threw up all over herself and her seat. We called for a flight attendant but none were available. We took her and her vomit bag to the bathroom, and proceeded to stand her on the toilet while we washed her down and changed her clothes. We sat Angel in Miah's seat, as Jon held Miah for landing. By now, the announcement that we should fasten our seatbelts as we approach Halifax since it will get "pretty bumpy" on landing brought no discernable reaction. By this point, if we could touch down in a field someplace in HRM I think we would have accepted that. We touched down on the runway as planned then to the blur of meeting family, finding suitcases and on to the drive home.
It was after supper time by the time we were home so we didn't do too much... basically got the kids into bed and put an end to a day that somehow felt like it spanned about 72 hours.
It's good to be home.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Last Full Day in China
Our last full day in China, and it was a good one. We started out by deciding to spend at least a part of our "free day" shopping. We had heard that Wangfuxing St was a good place for shopping, so figured we would start there. Of course, without the "sanction" of our guide we were at a loss for transport so we decided to bite the bullet and try the Beijing subway. At first it required a little "adjustment" (eg. we needed lots of help buying tickets... the stations themselves are in western script but the little automated ticket machines are all Chinese script, so we used our favourite plan B of finding a helpful looking person, then waving our hands and gesturing a lot until our point is made. Second, the subway doors open and close quite quickly, and once they close they close. In other words, only leave a limb sticking through the gap if you are ok losing it. Anyway, quirks figured out we made a fairly direct route to Wangfuxing St, which was a pretty good starting location for our subway experience, since it was just a few stops eastbound from our hotel.
The area itself, I think the scope was lost on us because we weren't nearly prepared enough. Wangfuxing is basically a pedestrianized area full of shopping malls. For us, showing up with no fixed plan, no idea of really what we were looking to buy or what we were prepared to spend, plus aware that the day was ticking away... we enjoyed ourselves but if we were ever to come to Beijing again (and probably a note to people reading this who may visit later) is that time at Wangfuxing St would probably be much more productive if some of these things were figured out ahead of time.
We got back to the hotel mid afternoon. Jon and Dena wanted to try to get some better pictures of the olympic stadium, and since our preliminary subway experience had gone well, felt confident enough to attempt the trip. This was a big step up though in subway terms... Wangfuxing St was just a couple of stops to the East. The olympic stadium was way up in the North of Beijing, requiring 4 or maybe 5 line changes and a substantial portion of the city traversed, to get to. So, we decided that the best plan was, Mum would stay at the hotel and play with the little ones, while Jon and Dena attempted the "olympic pursuit". This would provide the opportunity for Mum to bond more with Miah, while the subway riders could travel a whole lot lighter.
Long story short, both plans were a success. Jon and Dena found where they were going just fine, although the total journey took probably 1.5 hours, the majority of which was probably subway time. Interesting diversion (and a great memory for years to come)... as they both emerged from the olympic stadium subway station, the whole sky was an eerie dark colour. Jon commented "it looks like its going to storm". Off they went towards the birds nest stadium and water cube, and just a few minutes later the rain started... and it POURED. Most of the locals went running for cover but for a couple of Nova Scotians who have found the sticky heat a bit much over the last little while... well, they just kept walking. This appeared to be both fascinating and hilarious to some of the locals who had sought cover, as they cheered and took photos as they splashed past in the pouring rain. The best reaction was from the girl back at the subway station, who could not contain her fits of laughter as Jon produced a soaking wet 5 yuan bill from his wallet, to cover the subway fare back to the hotel.
Back at the hotel, bath time was in full swing. Everyone was in good spirits but the little ones were fading fast. So, we caved in and ordered room service. The meal was a bit pricey (of course) but really was not bad at all.
Tomorrow we have to check out of the hotel at 2pm and then head to the airport for the flight back to Canada. We are hoping to be able to make one extra run in the morning... to the silk market to do some last minute shopping. So... this might just be our last blog entry from China, and our last entry at all for a little while. I recall from last time how tired we were once we got home and how long it took to adjust to life in Canada again. Plus, we have a new little one to watch over, so we want to place our priorities right there, which means we will blog only when we feel able. To those that have been following our journey, we thank you for your interest and will no doubt speak to you soon.
Summer Palace
Today we got to visit the Summer Palace. This was something we had been looking forward to since... well... the last time we were in China, really. Last time around in 2005, it was November/December when we visited the Summer Palace. So for one, the trees and bushes were bare and for another it was absolutely freezing and we really couldn't wait to get back on the bus. Of course, travelling in July this time, a very different proposition.
In terms of the weather, we have actually been surprised by the heat in Beijing. Sure, it doesnt have the strength-sapping humidity that Guangzhou does, but it is still very very hot here - today I think the temperature was 35 degrees.
Needless to say, the views of the Summer Palace were just beautiful and we snapped our fair share of pictures. After the Summer Palace we visited the pearl factory - something we remembered quite well from last time and the routine has not really changed, although we took the opportunity to a buy a few gifts at reasonable prices. From there we visited the silk market. We had heard about this before but we didn't get there last time - presumably just didn't have the time. So, we got to learn a little bit about the silk trade in China, and got to try our hand at stretching a piece of silk out to make into a sheet - which of course went predictably poorly.
After leaving the silk factory, we were dropped off at the pearl market for a couple of hours. This is another one of those high pressure "barter for your life" type of situations. Last time we had visited the silk market but missed the pearl market. Interestingly, while some of the "first time" folks seemed a bit overwhelmed, we actually found the sales pitch a bit more laid back than we had encountered at the silk market.
On the way from A to B somewhere we passed by the birds nest stadium and the water cube - famous from last summer's olympic games. We snapped a handful of pics but from the highway they didn't turn out great - will have to see if we can improve on that.
Tomorrow we have pretty much a free day, so not sure yet how we will spend it. It will be our last full day in China... boy, the time has flown by!
A Quieter Day
Today was a relatively uneventful day. I guess the most significant event that impacted our time was that Christine caught a cold (or something) that went right to her head and pretty well knocked her out for the count. Today was "administrative" day in Beijing, which meant that Dad would be flying solo.
In the morning we had to finalize our paperwork to apply for permanent residency in Canada, for our little Miah. Finished up the forms as best we could, and back onto the bus. First stop was the SOS Clinic, where our little ones are checked over by a team of doctors, the point being so that any unknown or undisclosed health issues are brought to light, prior to bringing the child home to Canada. The medical check-up went fine. The Doctor explained that Miah was a little underweight for her age, but not to worry. I wasn't worried... when Angelina came through the SOS Clinic 4 years ago, she barely even registered on their weight chart!
After the clinic, we went to the Canadian Embassy in Beijing and submitted all our forms. Since these have to be fast-tracked (that is, processed in 2-3 days) they have someone doing sanity checking of the forms right at the embassy... aaand... we struck out with Mum being sick that day, since a couple of the forms needed to be signed and dated by both parents! So... back onto the bus, back to the hotel to add a 2nd signature to the forms. Fortunately, our guide Jennifer offered to run the completed forms back to the embassy herself, so we were set for the rest of the day.
In the evening, with a little bit of help from the front desk combined with vague memories of 4 years ago, we were able to find the "famed" dumpling restaurant just across the street from the hotel. Great food, and fed the whole family for 102 yuan (about $16 Canadian).
Not a lot of photo ops today, but Miah is showing much more interest in playing together with Angelina, now enjoys splashing and playing in the bath tub, and is warming up to Mum a little more.
Monday, July 20, 2009
The Great Wall
Today was "Great Wall" day, which was a source of excitement for Angelina. In short, she couldn't wait to visit a landmark that was so significant in the plot of "Mulan". We told her to expect a lot of climbing and a lot of stairs, and that we would climb all the way up to the clouds. She was ready.
Based on our experience at the Great Wall the last time around (Dad learned that carrying a 9 month old in a baby carrier, plus a video camera, plus a still camera to climb the wall in icy December was not too smart (some would call it dangerous... Dad would call it "fearless")) the plan was that Mum would stay down at the base with Miah in the stroller, and Dad and Angelina would scale the heights.
Of course, climbing the wall in July is considerably different than climbing in December. Gone are the slippery steps and bitterly cold winds. In their place, strength-draining head and humidity. Dad's not too smart move this time around was to leave the water bottle with Mum at the bottom, commenting "we can drink when we're done." True enough, but drinking throughout might have been pleasant too.
Anyway, off they went "into the clouds". The result? They did well. Its hard to measure accurately since it appears there's always another section ahead of you, but they climbed a good 20 minutes higher than the little picture-taking store off to the side which many people regard as the finish line. They spent a few minutes breathing at the very top before coming back down, perhaps looking a little worse for wear but still comfortably within the 2 hours allotted there, with still enough energy to evade the "Beijing style" sellers at the base.
Another good day. Tomorrow we get a little more serious, taking Miah to the SOS clinic and applying for her Canadian Permanent Residence status.
Speaking of Miah, she continues to make good progress. She has started to get a little more verbal now... playing the game of "up" and "down" on the bus, and repeating things like "wow" and "oh my". Also progress on the Mom front too - I'd say we have upgraded from total contempt to primarily contempt. I know... doesn't sound very cozy yet, but we'll take the progress as it comes.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Day 1 In Beijing
As mentioned, due to our late arrival today was to be a rest day in Beijing. Not unhappy about that either. Not so much for the "grown ups" - I think we are all holding up quite well. Particularly for little Miah though, I think she could use the break.
Really, its so unfair. We meet with Miah, and we put every little thing she does under a microscope (for reference, see everywhere else in this blog) and used words like "bonding" and "transition". Unfortunately though, we also make it so hard for her to thrive. I mean, when was the last time we could offer her an uninterrupted nap time? Ok, she has grabbed a snooze here and there on a bus or plane, but hardly the same thing. Today was different though.. so... good!
We took our time in the morning and went down for breakfast at a more comfortable time than we had grown used to. At breaskfast we bumped into Wanda and Julie, who were also from Nova Scotia and Drew and his family from BC. All of us were adopting the same time, had met up originally in Shanghai before spreading out to each of our appropriate provinces, and then converging back together again in Beijing. So, here we all are again.
After breakfast we took a walk down to Sogo, to stock up on some staples (the intent being to avoid that whole "oops, we ran out of water again" scenario that plagues us). After some shopping we came back to the hotel, had some lunch and put Miah down for a REAL nap. Well I guess it worked because after lunch we saw some real progress. Jon was playing with Miah and Angelina, and for maybe 15-20 minutes Miah laughed and smiled her way through it. We have seen glimpses of smiles before, but nothing like this.
For dinner all the Canadian families went out to an Italian restaurant just along the way. Food wasn't bad. Now to bed... tomorrow we travel to the Great Wall (a highlight for Angelina!)
Last Day In Guangzhou
So today is our last day in Guangzhou and just as when we left Nangchang after adopting Angelina, feelings are a bit mixed. Yes, Beijing is a very exciting destination to move to next... lots of famous landmarks, photo opportunities. Plus, the English language is much more "available" in Beijing, so we will generally know what we are eating, how much something might cost, etc. I tried to describe the city of Guangzhou to someone, and fumbled my way along the lines of... think of London, England... significantly increase the population, the traffic and the pollution, remove the English language and replace it with something you don't understand... then wind up the temperature to 38 degrees and the humidity to 100%. I realized after the fact, what a negative picture I had painted. What I should have somehow added was that we LOVE Guangzhou! I can't really explain how, or why, or what... but the place just has a character to it. Someone mentioned to me that due to the air quality in Guangzhou, living there is equivalent to having a regular smoking habit, from a health point of view. I don't dispute that for a second, since I felt the air was wreaking havoc on my sinuses within days of landing there. Yet, at the same time... a certain sadness about leaving. Maybe 10 years from now I'll be able to articulate better exactly why. Maybe not.
In any case, the day started on a positive note. We sat Angelina and Miah down and gave them some play-do to play with. They played well together for maybe 45 minutes. Don't get me wrong, there were no hugs and kisses... just that in Miah we had a girl that pretty much refused all interaction, both with Angelina and most others for the past several days. So, even something as simple as the two of them sharing play-do, passing little pieces back and forth to each other, represented progress.
For the rest of the morning we packed up our bags then checked out of the hotel after lunch. We spent some of the afternoon looking around the Guangzhou Arts & Culture Centre (I think it was called?) - a place known for spectacular hand carving of all manner of historical artefacts.
From there, we made tracks out to the Guangzhou airport, said our farewells to our guide, Jack (who if I have neglected to mention in earlier posts, did an outstanding job in making sure our adoption of Miah went as smoothly as it possibly could) and boarded our plane to Beijing.
The flight was uneventful... but the part after landing in Beijing was a little more dramatic than usual. For whatever reason... I assume to do mainly with scheduling, we flew into Beijing not via the international airport, but via a smaller city airport used primarily for military flights. We have done flights before where you walk off a plane, across the tarmac and to the terminal. We have not however, had flights before where you walked across the tarmac, while spooled up A320s were taxiing along that same tarmac. Different!
One advantage of flying so late was that the Beijing streets were pretty deserted, so we got into our hotel fairly shortly and got some much needed rest. Day off tomorrow... and can't really say that I'm disappointed.
TCH Day!
Today was one of the days we were both looking forward to when we saw our itinerary - the opportunity to visit TCH and see where Miah had most recently been cared for and meet (and thank) some of the folks who had worked with her.
The drive out to TCH took a little bit of time since we are in Guangzhou which is a slightly different spot to the location of TCH, so another early start - into the van and onto the highways. The drive out was pretty uneventful and we got to TCH around 9:30 or 10:00.
Once inside things got a little difficult. Many of the children that are helped by TCH are involved in some sort of foster program, so at the point when they are adopted they likely don't think of TCH as "home" any more. Not so with our Miah. Prior to Monday, she stayed full-time at TCH. So, not entirely surprisingly she had a very hard time coming back, as did many of her caregivers.
For the first 30-45 mins that were there, Miah screamed and cried and went from caregiver to caregiver... sometimes to Mum or Dad... but basically was just a bundle of confusion. We pretty much all unanimously decided that these circumstances were really not beneficial to anyone, so we went upstairs with Miah where we could calm things down a bit and talk over some things.
We got to meet Jenny who is an absolute dynamo and seems to be the driving force that makes TCH what it is. Indidentally, I should talk about what TCH is :O) We were all hugely impressed at the excellent standards of care, concern, cleanliness, and organization that were offered to all the children we met there. We have seen orphaned children in China before, and TCH was far and away the best care we have seen provided, across the board. Ok, all that said... we also got to meet Katrina who can speak both English and Chinese fluently and just seemed to have a wonderful heart to help out by offering anything and everything she can. We also had the opportunity to speak to Dr Angela Le and get some much needed understanding about Miah's surgeries to date... the purpose... the goals, and how and why the brace works, and how it should be used. Important for us, considering we realized we really hadn't been using it correctly for the first few days we had Miah!
After leaving TCH, Jenny very kindly took us out to lunch. We said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel.
In the evening, we found a nice restaurant right in our hotel complex - perfect for dinner. Still, like many restaurants in China, the menu required careful navigation (note the "roasted suckling pig" in the corner.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Tough day in Guangzhou
Today was difficult in a bunch of different ways. Up early... very early. We slept a little later than usual, but Jon and Angelina both woke up around 4am. Angelina noticed she had someone to talk to... and talked. Around 4;15, they gave up and went out for a walk - first around the hotel grounds and then down to a local park, arriving back around 6am. Woke Miah up and got her ready with relatively little meltdown (although everything still has to be done by Daddy - Mommy isn't allowed to be involved yet) and then downstairs to breakfast.
Had to be out fairly early as we were heading out at 8:15 to meet a friend that we had made contact with before arriving in China. She took us on a day trip that was... both educational and emotional... probably moreso than the day we met Miah. Not easy blog material... will have to go into more detail on this once we arrive home.
On the way back to town we stopped into KFC for lunch. Noted the Guangzhou KFC sells "tentacles on a stick". Thanks, no thanks.
Around dinner time we went to our friend's house for dinner and met her brother and parents, all of whom were in China as missionaries, doing different work out in the field but all towards the same ultimate goal. Beautiful, beautiful family. We were truly blessed to have the opportunity to meet with them, to share the blessing of Miah's adoption and to praise the Lord together. Also of note, through God's blessing they had come to be renting a huge apartment on the 28th floor of an apartment building, with access to the roof upstairs. From the roof, some incredible views of the city.
On the downside, somewhere in the midst of today, Jon threw his back out - presumably as a result of the combination of having Miah attached to his hip, plus dragging around various supply bags, document cases, etc, etc. Still, the China itinery rolls on... tomorrow we have a day trip to TCH where Miah was cared for most recently, so your prayers for speedy recovery would be very much welcomed. Also, prayers for our TCH trip tomorrow, that it wouldnt be too hard for Miah to see her caregivers again, and that this trip would promote bonding with her new family.
Tuesday - It's Official!
It's Official!
Well, Tuesday came and went and we have good news.... Miah is officially ours now! We got Miah up in the morning... she had completely zonked out and we ended up having to wake her up at after 8am, since we had a meeting at the adoption centre at 9:30. Getting her up didnt go over particularly well, but she settled down quite soon.
Right now Miah is into a mode where she likes Dad the best... and only, really. She will come to him and allow him to pick her up, carry her around, play with her, etc. SHe also likes to be pushed in the stroller. Usually, Dad also has to be the one to push the stroller too, but sometimes others are permitted to push. As far as basic needs go, she will soften a little bit and allow Mom to feed her, change her, etc.
The adoption centre meeting went off without a hitch. We followed it up with a run to the bank, to address our "travellers cheques hitch" which went well too - they changed all except $400 of the travellers cheques and I think we are pretty much covered for fees now.
After the adoption centre, we had another appointment with the notary public. Short and sweet and seemed to all go well.
After the administrative stuff was over with quite quickly, so we followed that up with a run to a grocery store - picked up a decent supply of water and juice (that would last us more than a day or two), a suitcase to replace Dena's suitcase that broke on the way to China. Nice grocery store, but of course Angelina needed the washroom, which will end up being a "grandchildren story" in its unpleasantness.
Suppertime we decided to tour around and find a nice place to eat. Here they have some very busy intersections close to the hotel, so we use the subway to cross over the road. So, we went out in the sweltering heat, somehow got our wires crossed and ended up walking up and down a whole lot of steps in the heat, and came out right next to our hotel again! We started to admit defeat, but on the way back to the hotel, we saw the entrance to a restaurant right in our hotel. Food was good and reasonable, so what started out badly had a good ending. Hoping for the same story for MIah too!
Monday, July 13, 2009
What a day!
We have our little one! What a day!
We knew yesterday that we had an appointment at the adoption centre at 3pm. So the trick in the morning was to pass the time without us climbing the walls. We took Angelina to a park just before lunchtime. It was nice, but really TOO hot outside. I think the temperature was maybe 35/36 degrees outside and we were sweating just standing in one spot. A little different from what we are used to!
Our guide, Jack, came to the hotel at 1:30. We had to make a simple (!) run to the bank, then on to the adoption centre. Unfortunately, as it turned out, the banks in Guangzhou are not really thrilled about cashing travellers cheques and since the money to cover all our administrative expenses were brought in travellers cheques, that represented a bit of a problem. Originally the bank would only cash about 1/3 of what we needed. Our guide talked them into doubling that, and then actually withdrew some money to lend us from his own account, to make sure we had enough to get us through the day. Can't beat that! Anyway, the result was that it took us way longer than planned, so we raced back to the hotel around 2:30, Jon ran (literally) upstairs to the hotel room and said "time to go... right now" and we were away to the adoption stuff. Ok, now to the good stuff...
At the adoption centre, the folks from TCH were there and we met Jenny and talked for a while. The folks from the orphanage had to be "authoritative" in the adoption handover. They were not there yet, so we waited. Oh, Miah was with some of the caregivers in a play area behind a curtain but in we sneaked a couple of preliminary pics through the curtain. At one point they had to move her to a different room to have her foot prints done before the handover, so they carried her out right in front of us. We smiled and waved and she half-smiled back at us, which we thought might be an indication that this would go well. Not so much. When the actual handover happened, the caregiver handed Miah to Jon (which is quite unusual... the little one almost always goes to the mom). Anyway, she screamed and screamed... just wanted to get away from us. We tried for a few minutes to settle her down... entirely unsuccessfully. The whole time, Miah was pointing to the doors and rooms at the adoption centres, just wanted to be taken back to her caregivers that she knew.
We left the adoption centre, Miah still in floods of tears and took the van back to the hotel. A few mins away from the adoption centre, she fell asleep. Just like that. She just dropped, in about 3 seconds, and was gone. We managed to keep her asleep all the way back to the hotel, upstairs to the hotel room and to her crib, where she napped for about 45 minutes. We hoped when she woke she would be in better spirits. Nope! She woke up and was crying again... didn't want anything to do with us. She kept pointing to the door to the hotel room. We thought maybe it would settle her down to walk her around a bit, so we tried walking her around the hallways in the hotel for a while. She did settle a bit, but it was almost more heartbreaking to hear her cries here... you really got the sense that she was desperately searching for her way back to the life that she knew, and every time we turned a new corner she would search everywhere, but then let out a sob, that she still couldn't find anyone she knew, and her whole world was now filled with scenery she had never seen before.
In the end we decided to "make a stand" back at the hotel room. We realized that, while her searching appeased her a little bit, that we ultimately needed to show her and tell her that (for now at least) our hotel room is home, we are family, and this is where she will be staying... and that while it may not be good news to Miah right now, its the truth, and we may as well face it rather than just distracting with walks around the hotel. Of course, not a popular choice in the short term. She started to come around though and by about 7pm had settled down some, and would "permit" us to hold her, to touch her and to interact with her a bit. We even saw a couple of smiles before bed time. Bed time in fact, was quick. She clearly didn't want to go to bed, but didn't have the energy to fight. She protested, started to cry, but was out like a light in less than 10 seconds. Its now 5am on Tuesday and she is still snoozing, so we are glad she has had a good night's sleep and hopeful she will pick up where she left off last night, and we will have a happier day today.
So, about Miah... She is very very cute! She is also strong... both physically and emotionally. Not one bit afraid of what she wants. One key phrase we learned yesterday... "Boo yau" (basically means, "I don't want it"). Her most telling thing she said yesterday was "boo yau mama" --- I'll leave it to you to interpret! Our feelings weren't hurt though... it would be untrue to say we didn't expect a day at least somewhat like this. Oh, we also learned that the Chinese for please seemed to be "shay shay" (spelling could be off on all this, I'm just approximating) which actually directly translates to "thank you" but appears to be used in the context of "please" too (as in "thank you, get me away from these people"). She is also fiercely protective of her things... I assume just trying to protect the tiny little bit of world that she could control. She had 3 things, a book, a toy duck and a toy rabbit that Angelina gave to her... she held all those things close to her. Touching any one of them would bring about a huge meltdown. By the end of the day though, we could get through her dropping one of those toys, us saying "oops" and picking it up and giving it back to her. That was ok.
Now this entry would be incomplete without talking about Angelina. Angelina also had a rough day yesterday, and handled it like an absolute trooper. Angelina had become quite sure that Miah would like her the best, because she was small and they would identify with each other and become fast friends. Unfortunately, Miah really didn't want much to do with Angelina. Primarily because she was crying hysterically, but also because... I think Miah recognized she couldn't really fight her Mom and Dad.. we're just too big! Angelina though is much smaller, so I think Miah felt she could get away with being more forceful in her desire to get away from Angelina. Angelina tried SO hard... got toys, tried to give them to Miah, tried to hug her... put on a tea party for her... what a child... and you could tell the rejection was hurting, but she just wouldn't let it stop her. Angelina even told Dena later in the day that she was scared we would give Miah back because she was crying all the time. There's a lot going on inside Angelina... I think it was maybe quite complex for her emotionally to return to China and particularly, to return to an adoption centre. One of our stated goals for today is to be with Miah and to help her to progress in bonding with us... but also to not forget that Angelina is the "big sister" and needs love and attention and reassurance too. Sometimes she's so wise that we can forget she's just 4.
We are so blessed.
We knew yesterday that we had an appointment at the adoption centre at 3pm. So the trick in the morning was to pass the time without us climbing the walls. We took Angelina to a park just before lunchtime. It was nice, but really TOO hot outside. I think the temperature was maybe 35/36 degrees outside and we were sweating just standing in one spot. A little different from what we are used to!
Our guide, Jack, came to the hotel at 1:30. We had to make a simple (!) run to the bank, then on to the adoption centre. Unfortunately, as it turned out, the banks in Guangzhou are not really thrilled about cashing travellers cheques and since the money to cover all our administrative expenses were brought in travellers cheques, that represented a bit of a problem. Originally the bank would only cash about 1/3 of what we needed. Our guide talked them into doubling that, and then actually withdrew some money to lend us from his own account, to make sure we had enough to get us through the day. Can't beat that! Anyway, the result was that it took us way longer than planned, so we raced back to the hotel around 2:30, Jon ran (literally) upstairs to the hotel room and said "time to go... right now" and we were away to the adoption stuff. Ok, now to the good stuff...
At the adoption centre, the folks from TCH were there and we met Jenny and talked for a while. The folks from the orphanage had to be "authoritative" in the adoption handover. They were not there yet, so we waited. Oh, Miah was with some of the caregivers in a play area behind a curtain but in we sneaked a couple of preliminary pics through the curtain. At one point they had to move her to a different room to have her foot prints done before the handover, so they carried her out right in front of us. We smiled and waved and she half-smiled back at us, which we thought might be an indication that this would go well. Not so much. When the actual handover happened, the caregiver handed Miah to Jon (which is quite unusual... the little one almost always goes to the mom). Anyway, she screamed and screamed... just wanted to get away from us. We tried for a few minutes to settle her down... entirely unsuccessfully. The whole time, Miah was pointing to the doors and rooms at the adoption centres, just wanted to be taken back to her caregivers that she knew.
We left the adoption centre, Miah still in floods of tears and took the van back to the hotel. A few mins away from the adoption centre, she fell asleep. Just like that. She just dropped, in about 3 seconds, and was gone. We managed to keep her asleep all the way back to the hotel, upstairs to the hotel room and to her crib, where she napped for about 45 minutes. We hoped when she woke she would be in better spirits. Nope! She woke up and was crying again... didn't want anything to do with us. She kept pointing to the door to the hotel room. We thought maybe it would settle her down to walk her around a bit, so we tried walking her around the hallways in the hotel for a while. She did settle a bit, but it was almost more heartbreaking to hear her cries here... you really got the sense that she was desperately searching for her way back to the life that she knew, and every time we turned a new corner she would search everywhere, but then let out a sob, that she still couldn't find anyone she knew, and her whole world was now filled with scenery she had never seen before.
In the end we decided to "make a stand" back at the hotel room. We realized that, while her searching appeased her a little bit, that we ultimately needed to show her and tell her that (for now at least) our hotel room is home, we are family, and this is where she will be staying... and that while it may not be good news to Miah right now, its the truth, and we may as well face it rather than just distracting with walks around the hotel. Of course, not a popular choice in the short term. She started to come around though and by about 7pm had settled down some, and would "permit" us to hold her, to touch her and to interact with her a bit. We even saw a couple of smiles before bed time. Bed time in fact, was quick. She clearly didn't want to go to bed, but didn't have the energy to fight. She protested, started to cry, but was out like a light in less than 10 seconds. Its now 5am on Tuesday and she is still snoozing, so we are glad she has had a good night's sleep and hopeful she will pick up where she left off last night, and we will have a happier day today.
So, about Miah... She is very very cute! She is also strong... both physically and emotionally. Not one bit afraid of what she wants. One key phrase we learned yesterday... "Boo yau" (basically means, "I don't want it"). Her most telling thing she said yesterday was "boo yau mama" --- I'll leave it to you to interpret! Our feelings weren't hurt though... it would be untrue to say we didn't expect a day at least somewhat like this. Oh, we also learned that the Chinese for please seemed to be "shay shay" (spelling could be off on all this, I'm just approximating) which actually directly translates to "thank you" but appears to be used in the context of "please" too (as in "thank you, get me away from these people"). She is also fiercely protective of her things... I assume just trying to protect the tiny little bit of world that she could control. She had 3 things, a book, a toy duck and a toy rabbit that Angelina gave to her... she held all those things close to her. Touching any one of them would bring about a huge meltdown. By the end of the day though, we could get through her dropping one of those toys, us saying "oops" and picking it up and giving it back to her. That was ok.
Now this entry would be incomplete without talking about Angelina. Angelina also had a rough day yesterday, and handled it like an absolute trooper. Angelina had become quite sure that Miah would like her the best, because she was small and they would identify with each other and become fast friends. Unfortunately, Miah really didn't want much to do with Angelina. Primarily because she was crying hysterically, but also because... I think Miah recognized she couldn't really fight her Mom and Dad.. we're just too big! Angelina though is much smaller, so I think Miah felt she could get away with being more forceful in her desire to get away from Angelina. Angelina tried SO hard... got toys, tried to give them to Miah, tried to hug her... put on a tea party for her... what a child... and you could tell the rejection was hurting, but she just wouldn't let it stop her. Angelina even told Dena later in the day that she was scared we would give Miah back because she was crying all the time. There's a lot going on inside Angelina... I think it was maybe quite complex for her emotionally to return to China and particularly, to return to an adoption centre. One of our stated goals for today is to be with Miah and to help her to progress in bonding with us... but also to not forget that Angelina is the "big sister" and needs love and attention and reassurance too. Sometimes she's so wise that we can forget she's just 4.
We are so blessed.
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