More Pictures, Less Words

The Hunan Group at the Yue Lu Academy.

The Neighborhood Bookstore in Changsha.

The Medical Office for Cainan's Minimalist Medical Exam. Yep, he can hear and has two feet.

Cainan Getting Measured by Two Very Traditionally Dressed Nurses. I think nurses in the US should go back to dressing this way, right Jennifer?

The area in Guangzhou where we are staying is apparently a very popular place to have your wedding photos taken. We saw at least 6 couples doing so just today.

See what I mean?

Young Girl Playing Badminton. The streets were filled with people, young and old, knocking the old bird around.

Hugging the Wall. Cainan really likes this wall. He will get us to help him walk over to this portion of the wall and then he will just latch on to it. Rubbing his face against it. Clawing at it. I think it would make him very happy if we could bring that wall home with us.

How to have Swim Class without Water. There is a pool inside the building (we think). But first all the little kids came out on the sidewalk to do all their stretching and to practice their strokes. In unison.

Some of the Others - Kaylee, her happy Mom, and, down the table, big sis Sydney.

Some of the Others - Addison and Mom

Some of the Others - Fiona

Closing Days of Changsha

We busied ourselves on Wednesday with a tour of the Yue Lu Academy, the oldest university in China. It was a beautifully tranquil place full of natural open space and traditional architecture. It also included a Confucian temple on site that students would present sacrifices at upon graduation. That would make for a very interesting processional. The most informative portion of the tour took place when our guide discussed the history of the library that stood at the center of the grounds. The library is only open to advanced graduate students and not the general student body. I asked if this was due to a large number of precious artifacts and ancient texts. This led Sam to tell us that in fact the library holds very few items of this description because the Japanese stole them and burned the library to the ground. It was very clear from the way Sam spoke that this offense is still a sensitive portion of Chinese history. The Japanese refuse to return any of the stolen items. But the action that Sam found to be most reprehensible is the fact that the Japanese still refuse to acknowledge their actions during this period of conflict. Sam felt that the fact the government of Japan continues to misinform their populance thus producing an entire generation with a biased and wholly inaccurate understanding of the time period to be indefensible.

We again got to enjoy a Chinese meal that evening, this time in the hotel dining room. The meal was delicious but the real story was Cainan. As he continues his coming out party, he is getting more and more direct in demanding what he wants. While we were waiting for our food to come, I fed Cainan a jar of cat food/chicken paste. If I waited too long between bites, he would let out a holler and start tugging on my arm to get me to deliver the next payload. He quickly plowed through the first course and was still yelling around for more. By then, our food had come so I decided to give him some of the beef we had ordered. The beef had a bit of a spice to it but he didn't seem to mind as he started yelling for more once he swallowed the first piece. He ordered me to keep shoveling in the food as fast as he could woof it down. But as he kept eating, we started to notice that he was getting a little color in his cheeks. Soon that pink color turned to a nice bright shade of red. Apparently the spice was starting to get to him although he didn't seem to care as anytime his mouth remained empty for more than a few seconds, he would try to claw himself out of his seat, over my arm, and to my plate, to help himself to more. To his dismay, we eventually had to cut him off for fear that his little head was going to explode.

Before leaving Changsha, we had one more required stop to make. Since it was listed as noteworthy site in both the Changsha and the Hunan province guide books available in our hotel room, we had no choice but to pay a visit to the neighborhood Wal-Mart. There really aren't a whole lot of difference between the Chinese Wal-Mart and our ma and pop store-killing Wal-Marts of home. The food section, that is normally filled with boxed, frozen, and highly processed foods at home at home, is dominated by a wide array of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as a meat section that offers up any body part one might consider edible in China. In the checkout line mixed in with the usual impulse items like Snickers and tabloids where packaged chickens feet. Just in case you had a hankering. Also, all the products in the Chinese Wal-Mart are made in America.

Visiting Wal-Mart, seeing what the Chinese people buy and utilize in their daily life, and what all the people on the street wear and carry helped me realize anew that the souvenirs that we buy and track back to the states to recall and represent the country we just left have very little to do the modern state of the country. You know who where's T-shirts with Chinese characters? Western tourists. It is like going to Boston, buying one of those Paul Revere three-pointed hats, and thinking this is how Beantowners actually dress. I always imagine that the Chinese characters on our souvenirs that we are told mean "love" and "peace" are actually translated to say, "I can't believe stupid tourists buy this crap." We just don't know the difference.

Changsha Days

We have entered the dog days of the adoption process. The new and the novel has passed. The thrill of exploring the history and sights of Beijing are behind us. The anxiety of meeting our new child has eased and joy of finally getting to meet him is replaced with the mundane care and maintenance of the little bugger. Even the day to day experience of living in a land that doesn't speak your language has become routine. We have moved on from tourist to normal life but still living out of the hotel room with none of the amenities of home. A week to go with no more big events on the horizon. Counting down the days now and finding some things to help pass the time.

Tuesday was the designated baby supply shopping day. All those necessities that wouldn't fit in the suitcase have to be purchased now that the ankle biter is here. But before we headed to the Babies R Us of China, we first visited an Embroidery Museum. I am told that the Hunan Provence is well known for its embroidery and have won many prizes for their skill in this area. I have to take their word on this because I do not run in the circles of the dangerous and illegal world of competitive underground embroidery. What we saw was impressive though. The embroidery done here is not the typical initials on a handkerchief. Many of the embroidered pieces of art looked just like paintings. The stitches were only obvious once you were standing on top of the creation. There were another series of embroidered pieces that showed different pictures on either side of the material but there was no evidence of the picture on the reverse side of the material when looking at the picture on the front. We even got to see a group of ladies busy creating these incredibly detailed hand sewn patterns.

On the way to and from the embroidery museum, Cainan decided to serenade the van with a little song. It is interesting because his time riding around the city has also been his most vocal. It may be because he especially loves riding in the van or he so fears for his life that what we interpret as coos of happiness are actually screams for help. See, Chinese traffic is just one big game of chicken. You go where you need to go and dare the person driving in your path to get out of the way. Even our guide admitted that me pays no attention to the rules of the road despite the fact that the government has placed signs all over the city pleading with their citizens to obey a Stop sign every now and then. The picture above shows a car driving in an area clearly marked for pedestrians. Basically, if it is paved, it is a road, no matter what the signs say.

The baby store was a quick stop for the necessities. Food, diapers, a stroller (Cainan is a big boy, his head weighs 20 pounds by itself). Before I left, Jennifer made a point to instruct me to buy the highest quality brand of Chinese diapers. She explained that I had to be sure that they were the best because many of the Chinese diapers were substandard. But even then, I was to use the limited supply of diapers that I brought with me for overnight because the Chinese diapers could not be trusted for this critical time. I must not waste these American diapers because I would not be able to get something of equal quality here. When it finally came time to buy these diapers, I had to rely on a store clerk who did not speak English but I trusted that she was steering to the best. I had hoped that I had gotten it right or else I faced the impending disaster Jennifer had promised. When I got back, I took a good look at these diapers and they looked to be pretty substantial so I think I did OK. I can't pronounce the brand of diapers I ended up getting but it is spelled "Huggies".

In the evening we and the other Great Wall couple took a long walk up and down the street. This was our first time that we had really gone out in public with our new boys. Just like Cainan, the other child has cleft lip and palate although his has been partially repaired. One thing that became clear right away was that the average Chinese person has no problem staring. What seemed like every person we passed went through the same set of actions. They would first look at us and then actively seek to look in the stroller. It is with this second look that they would freeze their gaze before moving on. Afterwards, the other couple said they noticed this as well. What bothered them most about the experience, which I agreed with, was the blank slate that accompanied the looks. Neither positive or negative. Just a hard stare with no way of knowing what they were thinking.

As a final note on the day, we continued our search for a true Chinese eating experience. Unfortunately, Pizza Hut didn't seem to have anything Chinese so we had pizza instead.

Today, we tried to find more activities to burn time with. Our guide, Sam, took us to the largest park in the city for a nice long walk. The park seemed to serve as the town square. Large numbers of people gathered there to congregate and engage in all manner of activity. We saw large groups gathered in woods practicing their singing, other groups taking dance class, old men playing Chinese chess, bands rehearsing Chinese opera, and lots of kids being kids. The park also included a small amusement park that reminded me of Kennywood if Kennywood would have been abandoned for over a decade and then reopened for people to use without supervision.

The continued reaction of others to our boys and the level of curiosity about their lips is really interesting. We stopped to buy some water at one point and both of the girls behind the counter came out to take a good look. They then began peppering an associate of our guide -who had been accompanying us -with questions. It was clear what they were talking about because they kept pointing to their own lips. Afterwards, the guide's associate told us that the ladies thought the boys were very pretty but wanted to know if we were going to fix them and how that would be done.

Probably the most notable aspect of the day was Cainan. Today, he really came alive. Coming back after the park, he showed real life in playing in the hotel room. Chasing after things, climbing on us, actively pursuing games that made him happy. He started to show all the energy you would expect out of a little boy. He seems to have also found a particular liking to being tickled on the stomach. After doing it to him for a while and getting hearty laughs in response, he started crawling up to me and flipping himself on his back, begging like a dog to have his belly itched.

Following our guide's advice, we finally found a Chinese restaurant to eat at. At the restaurant we were led down a long hall of closed doors and into a small room. The room had a table set for eight as well as two green couches, a TV, air conditioner, and small dish washer. Basically, your grandma's kitchen. After the food came and we started to eat, the wait staff began a little game called "take a gander at the funny looking people". For no good reason, different members of the restaurant's crew would come into the room, take a look at our receipt, look around the table, and then leave. This continued one person after another until at least 10 different people had played the game. Finally, our original waitress came back in and started playing with Cainan. Cainan, who was done eating at this point, indicated he wouldn't mind getting up and the waitress obliged, picking him up and holding him for a good bit. She was clearly infatuated with him. Eventually she asked if she could take him out of the room. Apparently there was a bus boy that hadn't seen him yet. The whole thing was a little surreal and gave both us and the other couple a good laugh. Good food and a floor show.

Gotcha

The reason for the trip arrived today. We had a good, restful night's sleep followed by a leisurely breakfast with the other Great Wall couple in Changsha. Then, at 10:45, we set off to meet our boy.

The Civil Affairs Office is a run down, nondescript building about 10 minutes from our hotel (plus or minus a few flattened pedestrians). We entered the building and were led to a clean, open room lined with wooden benches. There was another family already in the room playing with their new little boy. We were instructed to wait in the corner until the arrival of ours. The little 2 year old was being adopted by the other Great Wall family was already there. The couple quickly made introductions and began the process of winning the affections of their new child. We were told that Cainan was still on the way. In about 5 more minutes, he came in the door in the arms of his nanny. After establishing that I was there for Chen Ji Tao, she handed him over. Cainan did not make a peep at the transfer. It was clear he did not know quite what to make of it all. There was a slight shake in his outstretched arms which were stiff and unmoving. But mostly, he just peered around and took in the sights while I held him. We stood him up at a table and got the stacking balls, Cheerios, Fish Crackers, and Little People out for him but he just continued to silently soak it in. While we were still breaking the ice, two more couples entered the room. In tow were two young Chinese girls. They came up to us and explained they were back to show their girls where they came from 9 years prior. The girls seemed a little apprehensive about being there but the parent's were eating it up. After a couple more photographs, both official and not, we loaded back in the van for the return to the hotel.

At the start for the ride back, Cainan continued his stoic lookout. Arms rigidly stuck out as if signaling a touchdown. But during the course of the ride, he did start the melt. After many attempts at getting him to take it, he finally decided that a Little Person was worth holding on to. At that same moment, he also decided they made really good projectile objects. That beget a game of fetch. He throws, we retrieve.

Once back in the room, I had a bunch of forms to fill out with our guide. This was when Cainan discovered the joy of Cheerios and Fish crackers. He chowed down. Next was bath time. the silent treatment continued but it seemed to go over quite well. We chased the Little People as they floated around the tub and made no notice of the water washing over his hair trickling into his eyes.

Lunchtime also went off without a hitch. The same old, same old of the Chinese formula was more for play than for meal but the Gerber baby food went down until the full light came on in his eyes. By this time, the shades were seemingly beginning to close over the retinas signalling need for nap time. This was proven to be the case, when after 5 minutes of hitting the mattress, it was nothing but ZZZZ's. Cainan gave us the first evidence that he is Jennifer's son as he loudly snored himself through slumberland.

New Part of China

The day began early, very early, with a two hour plane ride from Beijing to Changsha. Changsha is the capitol of the Hunan Provence, the birthplace of chairman Mao, and, most famously, the temporary residence of Cainan. Changsha is a rural city of "only" 5 to 6 million people (Baltimore has a population of about 600,000). The flight to Changsha was interesting. It was our first experience with a Chinese airline and they definitely have a much more relaxed outlook on aviation than we do. While the plane was taxiing to the runway, people were still milling about the plane and going to the bathroom. They only returned to their seats long enough for the plane to take off. As soon as we left ground, people were out of their seats and climbing the plane against its steep ascent to get back to the bathroom. When it came time to land, the stewardess ran through all the usual safety warnings including the reminder to stay buckled in your seats until we reach the terminal. As soon as the wheels of the plane hit the ground clicks were heard across the plane as everyone prepared to disembark while the plane was still breaking.

Of course some experiences of air travel don't change, no matter what country you are in. When the baggage claim carousel came to a stop, we found ourselves one bag short. After some awkward back and forth with the airport rep, we found out that my suitcase had not left Beijing. The people of the airport were very helpful and patient despite our inability to completely understand each other. We ended up pulling away from the airport with the promise that they would deliver my suitcase to the hotel as soon as it arrived in Changsha.

Our tour guide here is Hu (or Sam for us lazy Americans). He, like Ray, spoke with great respect and deference towards Chairman Mao during our ride into the city. There was also a great deal of pride that Chairman Mao was from Hunan. In the airport, a Chinese businessman set down next to Aunt Betty. When we found out that we were headed from Changsha, he asked Aunt Betty if she knew that Mao originated from here. When she said no, he responded, "You are American, aren't you?"

The hotel we are staying at is top notch (5-star). We are on the thirtieth floor of the hotel which seems to be their designated floor for adoptive parents. We have a crib in our rooms and a baby tub in the bathroom. But even more unique is a playroom right outside the elevators. It has a number of toys, child walkers, and stuffed dolls. A good place to entertain the kids. The surroundings help make the reality of tomorrow's events take hold. There will be a new member of the family starting tomorrow.

There is not much planned for the remainder of today. We have already taken a walk up and down the street. Stopped in a quaint bakery and browsed the aisles of a local bookstore. Bought some kid's books and later a couple of bootleg DVDs from a roadside stand. But that is about it. We might try to find a good Chinese restaurant for dinner. Unless we find an Indian place instead. Some Naan would really hit the spot.