Things Are Going Swimmingly

How cute is she?  I know one of the shots is blurry, but our little tadpole moves quickly, and that's what you have to accept.  Of course, she wants nothing to do with the swimming pool, but the goggles work great for her in the hotel dining room, and we like them, too.

Fitness Fanatic Family

Is this a match made in heaven, or what?  This is not a posed picture.  The girl loves to work out! 

I tried to post this last night, but it wouldn't connect, and I just had to get to bed.  Sorry about the wait for more.  We had clean laundry delivered yesterday afternoon by Peter.  We took our laundry, paid him, said thank you and bye then went downstairs to meet our guide and the driver for a roadtrip.  There was Peter.  From laundry guy to driver in a matter of 18 floors.  Seems like a nice guy, and he did get us safely to and from our destination so that speaks volumes.  Turns out we never needed the seatbelts that weren't in the van anyway. 

Today Maryn's passport will be delivered to our room, and we must pack for our trip to Guangzhou this afternoon.  The US consulate is in Guangzhou and there we will begin to process the paperwork and do the steps necessary for her immigration.  All of the 19 families in our travel group will be in Guangzhou today.  Some of those families we met in Beijing and others have spent the entire time in Guangzhou because their children were in the Guangdong Province.  One of those families has adopted an 8 year old so we are interested to see if there will be any interaction between them or will they want to stay close to their families.  People in Guangzhou are very familiar with foreigners and adoptive families so we should be able to roam more freely with a greater opportunity for playtime.  We'll see if she goes for it.  She just might want to stay in the gym.

Nonfiction Bestseller

No namebrand cafe in the local bookstore, but just down the street is a lovely, ancient teahouse selling talls, ventis and grandes.  Did I get that in the right order?

The Great Wallgreens

There's one on every corner.  Here, too.  Half Chinese medicine, half western style.

San He Tour

Today our guide took us to the town of San He, which means three rivers.  It is an ancient town about one hour from Hefei.  It was extraordinary.  We loved it.  I think we went in a big loop, but, when we came back to where we started, I told Jane she could take us the exact same way again, and I wouldn't know it because I would see something new to look at.  It was exactly the kind of town you would want to see if you were to take a trip to China.  The local residents seemed a little more used to tourists because it is an ancient town that draws Chinese tourists from Hefei.  They were interested in us, but we weren't the same sort of attraction that we are on the streets of Hefei, a city of 3 million people, all of them staring at us.  Our daughter, who goes by the nickname of Da Qing, prefers Jane when Jane is with us, and we understand that.  It was better for her to hold Jane's hand when we toured around with her today because people see us with her and talk about her being an adopted child in front of her and we can appreciate how difficult that is for her.  They assume she was adopted as a baby and we have brought her back to see her country.  With that in mind, they are impressed that she still speaks Chinese, although I think the only way they know that is they see her turn away when they speak to her about being adopted.  When someone asked Jane if Da Qing was her daughter, she kindly said yes. 

 

I wish so much that all of you could have been with us today so you could have experienced it with us.  I'm replaying it all in my mind because I don't want to forget any of it.  Of course, I can use my mind that way right now because our 8 year old darling is napping so I am free to be in my own thoughts.  She is opening up more each day, and getting more lively, but she is used to a routine of napping after lunch and going to bed at 9 p.m., and so far she has not tested those routines.  She hasn't been speaking when we leave our room, but today at lunch, she was talking a little bit in the hotel restaurant.  We don't understand each other, but according to the offical rules of diplomacy and parenthood, we're interacting, and it shows she is opening up.  When we get back to the room, she is giggly and happy, especially when turning the bathroom light on and off.  Let me rephrase that because just saying on and off doesn't paint an adequate picture.   It's really more like onoffonoffonoffonoffonoff.  Well, you get what I mean, but it is simply delightful to her and we are delighted she's delighted.

 

I will try to post a few more pictures of our trip today after this.  The internet connection is a little slow, and I'm not sure how much time I have until our live wire comes to.  Right now I've got to get to the window.  We're on the 18th floor and way down below at a construction site (they're everywhere in China) there are some workers bathing against one of the fences screening the view from the street level - but not from those of us on the 18th floor.  And me with no binoculars! 

We Are Family

Today is Adoption Day.  I know you want photos, and I do, too, but we'll all have to settle for text.  We were picked up by our guide at 9 a.m. and driven back to the same government building where we met Maryn yesterday.  A lot of paperwork in Chinese to sign, a few questions to answer, a family photo, waiting, and we were done.  Limited fanfare.  It might be easier to capture some of the joy of the event on film if the child is a baby, but when she's a new 8 year old who looks frightened by the fact she's back in the same building where her world suddenly changed the day before with a few of the people who changed it, it's not.  That and the fact that the parents don't have any idea what's going to happen next either makes for a business-like event. Next year there will be cake!

 

After yesterday's meeting, our guide brought us back up to the room, and helped us settle in a bit.  After a bath she dressed in the gray skort and sequined T-shirt given to her by the neighbors two doors down.  Not only is the outfit cute, but the skort has a drawstring waist and that's critical right now.  It's all about cinching.  She needs to add a bit of meat to her bones, and I know those of you who know us are wondering how she's going to do that at our house!  We'll do whatever it takes.  After our guide left, she sat on the bed, and I watched her wipe her eyes a few times.  I asked her, "Ni nan guo ma?" (Are you sad?)  She didn't answer with words, and it didn't matter because tears and sobbing followed.  We felt sadness for her, yet we were glad to have tears.  She let us rub her back and tell her, ku ba (it's okay to cry).  We don't do a lot of communicating in Chinese, but I know it was comforting to her that it was okay to be sad and okay to cry, so thank you to our Chinese friends/teachers who taught us this.  It made all the difference in the world.  She fell asleep and took a long nap.  The rest of the day, she was wide-eyed.  We all went to bed at 9 p.m. keeping her usual schedule, and we were ready for it.

 

Today she enjoyed the flashlight we gave her, and we were given many smiles, especially when baba played a modified version of flashlight tag with her.  We were picked up at 9 a.m. for the official paper signing.  Undoubtedly she was comforted to hear Chinese again from our guide, and she stuck close to her when after the signing we went to buy a few toys before going back to the hotel.  She didn't want mama's hand just like we knew it would be.  Two steps forward, one and a half back.  We'll get there.  We had lunch in the hotel - always buffet style - and it's helping that she can point to what she wants.  Not going to see a smorgasboard of those choices at home, for sure, but we'll see what we can do.  We do know this about her, she is a noodle eater not a rice eater like we expected so there's an adjustment.  Our favorite of chicken, black beans and rice is about to make a significant change.

 

I started this during naptime and now we are late for bedtime so I'll finish.  More tomorrow I hope.

 

 

H..E..R..E..'S MARYN!

Here she is!   You've all been waiting to see her.  Our little darling is darling.  Enjoy!