A walk in the park

Tonight, while Kayla merrily spent 4 hours on MySpace, Becca, Rachael, Shagang and I took a walk in a local park. It was very nice enjoying the beautiful scenery and peaceful surroundings with family. We bought ice cream for Rachael and GangGang, and watched them eat it while we were slowly surrounded by over 3 dozen curious Chinese locals. A few of them spoke a couple words of English, and my broken Mandarin got me through the rest.

As an aside, the Pimsleur CD course I took has proven very helpful, and many people remark how I speak excellent Chinese, because my intonation is very good. Unfortunately, my vocabulary is very limited, so I say a few things very well, and can't say much else. Because my intonation is good, they presume that I'm fluent, and I then have to say, "I'm sorry. I don't understand what you're saying. I don't speak very well." It's rare I can't get by with my broken Mandarin and gestures, and only was an issue last night when Shagang appeared to have a stomach ache, and we couldn't understand what he was trying to tell us... if his stomach was full, his stomach hurt, he was hungry, or if he didn't like us tickling him. It turns out that, near as we can guess, he was telling us he was constipated, but we couldn't tell. This is where I really wish I knew Mandarin better, so I could better interact with my son. We can't even figure out how to ask if he needs to use the bathroom, though my Mandarin is good enough to ask if he's hungry or thirsty.

Anyway, it was interesting soaking up the local scenery and culture in the park, and we had a good chat for about 1/2 hour. They were amazed that we were adopting children from China when we had biological children, and also that we'd adopt a special needs child. However, that really was secondary -- they talked to Shagang quite a bit, and just treated him like a regular kid, and we talked about Rachael and Robby's adoption experience.

When we got back to the room, Becca fed Rachael and Shagang some fruit and buns we'd purchased yesterday, while Kayla and I went for a walk to get dinner for the rest of us. It was a neat bonding time with Kayla, and we had a good discussion while we went and got some good Chinese buns, bread and donuts. By the time we got back, it was full dark, and we were pooped. Quick dinner and off to bed. (will backfill with pictures once we get a spare moment)

Lots of adjustments for Shagang

I'm sure our son thinks we're crazy. Not only do we not use squatty potties (see photo), but we also sit in a bathtub to bathe. Judging from his reactions, he's definitely never seen a Western toilet, nor has he been in a bathtub before, likely a bucket bath. Washcloths were normal, but sitting in water was not.

He also apparently has never used any utensil but a spoon, as forks are new and different to him (but relatively easy) and chopsticks are a mystery to him as well. From his reactions, I think he fed himself with a spoon, and was fed by someone else using chopsticks. He's adept at eating off a chopstick, but no experience using them (Becca says this is typical in China, where children start using chopsticks at the age of 4). He also doesn't have much of an appetite, and isn't tearing into food with gusto like we hear of many older adoptees from China. Sure, he eats, but not much more than Rachael. Still, he has many shy and quiet moments, so it might just be an adjustment.

The poor kid is pretty tired from all the stress and changes, and twice has about keeled over in his rice at the table. He fell asleep at lunch today, and is still crashed 3 hours later.

First Morning - rise and shine!

Robby slept through the night with no problems. He went down easily although he was once again a little overwhelmed. He awoke with smiles and laughter ready to play. When we went to give him a bath, he was again unsure, but now he is playing and splashing his daddy. We are going to go get some congee and then go to a park.

GangGang

In China nicknames are very common. Robby's given name was Sha Gang, but he was called GangGang (Gang1Gang1). It is not pronounced like a street gang. The "a" is pronounced 'ah', like what you say when the doctor is looking in your mouth, but with a high flat tone, the first syllable longer than the first. (Think "Gong" like in "The Gong Show") He will look at us when we say it and that is what he calls himself. We will use GangGang most of the time for the next few days and then slowly start calling him Robby.

More information on our son.

Wow, what a day this has been. As Dan posted earlier, everything has gone wonderfully. Robby, or GangGang, as he is called, is doing amazingly well. So far the biggest tears/fit we have seen has been by Rachael. She was none too happy when GangGang was in "her" stroller, even though she didn't want to be in it. The little green monster of jealousy is rearing its' head, if Robby is doing something or sitting on someone's lap that is what Rachael wants too. That aside, they are getting along wonderfully. Tonight they were jumping from bed to bed and tickling and chasing each other. When we went for a walk before dinner, they were holding hands...too cute.

GangGang has had a couple of moments when he teared up, but he didn't really cry. He did allow us to hold him and he snuggled right down when he was upset. It is enough to break a mother and father's hearts. We know how much he must be missing his caregivers and familiar surroundings...and it hurts to see him upset. We know what we are doing is God's will and that we will be able to offer him so much, but it is sad at the same time.

GangGang seems to be right on target developmentally for his age. He draws faces including eyebrows and pupils, he jumps and climbs wonderfully and has a good throwing arm. We can already tell that he is going to be very active and a climber like Rachael. His hearing seems to be amazingly good. You have to speak louder sometimes, but not excessively so. It will be interesting to see what his audiogram looks like; that is one of the tests we will have run at Children's hospital in Columbus. His language is very clear. Okay, we can't understand most of what he says, but we can understand a few words and they are clear. He also appears to be very healthy; no rashes, infections, colds etc. He is a good weight and well proportioned.

Besides jumping on the bed, GangGang's favorite thing to do so far is to look at pictures on the camera. He will call us by name: GangGang, baba, mama, jie jie (older sister) and meimei (younger sister). We have not been using Kayla and Rachael's given names yet.

Incidentally, the picture at top is Xin Shagang coming into the room where we met for the first time, escorted by his teacher, Song Li. (For those who understand Pinyin, that's Xin1 Sha1 Gang1 and Song4 Li4). That's our first view of our son.

We have a son!

We picked up Xin Shagang this morning, and he's wonderful. I was very worried for the first 10 minutes, because he was in shock, quiet, and uncommunicative, and I wondered if he was totally deaf. Nope, he was overwhelmed and anxious, and started coming out of his shell within 2 hours. Playing with his sisters at the mini-playground in KFC and getting chicken nuggets for lunch seemed to be the trick, and I got a full hug that nearly melted my heart.

Robby has definitely started bonding to us, and is asking for us by name and to be held and carried. Too early to rate, but I'm not seeing classic attachment disorder manifestation so far, which was a big concern of ours.

Shagang is currently bouncing Indian-style with both his sisters on our bed and having a tickle fight. We haven't quite figured out several tactical things to communicate aside from pictures, like "I need to use the bathroom" and "I'm hungry", but things seem to be going as well or better than I could have imagined. Things may yet get pretty rough, but he's being a typical kid, and seems very happy. He calls me Ba-ba (Daddy), and Becca Ma-ma (Mommy), and Kayla and Rachael are big sister and little sister to him. So, paperwork is 80% done, and the adoption is finalized -- he's officially our son.

So, a bit more tickling and then off for a walk to a nearby park and some shops, and likely dinner. More pictures soon...

Seven Hours

We have arrived in Urumqi, the birthplace and home of our son, Xin Sha Gang. The moment we have long waited for is now a mere seven and a half hours away. As you prepare for bed on Sunday night EST, we will be preparing to meet our son for the first time.

We are scheduled to arrive at the Civil Affairs Office at 10:00 where Sha Gang will be waiting for us. We are both excited and overwhelmed knowing that tomorrow we will be a family of six. We face tomorrow knowing that we are in exactly where God wants us and He is watching over every aspects of our meeting and becoming a family. We are full of praise that He has allowed us to adopt Sha Gang: children are truly a blessing from God.

Pearls and Chocolate -- What a man!

After our walk through the Summer Palace, we crossed the street to the pearl market. Dan won big points in the husband department at this store! He bought my birthday present: a black pearl and diamond ring and a bracelet to match the necklace and earrings I have from our last trip. Then he boosted his ratings even further by buying me ice cream covered in chocolate. What more could a girl want? :)

THE WALL

All four of us can now say we have officially climbed the Great Wall. And climb we did. There were two sections to the wall where we were today: the steep climb and the moderate climb. Kayla joined a couple other families from our travel group and climbed the steep part. She made it past the three tower and nearly to the fourth, and it was an impressive climb. Good job Kay! Dan and I used Rachael as an excuse to climb the moderate part. In the oppressive heat and humidity, it was plenty steep for us old folks. Rachael was a real trooper climbing a good bit of the way by herself. The steps are very uneven and some of them she literally had to climb, not step up. We rewarded both girls with ice cream and t-shirts after the climb. This section is located in lush green mountains and the views were simply beautiful!!

After leaving the wall, we ate lunch in a Friendship Store, a government run craft shop. There was a demonstration of cloisonné, which is a pretty cool process where copper wire is shaped, hammered onto copper urns/vases/etc. and then enameled, baked, and enameled some more. The resulting product is quite beautiful, and it was impressive to observe the process of creating this art. Naturally, there were plenty of opportunities to separate us from cash for some of these trinkets, but we mostly resisted.

Lunch was pretty interesting, and we again had the same dishes as two years ago, including the inside-out carp that was fried like a blooming onion (and tasted really good). Dan opted for something more adventuresome, so went with Susan, our guide, to the driver and guide lunch room. He got 8-10 interesting traditional Chinese dishes that were more exotic, and some of them quite tasty, particularly the noodles. The rest of us weren't as brave (pronounced "cra-zy"), but still had some pretty good food.

Beijing 2008

We stopped outside one of the stadiums for the 2008 Summer Games, and saw the Birdsnest Stadium, where the opening ceremonies will be held. This is a pretty wild looking structure that is quite an apparent engineering and architectural accomplishment, and shots of this stadium will obviously be a central visual accompaniment to the 2008 games. Granted, none of that imagery will be as cute as Rachael's picture at the right, but you can say you saw it here first! Incidentally, just 398 days left until the opening ceremonies.

If you think that China is oblivious to the fact they're crossed the 400-day threshold, you'd be wrong... feverish preparations for the games seemed at hand nearly everywhere we traveled. It's pretty interesting to see how they're remaking the city. We saw several large apartment buildings or hotel complexes (6-10 large 20-35 story buildings) that were empty, apparently being spun up for the influx of guests and tourists. There are also signs everywhere.

We also saw the Olympic Village today, which also has some unique architecture, representing the indigenous people of China, who all played a part in creating their section of this complex with famous architects of their region.

Nice night for a walk

We went out in the cool of the evening and did some shopping for water, snacks and fruit from the local market and corner fruit vendors, and wandered for a few blocks taking in the sights and sounds.

The streets were filled with vendors grilling and cooking dishes in the open air, and the pungent smells of roasting meat filled the air, mixing with the sounds of laughter, motorcycle horns beeping, disco music in Chinese, and singing. There were some impromptu exercise and singing groups, a very Chinese thing to do. We see these kinds of activities at most parks in the evening, where locals apparently assemble regularly for a particular activity, like fan dancing, sword dancing, Tai Chi, majong, poetry, singing and dancing. (This appears to be a vanishing trend, as the participants are almost always 40+ and most are 60+. Today's Chinese generation seems much more interested in Karaoke. )

Tonight, we observed cheerleading (really!) and dancing. Beijingers were walking their dogs, sitting in groups chatting and enjoying the cool evening, and gathering at local restaurants for a few beers and meat on a stick.

We then had a small dinner at a local hole-in-the-wall restaurant, and had some pretty good noodles and wontons. Dan liked all of them, but Kayla had real problems finding something palatable. But, that's what happens when you order dishes by pointing; you're bound to have a few surprises along the way. We staggered back to the hotel room and basically collapsed into bed, still suffering impairment from jet lag.

Hutong Tour

After waking up brutally early this morning, we had a relaxing day, and did a Hutong tour. Hutong means "water well" in Mongolian, and derives from the need of the Chinese people to dig their own wells when they rebuilt the residential areas burned by the invading Mongols. Hutong now means twisty, narrow street.

We took a hutong tour on bicycle rickshaw, and ate at the house of some hutong residents which was very cool. Rachael had the highlight of her hutong tour when she saw a dog doing it's business in the hutong, and she kept on saying, "Dog... poop... pee!" Finally, something she could relate to!

It was interesting to see the change in perception of Kayla, who'd been pitying the hutong district residents in their apparent squaller. However, when we got into a courtyard home, she saw how they had made their home in this ancient place, and it was comfortable, clean and well-cared for. Truly, they'd made a house into a home, and she remarked, "You can't tell a book by it's cover." How true!

The hutong food was traditional Chinese food for Beijing residents and good: rice, pickles, cabbage, roasted peanuts, fresh tomatoes, dumplings, etc. It was delicious, and also had a lot of variety. We had a good discussion with our hosts, with the aid of a translator, and talked about Chinese adoption and our experience, and the influence of the NBA in Chinese culture through Yao Ming.

Our hosts also had a Plexiglas cricket training setup which is apparently common, as we found out that cricket fighting for wagering is popular, and is similar in nature to cock fighting. They had a cricket scale for classing the crickets into weight classes for the fights, as well as tools for feeding, cleaning and training the crickets, including a tiny brush made of mouse whiskers.

We ended the hutong tour with a cool, refreshing walk along a lake in an area that's turned into a pretty tony bar and restaurant area. It was very nice to feel the breeze and experience the charm of the area... very picturesque. After the hot tour and sun, standing along the shoreline in shade and feeling the breeze was very welcome. Did I mention the nice, welcome breeze yet?

As we emerged from the hutong district, we found a Starbucks, and Kayla and I had a Starbucks treat. Her chocolate frappacino was quite delicious, but my iced caramel moccachino was bitter, though still refreshing at the end of a hot morning. The patrons of the Starbucks were a mix of Chinese locals and foreign tourists, with many countries represented, and it made for an interesting experience.

After the hot day, we decided to have a relaxing dip in the pool, in the rather impressive healthclub facilities. We had to wear swim caps, but not that strange once you got used to it. Rachael had lots of fun jumping into Dan and Becca's arms, counting, 1, 2, 3, 5, jump! (We're working on 4).

Traveling notes and Beijing

Since we are in China, all the blogspot commands are in Chinese...I can't figure out how to do most things and Dan is not here....he is getting a massage for his aching feet. I also can't access crickethome, so I have no idea what Dan has already written. That said....

The flight over was, as expected, looooong. Rachael did amazingly well. She cried for several minutes when she was over tired, but other than that, she played and colored. I will say that after about 3 hours of the flight to Tokyo she said "go". I asked her where she wanted to go and she replied "off". I couldn't convince her that we couldn't get off the plane right then. Periodically over the rest of the flight she would look and me and say either "off" or "go". She did much better sleeping last night and didn't wake up until almost 5 this morning, unlike Kayla who was up at 3.

We are enjoying China and experiencing the culture. Kay is longing for a hamburger, but doing great with the culture shock so far. Rachael is just along for the ride. She is making all kinds of friends with her wonderful smile. She did approach one little girl at the park yesterday to look at the bubbles the girl was blowing. The girl, age3 3-4, did not want Rae near her bubbles. No matter how much the Mom tried to get her to share, she wouldn't and just cried. Other than that Rachael and Kayla are diplomatic successes.

Kayla just got back from a back massage. She said it felt wonderful. She is laughing because the person doing the massage sent a text message while doing the massage. Most likely telling their friend they were massaging an American girl.
Off to breakfast now. I will write more when I can read what Dan has posted.

Pics added and updates

We've backfilled several pictures, so you might want to scroll down to check out past postings.

Sorry for the delay in pictures... Google apparently thinks everyone connecting from China can read Simplified Chinese, so all the Blogger controls are in Simplified Chinese, as you can see...

Hot Day at Temple of Heaven

We walked down the street in front of our hotel, and about a mile down the road is the Temple of Heaven. It was interesting to see the gawking... for Chinese, seeing a blonde girl is strange enough, let alone Becca's curly brown hair, and my red hair and beard, accompanied by a Chinese girl that (strangely) doesn't speak Chinese. There were several kind-hearted people we spoke with, and got to chat with several of them, but mostly got out-and-out stares and gawking. I'd love to know what they were saying.

We got into the Temple of Heaven for 105RMB and walked around, checking out some of the alters and shrines. We got to watch a small (impromptu??) choir practicing with some instruments, while Rachael danced and laughed. Lots more to tell about today, including a minor slip and fall while carrying the stroller (with Rachael in it) down stairs, and the noodle shop "fast food" restaurant for lunch. We're not sure what some of it was, including "meat on a stick" that we hope was pork, but could have been about anything. Kayla said, "Mmmmm... good cat!" After lunch, we came back to the hotel, showered and crashed for a good 2 hour nap.

Tonight, I attended Toastmasters at a growing, strong club in Beijing, which was very interesting. The structure was all the same and familiar, but they did a few things differently, which permitted some good idea exchange. It was a two-hour meeting, and most of the participants were there to work on English (and their English was pretty darn good).

Leaving the training room where the meeting was held, I was traveling by myself, walking back to the nearby hotel to catch a cab back to our hotel. Apparently I looked lonely, as several pimps and mama-sans offered services, rather persistently. Their English was also very good, and they apparently are paid to troll for customers -- I wonder how many of them were also working a con for ripping tourists off. Telling them emphatically "Bu shang, Bu shang!" (don't want!) didn't seem to dampen their spirited offers, but jumping into a cab finally gave them the picture that I was high-tailing it out of there. After a 45-minute cab ride in traffic, I made it back to the hotel for some blogging and quick dinner of Chinese buns and rolls we'd purchased, along with some green tea... $1.15 for the meal.

Now off to bed. Everyone is very tired, and we have some more walking tomorrow.

Up at 3!

Rachael was up shortly after 3 this morning, apparently for good, seeing her 3 hour rest as nap, not sleep. So, we're up, and likely going to hit breakfast by 7:15 local, after nice long showers to wash off 25 hours of travel. Then, it's off to the Temple of Heaven.

Internet acting up

Our blogging may be somewhat restricted over the next couple of days... We can't see our blog, just the posting site, and all the buttons are in Simplified Chinese. Apparently, Blogger.com presumes that, if you're connecting from China, you read Chinese, and they don't even provide an "English" button. Some of our sites we use to manage accounts and pictures are blocked, kinda par for the course for Beijing.

In Beijing and Safe

After a Loooong flight, we're in Beijing and everything is good. Rachael had a few rough times on the long flight from Detroit to Tokyo, and I held her for 45 minutes where she sobbed and hovered on the edge of sleep, incredibly over-tired. Once she dropped off, she was fine, and woke up a happy and refreshed kid. Nothing really out of the ordinary to report about the long journey.



Tokyo was Just-Another-Airport, but with obviously different currency, more languages, and a bookstore that sold virtually nothing in English. Oddly enough, we couldn't find bottled water or soda in the airport, just McDonalds fountain drinks. Since we aren't sure about drinking the water in Japan, the ice is therefore suspect, so we passed on the sodas, and instead tried some rice cake sweets. They were interesting and chewy.

I was fortune to sit next to Toshikata Amino, Executive-in-Residence at Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University. He is a retired Honda executive that was in charge of building the Honda plant in Marysville, Ohio (!!), and now teaches at OSU and a university in Osaka, Japan. He and I had many interesting conversations over the course of the 12 hours, and it was a delight.


Last night we had noodles in our hotel at the noodle restaurant. They were handmade and fresh, and served in enormous bowls. Interesting and filling, and probably just the ticket for our tired bodies and in our sleepy state. Then, off to bed, collapsing quickly and dropping off. Tomorrow, the real adventure begins!