Home stretch

We are home! Reunited with my Mighty Knights. Greeted with pink balloons lining up the road and our driveway, and joyous ear to ear smiling boys on my front porch. By the time we made it inside after all hugs and kisses, a beautiful homecrafted banner across the fireplace awaited us. "This is my best day ever" says Nathan as he jumps up and down, and Brendan all smiles "I'm really missing you". I cannot express what a warm feeling this all gives me, brought tears to my eyes... What a wonderful homecoming! Thank you to all involved helping the Mighty Knights over the last 2 weeks, I felt so reassured knowing they were in such loving care. You all know who you are, but especially Mom, I couldn't have done it without you. To all who have supported us in preparation for this journey, and all the words of encouragement and best wishes from all our friends and this wonderful community of Cobourg, I cannot thank you enough. Karen needs special mention for inspiring this blog, I wouldn't have started it otherwise! How amazing it is to document such a special event in our lives, and share it with friends, while we are still there!

Now that I've caught my breathe a little, time to catch up with this blog!
(Back in China mode)

Wednesday May 20th was our designated "shopping" day. After fuelling up at Starbucks (yes Starbucks!), we were ready for some haggling! I have to say, I don't consider myself very good at bargaining, but I thought let's give it a try. Maybe I looked a little naive, but this woman trying to sell Susie and I luggage, decided it was ok to grab my arm and keep me there until I put down a "deposit" for luggage when we said we'd "think about"! Lily and Susie were able to walk away, which is why she grabbed me to begin with, as I called out to Lily for help! She started arguing that she doesn't trust me that we would come back, so she wanted my money! Well, I could have done a TaeKwonDo move on her, but decided to stay civil, and wringed my arm out of her grip, and of course DID NOT give her a deposit! After that, we had to hide from her, when we passed back to the escalators! Quite the experience! She was so aggressive! Haggling takes time and I do have to say, you can get some deals there, but as long as you don't get assaulted, it can be quite fun! Then there's the opposite, all the personal flattery and "loving Canadians" (despite the swine flu), just so you'd soften up to purchase goods.

For lunch we passed a noodle house, that Lily told us has been here since the Qing dynasty (1644-1911)! We had a very cheap and quick serviced meal there, listening to all the yelling and general loud talking of the locals. There was a very unappealing looking mashed tofu dish, brown in color, but it was delicious! Lily was kind enough to pick up our immigration paperwork in the afternoon, so that we could have more shopping time, and picked us up on the way back. A quick early dinner, and then Roger, Susie, Aidan and Magnus were off to take the subway to see the Beijing Acrobats, a must see. Again for Lily, this was extra time she spent for us, she really wanted to make sure we had a good experience. I stayed to settle Kristen, who is teething, fingers in the mouth and drooling, and then it was packing time!

Thursday May 21st. We didn't have much more time so decided we couldn't fit the Hutong tour in. (For next time!) We thought instead for the morning, to take a leisurely stroll over to Wang Fu Jiang pedestrian street, like the one in Changsha. Not a lot of shopping done, but we got some exercise, and pleasantly came across some interesting "snacks" at the food stands. Seeing how we were about to board an airplane, we opted out of the wiggling scorpions on a stick and sea horses, and decided McDonald's was a better choice for lunch! Back for last minute packing and checking out, and off to the airport for our final leg of the journey. Of course the real journey with Kristen in our family is just beginning. Kristen is leaving her country of birth, her birth family, her orphanage family. We now land kisses directly on her cheek, but we blow kisses for her to her China ties. Even though she is young, she has experienced loss already, and that will always be remembered. She has a different path in life now, what the other path would have led to is unknown.

We had a great flight home, being her night time, Kristen slept the majority of the flight. I stayed up to continue my movie marathon (so I could get back to Canadian time), but did shut my eyes for 1 1/2 hours. Customs and immigration only took 45 minutes, and then out to get luggage which did take longer than expected, being a full flight, there were a lot of people and luggage. And then out to see my Dad, such a comforting feeling... we're home!

Addendum:

I am starting to post pictures when I can, but attaching them to the appropriate dates, so scroll down to view!

Adorable

Karen here . . . isn't this a most adorable smile?

Picnic at the Great Wall

Another hot hot day here in Beijing, and it's really too bad our touring van's AC has not been fixed since it was a bit more of a drive today to the Great Wall. I think we preferred having the hot air blow in from the windows! The babies did okay, but everbody was hot from the lack of air circulating.

We were are relieved to step out of the van and feel the warm breeze. The Great Wall of China, truly a great historic structure, as we stood in awe, and tried to decide which route to go, the long shallow route, or the steeper, shorter route. The young lads of course chose the more challenging steeper route! So we got Kristen comfortable in the baby trekker, sunscreened, and off we went, trying to keep up with Aidan and Magnus. Of course frequent stops for snapping pictures, which again, I'll post when I return home. I overheard a tourist who just passed Roger, say, "who would bring a baby to the Great Wall". Well, now Kristen can say one day, "I went to the Great Wall of China before one year of age! Roger did really well, just lots of stretching tonight. Going down the steep parts, even with the hand rails, could be slippery.

Our guide Lily treated us to a relaxing picnic under the shade of an ornate pavillion, with the Great Wall as back drop, and the warm breeze keeping us cool. Lily is really a great guide, she knew this would be more relaxing, than eating at the tourist restaurants. Being a small group, this was a lot more manageable.

Back on the "no air circulating" hot van we went for our drive back into Beijing. So far on the trip, with all the reckless driving, we were surprised there were barely any accidents, but on the way home, we saw one between a taxi and an ambulance! At least all the equipment was there if needed, but fortunately the people involved looked okay, so none needed. Hopefully another ambulance was dispatched to where that ambulance was expected!

Back to the hotel, for a quick swim, freshening up, and out again for the Peking Duck feast, a traditional dinner Children's Bridge likes to organize for the end of the trip. Normally we would have done this the last evening, but we had worked up such an appetite from the Great Wall, we decided tonight was the night. Aidan LOVES Peking Duck, so he was ready to go! And what a feast it was! Shopping day tomorrow! And if all packed maybe an Acrobats show!

By now, the Mighty Knights at home should be getting back into a routine after a great weekend, and I can't wait to see all the surprises you've been preparing for Kristen! Thanks for all the Skype kisses my Mighty Knights. 2 more sleeps!

Dancing in the Bird's Nest

Big day for Kristen, her medical exam at the International Medical Clinic, and picture for the Embassy (VISA). 16.5 pounds! I think 1 of those pounds was gained this past week! She is doing so well, interacting, babbling, sitting bit more stable, and wanting to walk more with support. She showed off what she could to the Doctor, but as often with orphans, is still quite motor delayed for her age. At the rate she's going, I think she'll catch up no problem.



International Medical Clinic



In the waiting room




















Some play time with Kaya in the van, while dropping off documents at the Embassy


Aidan stayed behind with Susie and Magnus at the hotel for some "reading" and swimming, then joined us for lunch at a local restaurant (yum yum eggplant dish, and sweet and sour pork), where Kristen loved the steamed bean curd! Up to now, she really hasn't shown much interest in table foods, just her formula and toddler snacks. So I was pleased to see her not spitting the food out.

Then it was off to the Beijing 2008 Olympic site! It was a hot day, again not humid, but with it being sunny, we searched for shade often. The "H2O water cube" was my favorite, very impressive, and with clips of the events being played on the huge screen inside, we felt how amazing it must be to attend (and if talented enough, participate!) these events. Such adrenaline filled air! Birds nest is one of the most beautiful architectural designed structures I've seen. Inside we walked right down to the field, where Kristen danced away with Aidan and Magnus. They were too cute. I have so many pictures, seriously I wish I could post them right now, but they will have to be an "addendum" once I'm home.

I do have to say, I am truly impressed by the architecture I've seen. In the van and taxi rides, I've been snapping pictures, of great buildings. I know I haven't seen the true local Beijing culture yet, that will come with the Hutong tour if we have time on Thursday. Overall, there's more organization on the streets too. Wider roads, massive plantings of shrubs and flowers between lanes, a designated bicycle lane separated by a low fence/islands of shrubs, and what we've seen of the major streets, very clean!

Phew! I think I've caught up for now. I am itching to shop, but Great Wall tomorrow, then shopping day!

Kristen has been doing awesome with all this sighseeing, we just have to take our breaks. Thanks again to Karen for posting the last few for me!


Dancing

Blue Skies in Beijing

Ahh, so nice to see blue sky. Sunny beautiful 30 degrees, but no humidity here in Beijing today, such a relief as we have lots of sightseeing outside this week. Comment of the day, as we approached Tiananmen Square (we had a good laugh, Theresa, the other adoptive mom allowed me to write her into my blog), "there are so many Chinese people here!" This impressive huge space of 440 000 sq. meters, fenced off, patrolled, and security check at the entrance, was covered in groups of tourists, many with their own "group hat", but "so many Chinese tourists"! I guess she just thought, being a great tourist attraction, there'd be many more non-Asians. China being so large and populated, "going to Beijing" is often a dream vacation. Nonetheless, Jim and Roger did not feel like the only non-Asians, as we saw travelers from all over the world, but mostly still "Asians" majority. In the middle stands the Monument to the People's Heroes, where uniformed children stood at attention. Just as Aidan asked me, "what if they have to go to the bathroom", there was a "shift change". We took our pictures, and thought to Aidan and Magnus, they probably didn't really understand what the big deal was, not knowing how significant that piece of land was in the history of China. Too much to get into at the time, we satisfied them and the pedlars they seemed to attract, with a couple of flags to play with, and hats, while we headed through the crowds to the Forbidden City. Through the impressive Tiananmen Tower, we were basically moved by mass osmosis effect with the crowd pushing forward. Good thing the babies were snug in the carriers.
I did feel for both dads, it was hot especially having a baby attached to them, and a lot of walking. Tsingtao for them when we return to the hotel!! Through 3 gates, we finally entered "the main palace". Partially refurbished for the Olympics, over the last several years, the details of the buildings and roof, were impressive, but I think after awhile, with two babies and 2 young children, we picked up the pace. Still I am in awe at how much history still stands. We departed the ancient City, and treated the boys to McDonald's, before heading back to the hotel for a quick stretch and freshening up, (restock on bottles for Kristen and diapers), and braved the taxi ride out to the Beijing zoo (not on our scheduled tour, but something to do for the kids). Surprisingly compared to my Changsha taxi experience, it was less stressful, maybe we were more relaxed, but he did drive less aggressively compared to my Changsha taxi driver. What a great idea the zoo was! Beautiful, shaded, less crowds (nearing the end of the afternoon), and Aidan and Magnus were able to run around without crowds to dodge. Ahhh, the adorable giant Panda!! Then we missed the Dolphin show, but checked out all the beautiful sculptures around the zoo. I think we took more pictures of Aidan and Magnus climbing the stone elephants, than of real animals. Made it back to the hotel after a slight detour, as our taxi driver took us to the Jianguo hotel, instead of the Jianguo GARDEN hotel. Then bascially showered and all asleep by 9! So no blogging time! But always time to Skype! Glad Nathan and Brendan are having such a great time at the McGoverns!

To be continued...

Blogging Speed Bump

Bird and rabbits for sale


Teddy up for some bowling!



Who is that?




















Can I give her a kiss?







I was on such a roll with the blogging thing! The website is being blocked from here in China for some reason, and I am unable to post directly, so Karen who inspired the blog to begin with, will be my technical support, and post for me. Thanks Karen! The pictures will be limited though, more will come once I'm home.

So we are in Beijing now! The last I left off, I think was a shopping day in Changsha, the embroidery shop, and swimming. Friday was so muggy and humid, we chose to have a free day rather than do any touring. Playroom fun, more swimming, pictures of local cuisine that I will have to post later (braised snake, turtle and snails!) Lots of playtime with Kristen and practising her walking! She's still far from walking on her own, there's no balance at all, but she's trying. She wants so much to! I think she'll have no problem keeping up with her busy brothers, she is just as busy! Our guide Lily was great, she went to pick up all our documents and Kristen's passport for us Friday afternoon, so that saved us line up times. She said it was very busy, didn't get back to the hotel until 7pm, (passport office closed at 5), so we were grateful we didn't have to go.

Aidan was so excited this morning to go to Beijing, partly because there's more sight seeing, but also we were meeting up with our friend Susie and her son Magnus. So great that we could just meet up in Beijing! We are so grateful they made the big trek out to Asia to come support us, it really makes the travel so much more fun! And for Kristen to have an "auntie" to help out, she is just being spoiled with attention! We checked back into the Jianguo Garden hotel, where we still had one piece of luggage stored from last Saturday (has it really been a week?), and settled into our much bigger room.

I do have to say, that while getting through the airport check in and security in Changsha, I was quite surprised at how relaxed we were, like Kristen was always part of our family, and last minute before boarding the plane, I thought, hey this is Kristen's first plane ride!! Of course out came the cameras and video, and I held in my emotions, realizing for Kristen, this is her plane ride away from home. She may have no idea what is happening, but she is saying goodbye to what was 'home' for the past 11 months! To think what would her life have been like, if she stayed? Her journey to us, began when she left the orphanage on Monday, on the 7 hour car ride to Changsha. Now her first airplane ride, leaving Hunan province, on to Beijing, signifies lifting off from her roots there. In Beijing, we are still in her home country, but this is the last gate to pass, and her journey to Canada begins. She will establish new roots in Camborne! One day we will all return to revisit. Even for myself, this whole China experience, has strengthened my own cultural ties. Oh, on the Friday, the other Theresa (we are travelling with) and I went out during the kids naps, to get our hair cut ($10!), and the hairdresser spoke Cantonese! So here I was all proud to be able to converse a little without Lily's help (or my mother's), and carried on a fairly decent conversation. He was really interested in learning where my ancestors were from and what life was like in Canada, and why, if I was born in England, why didn't I stay there. Of course my answers were quite simple, (see Mom, if you were here, I'd be needing you to expand for me), but at least we were able to make small talk while he was cutting my hair.


















First airplane ride for Kristen and Kaya!

Anyways, I will have to keep track of the events this week, and may have to suspend this blog for a few days. Thursday is just around the corner!
Have a great long weekend everybody! We are off to Forbidden City and Tiannemen Square tomorrow. Monday Kristen goes for an immigration physical, and apply for her VISA. Home soon!

Teresa.

Soft as Silk

We are waiting for Kristen's passport to be ready for Friday, so more sightseeing time. It would have been nice to be able to visit Kristen's orphanage, but hers is so rural, it would take a 3 day visit from Changsha. So Thursday morning, we went to see some Chinese Embroidery, a very long established art form in China. Very impressive, each piece taking up to 2 years to do (depending on size)! Seeing it up close, you could really see the texture of the picture, and see how much detail is put into it. When I photographed some of the pieces, there was a 3D element, not sure if posting the pictures will reveal this. Aidan found a beautiful blue traditional silk jacket that he really wanted to purchase, but being a little large in size, and expensive, we chose to wait until we get to Beijing to look for better deals. There was also a tea shop in the back, where we enjoyed a very expensive chinese tea, that apparently "keeps you young"! Is this the ancient Chinese secret to why Chinese people look so young!? I need some of that!



Sculptures along pedestrian street



Did some department store shopping after that, looking for deals, but apparently most of the deals will be in Beijing. After lunch and settling Kristen in for a nap back at the hotel with 'the boys', Lily took me out again to check out the "pedestrian street". First of all, the taxi ride itself was an experience on its own. So far, we've been travelling in a van, the driver is actually a 'relatively' more careful driver. The taxi drivers are another story! Let's just say I could not look down for even a second if I didn't want to feel car sick (and I don't get car sick easily), but he was weaving sideways, in and out, making his own lane between lanes... honking at pedestrians to get out of the way, almost running them over. Lily tells me that "Chinese drivers" can drive anywhere in the world, not because their license is good in other countries, but that they have such good reflexes from driving around here, that they could drive say in New York City! Whereas, us very safety conscious Canadians, child car seats and seatbelts are mandatory, we could never drive here without having a panic attack!

The pedestrian street, is named that because only pedestrians are allowed on it, thank goodness! You really have to be alert walking the streets in a city in China! On the pedestrian street, no worries about being run over. Not even mopeds allowed! (On the sidewalks elsewhere, mopeds are everywhere!). I didn't get into the shopping as much as I was more interested to see this street. It was 35 and muggy, I appreciated Lily's company, she got me around in terms of language, but I was glad to return to the hotel, to Kristen and air conditioning! Oh, did I mention I can't even try to fake my Mandarin here? They speak "Changsha dialect" (actually sounds a little Japanese to me), so I pretty much gave up on trying to practice any Chinese. When approached in their dialect, I start speaking in Cantonese, just in case they might understand Cantonese, but they just stare at me blankly... so I'm back to just saying in English now, "sorry I don't speak Chinese". Even Lily does not use her Mandarin here, she has switched over to the Changsha dialect. I do not think Changsha receives as many tourists as say Beijing. When we were at Yuelu Mountain yesterday, I didn't post this picture, but Jim (our travel companion), and Roger BECAME the tourist attraction. They being "foreigners" or as the translation goes "big nose people" ("high noses"), each with a baby in a carrier, received many curious eyes, and smiles. People would approach, cooing at the babies, and then take a picture of them! So I took a picture of the locals taking a picture of Jim and Roger!

Tomorrow will be our last day here in Changsha, a hang out day, pick up Kristen's passport and then pack to leave for Beijing Sat. morning! We are very excited as we will be joined by very good Cobourg friends Susie and son Magnus in Beijing to do some sight seeing. They had visited Susie's sister in Tokyo this past week, sounds like they've had some adventures too, and we will meet at the airport, assuming no quarantining! Sharing in our excitement, having them along, will make the trip that much more memorable. And to all our good friends and family back home who have been so very helpful and supportive, thanks for sharing in our excitement, we are very grateful!