American Consulate

Today was the day that we headed to the American Consulate to finalize the adoption on the US side. The whole event lasted maybe 3 minutes. Other than that, today we played in the Swan Room one last time, ate at Lucy's one last time, and packed. We have to get up early tomorrow so we can catch our flight at 8:00 am to Beijing. Our flight leaves Beijing at 4:10 pm and we land in Chicago at 4:05 pm.

I can't wait to get home

Medical Exam Day

Today was the day that we had to take all the children in to have their medical exams for their Visa. We arrived at the medical place which is within walking distance to the White Swan and the place was swarming with people. Not just Americans, but with Chinese patients as well. We were hustled into the back room where they had three stations set up. One station was for height, weight, and temperature, another station was for ears, nose, and throat, and the last station was for just an overall looking over. I thought for sure Zach would start crying, but he was a trooper and did not cry once. I guess it helped that we gave him some treats too before they started.

After the medical exam, we decided to head to Starbucks for a chicken mango wrap and some cool drinks and then Joe and Zach went back to the room for an afternoon nap. My mom and I decided that we would do some shopping. We pretty much ended up at one store and bought some nice souvenirs to take home.

For dinner we went to Station One, which is a quasi Italian restaurant. They served pasta and pizza, but the selection was very limited. I also had to laugh, usually when you are in an Italian restaurant they music piped into the area is some sort of Italian song. Not here. We enjoyed listening to several Christmas carols and some other music in French.

Chen Family Temple

Today we visited the Chen Family Temple. This temple dates back to the Chen Dynasty. Looking at it, it really doesn't look like a temple but more of a living space for the family. There was beautiful wood carved doors and there was a Chinese embroidery shop that was absolutely amazing.

Today we also took Zach to get his visa photo. He smiled nice for his picture. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. We went back to the Swan Room to play, we ate once again at Lucy's for dinner and I finished up the paperwork needed for the American Consulate.

Greetings from Guangzhou!

Well, we finally made it to Guangzhou. This is our last stop on this adoption journey. Guangzhou is home of the US Consulate and where Zach receives his Visa into the country. This is a totally different place than Haikou. Haikou is the total China experience, while Guangzhou is the China experience with an American flavor. All American couples adopting from China come here to get the baby's Visa.

We arrived at the White Swan Hotel this afternoon, and what a difference in hotels compared to what we had in Haikou. This place is a palace compared to the place we stayed at earlier. The majority of people adopting stay at this hotel and they really have geared it towards families. They have a room called "The Swan Room" where it is a nice playroom with lots of toys for the kids to play with. We brought Zach here this afternoon, and he wasn't quite sure about it at first but as he saw other kids playing he decided he wanted to play catch with a ball. He had a blast doing this. For dinner, we actually had something other than fried rice and noodles. Down the block is a restaurant called Lucy's Bar and Grill. They serve American food and the decor is all American and everyone speaks English (such a bonus). Joe, my mom, and I had burgers and fries while Zach had a good old Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwhich.

No pictures today, but I will post some tomorrow of the White Swan and the Chen Family Temple.

Orphanage Visit

This afternoon we had the opportunity to visit Zach's orphanage. We were kind of nervous about bringing Zach back to the orphanage thinking it might confuse him but we decided to bring him with us and we are glad that we did.

We met several nannies, the assistant orphanage director, the orphanage director, and many kids still living there. The kids were so adorable and I really wanted to take them home with me. We brought the kids bags of Tootsie Pops so we hope they enjoy those.

The orphanage was very clean and organized, but was very hot. They have no air conditioning and I was dying while there. We saw Zach's eating area, his play area, outside play area, sleeping area, and a classroom. Zach received lots of hugs and kisses from the nannies and other children who were all glad to see him.

We also met Zach's primary nanny who he has had since birth. She is very nice and you could tell that she loves him. Zach was a part of the Half the Sky program and his nanny is one of the nannies that this program sponsors. We found out that Zach was a "Big Brother" in the "Big Sister/Brother program". Maybe this explains why he is such a neat freak and likes to keep things tidy and orderly.

We met with the orphanage director and they gave us Zach's care package gifts that he received from us back in late June. They also presented us with a photo book with Zach's baby pictures and other photos of him as he grew. In addition, they presented to us a very large book from Half the Sky with pictures, progress reports, and drawings that Zach completed. This book looks similar to a scrapbook with all the pictures and writings which started a couple of days after he entered the orphanage and the last entry was on July 20, 2008. I now need to find someone that can translate Chinese into English so we can see what this book says.

Park and the Zoo

Today we headed off bright and early to another park on the other side of town. This park was also very nice, and on one end was a small zoo. We went to the zoo and saw different animals, let's just say that animal rights activists in our country would of been outraged at the conditions these poor animals lived in. On a funny note to the zoo, we went to look at the monkeys. Zach loves to carry around his little bowl of Cheerios and accidentally dropped his bowl of Cheerios into the monkey area. The monkeys swarmed all over it and Zach had a complete fit. He wanted Joe to go down to the money area to rescue the Cheerios. It was funny, but we felt bad for him that he lost his precious Cherrios bowl.

Day at the Park

This morning we headed out to a local park in Haikou. The park was very nice, lots of vegetation and right on the South China Sea. It was quite interesting to watch the locals in their element. There is a little patio/gazebo set up and there was a lady singing opera, she drew quite a crowd. To Joe and I, it really didn't sound like opera, it more or less sounded like a cat screeching. It wasn't too good. We only spent about an hour and a half at the park as Zach was getting tired and it was very hot. Tomorrow we will go to another park, so we will have to do a comparison.

On a funny note, Joe and I were watching Chinese TV when a commercial for the Olympics came on. It was a flashback to the last Olympics in Athens and they were showing Chinese athletes standing on the podium receiving their gold medals. We all know that when an athlete receives their medal they play the country's national anthem. While the Chinese national anthem was playing, Zach stopped in his tracks, dropped his toys and stared at the tv. When the anthem was over he gave us a big smile, laughed, and then continued to play with his toys. Because this happened, we know that the orphanage played their national anthem to the children to a point where he recognizes it. Very interesting.

Shopping

Today we headed to the local Carefor. Carefor is a big store (similar to WalMart) in China. They have just about anything you can think of. At the store we wanted to get Zach some new shoes as the ones that he had were pink, and Joe was not crazy about Zach running around in pink shoes. While shopping, we really got stared at and lots of people coming up to us fawning over Zach. I guess they were really curious as to why two Americans had a toddler Chinese boy. All of the people that came up to us were all very nice. After shopping we went to McDonalds. Zach experienced his first french fry and I have to say that he loved it.

Bath Time

This morning we had to be at the China Civil Affairs office to finish up the Chinese side of this adoption. This just entailed us signing a few forms, I actually thought there would be more to it but I guess I was wrong. Zach enjoyed the time at the Civil Affairs Office as the officials were taken with him and continued to give him candy. They had given him so much candy, Zach had stuffed his pockets and his little backpack pocket full. In the end, this turned out to be not such a great thing because on the way to the hotel from the Civil Affairs Office, Zach got car sick all over himself, me, and the van. That was a fun mess to clean up.

The rest of the day consisted of taking walks, playing by the pool (he did not want to go swimming today) and having his first bath. I have to admit I was kind of skeptical on how he would handle his bath, but he loved it. We gave him his beach ball and some plastic cups and he had an absolute ball in the tub. This was the first time that we had heard him laugh so hard, it was very cute.

Gotcha Day!!!

What a great day! We finally have little Zach and he's so adorable and cute. :)

We arrived at the civil affairs office a little before 10:00 am and walked in the room and there he was. He was sitting on a sofa with his nannies. The nannies pointed to us and said Mamma and Babba (Chinese for mommy and daddy). It took a little coaxing on the nannies part for him to come to us, but when he did he came over and gave me a hug. Then he went to Joe and gave Joe a hug. He was a little unsure of what was going on, but the nannies continued to say Mamma Babba. There was no crying or fits of any kind, for which I was surprised. Then I think we won him over when we gave him Teddie Grams. He really loved those. We then gave him a couple of toy cars to play with and he was happy playing with his cars and eating the Teddy Grams we gave him. We then had to go in an office and complete some paperwork. When we were done with the paperwork, the nannies had left and the orphanage director was about to leave. He stated that we can come to the orphanage on Friday afternoon to visit and they will give us his finding ad and his gifts that we sent in his care package. It is wonderful that he is allowing us to visit the orphanage. There are many orphanages in China they do not allow this, we are greatful that we will have this opportunity to see where Zach spent the first two years of his life.

After talking to the orphanage director, we had to head to a local photo place to have our family picture taken for our final adoption paperwork. This is where Zach started to cry for the first time. He did not want to get in the van and he cried most of the way to the photo place. On the way he stopped crying and fell asleep in my arms (tired little guy) and once we arrived he was fine. He was a trooper sitting through the little photo session. After the photo session we headed back to the hotel. We took him back to the room and we played for a bit and then went down to lunch. This boy can eat. He enjoyed fried rice, noodles, beef, watermelon, and the cheerios that we brought with us just in case. After lunch we took a little walk around the hotel grounds and he seemed very interested in the swimming pool. After our walk we went back to the room for Zach's afternoon nap. He fell asleep around 1:30 pm and I guess we did too because the next thing I know I look at the clock and it's 6:00 pm and Joe and Zach are still sleeping. Once I got everyone up we decided to head to the pool for a swim and then head to dinner. Zach was a little unsure of the water, but he was too intent on watching the other kids in the pool. After the swim we headed to dinner, where again Zach ate more than anyone.

Tomorrow we head back to the Civil Affairs Office and complete more paperwork. This should take about an hour and then we have the rest of the day free.

Enjoy the pictures

Day of Travel

We got up at 4:00 am to get ready for our flight to Haikou at 8:00 am. From Beijing to Haikou is a 3.5 hour flight, which is nothing when compared to the flight from Chicago to Beijing. We flew on Hainan Airlines which is a very nice air carrier. The first thing I noticed when we landed in Haikou is the heat. It is sweltering here. Beijing is nothing compared to this. I checked weather.com and the heat index is 110 degrees, plus high humidity. HOT. The second thing I noticed is the total lack of any English anywhere. In Beijing, things were easy to read and navigate as English was listed on everything. This is probably due the Olympics and all of the foreigners ready to enter the city, but Haikou not so much. We checked into our hotel around 1:00 pm and did a little unpacking. Our room is small, smelly, dated, and overall pretty crappy. I guess we will have to deal with it as we will be here for 6 nights. The first order of business is of course to go find water. Since there are no stores in this area, we ended up purchasing water at a street vendor. I will have to go back there at a later time because I noticed that there were other vendors selling fresh fruit nearby. After our little water escapade, we decided to head out and look for some good old American food. We know that there are McDonalds and KFCs around, so we had our guide write on a piece of paper in Chinese where we wanted to go and our hotel name so all we had to do is give the piece of paper to the cab driver and he will know what to do. We hop in the cab and give the piece of paper to the cabbie and he takes off. While driving a thunderstorm hits and it is pouring. He stops in front of a building downtown and gestures that we owe him a certain amount of money. The problem is that we don't see any McDonalds or KFC around, we just see a big building with people pressed up against the wall trying to stay out of the rain. We then try communicating with the cabbie that there are no McDonalds or KFC around, and he motions that the restaurants are in the building upstairs. We say fine, pay him his money, and venture out into the pouring rain to get into the building. The building ends up being a large department store and there are signs in the store that state "American Food" and an arrow pointing in a direction. We walk in this direction and find nothing. We continue to walk around this store and still find nothing. Luckily, we run into a girl that speaks English and she asks a clerk where the American Food is. Her response is that everything is under construction. Wonderful. So we head back out into the rain and notice that there is a Pizza Hut not too far from the store. Luckily, the Pizza Hut is not under construction and we have delicious garlic bread and pepperoni pizza. After dinner we hail a cab and have a special commute back to the hotel. We must of avoided 30 accidents on the way back. They drive crazy here. Driving on the wrong side of the road in heavy traffic, running down pedestrians, coming up behind a bicyclist and flashing the brights while lying on the horn, it was truly an amazing site and one that made me laugh because I have never seen anything like this before.

On a different note, tomorrow morning we get Zach. We are so nervous and excited to finally meet our little guy. We hope things go well and he adapts quickly. Being the worrier that I am, I'm worried that there isn't enough stuff around here for him to do. Where we are located isn't exactly child friendly. I just hope we can find a way to keep him entertained for 5 nights before we head to the White Swan hotel.

I also want to address the lack of photos on my blog. While we were touring yesterday my battery died and I had to rely on my mom taking photos. Unfortunately, her camera is not compatible with my software on the computer to download photos. Now, I am happy to say that my battery is completely restored and there will be pictures tomorrow of our big day.

Day of Touring

Last night both Joe and I slept little due to having to adjust to the time change. I must of woken up about 5 times and Joe about the same. At 6:30 am we headed to breakfast. Not bad. They had some interesting foods, but for the most part it was a pretty normal American breakfast. We met in the lobby of the hotel at 8:30 am and departed for Tian An Men Square. Tian An Men Square is just one large open space with lots of concrete, it was sort of impressive to see this large area, with a couple of buildings. I guess the buildings surrounding the square were for banquets and large gatherings. In addition, there is one building that the body of Chairman Mao is laid to rest. From Tian An Men Square we walked to the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is where the Emperors of China would live, conduct business, and host parties. The Forbidden City is an absolutely fascinating area of buildings and gardens, which was constructed in 1409. From the Forbidden City we headed to lunch. Lunch consisted of dumplings, sweet and sour pork, rice, and other yummy Chinese food. After lunch we drove to the Great Wall. The Great Wall is very impressive and words to do not it justice. It is absolutely amazing to think that this was built by man. Needless to say, I did not venture the climb but I did manage to go a couple of steps. There was no way was I going to attempt that as I probably would of blown out my knee. Joe on the other hand managed to climb to the top. Impressive.

We Made It

Well we finally made it to Beijing. It was a long flight and we landed about 3:30 pm Friday afternoon local time. This would be 2:30 am Friday morning in Wisconsin. Both Joe and I maybe got an hour of sleep on the plane. By the time we collected our luggage, cleared customs, found our guide, and checked in at the hotel it was almost 5:00 pm. After checking in and exchanging US $ in the Chinese Yuan, we had to meet in the lobby in 20 minutes so our guide Michael could show us where the nearest grocery store is to purchase bottled water. In China, you are not supposed to drink the tap water as it will make you very ill. We picked up our water and proceeded to the check-out counter. We were absolutly clueless on how to pay for it. Our purchase came to 12.50 yuan and we gave the clerk 100 yuan and she continued to say three (at least that's what I thought she was saying). We then gave her another 5 yuan and she just shook her head and gave us a bunch of change back. Who knows if we got ripped off. I have no idea.

You can tell this city is really gearing up for the Olympics. It is very nice here, lots of flowers and other greenery. There are also TONS of Beijing 2008 signs on every block which is very interesting to see. I will post pictures tomorrow as we have a day of sightseeing. We will be headed to the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the Great Wall of China. On another note, you should see the people on bikes here. Unreal. It's dangerous to cross any intersection because you might get hit by a bike or a car. They don't yield to pedestrians. it can be very amusing.

Zach's Room

Well we finally finished Zach's room. It took a little longer that we thought it would but it's finished. Just in time for us to leave and bring him home. I hope he likes it.

Getting Closer

I can not believe we leave in 5 days. Things have been so busy around here. We have been trying to get the house baby-proofed and organized for Zach's arrival. In addition, we have been talking to his pediatrician on a daily basis, building a swingset, checking out his day care, getting the dogs ready for their vacation, and packing. Talk about stress.

TA and CA!!!

We received our Travel Approval last week and today we received notice of our Consulate Appointment. Our Consulate Appointment is where Zach becomes recognized as a US citizen and once he lands on US soil he becomes a citizen. We will be leaving for China on July 17, receive Zach on July 20, and come home on July 31. I will post our final itinary once everything is finalized. Wow - we leave in two weeks.