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.