Friday, January 29, 2010

Well, this is the final blog entry while in China . We had no problems with our flight to Shanghai , and we ate lunch at a KFC of all places. We went to the “old” area of Shanghai with Eleanor and Charles, a couple who adopted a child in our group and are from Ann Arbor . Shanghai is such a gorgeous city, with old architecture blended in with the new. It truly is an amazing last stop on our journey. This has been a trip of a lifetime for both Brittany and me. We cannot believe that tomorrow we will finally be home, and Noelle will officially be an American girl! We have been spoiled these last few days with the temperatures being in the high 60’s and lower 70’s. I guess we will be in for a surprise tomorrow, right? We do have mixed feelings leaving China . We are happy to get home, but sad to leave our new friends and this culturally rich country. We will forever remember coming here to get our beautiful daughter, and of course all the sights and sounds we have encountered here. I STILL CANNOT BELIEVE I ATE A SILKWORM LARVAE!!! I also got my first massage yesterday and I have never been in so much pain before. Everyone said it hurts “a little bit,” but you will feel better afterwards. Well, I am sore as heck today. I can truly say I will never have another one again! At least I can say I had one though. I hope you all have enjoyed our blog as much as we did writing it for you. When we get home we will finally get to read it and look and remember everything we have done over the last 17 days. We miss and love you all. We will be home soon and you will all be able to see and hold Noelle for the first time. This is an exciting time for all of us, and we can’t wait to share it all with you. We’ll see you tomorrow!!!!!!!!

Final day in China

Well, this is the final blog entry while in China. We had no problems with our flight to Shanghai, and we ate lunch at a KFC of all places. We went to the “old” area of Shanghai with Eleanor and Charles, a couple who adopted a child in our group and are from Ann Arbor. Shanghai is such a gorgeous city, with old architecture blended in with the new. It truly is an amazing last stop on our journey. This has been a trip of a lifetime for both Brittany and me. We cannot believe that tomorrow we will finally be home, and Noelle will officially be an American girl! We have been spoiled these last few days with the temperatures being in the high 60’s and lower 70’s. I guess we will be in for a surprise tomorrow, right? We do have mixed feelings leaving China. We are happy to get home, but sad to leave our new friends and this culturally rich country. We will forever remember coming here to get our beautiful daughter, and of course all the sights and sounds we have encountered here. I STILL CANNOT BELIEVE I ATE A SILKWORM LARVAE!!! I also got my first massage yesterday and I have never been in so much pain before. Everyone said it hurts “a little bit,” but you will feel better afterwards. Well, I am sore as heck today. I can truly say I will never have another one again! At least I can say I had one though. I hope you all have enjoyed our blog as much as we did writing it for you. When we get home we will finally get to read it and look and remember everything we have done over the last 17 days. We miss and love you all. We will be home soon and you will all be able to see and hold Noelle for the first time. This is an exciting time for all of us, and we can’t wait to share it all with you. We’ll see you tomorrow!!!!!!!!

Good morning all!!! Only 2 more days to go before we are coming home! We are getting so excited!!! I hope you all have enjoyed our blog so far!! Yesterday was a pretty exciting day! After breakfast and a little shopping we all went to the U.S. Consulate to take our oath so we can get Noelle's travel visa today. We should get that about 5pm, then we CAN COME HOME!!! As a reward for our hard work, we had a "guys night out." (The women had one earlier this week and they went to go get massages) We were more simple- we went out to eat. We found an authentic Cantonese restaurant where they spoke no English at all. All we got were smiles and nods. However, the menu did have pictures and we all wanted to try something different, so here is what we had for dinner: appetizers: boiled peanuts (good), roasted pigeon hearts and gizzards (did not eat). For the main course: Roasted pig back (good but fatty), roasted pigeon (good- tasted like dark meat chicken)(I did not eat the head), vegetables (good), boiled eel (surprisingly very good, but not too good to look at), and "homestyle" pan fried silkworm chrysalis (absolutely terrible). I actually was peer pressured by all the other guys to eat one. They all ate some, but I couldn't do it until they started saying I have to "man up" like they did. After about 20 minutes, I picked up one (they are about an inch long and thick) with my chop sticks, threw it into my mouth and swallowed in 1 bite. They all cheered for me, but it was so gross. I am able to say I ate one though, right?? We then got something for dessert- Frog cream tarts. First, I don't eat frogs, second, how do you cream a frog, or what the heck is frog cream???? I did decide to pass on that one when it came out. Looked like raw eggs in a pastry. Nope, not for me. We did have a great time though, but nobody brought cameras. Oh well. I got back around 11pm, and Noelle was asleep and Brittany was also. Today we are going to the zoo to see the Panda bear they have there, so I will send pictures later. We also have to pack to go to Shanghai tomorrow morning. Today could be the last entry to our blog until we get home. We have to see if we get internet connection at our hotel in Shanghai. I hope we do. I will continue to take pictures to document our adventure, and I will put them on here as soon as I can. Brittany and I also want to thank my sister for creating our blog for us since we cannot access blog sites here in China- THANK YOU KAREN!!!!! We also want to thank all of you who have followed us on our journey!!! I hope you enjoyed it, and we can't wait to go home to see it for the first time! If we are able to have internet access in Shanghai, there will be a final blog tomorrow........ Take care all!! (I will send pictures tonight)

Oops!

My happy mistake...!

We had been told to buy all our child's food in the city where we adopted her since not all brands of formula and cereal are available throughout China. The varieties and brands of baby/child food available was overwhelming. I think in China, kids eat and drink baby foods until about age 3. So I got the formula and rice cereal that the orphanage said she eats..at least I thought I did! Yesterday, our original box of rice cereal ran out (this one our guide bought for us and we paid her back on the day we got Noelle) and so I opened the new box but it was a different color. Hmmmmm. Careful examination revealed that the cereal was made of Seaweed and Bone!!???!!! Well Noelle is still a Chinese baby for a few more days so I figured she can go ahead and try it. Our guide told me "The Chinese think this is very healthy for baby". She thought it was fine and now her constipation is gone! Cool, no more squealing and screaming! Better than prunes? Now I wonder is it the seaweed or the bone? I'd place my money on the seaweed.

Today we go to the consulate to take an oath. I'm not sure what the oath is about or which language it will be in. I'll bring along my dopey nod just in case! Noelle is taking a little snooze after playing with her diaper bag.

More later!

Brittany

Hi all! Today was a very nice relaxing day. We woke up around 7:30am and talked to Nicholas and both sets of parents. Afterwards, we went downstairs to have yet another awesome breakfast. Today I only had scrambled eggs, a piece of ham, and a few pieces of cheese. Not too exciting, but very tasty. I then proceeded to go back to our room where I had to stay from 10am until noon. That was the time of our U.S. Consulate appointment, and our CCAI representatives, Jason and Grace, took our papers there to start Noelle's visa process. If there was any problems we had to be in our room to answer the phone call. Needless to say we had to wait until 1:30pm because they were slow at the consulate, but our papers were all good. Thank goodness!!! Tomorrow Brittany and I have to take an oath at the consulate and we will be able to come home after Noelle's visa gets processed on Thursday. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and we are thankful to be going home soon. We have really enjoyed ourselves here and the people here have been so nice to us. However, it may be some time before I eat Chinese food again at home. We are really anxious to eat more "normal" food instead of eating in a restaurant for every meal. We also miss Nicholas so very very very much. We miss all of you! (MY GOODNESS I MISS MY OWN BED TOO!!!!!) We shopped a lot in the afternoon until our "Red couch" pictures with all the babies and parents. Brittany and I bought some traditional Chinese clothing to wear for the occasion. It seemed the proper thing to do and many of the couples we came with did the same thing. All the babies dressed in traditional clothes were so darn cute. (Noelle was the cutest of course!) After a short rest we changed clothes and went on a dinner cruise on the Pearl River which runs right through the city and past the White Swan, our hotel. The buffet was not to my liking (traditional Chinese food, much of it really odd for me- like roasted duck in a pot along with the ducks' heads staring right back at me.. not very appetizing... and odd fish dishes with their tails and heads still on.... etc..) While I did not like the food, the view was absolutely stunning. We came back to the hotel and put Noelle to sleep. She fell asleep on the bus, and wouldn't wake up to have her last bottle of the day. I hope she doesn't wake up in the middle of the night to eat! Oh well.... we shall see. Good night all. I'll see you very soon............

Today we did some shopping and explored Shamian Island. Noelle was a good girl, she likes to people watch. We all had a pre-dinner nap and then met up with the other families to eat at the Italian Restaurant. It was very good! It may be the only Indian-owned Italian restaurant in China? Anyway, we had a great time. Jim got pizza with mushrooms and sausage (luckily the waitress let him know that their pepperoni was made entirely of vegetables?) and I got homemade spinach gnocchi with a gorgonzola cheese sauce. Yum!

Tomorrow should be another relaxing day. Our guides will take our paperwork to the US Consulate and they will double-check everything. All we need to do is wait in our room for the all clear or help with any questions. Then we will be taking the famous red couch photos with our travel group. The hotel we are at (the White Swan) has large red couches that have become the adoption photo opportunity. We have gotten Noelle a little red dress and shoes to wear. In the evening we are going on a dinner cruise on the Pearl River.

Hello all. Had another fun day today! Noelle was a very good girl, and her smiles keep getting bigger and bigger! Today we started off with a very yummy breakfast- Noelle really enjoyed some vanilla yogurt with raspberries and some gongi (rice porridge). Afterwards, we traveled about 20 to 30 minutes to a Buddhist Temple named Six Banyan's Temple. It was beautiful. We saw 3 very large Buddha's and one female Buddha. In the temple, many of the babies, including Noelle, were blessed. There was incense and the whole 9 yards. It was pretty neat. Also, the flowers around the temple were amazing. There are roughly 20 monks that live and work there. The large pagoda that stands in the middle of the grounds (it stands 9 stories tall) was closed because it is leaning! Our guide, "Jason" states the government doesn't know what to do with it, but they are going to try to get the structure safe again so tourists can go to the top. Jason also said that 90% of the older people in China are Buddhist while most of the younger generation do not believe in faith. (The Communist Party supposedly takes care of the peoples souls- that is what is taught in school) After the temple, we traveled to the Provincial Folk Art Museum. It is also named the "Chen Clan Ancestral Temple." The surname "Chen" is the most popular in this province- like "Smith or Jones" in the United States. Many many families with the surname Chen got together and built this place so they can worship and bless their common ancestors. It was pretty cool. We then got back on the bus and did some shopping, both as a group, and afterwards just the 3 of us. Tomorrow there is a group outing to the Pearl Market, but I think we are just going to stay on the island and shop by ourselves. The people here seem so friendly and not very aggressive or pushy when we look at their merchandise. We did buy Noelle some Chinese looking pajama's and 6 traditional Chinese dresses so she can wear them as she gets older. We are also looking for a traditional Chinese vest for Nicholas to wear on the Chinese New Year Party. They should look so cute together. Brittany, along with 1 member of every family in our adoption group, had a meeting with our guides Jason and Grace to complete some paperwork for our appointment with the American Consulate later this week. Tonight all the women in our group are going out for a "ladies night" and plan on getting massages. There is a place on the island where you can get an hour long massage for 78 RMB's or roughly $11.00 U.S. dollars. What a bargain!!! Typically an hour long massage would cost $75-$95.00 at home. Well, we are going to wake up Noelle and head out for dinner. We'll write more tomorrow! Take care all!!