It's a Wrap!

Sunday, July 3
We have been home for just about 24 hours and this trip already seems like something we dreamed. Honestly, I had such low expectations - at least in terms of how much fun it would be. I was thinking more along the lines of forced march - but was pleasantly surprised at every turn. It was SO. MUCH. FUN. It was the trip of a lifetime. Yes, I missed home after two weeks, but we just felt that we were in the "China groove" and it was truly hard to leave. 

I had to ask myself - what are the "takeaways"? 

Here are a few things I will miss about China. 
1. The people. Sure - there are tons of people who stare at us but there were many more who embraced us - and more importantly, embraced our girls - in particular their hometowns and even more in particular - their orphanages. It makes my heart sing that both SF and FS received such warm welcomes at their orphanages and were allowed to hang out with the kids who are still there. 

2. The miracles. I think our biggest miracle was Sophie the Wonder Guide. I don't know how we got lucky enough to have her path cross ours at just the right moment, but we are forever grateful. Sophie not only helped us traverse the language and cultural barriers within China, but she wrapped her arms around our family and showed us the beautiful, warm, kind, loving side of China. We not only had adventures with her - we had FUN! Sophie made the people of China actual people. She did more than translate - she let us into their lives. Other miracles - that FS's orphanage will move at the end of this year. If we hadn't traveled this summer - we would have been too late. Another miracle - the people of Nanping, who wrapped their love around SF in such a tangible way.

3. The other travel families. We had to part with our other travel families several times during our trip, but we always had a reunion to look forward to. It can be tough being on your own as a family - but every time we returned to the fold, we were welcomed back and could always count on laughs and entertainment. I know that my girls benefited tremendously from knowing that other girls were walking in their shoes simultaneously.

4. I am so proud of my girls. Even though they had their moments of teen attitude, overall they were good global citizens. They were polite to everyone (except Tony and me), and absolutely shined during their orphanage visits. It's HARD to have a bright hot spotlight shined on you at 14 years old - especially as a returned orphan. Can you imagine? Yet both rose to the occasion and really enjoyed their opportunities to interact with staff members and special needs babies and toddlers. Maybe my proudest moment? When Sophie the Wonder Guide told the Maonan staff at lunch that they didn't need to order special food for my girls because "they're good - they try everything." (And left the forks untouched.) I'm also proud of them because even though they complained about typical teenage things, they knew when NOT to complain. And I'm also proud that they looked after one another, despite being in each other's laps the entire time. They giggled their way through at least 75% of our outings and only had one quasi-physical-hilarious encounter in the lobby of the Garden Hotel in Guangzhou when FS tried to kick SF - repeatedly. 

5. Just "China." While the people were amazing, the country is staggering - in its breadth, its history, and its beauty. We can't believe that we had previously traveled to China twice but stayed in only two cities! I feel that this is like saying I visited the U.S. but only visited Miami and Atlanta. NOT a bad representation - but not a thorough one. And while we are still only scratching the surface of China, we got to scratch a lot MORE of the surface!

6. I want to go back. In my head, I was thinking, "this is my last trip to China." But after this trip? I am ready, willing, and able to go back. I love China and I already miss it!

Okay, and just for snicks, what makes me happiest about being home?
1. Having access to more than 5 outfits. I walked into my closet last night and just stopped to stare at my SHOES. I have been wearing one pair of shoes and one pair of sandals for over two weeks. We won't even go into the clothes. Today I got to choose ANYTHING I WANTED! So appreciative!

2. Unfettered internet access. Rather than spending 20 minutes trying to get Wifi access AND VPN access to maneuver around Chinese firewalls (okay and then asking Tony to make the VPN work for me), all I had to do today was turn on my computer and type a url. It's ridiculous how easy this blog post is compared with how difficult it has been over the past few weeks.

3. Food other than Chinese food. I have always said that I could eat Chinese food every day. I was wrong. Two weeks is enough. I adore dumplings, buns, rice, and noodles, but I need a break! Today I planned the menu for the coming week and, just this once, there will NOT be an Asian night. 

4. Working my way back to a normal day/night schedule. As predicted, just as I was becoming accustomed to a 12-hour time flip - it was time to flip back. Somehow, though, this time feels "right." To me at least. I'm glad to be back on the same clock as 99% of my friends. 

Thanks for reading my ramblings over the past few weeks. Honestly, I am still processing this trip. What I anticipated to be a forced march ended up being a heartfelt stroll through one of my favorite places on earth. 

Thank you, China. 

A Couple of Maoming Miracles

Friday, July 1

Several things came as a shock to us this morning - first we can't seem to fathom that it's actually our last full day here in China and second - that it's July. We have no idea how either of those things happened.

We had a pretty good night last night and a decent sleep in - 6:45 for me. After two cold showers yesterday, I broke into the girls' room and positively luxuriated in a long hot shower. Breakfast buffets are getting incredibly old at this point. And because we were in Maoming instead of, say, Guangzhou, there were no handy labels to tell us what 90% of the unrecognizable food was. So we stuck with our standard fare - pork buns, noodles, eggs, sticky rice, etc. 

We met Sophie and Mr. Chen at 9:20 to make the short car ride to Maonan Social Welfare Institute. I knew, as soon as we pulled up, that it was indeed the same orphanage Flying Sparrow had occupied for two years. I had been convinced by the rumors that I had heard previously that the building had been torn down and the orphanage moved. I am so happy to be wrong. It was a wonderful feeling to be able to bring FS back and see her standing in front of the gate.

 

(FS in front of Maonan SWI with the Director who was there when FS lived there - and with the new Director who will take over when the orphanage moves at the end of the year.)

Apparently the Civil Affairs office just faxed over our visitation paperwork this morning, so they weren't 100% prepared, but we still had some nice surprises in store since Sophie had been using WeChat to let the Director know that we were coming. 

The second great piece of news was that not one (as I had hoped) but TWO of the caretakers remembered SF and gave her multiple big hugs. The caretakers are just sweet, sweet people. Like Nanping SWI, Maonan is now 100% special needs children. I was told today that there is now a waiting list for domestic adoptions of non-special needs children. I guess this explains why the international adoptions have slowed so drastically.

 

(FS with one of her original caretakers from way back in 2003-2005. She kept telling FS how pretty she is.)

We were able to ask some questions and view SF's official file as well as take some photos of the early photos they have of her. And, importantly, we are able to confirm that her name is "little flying bird" or "flying sparrow."

 

(Never before seen - by us - photo of Flying Sparrow. Instant treasure! She still makes that exact face to this day!)

Next we took a tour of the orphanage and were able to see the rooms that FS slept and played in - and take a few photos. Then we went to visit the other children at the orphanage - currently about 60. It always takes the girls a few minutes to warm up to babies and toddlers they don't know but then they make eye contact with one and end up scooping then up. 

 

FS was even talking about taking part in a orphanage volunteer trip when she's older - but changed her mind when she came to the realization that diaper changing would be on her task list. The babies were very sweet and I just have to shake my head at how much all four of mine have grown. And although these children are no longer with their families, I am glad they have the sweet amahs to give them love and attention. 

During our visit, the staff did their best to make FS feel very welcome and even presented her with a lovely gift - a carved chop with her Chinese name carved on it - made from some type of large local nut. They also gave her about 100 lychees, of which she has already eaten many.

After our visit, we went to lunch with staff members and had another outstanding meal at which I tried some local specialties such as "beach duck" (fairly convinced this was seagull), squid (really delicious), octopus, and braised spare ribs - among at least another dozen dishes. For a picky eater, I have upped my game. I was really proud of the girls when Sophie told the orphanage director that the girls "try everything." Apparently some American adoptees have come back and refused to try even one dish. I'm also happy to report that ALL FOUR of us were presented with forks, but that we all politely declined and did quite well with our chopsticks. 

After lunch, we said goodbye to the orphanage staff and proceeded to FS's finding place - which a few days ago - I didn't

realize had been recorded. Another minor miracle. We were able to find out a few more important details about how she came to the orphanage that are worth gold to us. 

 

(Flying Sparrow finds her finding place.)

We rolled out of Maoming at around 2 and began the long drive back to Guangzhou. Fortunately we had the indefatigable Mr. Chen at the wheel - as we encountered two fairly interesting weather systems and some pretty bad traffic during our five-hour drive. At about 7, we rolled into The Garden Hotel. It's SO weird to be in Guangzhou and not at the White Swan - but Sophie informed us that The Garden is now where most adopting American families stay as the Consulate is nearby. And boy was she right - during check in we saw at least a dozen newly adopting families. What great memories for us! The hotel and our rooms are gorgeous and we're enjoying one last very comfortable stay before we begin our trek home.

 

Here's the star of the day today, enjoying drinking water from a wine glass at dinner. Please note the similarity of this face to the photo of her as a toddler, above.

Last night in China - I can't believe it. We are all equal parts elation and depression. Hoping that tomorrow goes smoothly and we get home without major bumps or delays. 

Mr. Chen's Bamboo

Thursday, June 30

This morning we arose pretty early (5:30 for me and a bit later for the others) to finish packing up, shovel down some breakfast and be ready when our driver appeared at 7:30. It was hard to leave our beautiful mountain retreat - but we were recharged, feeling healthier, and ready for the final phase of our trip. 

The drive from Yangshuo Mountain Retreat to Yangshuo bullet train station took almost an hour, but it was one of the most beautiful car trips of my life. The mountains were gorgeous - and everywhere - and we passed miles of small towns, rice fields, farmers, water buffalo, and just...LIFE...in China. 

 

And then, suddenly, in the middle of seemingly nowhere we come upon the brand new train station, the outside of which isn't even finished yet. The driver vaguely pointed to the entrance and then we were on our own. To our advantage, the station was quite small - only four platforms - and we had no trouble figuring out where to go and when our train was boarding. We settled in for the comfortable two-hour ride to Guangzhou. 

Tony and I realized that this was our third time in Guangzhou - that seems crazy. But we didn't stay long. We were very happy to see Sophie waving the white Sun Travel flag as we exited the busy train station. She showed us the way to our car and driver (Mr. Chen) and we immediately set off for the 4-5 hour car ride to Maoming. 

Our two previous trips to Guangdong Province were in November and March and let me say that it's a whole different animal in late June. We've only been here a few hours but have already seen two storms, bright sunshine, and clouds. Sophie says she is taking us to visit a beach that's on the way to Maoming, since there isn't anything else scheduled for today. That sounds GREAT to me. We're only about 2.5 hours into the drive and my butt hurts!

Here's my view for a big part of the day - I love that Mr. Chen is growing bamboo in his car.

 

One of the best parts about having Sophie is a guide is her intuitive knowledge of how and when to improvise a plan. We knew we had a long slog drive ahead of us (though Mr. Chen was doing all of the heavy lifting in that respect) when she suddenly suggested that we stop at the beach on the way to Maoming. Wait - what? I sort of knew the geography of Guangdong Province but was not aware that there were tourist-type beaches there. Needless to say I am learning more than one new thing each day that I'm here. Apparently Sophie used to take trips with her family to this very beach and she seemed excited to show it to us. Plus, everything that Sophie does is magic to FS and SF, so they were all in.

We rolled in to Maoming Beach at about 4pm and while it was still very much China, it was also exuding shades of Florida USA. Palm trees, high-rise condos, beach umbrellas, the whole nine yards. It was AWESOME! I don't know who was more excited - me, the girls, or Sophie. While poor Tony (wearing laced shoes) stayed above the water line, all of the girls let the incredibly warm water wash over our feet and soaked up the sunshine.

 

(Photo credz to Sophie.)

We took a bit of a stroll down the beach and collected some really cool spiral shells that we don't often see at home. We also collected some sand for our sand collection. Then we wandered back to poor Tony who was still standing guard over our shoes and devices. 

Next we made a quick detour for some fresh coconut milk. The palm trees in Maoming are definitely coconut producers and there were stands set up where you pick your coconut, they hack out a piece of it, pop in a straw or two and - voila! Beach juice. The girls shared one and pronounced it wonderful. Thanks to Sophie, FS had a super positive first impression of her hometown.

After the coconuts, we had fully intended to go find Mr. Chen and head to Maoming proper, But then Sophie's tour deviation took a deviation of its own. Just off the beach were several brand-new seafood "establishments." And by establishments I mean the kinds of places where you pick your eel or your snails or your prawns out of tubs on the pavement. Sophie asked if we wanted to have a seafood dinner and we just knew it would be a great time - we were in! First she located Mr. Chen who helped her pick the dishes and select the seafood. Since he is considered a true local, this also ensured the best possible price. The next thing we know, dish after dish of freshly prepared seafood from the China Sea began to appear on our table. 

 

(L-r) Mr. Chen, Sophie, SF and FS - who despite all appearances, is NOT choking on a fish bone.)

The photo above was taken BEFORE several more dishes arrived, including steamed crabs. Amazing! I was really proud of the girls for trying everything on the table - including the snails and head-intact prawns. They are already pros when it comes to fresh fish and mussels. We learned at dinner that you should never turn a served fish because it's like "tipping a boat." You carefully pull the skin and bone off without turning it. Quite a trick.

We learned several interesting things about Mr. Chen at dinner. First - he speaks a little bit of English. Second - his son attends university in St. Louis where he is majoring in sports management. Third - he owns a business that includes several drivers. Fourth - his nephew is fatherless and he acts as a father figure for him. He is a really kind man who graciously served us tea and soup and whatever else we needed all throughout dinner.

Finally we all piled back into Mr. Chen's van and made the half-hour journey north to Maoming proper. This city is "smallish" - which is this case means about 3 million people. The downtown is vibrant and bustling. We are staying in a beautiful hotel called La Palazzo. After settling in, we agreed to walk to a nearby square with Sophie to see some of the locals dancing. However, a thunderstorm intervened. The weather here in Guangdong is incredibly mercurial. While we were waiting for the weather to clear, Sophie dropped two bombs on us about our orphanage visit tomorrow. First - despite what we have heard to the contrary, FS's orphanage was not torn down or moved. It stands in the same location where it was eleven years ago. There is a plan to move it, but not until the end of this year. Second - that the Director who was here in 2005 is still here. Though, again weirdly, we were told the Director is a man (and have a photo of him with FS) but it's in fact a woman. This goes to show, once again, that if you want information about your adopted children, you have to COME HERE. 

We meet Sophie tomorrow at 9:20 before heading to Maoming to see what else we can find out and then have lunch with representatives of the staff. It'll be a big day for Flying Sparrow - especially since we will get the FINAL word on the actual translation of her name, which we have heard several variations of over the years. 

Now We're Cooking...Literally

Wednesday, June 29

Today was the first day I felt like a human since Sunday afternoon and it was a huge relief. Yangshuo was just what the doctor ordered. After going from one bustling city and major tourist attraction to another, we suddenly had time to slow down the pace and just enjoy the beauty of China. I have definitely decided that the smaller cities are my favorites: Yangshuo and Nanping have so much personality and let you feel like you're actually a part of them.

This morning I slept until 6:45, which is, by far, a personal best on this trip. I really needed it as the nights have been hard for me lately. We took a leisurely stroll to the Retreat's restaurant - all of about 100 steps. The craziest part of this retreat in the boondocks of China is that it is mostly occupied by, and caters to, westerners. Listen up, people, you can get LEGIT French fries here! (And I did, twice!) For breakfast, however, I went with the "Apple pancake" since a person can do noodles just so many times and was pleasantly surprised with a decent crepe with apples atop it. 

We rolled out of the retreat SUPER late today - at 10am - to head down to Yangshuo proper for our cooking class. This was something I had looked forward to ever since my first glimpse the the itinerary. "Cloud 9 Cooking School" totally lived up to its name today. The remains of our travel group (down to 5 families) all took part in a class in which we learned how to make three Chinese dishes. Our instructor was self-taught, both in cooking and English, and did an impressive job of teaching children and adults at numerous levels. I do have to say that the room where we were cooking was a "bit" - okay, oppressively - hot while we did our prep work. Oh! Wait! Let's turn on 20 woks at once! Can you say 

"inferno"? We were all dripping sweat into our dishes, but nevertheless I throughly enjoyed myself and look forward to making all of the dishes when we get home.

 

Spring Flower looks so evil in this photo that I'm surprised anyone let her have a cleaver.

 The coolest part was that you eat what you cook. So after exiting the inferno, we all trooped downstairs to the (air conditioned!) restaurant and once again had ten times more food on the table than we could ever hope to eat.

 

My dumplings. For the win!

After lunch we had an hour to spend in Yangshuo's adorable market. LOVED this market. There was some of the super pushy sales tactics but not nearly as bad as other cities and there was a nice variety of things to choose from. The girls chose a few really cute items and then washed it down with a refreshing mango smoothie. Except it was 100 degrees with 100 percent humidity. So a smoothie ain't touching that.

 

After the market we had to say goodbye to two of the travel families who were headed off to orphanage visits. It's remarkable how hard it is to part with people you just met 10 days ago but trips such as these tend to forge some pretty strong connections. The Mountain Retreat was a lot quieter this afternoon. 

HOWEVER, we made the best of an "afternoon off." Tony and I took a walk with sweat pouring down our faces and then rewarded ourselves with two pint sized Tsingtaos riverside.

 

It was a perfect afternoon, watching life in China float by and enjoying life. At one point, we were even graced with the presence of Flying Sparrow. I wish I could say she was seeking our company, but the truth is, she was Jonesing for another Retreat milkshake.

 

FS, post-milkshake and feeling refreshed. 

Next on the agenda was dinner with the last two remaining families. We shared a big outdoor table alongside the river and had a great evening. Good food, great people, lots of laughs and sharing. We did have to move the party indoors when some pesky thunder and lighting arrived, but that just gave us an excuse to order dessert. Other than the repeated appearance of a bizarre man who was wandering the the hotel in a bathrobe, it was a perfect evening!

Tomorrow morning we are on the move again. A new driver is rumored to be appearing here at 7:30 tomorrow morning to drive us to the Yangshuo train station, where we will catch the new bullet train to Guangzhou. We received a huge surprised today when we were told that none other than SOPHIE will be meeting us there! We are hoping that she'll be taking us on Flying Sparrow's orphanage visit, but don't wan to get our hopes up too high. In any case, SOMEONE will be taking us from the train station in Guangzhou on a five-hour car trip to Maoming tomorrow afternoon. Jealous much?

See you in Maoming! Our next-to-last stay!

Yangshuo Retreat

Tuesday, June 28, I think.

Okay now the days and locations are REALLY starting to get mixed up in my head. At least we are not alone. We constantly chat with our travel group members and comment on something in particular we saw or tasted and it always takes us a few minutes to piece together when/where we were. And while we're here for just over two weeks, some families have been here even longer - one since June 9th. Their trip will be a full month.

I was doing REALLY well with going with the flow and being up for every new food and experience and not missing home too much - until - our last night in Xi'an (Sunday) when I made the fateful decision to eat a piece of Chicken Satay IN THE HOTEL and have paid a big price for the past few days. As soon as I ate it I knew it wasn't going to end well, but it's so ironic that we have steered the girls clear of street skewers and then I get taken out by a Sheraton skewer. Forty eight hours later I am maybe just starting to feel a bit better but I haven't slept or eaten much at all ever since. Not easy when we have moved cities twice since then and been on a plane, a boat, a bus, and been force marched in crazy heat and humidity several times 

So let's back up a bit. We had a nice dinner upon arrival in Guilin yesterday after which most of the group headed out to explore the city a bit by bus. I hated to do it, but I had to opt out. It sounds like I missed out because they were able to visit some gorgeous temples and see fishermen using cormorant birds.

 

 

This morning we piled out of the Bravo Hotel at 8am in order to make it to our boat for the Li River Cruise. The Cruise was spectacular from beginning to end and, best of us, gave me an opportunity to SIT and nibble on bread. We cruised from Guilin south to Yangshuo, which takes about 3.5 to 4 hours. You never get tired of the classic Chinese countryside scenery.

 

 

After disembarking, we had to hoof it from the dock uphill into the town of Yangshuo, navigating through dozens of shops (which I am happy to report we will have time to visit tomorrow) in order to meet back up with our bus. It was insanely humid but I made it. Normally the heat doesn't bother me but being low on fluids and food is taking its toll. 

And while I was hoping our next stop was the hotel, we had one one additional stop to make - though in hindsight it was well worth it. An elderly farmer named Mr. Pan, along with his wife and sister in law live in a 300 year old farmhouse and allow a few groups to stop by for an inside look at life as they know it. An adorable couple - so sweet and welcoming. They let the girls try to churn some soy milk, and pointed out bits of their way of life. Mr. Pan's sister in law, whose husband passed a few years ago, even showed us the coffin she will be buried in, which is displayed in the house. In the photo below, Mr. Pan demonstrates how his bird can understanding counting in several languages and even demonstrated in Spanish - or maybe something that would be better termed "Spanese."

 

FINALLY we made it to our home for two nights, the Yangshuo Mountain Retreat. It is pretty incredible. Kind of rustic, but with incredible scenery wherever you look. We plan to have dinner shortly and then Tony and the girls will head out to a local show with the group while I continue to try to get better. 

 

Yangshuo Moubtain Retreat, which looks out over a gorgeous river. I need to find out which one!

Only THREE FULL DAYS left in China. Part of me is really bummed but another part misses my bed, my cats, and the option to not have to force march in 99 degree humidity!

Getaway to Guilin

Monday, June 27

As much as we enjoyed Xi'an we were ready to move on to our next stop: Guilin. Not only because of the promise of beautiful landscapes but also to join back up with our travel group. While it's nice at times to be on what is effectively a private tour, we miss the opportunity to get to know the other families in our group better. They are all super nice people. 

We headed out from our hotel at 8am for the one-hour drive to Xi'an Airport, where everything went smoothly for our flight. We arrived in just over 2 hours - at about 1pm. Coincidentally, the rest of our group arrived from Chengdu arrived just a few minutes before us and we bumped into them in baggage claim.

We were by our guide in Guilin, Cherry Yan. She is very sweet and seems knowledgeable about the area. A forty minute bus ride later (we are now back on a BIG bus) we arrived at the Bravo Hotel - which is nicer than it sounds. The further you get from major cities, the more idiosyncrasies you run into, but nothing major.

The landscape in Guilin is absolutely breathtaking. The mountains here are what you probably envision when you think of a classic Chinese landscape. Here's a not very professional shot out of the bus window. 

 

A very pleasant surprise at the hotel was the combination of a beautiful outdoor pool, coupled with a few hours of free time. Most of the families convened at the pool - for the girls to swim and for the adults to toss back a beer or margarita. This, for most of us, was the first time this trip felt like a true vacation. Don't get me wrong - it's the trip of a lifetime, but there is little to no relaxation - or sunshine. So here was my enormously appreciated vista this afternoon:

 

We just finished a delicious and really fun dinner with all the families, most of whom will be going on an excursion tonight involving a boat and fishing - I'm not 100% clear on the details. Tony and the girls will be joining in but I'm going to make it an early night. I finally bumped into something last night that did not agree with me and that, plus a rough round of serious snoring by my husband led to not much sleep at all. Plus, we have to be up and moving early - checked out and on the bus by 8am for our Li River Cruise. I'm hoping the weather holds as I've really been looking forward to this. 

Time for some Zzzzssss,,,,

Bonding Time With the "Teriyaki" Warriors

The main reason most people make the trip to Xi'an is, by far, the famous Terra Cotta Warriors, which Syd has been referring to as the "Teriyaki" Warriors for days. An estimated 6000 warriors, horses, chariots, etc. were created over 2000 years ago by Qin Shi Huang to protect him in the afterlife. Fast forward to 1974 when four peasants drilling a well here in Shaanxi Province uncovered the underground vault that held thousands of terra cotta soldiers in battle formation. 

Fortunately for us, our guide Jerry is native to Xi'an and visits the Warriors about 80 times a year. He was great at getting us to the right places at the right times to really have a chance to appreciate the "eighth wonder of the world." Here is my first glimpse of "Pit 1" - the largest pit. 

 

The scale is mind-boggling, especially when you understand that each of the thousands of warriors was modeled after an individual soldier and therefore, each is distinct from all the others. 

We also learned that only about 2000 of the estimated 6000 have been excavated. Over time, various groups attempted to destroy the warriors and managed to start a fire that made the original roof collapse over them - breaking or destroying many. Since their discovery, archaeologists have been slowly working to basically put them back together. And that, when originally unearthed, they were very brightly colored but within about a week, the colors faded to the color you see in the photo. This is another reason why so many have yet to have been excavated. There is a technology available to preserve the original coloring, but it's apparently very expensive so the work has been halted until it can be done properly. 

After visiting Pit 1, since we are in China, we of course stopped for a buffet lunch. Once again, our table was covered in far more food than we could ever eat, including delicious homemade noodles, made on site. Here is the noodle master:

 

 

Here's my favorite - noodles covered in pork sauce. Yum!

After too much lunch, we went back to explore Pits 2 and 3 as well as the Terra Cotta Warrior Museum. They have done a wonderful job in creating this historical site and despite crowds, it's a great experience and well thought out. We also had a chance to see some of the soldiers up close. The detail is incredible. 

 

 After the "Teriyaki" Warriors we headed back to our hotel, which took forever because, according to Jerry, Chinese people who have just gotten their licenses like to practice on the weekends. It was at this time that I edified him regarding the term "Sunday Driver." He seemed to appreciate it.

We spent the late afternoon wandering our Xi'an neighborhood and I'll be honest, I don't mind good-natured acknowledgement of my differentness, but I'm totally over being laughed at,b which just happened on the street 20 minutes ago. C'mon Xi'an, you are a tourist destination, I expect better from you.

So...what's up next? Tomorrow morning we pile back into our magical bus for a ride to the airport, from which we will travel from Xi'an to Guilin. I am really looking forward to the countryside!

Black Dumplings, Tandem Bikes, and a Wild Goose

Saturday, June 25

It was nice to wake up this morning and know that we would be able to go to sleep in the same place. In fact, we get to spend two more nights in Xi'an - so I did a massive load of sink laundry last night. As a result, our bathroom and the girls' bathroom look like something straight out of the Beverly Hillbillies. 

It was nice to catch up with our travel group, even though it was only for half a day. We bumped into most of them at the hotel's buffet breakfast. The breakfasts are always interesting - the larger cities have a pretty impressive assortment of both Chinese and Western foods, while places like Fuzhou, and particularly Nanping are Chinese only. Today I was pretty excited to see a pancake. Weirdly though, ice cream is also on the breakfast menu and let me just say that Flying Sparrow picked the WRONG day to sleep in and skip breakfast.

This morning's destination was the Muslim Market, which I was pretty excited to see - and I was not disappointed. It's a huge area inside the Xi'an City Wall in which Chinese Muslims set up an extensive array of stalls and shops and sell things like goat hooves, taffy, kebabs, and even cotton candy. The Muslim population has been in China since the Silk Road days and we are told that since they helped to drive out the Mongols, they are always welcome in China. While there has been a lot of mixing in marriages, and the Muslims appear very Chinese on the surface, many have a very unusual grey eye coloring - really unusual and striking. 

 

Muslim Market.

After the Market, our travel group once again left us behind - they headed off to Chengdu while we stay to catch up on Xi'an. We will meet back up with them on Monday in Guilin and then stay together for a few days. So we had to say goodbye to one of our favorite guides, Henry, before being turned over to our new guide, Jerry. We took a walk to a nearby restaurant for a dumpling banquet. Let me be frank: I adore dumplings. My entire family adores dumplings. After today, however, I'm going to need a day or two before I eat another dumpling. I would estimate that close to 100 dumplings landed on our table today - of incredible variety. They were amazing and unique - but they just kept coming! We could barely walk when we left. 

 

One of what felt like 1000 baskets of dumplings. Yes - half of them are black. 

So what do you do when you can barely walk after overeating delicious dumplings? Go for a nine-mile bike ride, of course. Xi'an boasts a pretty spectacular and intact city wall - which is a mere 600 years old. Originally used to defend the city, it's now a great way to explore the inner city from above. At some point in time, someone was smart enough to introduce the idea of biking around the wall, which is about 36 feet wide, which is more than enough room for plenty of walkers and bikers. We were lucky in that while it's still hot and humid, it was somewhat cloudy, so our biking wasn't uncomfortable. EXCEPT for the bikes - which were incredibly uncomfortable. Regardless, we enjoyed every minute. I teamed up with Spring Flower and T teamed up with Flying Sparrow. We laughed the entire time and even saw a wedding on the Wall. 

 

Despite evidence to the contrary, Flying Sparrow actually did most of the pedaling.

At this point, we were pretty wiped out - but when we met back up with Jerry, he had other plans. One more stop - the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. It was worth it. The Pagoda and Temple were built by a famous monk who traveled to India and brought Buddhism to China. It's gorgeous except that the entire Pagoda is covered in scaffolding - after an earthquake it apparently started "leaning." Jerry turned us over to an "official" Pagoda tour guide, who, to be honest, was terrible. We did learn a bit about the temple but at the end of the tour there was a really hard sell to buy an array of products. We turned most down but did decide to have the girls' names done in calligraphy by a local artist. 

 

"Spring Flower" and "Flying Sparrow." Oh - and don't you want to also lug home the $700 painting in the background?

Now we are back at the hotel and feel like limp dishrags. We stayed up a bit too late last night so I'm hoping for an early evening. I guess we do have to figure dinner out - but please don't let it be dumplings!

On The Road Again

Friday, July 24

Another incredible day here in China. To be honest, part of me was a bit anxious about the trip just because I knew there would be so many elements in play - the constant travel, the emotions of the adoption experience and so forth - but we are having the trip of our lives. New people, new vistas, familiar haunts, and so much more. Every day is literally an adventure.

This morning we woke up in Nanping and Spring Flower and I met Sophie for "Operation Finding Flyer Distribution." We spent about an hour and a half walking from park to park talking to people and handing out flyers. The people of Nanping were absolutely wonderful. They immediately wanted to do what they could to help. They suggested contacting the orphanage and the government (gee, why didn't we think of that?) but also suggested putting up posters (which I fortunately came prepared to do) but what they did most was tell SF what a beautiful girl she is and that she will find her birth family and that they will do whatever they can to help. They would pat her arm and just give her huge smiles. After a while, we had drawn a crowd of probably close to 40 people and it got a bit crazy as we got separated from Sophie and weren't able to ask or answer any questions. It was about at this point that SF started to get very emotional, quickly followed by me, and then, believe it or not, even Sophie. Three women completely overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of spirit of the people of Nanping who treated SF like a returning rock star. I will never forget this day.

 

SF and me with some park goers, holding flyers, before things got really crowded.

After the park experience, it was a bit hard to change gears but we had agreed to meet one of the orphanage workers for a walking tour of one of the mountains just across the walking bridge that you can see in the background of the photo above. It was insanely hot and humid by the time we set out at about 9:30 but we did climb the first part of the mountain. It was gorgeous and shady and breezy but we decided not to go any higher as we knew we had a long day ahead. We sat to enjoy the breezes when SF found a fairly malnourished dog along a path. She asked if she could pet it and I told her to be extremely careful. 

 

Unfortunately we didn't have any food, but I poured water into her hands and the dog gratefully drank the water. We didn't want to give him too much so then SF just sat and patted him for about 15 minutes. He seemed to love it. When we had to leave, it was tough for her to walk away and gut-wrenchingly, he began to follow her. A very difficult few minutes ensued and I know part of it dealt with all that SF had experienced in the preceding 24 hours. 

Then it was time to depart Nanping and catch a train back to Fuzhou, We absolutely loved the new bullet train between Nanping and Fuzhou and the station is wonderfully modern. Below are SF and Flying Sparrow, waiting for a train American style. 

 

After an easy 45 minute train ride we had an hour-long drive to the Fuzhou airport. Sophie got us settled in at our gate before she headed to her own gate on her way to Beijing. After only knowing her for a bit more than 24 hours, it was tough for me and the girls to say goodbye. She was so very good to us and so understanding of SF's need to try to make some sort of birth family contact. 

One very easy and relatively ontime flight later, we arrived in Xi'an and we met by yet another guide, Jerry. We always get a kick out of the names chosen by the guides, to accommodate the Americans who typically can't handle the actual Chinese names. 

We're now settled in to our beautiful hotel in Xi'an and are ready to explore another famous city in China. We will rejoin our travel group for the morning before they head off to Chengdu and we try to catch up on Xi'an. After Xi'an we will truly rejoin them in Guilin. So for the next few days it will be just us and Jerry and maybe a few thousand Terra Cotta Warriors! 

There's No Place Like Home

Thursday, June 23rd

Anyone who has slogged through this blog in its entirety is aware of how important the visits to the girls' hometowns are to me. Further, if you read the last post, you will be aware of what kind of shape we were in when we rolled in Fuzhou - severely lacking in sleep. Rather than the 1am bedtime I had hoped for, we instead laid heads to pillow at about 4am. Honestly, at that point I lapsed into a coma and don't remember a thing until I woke just before my alarm at 7:15. 

Before heading down to breakfast, we took a photo of T, Spring Flower, and me in the 12th elevator lobby of the Lakeside Hotel in Fuzhou - the very Genesis of our life with Spring Flower. Wish we had had a bit more time but we literally had a train to catch. Before that, however, we quickly had breakfast (so fun to remember those first few breakfasts with Spring Flower) before heading out for the train station. 

The bullet train in China is great! What used to be a three-hour one-way drive from Fuzhou to Nanping is now an easy 45-minute train ride. Progress! I also enjoyed the ride because it gave us a chance to get to know our guide (and Sun Travel head guru), Sophie. I had some reservations about her initially because she is the "Boss," but am so happy to report that she is flexible, supportive, funny, and just genuinely loves people, Sophie is from Xi'an, but spends most of her time in Seattle. In the summer she oversees heritage tours pretty much every week but personally takes many families to the individual orphanage visits. 

From the train station, we were picked up by a driver from the orphanage who took us straight there. Talk about "ready or not, here we come!" I immediately recognized the area because I had a general map of the Nanping area in my head and because I have studied so many photos of the Nanping Yanping SWI (Social Welfare Institute), aka Spring Flower's orphanage. 

 

I knew that SF's finding area was just outside the gates of the SWI, so, unprepared, I was suddenly standing there with her and started tearing up. She seemed okay and let us take her photo, but I don't know if it had really sunk in with her yet. Next we were warmly invited to come inside for a tour and to meet many of the staff members. They were absolutely wonderful. They all seemed so genuinely happy to see SF, though when I showed photos of her when she was a baby, we were told that the amahs in the photo had retired. We also met the Director, who was very kind and friendly, but he took over in 2004, two years after SF's departure. 

His assistant took us for our tour and we got to visit with many of the children at the SWI, which is now almost 100% for special needs children as most non-special needs children now typically live with foster families. SF just lit up having a chance to interact with the children. She held babies, hugged toddlers, and helped one little girl go down a plastic slide at least 100 times. At this point, coincidentally, a second Nanping adoptee arrived for her tour. The crazy part is that they probably only see a dozen former adoptees a year, as only about 300 children, total, were adopted from this SWI (and we know more than ten personally). I think SF liked not having 100% of the attention on her.

 

At one point of the tour, something crazy happened. Apparently, according to Sophie's wonderful translation, one particularly nice amah commented, "she came back? She was here last year." Upon further questioning, the amah claims that she thought SF was another 14 year old who visited in 2015. She says SF looks exactly like her and could not stop staring. Cue the Twilight Zone music. My stomach lurched just with the possibility that it could be anyone who resembles SF closely enough that it could be a possible bio relative. Sophie was amazing and asked lots of questions. She also got the amah's contact information. A bit later one of the "helpers" - a former orphan, who now works in the orphanage, confirmed that a girl who looks remarkably like SF had been there last year and she thought she had a photo on her phone. Try to imagine our stunned silence as we waited for her to go through her photos. She wasn't able to find it, but again Sophie got her information and asked that she let us know if she finds the photo. Sophie has also agreed to follow up with the SWI to try to find out which girls visited last year. I will definitely be following up via the two huge Chinese adoptee groups on FB. We have to find out more about this.

 

Next we were invited to sit down and have some local fruit (the cherries in this area are unlike any I've ever had - they even have a prickly outer skin - but we all proclaim them delicious and they wrapped some up for SF to bring back to the hotel. Meanwhile the girls were then able to review their official orphanage files. Wow. Most of what is in the file we already have at home but there were some amazing additional nuggets including her finding ad - which I didn't know existed - and which gave us a few additional details about which we had been previously unaware. This means so much to us. They both SF and the other visiting adoptee were asked to put their handprints (in red ink) in a book of all the children who have come back to visit. They asked if we had any photos of SF growing up and I told them that the gift we had presented was a photo album. They asked to open it and of course we said yes. It was an absolute joy to watch them seeing all of SF's photos they told us repeatedly that it makes them so happy to see her living a good life. 

Next we headed off to lunch in a local restaurant and I did my best to remember my Chinese table manners and apparently the girls had paid attention to my adominitions because they were reminding Tony to leave a morsel of food on his plate to be polite. I had a chance to chat with the other adoptive mom and her daughter, who is 18 and about to start her freshman year of college. 

 

After lunch the orphanage staff dropped us at our hotel, which while VERY Chinese, is also extremely comfortable and has a gorgeous view of the Min River, which snakes its way all through the middle of Nanping. I LOVE this city even though people literally stop dead in their tracks to stare at me. I have not seen a single non-Asian person since we arrived except the other adoptive mom. 

In the early afternoon Sophie took us for a walk. She has been to Nanping once before and proclaims it one of her favorite cities in China. Beautiful mountains form a back drop, the river is beautiful, and the neighborhoods are really cool. We wandered around the back alley markets and I can't believe how much fun it was - especially with Sophie, who stops to speak to many people and ask them questions. The people are incredibly nice and enjoy explaining things to her so that she, in turn, can explain then to us. 

Then our amazing day took a turn for the ridiculously amazing. We stopped into a tiny tea shop run by a young man who was maybe 30. His parents opened the shop several decades before. Sophie was asking questions about the tea, and he began mixing up multiple batches and proceeded to keep filling our cups for the next 30 minutes. She explained why we were in Nanping and he and his friend were very interested. Like all Chinese people here, they offered advice for what we should do. But his plan was brilliant. He immediately took a picture of SF's "search" poster and put it on his WeChat account (sort of like Chinese Facebook). He also explained that there is a channel within WeChat for people in Nanping that is basically a "classified" section like a newspaper. He put a post there for us and now has Sophie's phone number in case anyone responds. While we were there enjoying our tea, four of his friends reposted for us. How flipping incredible.

 

Our WeChat hero (right) who also brews a mean cup of tea.

We continued our exploration of Nanping and we all just loved the charm of this relatively small but very quaint city. We stopped for a quick dinner in a small side restaurant that specialized in dumplings, fish soup, and won ton soup and I have to say the food here was better than what we had in Beijing.

I hesitated about asking Sophie about posting some "searching" posters for Claire but she was amazing about it and suggested that we should try talking to some of the locals and hand out the flyers I had made. We agreed to meet on Friday morning at 6:30am to try to talk to some of the people who regularly gather in the parks. 

To be continued...

Bye bye Beijing

Wednesday, June 22nd

We all love Beijing. And while the sights have been remarkable, we also just really enjoyed being part of this city for a few days. There's just this cool vibe in the city and the people are super eclectic and proud. I could people watch here all day. Every time we ride the bus around the city I just lean my head against the window and take in people going about their daily lives. It's endlessly entertaining for me. 

This morning we did a whirlwind tour of Tiananmen Square before moving on to tackle the Forbidden City. Again, one of those deja vu moments when you encounter something in person that you have read about or seen photos of for your entire life. Unreal. 

The day started out a bit overcast, which made for our most comfortable day of sightseeing this week - but after the sun popped out the full heat and humidity returned. Regardless, nothing could take away from the grandeur and incredible history of the Forbidden City. When I get home I can't wait to watch "The Last Emperor" again. The only movie ever allowed to film in the Forbidden City. 

The downside of today is that the other families are already on the bullet train to Xi'an so we had to say goodbye to them for a few days - and have already said goodbye to two families who are wrapping up and heading home. Originally we were scheduled to go to Xi'an today but had to shift things around because Spring Flower's orphanage won't allow us to visit on a weekend. So - we will be hopping a flight to Fuzhou at 8 tonight instead. I think it will be a late night as we don't land in Fuzhou until close to 11pm and I recall the drive to the hotel taking about an hour. So if we are lucky, we will be in bed by 1am. And we are still having trouble staying awake past 8! 

Tomorrow morning we hope to have a few minutes to visit the 12th floor of our hotel, which is the exact spot where Spring Flower was placed in our arms nearly 14 years ago. Then we will hop on a bullet train to visit her orphanage and hometown in Nanping. I'm not sure I'm ready for the inevitable wave of emotions but I need to get it together to be on hand for anything Spring Flower needs tomorrow - whether it's helping her deal with her own emotions or just letting her act like it's no big deal. She gets to call the shots. 

That's it for today - just spending a few quiet hours in our hotel before going back on the move. We hope our other travel families are having a blast on the train to Xi'an and maybe Henry is regaling them again with his version of Chinese rap! 

 

Bucket List

Ever since I was a kid who fell profoundly in love with books I have imagined what it would be like to visit certain landmarks. I have been incredibly fortunate to be able to visit several of what I'll call my "Top 5," which includes places such as Notre Dame in Paris and the Colosseum and the Sistine Chapel in Rome. One that has eluded me, until today, is the Great Wall of China. 

I woke up a bit grumpy at just after 3am this morning. The problem is that there isn't much you can really DO for two or more hours in the dark while the rest of your family slumbers. My saving graces have been my iPod nano (books on tape) and my iPad (ebooks and social media). The upside of 3am in China is that all your friends at home are wide awake and I was able to chime in on a chat with Carol and Xiomara at about 4:30 about Madeline's first pair of pointe shoes! So excited for her! The little glimpses into life at home make us feel like halfway around the world isn't quite so far.

Even the rest of my family manages to roll it out pretty early and we had breakfast at about 6:15 again. Amusing solely because that IS a normal breakfast time for the girls and me but T - not so much. 

Our fabulous bus and driver appeared as if by magic again - this time at 8am to take us out of Beijing and to the northwest. Because it's China, first we stopped at a jade market, which included the perfunctory history lesson and the mandatory sales pitch. Fortunately for us, we were actually in the market for jade. My original jade bracelet, purchased 14 years ago, broke about two years ago (demonstrating its poor quality). Meanwhile, the higher quality bracelets we bought for the girls in China in 2005 were stolen from our house a few years ago. Yes, we were definitely in the market. T helped me pick out a new bangle, all the while the salesgirl kept telling me "you have a good husband," to which I kept replying, "yes, I know!" We let Spring Flower and Flying Sparrow make their own choices and they each selected a jade pendant and jade earrings. They are both proudly wearing their earrings and it makes the Chinese part of my heart very happy!

Next stop, Great Wall!

According to TripAdvisor, our guides picked a great spot for our climb - not crowded, not too far away, and great views. They delivered! It was virtually deserted today. We had The Great Wall of China to ourselves! : )

We were told repeatedly that there was an "easy side" and a "hard side." Those of who know me - would you care to guess which side I chose? Okay, so I kind of assumed that they meant that the "hard side" was named by spoiled Americans who get no exercise. Boy was I wrong. The hard side was HARD! Here is what I will call Phase 2:

 

This was after an already "heart-rate raising" climb. Of course we pressed on. Note the building at the top - it plays a role in Phase 3.

 

Welcome to Phase 3! We are now standing next to the building that was visible from Phase 2. This seemed like the perfect time to pay homage to our fearless leader of Herndon, VA, Madame Merkel. So I donned my 

Merkel Mayor 2016 shirt and got this photo. I think she is pleased with my efforts to support her candidacy. 

More about Phase 3 - see the building I am pointing to? The insanely high one? That was our final destination. Flying Sparrow was having some panic attacks about the heights - the steps are insanely steep and uneven - so T decided to stay behind with her while I forged ahead with Spring Flower and two of the other girls with our group. I won't lie - I wanted to die at several points during the ridiculously steep climb. I had to sit on the steps at least 10 times to catch my breath. But guess what my friends: I did it! Out of 26 people in our group only 3 girls and 2 adults made it to the top and Spring Flower and I were among them and here is the photo to prove it, which I think only goes to prove the point that it's true what they say about ballerinas and OCD people: they can both make it to the top of The Great Wall!

 

To be honest, I was a bit concerned about the descent since the railing (oh, how I loved the railing!) seemed too low to offer much help on the way down. Regardless, and despite ridiculously shaking legs, we managed to get back down in less than half the time it took us to get to the top. Time for selfies!

 

On the way back to our hotel we got a look at some of the trademark 2008 Olympic venues including the Bird's Next, the Olympic Village, and the Water Cube. We just had time to shower off half the dirt of The Great Wall before jumping back onto the bus for a very impressive acrobatics show. The girls LOVED it. 

Tomorrow morning it's Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City before most of the families head off to Xi'an, while we fly to Fuzhou in anticipation of Spring Flower's orphanage visit on Thursday. It's our last night in Beijing and I still cannot believe I'm even here in the first place!

Forgot one photo

Pre rickshaw race. Love this.