Forbidden City & Great Wall 11/6/2004

November 6, 2004

It was pretty amazing to see all of the CHI families gathering in the hotel lobby. There were 42 families multiplied by two people, which equals 84 people. Many brought additional familiy members, so you get the idea that we are a big group.

We ran across a couple from NYC. AR had met the husband yesterday in the hotel gym. They exchanged pleasantries then, but neither was aware that they were each here for adoption. Small world, right? Even funnier, when he and his wife met me, they remembered me from the travel adoption meeting in NYC in September. "You were running around showing everyone your referral photo." Yep, that is me. Guilty as charged, hee hee.

We divided into two groups~ the Jiangxi Province (Us) and Guahdong Province and went on separate busses. We had already met our coordinator, Sabrina, who picked us up at the airport. She was going to travel with us for our whole adoption trip (except back to the U.S.). We were pleased because she was so nice.

We drove to Tiannamen Square first. Honestly, it wasn't much to look at. I guess I was expecting to see tanks or something, but it was really just an open area flanked by government buildings that we could not go into. Chairman Mao's body lay in state and thousands of Chinese people waited in line to see him to pay their respects. It would have been cool to do that, but it wasn't on our agenda.

There were a LOT of people in this area. Each guide held up a colored flag so that we would be able to find them by spotting the flag. It was tough to keep the whole group together.

The Forbidden City has a huge picture of Chairman Mao's face on it. Inside the city were the Emperor's palaces, so we walked from the South gate to the North gate. There was a strabucks in the middle of Forbidden City. It is true, capitalism has infiltrated China. I call the photo above, Forbidden Starbucks!

We stomped around the palaces and they all had doors that you had to step up and into. Not easy to traverse. We did quite a bit of walking and I wanted to conserve some energy for walking up the Great Wall, which was to be visited after lunch.

Lunch was dinner of roasted Peking duck for 80+ people. Apparently the place we went to was the place for duck. I let our guide Sabrina know that I was a vegetarian and she informed the waiters. I was provided with plenty of veggies. The broccoli was the best I ever ate in my life. It was crunchy and tender and bright green. We had several glasses of beer, which was probably a mistake because we were off to climb Great Wall.

Most of us were quiet or fell asleep during the hour drive to the Great Wall. It may have been the beer, the heavy lunch, the walking that was done all morning or jet lag, but we were all pretty pooped. Despite this we made our ascent.

The walk was difficult because the steps were uneven. One step would be a normal step and the next would be the equivalent to two steps, so you had to use your hands to grasp onto the steps or hang onto the wall as you climbed.

I made it to the third level and gave up. AR made it to the second level. Only three from our group went to the top. We did get some great photos. Coming down the stairs was harder than going up, if you can believe that!

We arrived at the hotel at 6 pm and had an orientation meeting from 7-8:30 pm. We had to pack our bags that we were checking tomorrow when we got back to the hotel. No rest for the weary because they were collecting it at 10 pm.

At the orientation meeting we received an update on our daughter. She has 8 teeth! Still we were told that she was not on solid foods and only formula. We were told that she was a deep sleeper. I sure hope that part is true!

We ate pizza at the hotel for dinner and waited for our luggage to be collected. We were in bed by 10 pm. This was our last night as a childless couple. Tomorrow we meet the babies!

Dinner in Beijing

November 5, 2004

One of our traveling companions was given the name of a restaurant that was supposed to have great food at low prices, so we all met at 6pm in the lobby to go. She had the address written in Chinese. We called two cabs to take the lot of us.

After our cab driver took off, we noticed that he smelled of alcohol. He may not have been drunk, but he surely must have been on a bender within the past 24 hours. Ar had the joy of sitting next to him in the front seat of the cab. The driver slapped his leg and it was all rather weird.

We had no idea how far away the restaurant was. We were driving and driving and then we were on the outskirts of town in a less than desirable place. We finally arrived at our destination and it was smack dab in the middle of a residential area. It had a bright neon sign that said, "Restaurant." The other cab had not arrived. It was cold so we went inside to wait.

The others showed up and we were seated at a large round table. The menu was adventurous~Rabbit, ell, shark fin, pungent sauces...I selected the tomato and egg soup and veggie dumplings. Everyone shared all of the food and it was delicious and plentiful.. We were all drinking Tsingtao beer. The bill for 7 of us was #321 yuan, which was about $40. That us what I call a real bargian.

We asked the restaurant to call us two taxis and they did. As soon as we exited the restuarant, they locked the doors. It was only 8 pm, but I gues sthey wanted to go home. No cabs showed up. We banged on the doors and finally someone came to see what the ruckus was about. We asked them to call for two cabs again and this time they arrived. The ride back to the hotel was uneventful, and we were pretty happy with that. Tomorrow we have the group tour so we will be heading to bed pretty early~9 pm.

Exploring Beijing

November 5, 2004

So much for taking it easy! We met up with two more adoptive familes. As a group of 9 adults and one five-year-old, we rented a bus and a driver from the hotel to take us to the Summer Palace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Palace . The bus only cost us $10 a person, so it was quite a bargain. I felt better about traveling in a group. Most of the other families would be arriving throughout the day. Today was technically a free day and tomorrow was a scheduled tour of the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China.

The Summer Palace was teeming with tourists, mostly Chinese. As soon as we got off the bus, we were greeted with "Hello guys." "Hello, want to buy postcards?" and they were in our faces. After we got past these people we were beset by people wanting to be our tour guide. We politely but firmly said no.

I had my first experience with a squat toilet also known as squatty potty. Basically it is a hole in the ground. You are supposed to straddle it, squat and go. Well, I kind of cheated as I was afraid I would pee on myself. I took one leg out of my pants and underwear, squatted and peed. As I squatted, my sunglasses fell off of my shirt neckline and flew under the door. I hear a chattering of laughter. When I came out an older woman was cleaning the floor. She was laughing and pointing to the glasses. I laughed too and picked them up.

We walked up thousands of stairs and then walked down a thousand stairs. Lots of walking here and it was nice to get back on the bus and go to the hotel. We all planned to meet for dinner later this evening.

Nearly Missed our Flight!

November 4, 2004

We are in China, but we almost missed our flight. Our car service was supposed to arrive at 11;30 am. Our flight was taking off at 3:30 pm, but I wanted to allow enough time for us to get to the airport. At 11:15 the car service called to say that the driver was in an accident, but not to worry because they were sending another driver and car, but he wouldn't arrive until noon.

Okay, no big deal because that would still give us plenty of time to get to the airport. They called at noon and told us he would be another 20 minutes. At 12:30 they said 5 minutes. At 12:50 they called and said he was in the neighboring town, so 5 more minutes. He did not arrive until 1:30!

The driver was old and doddering. He said he had just come from JFK and it only took him 45 minutes. I said that we were already two hours late, so I was not amused. Then I had to direct him to the interstate! We were sitting in bumper to bumper traffic when we saw a sign that said 15 miles to JFK. It was 2:30. I burst into tears because I knew we were not going to make this flight.

My crying unnerved him. He called the airlines to try to speak to someone at ChinaAir, but the person on the phone only spoke Mandarin, so that was no help. Tears were just streaming down my face. The traffic cleared and the driver sped down the highway like a maniac. I was out of the car before he was even stopped. We did not tip him, AR grabbed out suitcases and I ran into the terminal. There was NO ONE at the ChinaAir desk to check in. It was 2:45 and the flight was boarding.

I spied one ChinaAIr employee and ran over and explained that we were late. I was crying and asking if we could still make the flight because we still had to get through security. We told him that it was so important that we get on the plane because we were adopting a baby. He told us not to worry.

The machine that spits out the bar coding for the luggage was malfunctioning so he had to jump over and try to print it out from another station. More delay. Finally we were on the security line, which was very long. It was 3:05.

I went through the metal detector and it beeped. I walked through again and it beeped. They pulled me out of the line and called for a female security guard to search me. AR was beeping too and was pulled out of line. We both had to remove our shoes. Ar's sunglasses were the cause of his beeping so he cleared security first, put on his shoes and was gathering up our stuff.

I told the security guard that we were going to miss our flight and she said, "Well that is why we tell you to get her three hours before your departure." I started to tell her about the car accident of the driver, but realized that she didn't give a fig about that. She came to my money belt that was bulging with cash and wanted to know what that was for. Since when is carrying cash a crime??? I explained it was for our adoption, but she seemed leary. Turns out that I had a blister pack of over teh counter medicine in mt pants pocket and that was causing the friggin' beeping. I was finally through security. It was 3:25.

I didn't even waste time putting on my shoes and the two of us ran to the gate, me in my stocking feet and crying. We must have been quite a sight. Thankfully, the gate was not far. When we reached teh gate a flight attendeant waved us through. She had been on the lookout for us. They didn't even look at our boarding passes. We couldn't believe that they waited for us. We plopped in our seats and the plane took off immedately.

What we didn't know...Our friends from New Hampshire were waiting for us and worried that we weren't there. When the flight boarded, she kept asking if we were there. At 3:10, she told the flight attendants that they could not take off without us. She explained that we were both going to China to adopt a baby. I'm not sure if that is why they held the plane for us or if the attendant at the check in called and told them we were coming and to wait for us. Who knows, but the fates were with us.

I know that if we had missed the flight, we could have gotten a flight out later that day or the next, so it would not have been the end of the world. However, after all of the waiting and all of the papework and all of the hopes and dreams pinned on this flight, missing the flight represented the loss of our baby. It sounds ridiculous now, but that is what I was feeling. It was almost as if I was thinking that we would never get our precious baby. It was not going to happen for us.

Leaving today for China 11/03/2004

November 3, 2004

It is 9 am and I am waiting for my husband to get out of teh shower. We are all packed and all we have to do is get dressed. Well, actually we do have to wait for the car service to pick us up and take us to JFK airport in NY too. My dad felt bad that he couldn't take us to teh airport, so he paid for the car service.

We opted for the non-stop flight from JFK to Beijing because it is ONLY 13 hours on the plane, which is significantly better than the 26 hours of flying, layovers and flying via Los Angeles or other routes. I can't imagine coming home with a baby and having to change planes and have layovers. Coming home the flight will be longer because we have an intra-country flight from the south of China to Beijing, which is a 4 hour flight and then the 13 hour flight back to NY.

I can't wait to meet Pam and Steve from New Hampshire. They are with the same adoption agency as us and will be on the same flight from JFK to Beijing too. We've spoken on the phone and communicated with them via email, but we will finally meet them in person today. Will post again later as time allows.

Last Minute Items

We bought a videocamera in August and it came with a battery and we told the salesperson that we wanted an extra battery. At the time we did not look at the battery until last night when we went to charge up the spare. Of course it isn't the right battery so I have to go to Circut City to return it and get the right one. I just know they will give me a hassle. I hate Circut City, but their prices are so good.

The unusual thing about this trip is that I don't have butterflies yet. Normally, I wouldn't be able to sleep without Tylenol PM a few days before such a big trip. I am unusually calm. I tend to project calmness outwardly, but inwardly I am a mess. I am glad, but I wonder why. I am sure the butterflies will hit tomorrow as I obsess overwhether the car service is really coming--yes, I do that!

Here is my Adoption Packing List

This is the list of what i took to China in November 2004. Since I am writing this retrospectively, I can include my comments as to whether I made good decisions or not. We traveled in November and were in Beijing, Nanchang & Guangzhou. Temps is Beijing were 45-55 degrees. Nanchang temps were 80-60 degrees. Guangzhou was 75-88 degrees.

Clothing for Mommy
1 pair of jeans
2 sweatpants (I wore one pair on the plane, so technically not packed)
4 t-shirts all dark colors
1 long sleeve t shirt
7 pairs of socks
7 underwear (i bought disposable underwear that you can rinse out & dry overnight & then throw away after a second wearing).
3 bras (I wore one on the plane, so technically not packed)
1 sweatshirt jacket
1 lightweight jacket
1 pair of sneakers (wore on the plane, so not packed)

Clothing for Daddy
1 pair of jeans
2 sweatpants (Wore one on the plane)
5 shirts
1 sweatshirt
1 jacket
7 socks
7 underwear
1 pair sneakers (wore on the plane, so not actually packed)

Clothing for baby
5 onesies
7 pairs of socks
3 shirts
3 pants
4 sleep outfits
1 jacket

Baby apparatus
Baby carrier
2 baby blankets
1 hair brush - turned out to be her favorite "toy"
1 pack of Pampers
2 cans powdered baby formula
4 baby bottles
1 bottle brush
palmolive wipes (to wash baby bottles)
plastic bowl
plastic spoons
baby shampoo wipes (not liquid, just add water to the wipe and it gets soapy)
baby powder
3 packs baby wipes (80 count) just the refill packs. These doubled as toilet paper when we were out on the town
1 bottle hand sanitizer
Thermos for making baby formula
funnel for pouring hot water - you need this!
zippy bag of cheerios
1 pack of goldfish
4 jars of baby prunes - she didn't need these, but I gave them to other parents who needed it
baby tylenol
baby mylicon drops
baby laxative
powdered pedialyte
scented diaper disposal bags - these were well worth bringing!
Cortisone cream
stacking cups - great toy
beachball - okay, but wouldn't bring

Other stuff we Brought
Digital Camera + one extra battery
Regular camera - Would not bring since I rarely used it
film - leave at home
Video camera + one extra batter
Video tapes - brought 3 and gave one to someone who ran out
tripod - never used it, but lugged it all around China
tablecloth - was supposed to be used to let the baby crawl around on the floor in the hotel room, but we never used it. Would not bring again
disposable toothbrushes that required no water. You cannot drink the water in China, so I thought these would work well as they work with your own saliva. I never felt like my mouth was clean. I would bring a toothbrush and use bottled water.
Journal - I did write in this nearly every day and am happy that I took it.
2 pens
plastic zippy bags - I brought sandwich bags and gallon sized bags. These were used every day to store opened boxes of crackers or Goldfish etc or take along snacks for the baby.
adult cold medicine
duct tape - didn't need it, but would bring again just in case.
diaper bag


What I will be sure to take next time
White Out. We all needed it when doing paperwork and only one of us had any.

Instead of beachball, I would bring some balloons. My daughter loved the balloon someone at the hotel gave to her and it was smaller than a beachball so she could handle it easier.

Baby Motrin.

Adult cold medicine. I would bring 2 boxes

Antibiotics. We were all sick in China and the mediciine there is not the same.

One pair of shorts for mommy & daddy because we were sweating some days

Hair bows or some such cute things for the baby. I didn't bring them and then i saw all other babies who had them in their hair and they looked so cute and I wish i had them too.

The Packing is Done

October 31, 2004

I put off packing until today. While my husband was playing with the videocamera, I was off collecting and packing. We are taking 2 rollingduffels, 2 carry ons and I am also taking the diaper bag as my personal item. The one duffel weighs 25 pounds and the other weighs 35. I will try to even them out a little tomorrow, but I feel great that this is done. Our carry ons are each only 1/2 full which will allow us to bring home all the stuff we plan to purchase in China. We used the packmates http://www.mypackmate.com/rollbag/index.html?gclid=CPbLscTKx4sCFQsjSgodHG2DCg which help consolidate space, but it doesn't make the bags lighter. I think this will be most useful on the return trip.

Tonight we are going out to celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary. Yes, we were married on halloween. We shall be going to a French restaurant in Edgewater, NJ. I am looking forward to our last fancy night out before we become parents!

Plane Tickets in Hand

Our plane tickets to and from China arrived today. My God, I can barely stand the excitement. I still have to pack. I have packing lists galore and yet I have not packed. That is on my to-do list for this weekend. I definitely do not want to overpack. I have no problem wearing the same clothes over and over. The less you take, the less you have to carry.

Travel Approvals Received 10/13/2004

We received the approval to travel to China on October 13, 2004. This means that we have permission to plan our flights to China. I know I shouldn't have counted on travelling to China by October 28th, but I still did. I just couldn't help myself and I really thought we'd be gone by then. I have been keeping a daily count of Days to China in my office on a huge whiteboard. Now I have to add days back since I won't beflying until November 3rd. We need to be in Beijing by November 5th.

I have been really calm throughout most of this whole adoption process, one or two tantrums not withstanding, but I am now officially nervous! I called AR to make the travel arrangements via Lotus as I cannot handle this. Like most of the women, I did all of the paperwork and now I need DH to pitch in, which he is doing. Not to gross anyone out, but when I get nervous,my stomach does backflips and vomiting ensues....I am just nervous about co-ordinating the flights. We still don't know if we are going to get a direct flight NY to Beijing or if we will go via Los Angeles. AR is partial to LA because his brother lives there and he thought it would be neat if we had a day to hang with him, but I don't know. We cannot leave prior to 11/2 because I am in school and I can't miss three classes or I will fail the course, so all of this is weighing heavily upon me. I know it will all work out and I will probably be okay by this evening, but right now I am a wreck!

We have our Flight Planned

We are going with the JFK direct to Beijing Air China flight 982 departing 3:30 pm on Nov 3rd arriving 6pm on Nov 4th. We are skipping LA all together. AR wanted to meet up with his brother who lives in LA, but we just couldn't do it. I can't leave until after the 2nd because I cannot miss 3 classes or I will fail the course, so I have to go to school on Nov 2nd. I am happy because it would be too much of a strain to deal with his brother on top of the adoption...Small doses are all Ic an take!

Going home we are leaving Guangzhou Fri Nov 19 and have an 8:35 am Air China flight 1310 to Beijing. Then Leaving Beijing 1 pm Air China flight 981 back to JFK.I didn't really want to fly out of JFK, but only because I knew none of our relatives/friends would drive us there/pick us up! We'll have to get a car service, which is not the end of the world, but still more arrangements to make.

Turns out we will be on the same flight from a woman we "met" cyberly via our afoption agency's yahoo group. They are flying from Boston to JFK and then we will be on the same flight to Beijing and we have the same flights back to New York. I am glad that we will be with people we know, but they are flying Business Class and we are going coach - ugh! On the way back we are getting a seat for Katrina. I know she probably won't want to be in the seat, but it will be nice to have the room.

Now I just have to let my boss know that my last day is quickly approaching. Yahoo!

Crisp New Money

With an adoption you have to pay a lot of fees. Fees to the adoption agency here in the U.S., fees to the orphanage in China, fees in China for notaries and passports, medical exams and on and on. Credit cards and checks are not acceptable forms of payment for these fees in China. We must pay in cash. Okay, that in and of itself makes me a little nervous because that is a lot of cash to carry. There is a $3,000 mandatory orphanage donation. Only two provinces allow this money to be wired and we were lucky because our daughter's province is one of them so we do not have to carry around this additional $3,000.

The money that we do need to bring must be brand new, not folded or bent money. I went to Commerce Bank in September and they actually ordered the money for me. I know yo aren't supposed to do this, but I put the new bills $5,000 in cash in my safe deposit box (I am fairly certain this is against the law). I certainly didn't want to carry around this money with me and I figured it would be safe there until we needed it. I didn't know then that the orphanage donation would be wire transferred, so all that means is that I have additional money that I can spend in China. I plan on buying whatever we need with cash versus credit cards. A lot of places in China do not take credit cards too, especially the little shops.

AR and I each have money belts so we will split up the cash and will each carry half. I will divide up the money into individual ziplock baggies and label each bag for the amount of the fee to be paid. The zippy bags will bulk up the money belt, but this seems to be the easiest way to keep the money flat and dry.

Visas Arrive!

Our visas were delivered on September 27, 2004. It took less than a week to get them. I didn't want to go into NYC to get it because then I would have to take off from work and I can't afford to waste any time off right now.

Most of our travel companions are flying from the midwest. They all seem to want to fly into Los Angeles and then get a connecting flight to Beijing. We've been toying with the idea of not stopping in LAX. We are thinking of going to go the direct non-stop flight from JFK to Beijing. However, we are finding that the flight appears and disappears when we are checking prices, meaning sometimes it is there and sometimes it isn't. We may just have to make our way to LAX and join the group after all. I guess it mostly depends on what happens when we are told to GO! andmake travel plans.