Friday, January 13, 2012

China...Part Two

We felt extremely fortunate on this particular trip to China. Not just because we stayed safe, had a nice time, were given the means to go,or that we were traveling with a lot of good people, although those are all good reasons for appreciating this trip. Additionally, we felt fortunate because Ellie has been doing so so so well...we were just so happy to see her smiles, hear her little laugh,and watch her interact with us and others.


After we met Ellie in Zhengzhou, we stayed there for several more days before we made a flight to Guangzhou. I, for one, was happy to leave and move on to the next city, mostly for air pollution and weather purposes. And, when walking down the street, we literally had to dodge scooters and bikes right and left, as they are everywhere: in the streets, pedestrian walks, sidewalks, etc. We took a flight to Guangzhou, the second leg of our journey, where we would stay for the remainder of the trip. Most people who adopt from China have to go to Guangzhou for the American consulate portion of the process, even if the baby is from somewhere else in the country, as was the case with us this time. So, our flight to Guangzhou was about two hours, and I sort of used this time as a small test to see how Ellie would do on an airplane (in part because, in the back of my mind, that long flight home was always looming), and she did OK. We arrived in Guangzhou late, met our guide, and were taken to the hotel, which was wonderful.
The next morning, we had to take Ellie for a brief medical exam as part of the immigration process. I was so thankful that this time, we did not need to repeat her immunizations before she could come to the U.S., which we had to do with Asher. The policy has changed back to the former method, where we instead just have to promise that we will immunize her. She otherwise had a basic medical exam, height and weight, and saw an ENT, who performed some basic hearing tests. I was curious as to his response, even though the whole thing was not terribly scientific. After his assessment, he turned to me and in broken English said, "she hear...a little," which was actually the same report we had gotten from her orphanage director when Russ visited. We had noticed this as well, that if we speak in a loud voice, she will turn and look, responding to her Chinese name. She also seems to notice when babies around her cry.
After the exam, she was declared healthy and we left to walk around for a bit. We were not staying in the same part of Guangzhou that we had been for our previous trips--Shamian Island. The main hotel there that many adoptive families use is currently closed for renovation, so we stayed off the island, even though we came back to visit and shop there. I still love the architecture and the feel of the place, which is different from the rest of the city.
A couple of days later, our group took at trip to the Guangzhou zoo, which was a great success. It was quite large, but there was a lot to see and Ellie seemed to pick up on a lot of it, pointing out many of the animals. Because it was just after New Year's day, there were a lot of people out who would normally be at work. We were also slightly harassed by a couple of park workers who followed our group with little bullhorns, shouting "do not feed the animals!" as if we were secretly trying to sneak them food. It was funny, at first...otherwise, it was a really nice day, the weather was great, and of course we saw a couple of pandas in the process.
We were starting to get to the point where we wanted to go home. Our hotel was lovely, we were doing fine, but I was missing my boys and really, living out of a suitcase does get old after a while. Still, we did get to spend time doing different things--some of it was similar to our last trip, while some of it was new. We went to the pearl market, walked around a huge pedestrian mall loaded with people, tried roasted chestnuts from a vendor on the street (delicious!) and ate at some different restaurants. My sister had emailed me early in the trip, updating me about how things were going at home. She closed by saying:

"Take care! And eat some weird food!"

This is my sister we're talking about, the true foodie, who tried all manner of organisms when she visited China with us two years ago. Without her, I was less brave for eating weird things, or maybe it was that I was getting homesick, which is probably why we also ordered pizza more than necessary. We did eat some delicious food on this trip. Of course, there were also times when I couldn't identify some of the food, as well (or, I could identify it but was not going anywhere near it. For instance, chicken feet found on the buffet).

A couple of days before leaving, we had our consulate appointment, which is when we finish up the paperwork for Ellie's visa to enter the U.S., thereby making her a citizen upon arrival. There's also this whole swearing-in ceremony that makes me tear up, every time. We were not allowed to take cameras into the seating area, and they even confiscated our GloWorm at the door, so we didn't get a lot of pictures of this time, important as it was.

I'm sure that I'm leaving so much out, although there is not nearly enough room to write it down (well, I could, but who would read it all?) By the time we were ready to head home, we packed our things, checked out of the hotel, and went to the train station, stopping to pick up the visa on the way. We took a train from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, staying at the same hotel as when we first arrived on the trip. It was so strange to check in there for the night, a mere two weeks after our first stay, yet so much had changed!

The next day, we got up and went to the airport to fly out of Hong Kong, directly to Chicago, which took about 13 1/2 hours. Ellie did very well, but slept very little. We had several people sitting or standing around us who were interested in her and who asked us a lot of questions. I will also say this: I really do like the people of China--they are who they are without apology. What we sometimes consider rude, they are not even bothered by, yet so many people also seem curious and interested in westerners and they are not afraid to show it. As an example, we had some extra seats on the flight, so I moved at one point to give Russ more room to try and give Ellie a chance to sleep (which was unsuccessful, as it turned out). I brought my laptop over to a new seat and looked at pictures from our trip and of our boys, while the guy next to me leaned over and looked at every one with me, as if I had approached him and said, "hey, do you want to look at some of my pictures?" which, I did not, but that's all right. Others, also, came to us and asked a multitude of questions about Ellie and us, every time we stood up or walked around out of our seats, which was kind of nice, until the end when we all just wanted to land and be done with the whole thing. At least we can say that it wasn't boring.

We are so glad to be home. Actually, as I write this, it has been a week! The time has flown. The boys came with my parents to meet us at the airport and ran down the walkway to meet us. Asher, in particular, looked as if he was a foot taller--they both seemed so big compared to Ellie. All three have had their moments of adjustment this past week, obviously so, but we continue to be amazed at how well everyone is doing. Ash is back in preschool, Caleb is back to speech therapy, and Owen came home a few days after we did. Actually, Ellie hates Owen and seems really afraid of him, but that is for another post entirely....

It's good to be home, our family all together at last.

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