Today is “Gotcha Day,” the day that we will forever remember as the day that we got Lacey.  We have had breakfast, and have an hour to wait before we travel to the orphanage.  Once there, we will be escorted to a meeting room where we will spend our entire visit.  We will not be invited to tour the orphanage or meet any other children because the orphanage officials are worried that we might bring germs.  We will meet for 30 minutes to complete paperwork.  The most important documents will be to give us temporary custody of Lacey until we go to the Civil Affairs Office tomorrow to register the adoption.  Then, the children will be brought to us and the 3 other American families who are adopting.  We will have about 30 minutes to ask questions of the caregivers and then we will leave.  The children will say goodbye forever to the orphanage and immediately have to begin adapting to being Americans.  Shiyan has suggested that we take the children to Dominos Pizza for restaurant so that everyone can relax and she can do some translating to help with the introductions.  Shanghai has an original dialogue but the school age children are required to speak Mandarin at school.  So, communicating might be our biggest challenge.

Yesterday was a very long day.  We began by touring a putan, which is a traditional Chinese neighborhood.  We were taken there in rickshaws.  We met a woman whose family had lived continuously in the putan since 1936.  The early morning was a little cooler and this was a very enjoyable tour.  It was interesting to see how Chinese families have lived for many years.

Next, we went to visit the Forbidden City.  By this time, the day had become very hot and humid.  The crowds were unbelievable.  I guess I could compare this to the desire of foreign and domestic tourists in the U.S. to visit Mount Vernon.   However, I would take a typical summertime Mount Vernon crowd and multiply it by about 10.  The exteriors of the buildings were available for tourists to view.  Several interior rooms were available for viewing through windows.  Each time we tried to look, such as at the Emperor’s bedroom or throne, we were compelled to elbow our way through a crowd of tourists who were as sweaty and irritable as we  had become.  It was still very interesting and for the rest of our lives we can say that we have visited the Forbidden City.  Our guide, Joy, did a good job hitting the highlights and trying to keep our spirits up.  After exiting the Forbidden City, we immediately walked across Tienanmen Square.  Our guide had few words or opinions to share about the square.  Although there were hundreds of people crossing the area, nobody lingered.  A few pictures were snapped and everyone moved on.

This is a picture of Betsy and Big Sister Cassie in the Forbidden City

A most valuable lesson that we have learned is that Chinese people don’t believe in standing in line.  Everywhere we go, there is a great deal of good-natured shoving and elbowing.  The Chinese are not in the least offended by this and we have had to accept that we will be run over unless we also shove and push.

After our touring, we went back to our hotel.  We had already checked out at breakfast time.  We had an hour to grab a late lunch.  We then headed for the airport with Shiyan and two other families.  The airport was roughly an hour’s ride on the bus.  As it turned out, we hadn’t needed to hurry.  The Shanghai airport was overcrowded and all incoming flights had been temporarily postponed.  We all ended up sitting on the floor, waiting patiently.  Cassie has paired up with a little girl from Wisconsin name, Anna.  The girls were wonderful and occupied themselves by writing stories in Cassie’s journal and playing tic tac toe.  We finally arrived in Shanghai around 10:30 p.m.  From there, it was another hour’s bus ride to our hotel.  Our bus driver hadn’t figured out how to get the bus anywhere near the baggage claim.  Nor was he sure of which floor of the garage he had left the bus on.     We spent about 10 minutes riding the elevators up and down until we found the correct floor.  We ended up still having to carry all the bags down a flight of stairs to the parking lot. 

Another valuable lesson is that we all grab a few minutes of sleep whenever we can.  This is the only way that we can survive.  Some people dozed on the floor of the airport; some on the plane and others on the bus.  The children have been incredibly flexible. 

Here's Les trying to figure out how to close the glass window in the bathroom of our hotel!!

Well, very soon we will be a family of 4!

Happy Independence Day

July 4, 2010
Happy Independence Day



We are sending love to Betsy's family members who are gathering in Colorado in preparation for her Dad's funeral. Our love, thoughts and prayers are with you all. We also send a huge thanks to Susan for helping us with this blog.
We spent most of yesterday visiting the Great Wall. It was extremely hot out, but a memorable day. Many Chinese people are attracted to Cassie because of her coloring and want to have their picture taken with her. SHe has been a great sport about this. She probably enjoys all the attention. We also visited a cloissone factory, a jade factory and shop, and the pearl mall. Lots of attractions to keep the ladies and girls happy!

Today we will visit the Forbidden City. Tonight we fly to Shanghai and tomorrow we will finally welcome Lacey to hour family. We are all feeling very emotional. But, we are blessed to be traveling with other American families who are adopting and we are all able to support each other. Soon, we'll have photos of Lacey to share!

Here's a picture of Cassie and I with friends we made while climbing the Great Wall.

July 2, Later - Gotcha Day minus 3


We discovered that the hotel has a fabulous breakfast buffet. Cassie feasted on fried noodles, bok choy, pork rolls, salad, sweet breads, lunch meats and cheeses, and tea. She doesn’t like traditional American breakfasts and would like to eat this way every day.


After breakfast, we had a few hours on our own. We asked for directions to a supermarket. Either we misunderstood the directions, or the hotel clerk’s English was flawed. At any rate, we found ourselves wandering through residential neighborhoods. The city is so busy. Although cars and taxis crowd the roads, bicycles seem to be the preferred mode of transportation. Bicycles, ridden by people of all ages, carry people to work, serve as taxis, and take children to school.



As we were wandering, an older Chinese lady approached us and asked where we were from. She told us that she lived in the neighborhood and asked if we needed help. She was very happy to walk us to the local super market and explained that it opened at 8:00. We thanked her and seated ourselves outside the market with a crowd of people waiting for the doors to open. As soon as the market opened, people rushed inside and began grabbing the fresh produce. The place was well stocked, and the produce and fresh meat and seafood were amazing. We found bottled water and some snacks. Cassie is anxious to see if the Lays potato chips are the same.



Sanitation habits here are quite interesting. The interiors of buildings are immaculate. Public restrooms have fulltime cleaning staffs. As soon as one exits a stall, the cleaning lady rushes in and scrubs the toilet. Outside is another story. The pretty fountain outside our hotel smells very unpleasant (don't want to say sewage, but that'd be my guess). And, the amount of public hawking and spitting going on is amazing. We learned very quickly that it’s important to watch where we step. At the same time, there is an army of city workers whose jobs are to sweep the streets and pick up trash.



At 10:00, we had an orientation with Shiyan, who helps American families navigate through the adoption process in China, and who will travel to Shanghai and Guanzhou with us. We first discussed the details of each family’s itinerary. Then, Shiyan advised us about the children and the various reactions that we might expect during their first few days with their adoptive families. She cautioned us that they might not love us immediately, or might only bond with one family member. She recommended that we have candy and snacks to use to distract the children during the first couple days. Shiyan kindly also spoke with Cassie alone and talked to her about cultural differences that Lacey might exhibit. But, she added that she is sure Cassie will be a great role model.



Shiyan also gave us a safety briefing. We learned that Chinese cities are relatively safe because private citizens aren’t allowed to own guns. However, we were cautioned to beware of pickpockets everywhere we go. Shiyan told us how to safeguard our cameras, passports, money, etc. throughout our trip.



Next, Shiyan led us all to the Bank of China to exchange our money. We must have looked really funny walking to the bank. We were strung out for about a block behind Shiyan. Each family was toting backpacks, water bottles, children, cameras, etc. When we got to the intersection, Shiyan became very attentive. She had warned us about how reckless Chinese drivers are, with no regard for pedestrians. Shiyan stood in the middle of the intersection, with her umbrella open, waving her arms and yelling, “Go! Go!” The scene made me think of that picture book about the ducklings trying to cross the street.



Before we left the U.S., we had been carefully directed to only bring brand new bills because the Chinese are suspicious of any bills that are crinkled, torn or dirty. This was not difficult for us to accomplish because of the number of large banks in Northern Virginia . However, families from smaller towns were telling stories of what they had to go through to obtain new bills. A couple families had understanding banks who had been collecting bills for six months! Each family had forms to fill out, passports to be handed over, and incoming money to be counted and examined, bill by bill. Apparently, the Bank of China was very concerned that we Americans would slip them counterfeit dollars. Then, the exchange rate was calculated and agreed on, and the Chinese yuan were counted out and signed for. Families like us, who are going to Shanghai, had the opportunity to wire our donation directly to the orphanage. We realized that this was a great advantage as we saw families stepping away from the teller with stacks of yuan approximately eight inches high. How would you hide that in a money belt? Midway through the line of families, one of the tellers who was helping us became very agitated and started yelling at Shiyan. Shiyan pounded on the glass and yelled back. (I forgot to mention that there were glass walls separating customers from bank employees). The teller grabbed a microphone and yelled louder. Shiyan yelled even louder. All of us Americans thought, “Oh geez. Don’t tell me she found a counterfeit bill!” But no, the teller just thought that we were taking up too much time. Interesting how the extremely deliberate pace of her actions didn’t factor into that time equation.



Later, we went to a Chinese acrobatic show. It was beautifully choreographed and really made an impression on all of us. A Chinese father and his little son who were seated near us were fascinated with Cassie. We had been told that people would be attracted to her red hair. The father laughingly tried to get Cassie to go home with him. On the bus ride to and from the theater, we had the opportunity to see the Central Business District of Beijing. This part of the city has witnessed explosive growth over the past 20 years. Massive buildings fill virtually every square inch of land. It was rather overwhelming.



We had dinner in the Chinese restaurant that adjoins our hotel. The food was delicious and we learned that the seal is “for attraction only.” Cassie has named the seal, "Slippery," and has taken a couple dozen pictures of it already.

July 2...we are in China!!

 I (Susan) am posting this for my sister Betsy/Elizabeth because they don't have access to the Internet right now. They have arrived safely in China!! This is the latest news:

July 2, 2010

Made it to Beijing yesterday.  The plane ride was long, but not too bad.  The airport experience in Beijing was much more pleasant than I had anticipated.  The airport is huge, but really wasn’t too crowded.  We learned that in China, “the children and the elderly must be escorted on elevators.”  We went through customs, which was a mob scene. But, a guard pulled us out of line, asking if we were “singles” or “group.”  When he repeated his question for the third time, we understood that he was trying to separate us from the massive groups of college students who were travelling together.  I guess their visa situation is different.  The guard took us to a much shorter line.  I guess we looked different because Cassie was standing there clutching Brown Bear.  We then got our luggage and looked for our guide.  By the way, luggage carts in China are free.

I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to be met by someone holding a card with my name on it.  Let me say that there were dozens of people holding name cards, waving banners, yelling and clapping.  After a brief panic, we found a young woman holding a sign that said, “Bethany,” the name of our adoption agency.  She took us down to the parking garage where a driver was waiting to take us to our hotel.  Beijing has every bit as much traffic as Northern Virginia. We are staying at the Chang An Grand Hotel.  It is beautiful and expansive.  We were too tired to appreciate much of anything.  As a surprise, Shiyan, the Bethany employee here in Beijing, had arranged a dinner for all the American families.  There are 12 families, including us and 9 American children.  The CEO of Bethany Christian Services was in town and treated us all to a wonderful buffet dinner. 

After dinner, we wandered around the lobby for awhile.  There is a large room with various fish tanks in it.  Some are rectangular and are mounted to the wall.  Others are round and are on top of pedestals.  I could tell they held marine life and was able to recognize eels, rays, and some kind of fish.  There was also a small pool with a seal frolicking in it.  Then, an employee who was dressed like a butcher appeared.  Not sure about the seal, but I think I’ll eat vegetarian tonight.