November 30

Today (11/30/12), Gianna slept through the night!!!  I couldn’t sleep past 4:30am.  My whole body ached from the brick bed and from carrying Gianna around all day, every day.   Gianna woke up around 7:30am.  She was famished, so we fed her a bottle and then we headed down to the café for breakfast.       

       After breakfast, Evelyn and our group met in the lobby.  We hurried to the bus that took us to the countryside/village.  We arrived approximately 45 minutes later.  The countryside was unlike our rural area that we call country.  Evelyn told us before we got off the bus that this village is similar to the area Gianna’s orphanage was in, a city called Yugan. We got off of the bus and the first thing we saw was a pig being slaughtered outside of a fruit/vegetable market.  There were chickens running around everywhere.  Trash and vegetable peelings lined the sides of the small, narrow streets. We bought local candy for the small children in the village. All the kids and adults were very appreciative of the candy.

                We saw one house that had a Christian cuplet (Chinese banner outside of the door. You change these every Chinese New Year to wish good luck upon your household).   The houses were mostly made out of bricks and concrete. The bricks from older buildings are recycled and used again to build new houses. In this village, people want to have more stories to their home than anyone else. It is almost like a competition. 

Everyone in a village has the same last name. Outside of the doors to the houses, you sometimes see a single or double Chinese happiness sign. A double happiness means a son is getting married. It is double because he still gets to stay at home. A single happiness sign means a daughter is getting married, it’s only single because she has to move out and live with her in-laws according to Chinese traditions. Daughters have to move out of the village because you cannot marry anyone in your village since you are all related.  Most of the middle aged people from the village have moved to the city to buy an apartment and get a job. The life savings of a parent in China goes to buying their child an apartment or house as a celebration.

Women’s bathrooms are very unique compared to the western-styled bathrooms we are all accustomed to. There is no seat on the toilet. The bowl and flushing pipes are still there, just in the ground. You have to squat to use the bathroom. This is pretty good for your leg muscles. We saw a bathroom site that is hundreds of years old, a simple brick shack with two sides and no door.

On our return to Nanchang, we stopped by Starbucks to buy a cup of coffee and some souvenir cups. It was just like they are in America, except the words are in Chinese on the menu, and they do not know what a “Carmel Macchiato” is. It was so nice to have a good cup of coffee.

When we returned to the hotel, Brittany and I decided to go to the pool for the first time. We found it very refreshing. Brittany jumped in without feeling the water, as I eased myself in to the pool, trying to get comfortable to the cool temperature. One of the employees came out and gave us swim caps (they are required in the pool, which we didn’t know). After swimming for a bit, we headed back up to our room, got dressed, and went down to the café for a bite to eat.  Gianna ate fairly well.  We returned to our room and started packing up for our flight tomorrow to Guangzhou.  Joel and Brittany have made some headway bonding with Gianna.  We are seeing her open up a little bit more each day.  She is saying “mama” pretty consistently when she wants me and she smiles frequently showing off her little teeth. We are hearing her babble a little more each day.  We just can’t wait to get her home and introduce her to her big brother, Justin.  We miss him so much!!   It has been a long, but pleasant day. 

 

 

November 29

11/29

 

                We woke up a little earlier than we did yesterday.  We went down for breakfast which was almost the same as normal. However, they did not have my egg dimsum or the fantastic mango juice. I tried a few new varieties of fruits; there were no names for them. They were like small, sweet oranges that you eat with the peel, or tiny apples that have relatively no flavor to them. Dragon fruit is pretty good on its own, the inside looks like white kiwi and tastes like it too. Gianna loves to eat everything, especially fruit.  Mom introduced her to watermelon, cantaloupe, banana, dragon fruit, yogurt, and eggs.  Gianna is just now starting to warm up to dad and I.  Gianna is still most comfortable with Mom.

                At 10:00 AM, we left the plaza on a bus to go to the park. Evelyn told us to enjoy our day looking like superstars, and I wasn’t quite sure what she meant. I decided not to ask though. When we got to the park, it was absolutely huge. I’m used to a park being a play set with a slide and some grass. This was huge, and had no play set, and there were almost no kids there. They were mostly adults! Almost immediately I knew what Evelyn meant when she said we were going to be like superstars. People were stopping to look at us everywhere. There were so many people there too! We were being stopped everywhere and asked about the babies and if they were from China. A lady stopped us and said the babies would all have such a better life in America than they ever would in the orphanages. People wanted to touch my hair every time I turned around.

                We saw all sorts of people in the park with all these different talents. Some sang, some played sports, some even danced. The most interesting was a man that stood and held a long paintbrush in each hand and drew on the sidewalk Chinese calligraphy characters. They were beautiful poems, Evelyn translated them for us. One hand drew the correct version, and the other drew the flipped mirror image. It was so pretty! Gianna seemed pretty interested in it. She had been amazing there, she was so alert and interested in everything, and didn’t cry at all. We started walking again and heard this beautiful music. It sounded almost like a flute. We all wanted to go find it; we had to climb up this huge rock to get to this music. We found a hidden pagoda, a little open Chinese building. There were two men playing Chinese wooden flutes. You could tell they were very skilled and it was beautiful music. I loved it! We all took pictures and went on our way. The park was beautiful and was surrounded by a lake; it was even pretty on a rather cloudy day. All of the Chinese people were very nice to us.  They all were very interested in us Americans. They treated us with great respect.

                After the park, we went to an authentic porcelain shop where most everything was hand painted. The porcelain was stunning! We got a few things in there; the most amusing thing was chopstick holders and tea sets. They have those in almost every restaurant here. The Chinese like their chopsticks on the table, but not touching it, and out of the way. Nanchang is the porcelain capital of China.   Everybody loved this store. We then went to a popular Chinese restaurant; Evelyn ordered different foods for us to try. I loved all of it. She ordered us Chinese doughnuts to try. They are made out of sticky rice and are coated in sugar. I know that sounds nasty, but it was amazing. Mom wasn’t a fan of it, but I think it was the texture of the doughnuts. Mom has not eaten much because she has had to hold Gianna and feed her, but I think she has even enjoyed the food.  Gianna loved the doughnuts; she was eyeing mine so I gave her a few bites of it. She didn’t cry at all while we were out, Mom and Dad were so proud of her. She is finally starting to get used to dad and I now.

                That was our big day today. We were all pretty tired when we got back. I still kind of wanted to go to the pool and Gianna went out with Dad to bond more without Mom there. If Mom is around, Gianna has to be right by her. Nobody else but Mom can pick her up or carry her. I’m sure it’s pretty tiring.

                Love, Big Sis

November 28

We were told by Evelyn (our tour guide) that Nanchang is not really a tourist city.   It’s about 50 or 60 degrees now, but in the summer time, it gets very hot—in the low 100 degrees. Cold winds blow in from the mountains surrounding Nanchang. There are a few things to do here. Today (11/28/12), we went through a tour of the Tengwang Pavilion, a beautiful place. It has been re-made many times (29 times), the original made 1400 years ago and out of wood (Made year 653).

                The Emperor Taizong had thousands of wives, and therefore, hundreds of sons. His 23^rd  son, Prince Teng, was the only one not interested in politics, and loved nature, music, art, and dance. His dad strongly disapproved, and told him he could go do whatever he wanted, because he was rarely seen by his father. Even though he was different, he still was very rich. He built this building for entertainment for the villagers. The Yin Yang sign was painted on the entrance, surrounded by the symbols of the 8 elements to represent balance and necessity. Statues of Lions were made out front, one on each side of the entrance. The one on the right, facing away from the building, is the male, and in his paw in the sphere, to represent the world. On the left, there is the female, and in her paw is a baby lion.

                We climbed up 6 stories and watched a theater show, with three parts, all traditional themes to match the style of life at the time this building was originally made. First, there was singing, then dancing, and finally music. Gianna actually fell asleep during this, which I am amazed by. This is because it is extremely loud. Then we went through and looked at paintings and rooms in the building, but one stuck out to my memory. It is a painting illustrating the poem Peony Love, written before this building was created. It displayed a rich female, who had a dream where she fell in love with a peasant boy, but since marriages were arranged, she knew she could never be with him. She woke up, and killed herself. This boy, during this time, was traveling to the capital to become an official, when somebody recognized him and told him about this girl, and he went to visit her grave, and she became alive again. The painting is all in blue tones, and the people’s eyes are closed to represent it’s all a dream.

                That was about 40 hours long, so we stopped at the gift shop on the way out, and Gianna woke up about now. She seemed pretty happy, looking around and smiling. We went out to eat a traditional Nanchang meal, which was pretty spicy. Gianna ate rice and her formula, and everybody else was burning their tongues off at the food. We left from there to go back to the hotel and we were all beat. Dad and I ran to the convenience store across the street and got us all some noodles. People were stopping me everywhere and saying “hello” or “hi”, even “Where are you from?” clearly testing out their English. Most people are pretty nice. We returned to our room to find Mom and Gianna playing.   It’s pretty late here, and Gianna is playing with Dad. I figured out today that she likes to go through my purse and play with everything inside. I thought it was pretty cute, but can see in the future that this may pose to be a PROBLEM.  J

                Love, Brittany

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                 

November 27

11-27

                Today, we woke up early again (compliments of Gianna). We missed lunch today, but we had a huge breakfast so it was no big deal.   We were all running pretty low on supplies for the babies. Evelyn, our tour guide for Nanchang, took a couple of the Moms and I to Wal-Mart. I have to say, I have never been to a Wal-Mart like this one.

                The Wal-Mart was actually in a mall-like setting. It was two floors, but about the same size as the ones we have at home. The department items were all on the 2^nd floor, which is where you begin your shopping experience. The clothes are all made to fit small bodies, and shoe sizes are not past the Chinese equivalent of about an 8 ½ . To get downstairs to the market area, you had to get on something like a moving walkway, except it was moving downhill. Instead of taking stairs or the elevator (Lift, as it’s called here), you just push your cart (which locks in place) onto this moving walkway that goes down to the first floor.

                Once you get down to the food market, you see the animals. The live animals. There are eels, fish, small shark, snails, crabs, and lobsters, everything small you can think of. We were told that in some of the Provinces, they have live snakes and other unique animals.  Needless-to-say, Mom did not venture over there and look around at the animals like I did. It smelled super bad. They do not sell Diet Coke in this region of China; however, they had Coke Zero. We all decided it was time to leave, after we picked up some crackers, noodles, and baby supplies for around the hotel room.

                We rode back to the hotel. Mom and I walked into the room, and saw Gianna and Dad sitting on the bed playing with toys. It was really cute; I wish one of us had our camera to take a picture. As soon as she saw Mom, she was crying and refused to stop until mom picked her up. The Doctor and Evelyn came into our hotel room for Gianna’s physical examination.  Gianna has a bacterial infection on her skin that is going away.  The doctor told us to give her Benadryl for the skin irritation and itching. The doctor pronounced Gianna small but very muscular and healthy and no antibiotics needed.  After that, we hung out in the hotel room for the rest of the night and finally got some sleep. Gianna still prefers to hang out constantly with mom.  We are hoping that the days ahead will be a little better.

                Love, Big Sister and Momma.

 

 

 

 

Gotcha Day!

This day has finally arrived…GOTCHA DAY!! 

       We got up early to meet  our group and our tour guide, Matthew, in the lobby.  There are three other families traveling with us: Smokey and Lydia (first time parents) from Georgia, Barry and Trina (first time parents) from Florida, and Martin, Kirsten, and Lilysophie  (they have one adopted child that is seven years old from China) from South Carolina.  We are all approximately the same age and have waited more than 6 years to adopt our babies. 

       We anxiously hopped on the bus and headed for the China border where we went through security. We then got back on the bus and headed for the airport.  We went through security again and then had to board a bus to go out the plane.  We were the only foreigners to board the plane.  Many of the Chinese stared at us as they walked by and some of them waved with a pleasant smile.  The plane made a loud hissing noise about the whole way and turbulence was terrible which made us incredibly nervous. 

       Rain, turbulence and our flight leaving 45 minutes late,  made for  a very late arrival in Jiangxi Province.  We met our new tour guide, Evelyn, there.  We all eagerly jumped on another bus and took a 45 minute drive to Nanchang Crowne Plaza.  Evelyn gave us a paper that had her feeding and sleeping schedule.  The Evelyn called the orphanages and found out that our babies were very close.  By this time, we were all worn out with tons of emotions going through us.  It is finally the moment we have all been waiting on for so long!  Evelyn steered us into the hotel and we waited for just a couple of minutes until the first baby arrived.  The first baby was Smokey and Lydia’s little girl.  They named her Victoria “Gi ah”.  She is a beautiful eleven month old baby.  The next baby to arrive was Martin and Kirsten’s little baby girl. She is eleven months also and they named her Faye. 

       Our baby girl was the next to arrive.  The orphanage workers placed Gianna in my arms so sweetly.  What a gorgeous, small, and healthy looking baby girl!  Gianna has two bottom teeth and indications of two upper teeth.  She smiled at me showing those cute little teeth and then quietly and shyly turned her head.  I could see where the orphanage cut her hair.  I felt like the proudest momma in the world!  At that moment, all of the waiting was nothing compared to finally getting to hold our baby girl.  Joel and Brittany were smiling from ear to ear.  You could see the explosion of emotions on everyone’s faces.  Most of us were crying!  Gianna was very calm for about ten minutes and then exploded into an infinite cry.  The orphanage director brought the box we had sent and a cup and spoon that she used for feeding.  I was a bit disappointed that the toys and blanket were in the same position that we put them in for packaging.  None of the toys or blanket had been used as they were still in their wrapping.  We gave the box back to the orphanage director to take back with her as it was clear Gianna was not familiar with these items.  They also brought us a note from her mother that we will forever cherish that stated her birth date, the time she was born, and her name—Yue, Li Ye.  The orphanage director advised that they called her, Ye Ye, for a nickname.  Gianna was wrapped up in three to four layers of clothes—all very clean.  I held her for few minutes then put her into Joel’s arms.  This did not last long as it made her even more upset.   All of the orphanage workers were women. She had never seen a male before today.   Joel passed her back to me and I tried to console her but I was unsuccessful too. 

       We waited for the Fourth baby to arrive who belonged to Barry and Trina.  They named her Kayla and she is around seventeen months old.  We headed to our room to cherish and love on our baby girl!  She cried endlessly until she fell asleep in my arms.  We tried to give her some milk to drink, but she would not have any of it.  We took off one layer of clothes and left her in her in the rest for her comfort.  Joel, Brittany, and I felt nauseated and sickened as we could see her pain from not returning to the orphanage—the only place she ever knew.  We were advised that this may happen and prepared ourselves, we thought.  Nothing could really prepare you for this.  We were all absolutely exhausted from the long day and fell asleep shortly after Gianna. Sleep would not last long, however!