Beijing!

Beijing!

After four years of paperwork, background checks, home studies, and lots and lots of waiting and wishing our dreams of adopting are actually coming true! We are finally in Beijing!! We received our travel approval two weeks ago and quickly booked a flight to Beijing. Thank God there were still seats left and we were even able to use miles (thanks mom and dad for the many miles you gave us to get to the other side of the world!). Packing was no easy feat. We will be traveling from Beijing in the north all the way to Hong Kong in the south with two stops along the way. The weather is Beijing is a lot like the weather typically is in Chicago at this time of year (not 85 like it was when we left). It was about 45 degrees yesterday. The weather in the south is about 75. So, I packed lots of layers. The other difficulty was packing for a little guy that I have never met. We don't have his current height and weight so I just bought clothes for an 18-24 month old. Leo is 17 months. The clothes may all be too big or too small but we can always pick up anything we need once we meet him. Also on the packing list was just about every medicine, skin issue remedy, antibiotic, ointment known to man. We were told that it can be difficult to find simple medicine like infant or child Tylenol and antibiotic creams, etc so we should bring all of that type of stuff with us. Finally, it's customary to give gifts to the many people who were involved in taking care of your child and completing the paperwork. Our agency gave us a specific list of the items that would make acceptable gifts-some will take cash (love them, they are easy), but most want something off this list: American made chocolates and other candy, cosmetics, lotions/shower gel, pens, small tool kits. I went with the chocolates because I thought it was easy. However, I had to buy a lot of it and chocolate is actually not that light and takes up a lot of space (I'm talking those boxes of assorted chocolates). So, basically one whole suitcase contains medicine, chocolate, and hit or miss clothing! So much for traveling light. Oh well.

Anyways, the flight from Chicago O'Hare to Beijing, China is about 13 hours (15.5 on the way back). Our flight was at 8:55pm which was great. It was a complete breeze. Charlie slept for nine hours of it and then watched movies for the remainder. It couldn't have been easier. We arrived at 11:30pm and went straight to the hotel. By the time we got to the hotel and got settled it was about 2:30am and we all went back to sleep. Woke up at 6:00 yesterday and started our day. Charlie took a nice two hour nap in the stroller as we walked around. He was in a deep sleep which we had to wake him up from but other than that (and the fact that it is 5:30am right now and I am up and typing) the jet lag has also been easy. Charlie has been an awesome little traveler which has made this whole experience so smooth and enjoyable so far. 

Our hotel serves both western and Chinese breakfasts. I'm sure by the end of the trip I will be back to my eggs and toast but yesterday I ate stir fried bok choy and chillies for breakfast along with a meat stuffed dumpling. It was great! There is absolutely no comparison between Chinese food in America and the Chinese food here. Not that I don't love Chinese food at home, but this is just really tasty.

We walked around Beijing all day yesterday. Our group comes today and we will spend the next couple days touring Beijing with a guide so we skipped all of the major sites that we know we will see later. We just strolled and explored. We wandered through a few hutongs which are little alleyways in the old part of Beijing. There are small food stands selling fruits and vegetables, little restaurants, small clothing shops, and other little stores with an array of different things from paper and calligraphy brushes to porcelain to guitars.  We also found a huge park called the Bahai Park which we cruised around for a while. It was nice to let Charlie out of the stroller to run. There were also a few really beautiful temples there which we were able to check out. We ate a late lunch at a little place called Cafe Sambal which is a tiny French/Vietnamese place which had great noodles and mango spring rolls. 

Charlie is getting so much attention that it feels like I am traveling with a celebrity. We have only seen a grand total of about four other westerners out on the streets (all of them being European, not American). None of them were kids. So, take that and add to it the fact that Charlie is so little and then add the red hair and blue eyes into the equation and what you get are swarms of, mostly women, grabbing his hand, touching his hair, and pinching his cheeks. Thankfully, Charlie is about as outgoing as a kid can be and has taken all of the attention pretty well. We have found the people to be so warm and friendly. Yesterday a huge group of Chinese tourists (there are lots of Chinese tourists here in Beijing) stopped to check Charlie out as he napped in the stroller. They grabbed his hands and touched his cheeks all while he slept soundly. When they tried to talk to me  they quickly discovered that I don't speak Mandarin. One of the ladies pointed at Charlie and gave me the thumbs up to which Mike and I laughed. They also pointed at his eyes and kept asking me something. I think they wanted to know what color his eyes were but I'm not sure. Another funny thing is how bundled all of the kids are here. You would think it was 20 below with the amount of layers they all have on-from head to toe. Charlie was wearing a winter coat, hat, and mittens but overall he is one of those kids who is always hot so I don't usually bundle him too much. While he was sleeping in his stroller his jeans sort of rode up and his ankles were the tiniest bit exposed from time to time. At least a few woman came up and, in the cutest and friendliest way and always with a smile, pointed to his ankles and pulled his pants down. I've read that the women here will do this-always tell you your child is cold and not to take offense to it. It's just part of their culture to help each other out. I would never take offense to it but rather thanked them and smiled back. I find it really cute and sweet to see them care about my son, even if it does mean he'll break a serious sweat.

There's one pretty major downside to Beijing and anyone who has traveled here will most likely agree-the air quality is so poor it's unbelievable. When we walked off the plane and into the airport it was apparent. The inside of the airport actually has a haziness to it. It's almost like a fog that lays over the whole city. It feels really gray and overcast and has a definite smell. It feels like you are standing behind a bus wherever you go. Some locals where a face mask but most don't Many have a hacking cough (followed in some cases by a fabulous hawking of a loogie onto the sidewalk).  The sun is definitely blocked by this hazy smog. It really can't be healthy...at all. Although it's not the most wonderful breathing experience, it doesn't bother me nearly as much as it bothers Mike who has asthma. I know his friends will make fun of him if they read this because they love to tease him about always having "the sniffles" but it's pretty hard on his lungs. He's had to use his inhaler a few times already. We were forewarned about this though so we came armed with inhalers and allergy meds, just in case.  We were told that cars were banned in Beijing for the whole week before the olympics started to help ease the air pollution. And, just a couple months ago I remember hearing on the news that the Beijing airport had to close for a couple days because the visibility was so low, not because of weather but because of smog. So, we're not talking Los Angeles smog-this is a thick smog cloud that just hangs above you. I've heard from others and read that these conditions are pretty consistent throughout urban parts of China. Add to that the fact that Leo's orphanage shares a town with some coal mining plants (or so we've heard). We're glad we have the inhalers and thankful for the significantly less polluted air and blue skies of home. Wondering if there are any steps being taken here to clean up the air for the people who live here.

All in all, we are off to an amazing start of one of life's most awesome adventures. We'll be seeing the great sites of Beijing tomorrow and the next day, meeting our group and guide. Only a few more days until we meet our new son. I'm overwhelmed with excitement mixed with a dash of nervousness. Just as any mother would be, whether giving birth or adopting. It's such a emotional whirlwind! I can't wait!

BEIJING! PART 2!
I'm pretty sure that the Chinese government is trying to sabotage my first ever attempt at writing a blog. When we got into town the other night I tried to log on and saw that it was all in Mandarin. I worked around that obstacle by just trying random buttons until one did what I was looking for it to do. But, after writing my blurb for the day I tried to publish and was told that there was something wrong with the connection. Well, after some investigation we realized that the blog site I am using has been blocked. So, Mike figured out how to work past that (I'm not sure how but he did). But, I have to use his computer to write instead of mine and his doesn't work with out current converter. So, here I am back on my computer trying to keep track of all that is happening in this whirlwind. So, by the time this makes its way to the blog it will be days old. But, it is what it is and that's that. Oh well.

I'm just trying to explain why it seems like I haven't been keeping up with the blog and that right now I am going to fill it in with a few days worth of happenings. 

Yesterday was actually totally different in terms of air quality. It was extremely windy and the skies were actually blue!! BLUE! It was completely different from the still smog cover of the day before. I had read about a temple called Lama Temple which is a Tibetan temple on the other side of town. I have been to Tibet and seen many a Tibetan temple and I loved them all. It has been a while though and Mike and Charlie have never seen a Tibetan temple so I wanted to make sure we all got to see this one. We jumped in a taxi and headed out onto the highways of Beijing. We were able to see a lot of the city. Huge, modern skyscrapers that we didn't even know existed were out there. Wow!  When we arrived at the temple it was everything I was hoping it would be. Surrounding it was a Tibetan little neighborhood with small souvenir shops selling prayer flags and prayer wheels, small tea houses, and few little restaurants. The temple itself was beautiful. Actually, the grounds had many temples, each more grand than the one before. I loved that by the end Charlie was asking questions about the Buddhas, the monks, and the prayer wheels. 

There were monks on the grounds-working and just roaming around. We felt like we were in an awesome commercial for Apple at one point. A whole group of monks surrounded us and they were taking pictures of Charlie on their Iphones (do monks take a vow not to have earthly goods or something like that? hmmm). As they were snapping photos on their Iphones of our son we were on our Iphones doing the same thing. Steve Jobs would have been so proud. Charlie was I were walking and one of the monks just walked right next to Charlie and held his finger out. Charlie reached out a grabbed it and the three of us walked the grounds. It was one of those moments I know I'll never forget. 

After our Tibetan temple tour we had lunch at a "vegetarian" restaurant down the street. I am not sure why they labeled  vegetarian because there was meat in just about everything they offered. For example, we ordered the "Crispy Vegetarian Duck." It was excellent, but not vegetarian in any way. 

Charlie fell asleep in the taxi at about 5:00 on the way home and was down for the rest of the night. Mike and I drank a Tsing Tao and watched an episode of Modern Family on the Ipad before falling asleep at 8:00. It was a wild night! 

This morning we were all up and ready to go at about 5:00. The 13 hour time difference is a big on so being up a couple hours early isn't too bad. I actually kind of like it! We had breakfast and met our group of about ten other families from around The United States who are adopting kids in the same province as Leo: Henan. We also met our group guide, George who is a young Chinese guy who I think grew up here in Beijing. We boarded the bus and were off to visit a hutong. We got to go on a rickshaw ride which Charlie really liked. They took us all around the area which is really charming. It's full of small restaurants, bars, and shops. Then George spoke about the history of the hutong area and the people who live there. We got to see the inside of one of the houses which I had said that I wanted to do a few days earlier. It was a very modest little place with a couple small bedrooms and a little kitchen. There was a courtyard in the back with a couple plants and a cage full of pigeons. You have to have a special license to feed any type of bird in China because of the bird flu epidemic but some people, mainly in the hutong area, are big into pigeon racing. I am not really sure how this works but they do it. I don't think you could pay me to have pigeons in my backyard but they care for them like we care for our dogs. They also had a whole bunch of very noisy crickets in the bedroom. I guess it is supposed to be a cool thing to listen to them sing. They were in jars on the dresser. The whole area, as with everything in China really, is set up with Feng Shui in mind. The direction that the house, bedrooms, furniture, etc faces is very important and symbolizes luck and prosperity. 

After the hutong tour we went to a silk factory that is run by the Chinese government. We got to see how the silk is made which was really neat.  George was saying that when in China it is always better to go to the government run stores to buy anything of real value such as silk, jewelery, technology, etc because it is the only place where you know for sure that you are getting the real thing. He said two weeks after each Ipad or Iphone comes out the knock off version will be in the markets. They look exactly the same and have all of the same functions but, of course, they are of very poor quality. There is really no way to tell the difference though, until you get it home and it break after a week of use. So, if you want to buy a new Iphone you have to go to the government run store to get it so you know you are getting the real deal. He also said to be careful of street vendors. They see that you are a tourist and will give you fake money as change when you buy something from them. If you do want to buy something from a street vendor you have to make sure you pay with small bills. As with anywhere that you travel there will always be a little bit of dishonesty and you just have to be smart and careful I guess. 

After the silk factory tour we went to Tiananman Square and then to The Forbidden City. Tiananman Square is a huge plaza that is surrounded by government buildlings. Mao Tse Tung, the leader of the communist party, is buried there. It is also the sight of the famed scene from the 80's where the people were protesting government rule and that one man stood out right in front of the army tanker, risking his life in front of everyone. It was caught on film by a journalist, who would have probably been killed if he had gotten caught with it. Even though Mao is responsible for the death of so many Chinese people the people here feel that he was mostly was good guy and he is still revered here in China, which is unbelievable and incomprehensible to most Americans. 

After checking out Tiananman Square we went right to The Forbidden City which is right behind the square. I have been really excited to see this amazing Chinese version of a castle. It really make Versailles seem small. You walk up to it and it's this massive structure and just when you were thinking that this one structure was so impressive you realize that behind it there are about fifteen more just like it, all of which comprise The Forbidden City. There are courtyards between each building. There are 9,999 rooms. It was built in the 1400's and is where the emporer lived. Anyone who tried to trespass was immediately tortured and killed. The detail on this palace is spectacular-everything is painted in bright colors and the roof is and of porcelain. We spent hours just walking through and I could see how people could actually spend days checking it out because there is that much detail and it is that huge. It's something to put on your list of places to see if you haven't yet, that's for sure.

Finally, it was time to head back to the hotel. It was a great day of touring the city and we were able to see a lot and learn a lot about Beijing. Charlie provided some entertainment and posed for lots and lots of pictures throughout the day. We decided to go out to dinner with another couple from our group and were given a recommendation from George. The restaurant was big and crowded as it was Saturday night. Thank God for the menu with pictures. We are pretty adventurous eaters, all in all and would have done it without pictures but we're a little less adventurous with the food this time around because we have Charlie with us and also because we are trying to be a little cautious because being sick and adopting a new little boy doesn't mix well. Charlie fell into a deep slumber in the taxi on the way to the restaurant and we just laid him on a couple chairs to sleep. He pretty much has two modes-completely and totally on (nonstop chatter, movement, laughter, and entertainment) and totally off (impossible to wake). Add a pinch of jet lag and no naps at all and you understand why he was passed out at the table. 

Only three more days until we meet Leo!

BEIJING! PART 3!

Today was another fantastic day in Beijing. The longer I stay in this city the more I like it. And, now that I have spent four days here I am beginning to realize just how huge it is! It makes New York City look like a small village. There are 21 million people here. The skyline just goes on and on and on. The buildings are absolutely huge too! I think you really could live here for years and still not know your way around completely.

Today we were up and out of the hotel with our group at 8:15. It was another bright, sunshine filled day. Aside from the first day which was still and smog filled, it has been beautiful-sunny, mild, and a lot less air pollution than the first day. We stopped at a government run jade factory and store. We learned a little but about jade and some people bought some souvenirs. I'm happy enough with my souvenir-an adorable little 17 month old baby boy! After that we headed to The Great Wall of China. I was so excited to see it and it was every bit as cool as I thought it would be. We really lucked out with the weather. Not only was it a beautiful day for a little hike but once we reached the top we could see for miles. They say you can see The Great Wall from the moon. I'm not sure if that's true or not but I will say it is impressive. It is about 2,000 years old and stretches for about 5,000 miles. Yes, that's right-5,000 miles. And, we're talking 2,000 years ago so there weren't machines, it was manpower that built it. It was built to keep China safe from intruders on the border. I thought it was going to be more like a path-a little hilly but more of a walk than a climb. Wrong. It was a climb, at least where we were. It was straight up-steep, slippery, uneven stairs. Of course, it has been renovated over time so that it is safe to climb and thank God for that. There were railings to hold onto which was especially helpful on the climb down. There are lookout points where you could see out into the distance. It is really an impressive and beautiful site and well deserving of its place as one of the seven wonders of the world. 

After our climb we went for lunch and then we went to see the Olympic Village (from the 2008 Olympics that were held in Beijing). The Olympic Village was also an impressive site to see. The architecture was incredible-so creative and different. The main stadium is called The Bird's Nest and looks exactly like one. It is silver and sort of basket weaved in the shape of a nest. There are also four huge towers that make up hotel and offices now but when you look at them from afar they look like  dragon. There is also a building that looks like a huge ice cube. It's hard to explain but it almost looks like it is made of moonstone to me and has different sized squares etched into it. It reflects light all over the place and is just an extremely interesting building to see. Outside of all of this is a large plaza which was filled with families flying kites and relaxing on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. We bought a few kites to take home with us. Charlie picked one out for himself and then wanted to pick one out for baby Leo. Love that kid!

After the Olympic Village we went to an acrobatics show which was really neat. The strength and grace of the acrobats was amazing. Charlie enjoyed every minute until he couldn't stand it anymore and fell asleep. That happens at about 5:00 each night and now he is down for the count. Mike and I put him to sleep and ordered some pot stickers and chicken hot pot from room service. Now Mike is asleep and I'm about to start packing up. Tomorrow we have a 10:20 flight into Zhengzhou, Henan Province. We will have the rest of the day to relax and get ready to meet our new son on Tuesday. I know Charlie is looking forward to the next hotel because we told him it has a pool so I'm sure we will be spending our afternoon there. 

Mike and I were talking tonight about what a great experience we have been having so far. Our agency has been top notch all the way and I would use them in a heartbeat if I were to do it all over again. The past two days especially have been so great with our guide, George. It has meant a lot to both of us to really be able to learn more about Chinese culture and the Chinese people. It's important to me to learn as much as I can about the place where my son was born. I really want to be able to instill in him a sense of pride in his ethnicity. And, after just this little glimpse-these four days and the books I have read on Chinese history and culture prior to coming-I feel as though I have learned a lot and have also developed such respect for this deep culture. 

Also, traveling with the group has added to the fun. We have met some great people. Many of the people in our group have adopted once, twice, or even more from China and have been able to offer insight and advice that I know will come in handy in a couple days. So, the first part of the trip, the "rest" part is drawing to a close and tomorrow we set out on the real adventure. It is so hard to describe the emotions that I have been feeling. I am, most of all, so very excited to meet my new son. We have waited to long and worked so hard to get to this upcoming moment. I can't wait to look into his eyes and wrap my arms around him. I have butterflies every time I think about it, and those aren't new. I have had those butterflies for years. That's what makes the fact that this is actually happening so surreal. At the same time i feel heartbroken for him. While I was filling out paperwork and dreaming of life with him as a part of our family, he was living in an orphanage on the other side of the world. He developed relationships with caregivers and other children that I won't ever even know about. I know he was loved. I am certain about that-you can see it on the smile that is across his face in the pictures I have received and in his growth and development. He is familiar with the Mandarin language and has even begun to speak it. He has developed a taste for Chinese food, smells, and flavors. He is used to his routine and is most likely comfortable in it. He has probably never longed for anything else. He has no idea that in two days this is all going to change. His world will be so different. His caregivers, whom he trusts will hand him over to two people who look different, smell different, speak a different language, and eat weird foods. We will then take him outside the orphanage where there will be strange things happening all the time-cars, buses, dogs, people everywhere, new smells and sights. After that we will take him on a plane for 16 hours to a land that is also strange and different. There, he will meet lots more new and strange looking people who will probably smile and make lots of funny noises at him. Everything he has ever known will change and, the thing about it is, he has no idea why. He doesn't know who we are, if we're safe, if he can trust us and, saddest of all, if we are here to stay. Everyone always says "Oh, he is so lucky to be coming home to your family and to The United States." And, while that may be true (I have to believe that he is lucky to have our family or I wouldn't have ever adopted in the first place) he is a 17 month old child. He doesn't understand what is going on.  So, while I couldn't be more excited to meet my new son and while I know that, eventually, he will end up loving us as his parents, I feel heartbroken for the losses he is going to endure. Just as any mom's heart breaks when her child's heart breaks so will mine while he grieves the loss of the life he once know and transitions into this new life as a member of our family and our community. My ultimate hope is that the love that we have to offer him as parents and also the love his new brother has to give will help sooth him.

So, to recap-I'm an emotional mess (even more than usual!!) but it's mostly just pure excitement to meet this awesome little boy! The world has been waiting for him and I couldn't be happier!