Guangzhou Medical Exam

We just got back from having the baby's medical exam as required by the US Citizen and Immigration Service. All three babies passed with flying colors. It was quite the hectic scene getting there and just being there. R and I had a bit of trouble getting ourselves out of our room at the required time. Everyone always told us to add extra time with the baby -- it's totally true. We were on time as we ran out the door of our hotel room but we didn't bring all of the right stuff. We forgot to bring the Sunggly baby carrier and we also forgot our umbrella (it's raining really hard). We brought the stroller which we totally didn't need since it was raining so hard. So R carried the baby in one hand and a borrowed umbrella in the other hand. I brought all of the various diaper bags, backpacks, bottles, toys, etc.

When we got to the medical exam office, it was fairly chaotic -- crying babies, people waiting in line, doctors, nurses, etc. Anli managed to thread our group through the crowd to get us to the place where we needed to have the adoption medical exams. R and I went first and the first doctor checked her fingers and toes and looked her over. He also listened to her heart. Then we went to a second set of doctors. They took the baby's temperature and also weighed and measured her height. Then we went to a third doctor. He checked her hearing (he had an electric piano toy and played it next to her head to see if she turned). Then he checked her eyes to make sure she could track the light. Then he looked into her mouth and ears. She was cooperative the whole time and was smiling to the doctor. All along the way, the doctors would write stuff on the medical sheets we had with us but they didn't tell us anything. When we finished, we gave the forms back to Anli and she said that everything came out ok. We assumed that Jennifer Rose would pass but it felt good to have this step completed.

I have posted some photos from the medical exam. There's a good one of all of the babies together, plus one of us with the first doctor who examined the baby. We are so glad that the baby is healthy. If anything, we're all the ones who are ailing medically and the babies are all fine-- we're all coughing and sneezing and wheezing after the strain of this trip and not getting much sleep. Still, we're all deleriously happy and don't mind going through all the boxes of Kleenex.

One thing that was touching was that we saw a number of babies at the medical exam office who were not healthy. A number of people choose to adopt "special needs" babies -- some with serious medical conditions. We saw some of those babies this morning. The families adopting these babies are so filled with love and strength that we know that the babies will have a good life wherever they are going. Plus, we have heard that with US medical technology, many of the medical problems can be corrected when the babies get to the US. But it was still a little sad to see the babies that are not healthy and it made me even more thankful that all of the babies in our travel group appear to be healthy and strong.

Right after the baby medical exams, R and Etu did a quick shopping run. They bought more than a few baby outfits -- including one each for nieces Jessica, Elli, and Noa. Eugenio and I couldn't handle being in the baby clothes store so we went back to the hotel. Eugenio and I made the mistake of asking why Etu and R need to keep buying baby outfits when we have plenty for this trip. They both just looked as us like we are crazy. We clearly don't get it. Still, R knows I'm in total heaven with the baby and she can do anything she wants as far as I'm concerned in the baby outfit buying department. Also, they are buying traditional Chinese outfits that we won't be able to get in the US and they are also buying outfits for special events in the future -- like Jennifer's one-year-old birthday. The set of shops outside the White Swan hotel totally caters to moms who have just adopted babies so the stores must do really well. There are so many shops that there's a lot of competition -- so the prices say good. R said that the three outfits they bought last night were $20 total. So I can't complain too much.

One final note: when we got back to our room, the hotel had left us a present. It was a "Going Home Barbie". It's Barbie with a little Chinese baby girl in her arms. We were surprised -- we didn't know there even was a Barbie like that. We just thought it was the cutest thing. It can go along with the "Chinese New Year Barbie" that R bought when we were in Beijing. So now little Ms. Firschein is now the proud owner of two Barbies. Who would have ever thought that was possible!? I thought I would be anti-Barbie but Jennifer Rose is so cute that I'm happy to let R get her stuff like that.

Now we're just relaxing in the hotel room with Jennifer Rose and Etu and Euginio. The baby is just giving all of us so much joy. No more major plans for today except that Anli may take us to a store that sells pearls. We hope to get a little keepsake that we can give to Jennifer when she's a little older as a small reminder of how special this trip has been for us. More later.

J.

We Are In Guangzhou

We have arrived in Guangzhou and everyone is feeling great. The flight from Nanchang was fine. We all felt good heading to our third leg of the China trip. One funny aside: we decided to get some sandwiches to have for the flight since we had about 45 minutes until our plane boarded. For some reason, it took a really long time to get the sandwiches so the plane was boarding by the time that R and I came running back to the gate. That sort of threw us in to a fit of disorganization -- we had the baby, the stroller, the snuggli baby carrying thing, our two wheelie carryon suitcases, the diaper bag, and the big bag of sandwiches. It was just too much stuff to carry and the airline people were just looking at us probably thinking " these guys are a complete disaster". So after a bit of running around bumping into each other a few times, we ended up just throwing the sandwiches away since we couldn't carry them and we were so running around at that point. Then we had a funny scene on the airplane trying to find places to put all of our stuff. Then after we finally were all seated, the guy who was sitting at the window of our row wanted to move his seat (probably wanted to get away from the crazy people) -- so we all got up and let him get out and move to another seat. We got situated again and the flight attendants told the guy he couldn't move his seat. So we all had to get up again while the guy unhappily moved back to his window seat in our isle. It was comedy. I was sitting there thinking: ok, the baby has never been on an airplane before and we're the ones acting like travel novices!

But we finally took off and everything settled down at that point. The baby slept for most of the flight and only cried as we were landing in Guangzhou. This is a much bigger city than Nanchang and we all felt really good to be here. As with all of the cities we have been in, there was massive traffic getting from the airport to our hotel. The bus driver was very skilled at getting us to the White Swan Hotel in one piece. We had heard so much about the White Swan -- it's where most of the US adoption families stay. After getting settled in our room (which is awesome), Anli took all of us to get Visa photos for the babies. Then she gave us a quick tour. There are lots of good stores and I know R and Etu are going to have a good time buying baby things (in fact, they did a quick run into one of the stores and bought two baby outfits).

Everyone else in our travel group was tired and went back to the hotel to grab dinner in their rooms. We wanted to eat together so we had a quick dinner with Etu and Eugenio and the baby at a wonderful Thai restaurant. The baby slept the entire time on R -- it was such a happy scene. Then we came back to the hotel. We fed the baby a bottle and got her ready for bed. She seems so happy and it's just incredible to me that we are all a family and it's starting to feel normal. R put the baby in crib and I totally conked out on the couch. I was going to post to the blog last night but was so tired I could barely make it from the couch to the bed.

Today, we are going for the baby's medical exam -- a requirement by the US in order to get a US Visa. We'll post pictures from Guangzhou later today. In the meantime, I have posted a few good ones from Nanchang -- from our trip to the park on our last full day in Nanchang. More later.

J.

Nanchang Day Five

Today was our last full day in Nanchang. Anli is spending much of the afternoon getting all of our paperwork finalized so we can travel to Guangzhou tomorrow to begin getting the adoption paperwork processed by the US Consulate so that Jennifer can become a US Citizen. Partly to pass the time today, Anli arranged for the bus to take us (and also Etu, Eugenio, Jim, Debbie, and Caitlin) to a big park near our hotel. It was incredibly hot out but still felt good to get out of the hotel. We took J Ro in the stroller and she didn't seem to mind the heat (again, we think she's used to this kind of heat!). The park was such an interesting scene: there were old people practicing Tai Chi and people playing traditional Chinese musical instruments and singing, and little kids playing in the water sprinklers. It was a really nice scene and something that had nothing touristy about it.

Other than our trip to the park, one of the ways we have been spending time is just staring at beautiful Jennifer Rose and taking photos and video of her. She's a complete social butterfly - wherever we go, people come up to her and she gets excited and starts babbling.

J Ro has really enjoyed sleeping on grandpa Eugenio and also playing and singing with grandma Etu.

One thing that has been funny is how many of Jennifer Rose's clothes don't fit -- they are too big! So this morning we had to do three costume changes before we found an outfit that didn't fall off. But Etu keep saying "she's a perfect size - with great muscle tone!" So we're not worried. But when we get home, we know grandma Thedie will have to come and start serving massive quantities of chicken soup and matzoh ball soup to fill her up!

Ok - we're going to try to take a nap while J Ro is sleeping. So more later. Here is a video of J Ro crawling (sort of) on our hotel couch. I'm also going to try to load two other ones (one with grandma Etu and one with the waitresses in the hotel restaurant).








J & R

More Photos from Day Four in Nanchang

Here are a few still photos (I know, how old fashioned!) of J Ro. I just love these. There is one of Jennifer taking a nap on my chest -- which I just loved. There are two good ones of J Ro with grandpa (she's asleep in one of them). We're going to try taking J Ro for a walk because she doeesn't feel like taking a nap! Can you stay strong-willed?

Ok - R and I just went on a little adventure outside the hotel. We were going a little bit stir crazy in the room and the rest of the hotel. So we took out J Ro's new stroller (yep - bought it at Wal-Mart for $35!) and visited the local equivalent of Walgreens or CVS. It was extremely hot out and both R and I were fading fast. But Jennifer was fine with the heat. We think she is used to it. We bought a bunch of random stuff -- beer for daddy and Scott; some plastic containers to put baby formula in; some hard candies; some plastic spoons for the baby. The funny thing was that when we got up to the front of the store to pay, they wouldn't let us buy the plastic spoons. We couldn't understand the problem but the lady at the cash register took the spoons away from us and put them somewhere else. So I figured that meant: you can't have them. Of course, R wouldn't take no for an answer ("strong-willed"?) and she went and got the spoons again. We repeated the previous step where the cash register lady took the spoons away. This went on for a few minutes and finally a few other ladies came and led Rachel back to the part of the store where the spoons came from. I stayed up front with the baby (and the small crowd that had gathered to watch the excitement). When R came back, she had no spoons and we both laughed about it. We still don't know why they wouldn't sell us the plastic spoons. R wants to go back tomorrow with Anli to figure it out. In the meantime, I got some good photos of Jennifer in the store (one was with one of the nice salesladies).

We just gave Jennifer Rose a bath and will try to put her to bed. She has not been very interested in taking a nap today -- there are just too many distractions. But we know she needs to stay on her nap schedule or we'll pay later. So we'll see if she will cooperate with us and go to bed early.
J.

Nanchang Day Four

We have another day of rest today in Nanchang while we are waiting for the paperwork to be completed. We are both happy for that and we have really just enjoyed hanging out with Jennifer. After she went to bed last night (after the needing to poop ordeal), she woke up once at around midnight to take another bottle. Then she slept through the night. At around 7:00 a.m., she woke up and -- after a quick diaper change -- I took her up to grandma and grandpa's room. They loved playing with her on the bed and she seemed to like it as well. She's such a loving and cuddly baby and seems happy now that the not-being-able-to-poop thing is resolved (at least temporarily).

Then I went back down to the room and R and I gave the baby a bath. We're getting good at the bath thing now and Jennifer seems to like sitting in the warm water. We'll have to buy one of these plastic bathtubs when we get home. They sit right in the regular bathtub and are easy to use. It cracks me up to see her hanging on to the side of the plastic tub. I can already tell she likes to be catered to (reminds me of R!). Four Seasons Georgetown spa get ready for a new customer!

Then we did another diaper change. You'd think by now we'd be really good at it but we're still in need of practice - Jennifer generally cries when we put her on her back because she always wants to be held! We try to go as fast as we can but we have lots of room for improvement. Hopefully, we'll get more proficient at this. Then we put Jennifer in a really cute outfit that Elana (R's sister) gave us. We also gave her a 4 ounce bottle that she was happy to wolf down.

Grandma and grandpa came by the room and we went down to breakfast while R took a shower and got dressed. We had a good time at breakfast -- Jennifer is such a social baby. She wants to check out all of the people and all of the hotel restaurant waitresses just keep coming up to her and saying hello and tickling her tummy. She seems to really like that. We tried to feed her some solid food (boiled egg and also Congee) but she still wants nothing to do with it. So we didn't force it. We just played with her while Rachel ate and then R held her.

We just got back to the room and R and J Ro went to visit Scott and Elaine (their room is a few down from ours). I'm just loving this - it doesn't sound like we're doing anything but it's just so much fun to have the baby and make her happy.

Here is a video of J Ro at breakfast with grandpa. And there is a second one of Rachel with the baby at breakfast. These are both really cute - I hope they come out. I'll post more videos and regular photos a little later.





One last thing: Scott and Elaine just gave us the address of their blog - so if anyone wants to see their blog, here it is: http://kiranslittlesister.blogspot.com/

J.

More Video from Nanchang

Ok - now Jim H has me hooked on uploading video to the blog. I hope this works. This one is of J Ro getting a bath. As you can see, she's very patient with her parents who are still figuring out what they are doing! We can just watch her all day (which is what we did all day today)!

One other comment I have about today's activities: never have I seen so many people talk about babies pooping for so long. It was a major topic of conversation today because as of this morning, none of the three babies had (pooped, that is). So it became the topic of conversation much of the day. I knew I had reached a new point in my life when Scott said, "dude - if the babies poop, we should go down to the bar and have a few beers." I am totally serious.

J Ro -- being very, very stong-willed -- decided to wait all day and then put on a little performance for me, R, Etu, Gene, and Anli where we were all trying different things to get her to poop. Anli said the Chinese often use honey water, so she got some honey from the hotel restaurant and we put it in her bottle with some water. She hated it. Then R tried walking around with her. Then we tried giving her a bath. Then we tried rubbing her tummy. It was quite the performance. She finally went! By then, the audience had all left. So I changed my first nasty diaper. And R just put her in the crib where she is happily sleeping. R just went down to the hotel restaurant to grab something to eat. She is totally exhausted because J Ro has been fussy for a good part of the day on account of the poop issue (or lack thereof).

One other activity today that was pretty funny: Anli took me, Scott, and Jim to the bank so we could exchange money. Why was this funny? Because the traffic is so incredibly dangerous and they have such complete disregard for pedestrians that the two block walk to the bank was like that "frogger" video game where you have to dodge the cars, buses, mopeds, bicycles, and other pedestrians. We were like little ducklings following Anli around. Wherever she went, we went. We got to the bank and we actually hi-fived each other. It was pretty funny. The trek home was just as scary. Anli told us that she had picked the most calm time to go to the bank -- that if we had waited another hour, traffic would have been really bad.

On a somewhat serious note, R and I both wanted to say thanks to everyone for all of the love and support as we have been on this journey (and before we even left for China). My dad has been e-mailing us the blog comments every day (since Blogger is blocked for us in China) and they just bring tears of happiness to our eyes. Thank you to everyone for the incredible words of love and support -- we know Jennifer Rose will love them as well. Also, we didn't have a chance to thank everyone individually for the incredible fabric squares and good wishes notes that people sent. They were so wonderful and we are having an artist put the quilt together in late August (so it's not too late to send us a fabric square if you haven't already done so). If anyone has questions on what to send, just e-mail us directly (rjfirschein@verizon.net).

Ok - I will sign off now. I'm just happy to have that big poop drama over. We'll see what tomorrow will bring. Hopefully, J Ro will be feeling better. We have another day of relaxation while Anli is waiting for the documents to be finalized. That's fine with me. Hopefully, Scott and I can get that beer tomorrow. And Jennifer will give her mommy a break.

J.

Video of J Ro in Nanchang

Jim H just showed me how to link a YouTube video to the blog. So here goes. This is a video of J Ro with grandpa -- where he is teaching her how to "make nice". Hopefully it comes out as great as it was in person. More commentary to come.



J.

Second Day in Nanchang - More Photos

Here are some more photos from today's activities in Nanchang. Also, if you haven't already checked it out, Jim Heverin is posting video on his blog. So my old fashioned photo blog thing is getting out of style. I'll see if Jim can show me how to post video. In the meantime, check the link to Debbie and Jim's blog from our blog's links section. Jim told me tonight that he posted a nice one of me and J Ro but I can't seee it because YouTube is also blocked here.

Right now, R and J Ro are asleep in the bedroom and it's so peaceful to be typing here and listing to their breathing. Unlike yesterday, I now have my bottles with formula ready. Unlike yesterday, I now know how to change a diaper. Unlike yesterday, I am now pretty decent at giving a baby a bath. So I'm feeling good about everyone's progress. More tomorrow.

J.

Second Day in Nanchang

• We just finished our second day in Nanchang and all went really well. Jennifer Rose was just amazing and beautiful and we just kissed her and hugged her all day long. She seems to be pretty easygoing -- no matter how much incompetence we exhibit, she just looks at us with her big beautiful eyes. A few things we have learned today (yes, the hard way):
  
• Don't wait until the baby is ravenously hungry to figure out how to mix the formula into the bottle. (the more experienced among us put the formula in the bottle in advance and then just added hot water when the bottle was needed).


• Bring a thermos so that we can prepare a bottle when we are out of the room (again, the more experienced among us had hot water with them).


• Bring a spoon (we tried to mix the formula with the swizzle stick from the mini-bar)


• Bring the correct size diapers (we brought a size too big and had to make an emergency Wall-Mart run today).


• Bring something to wash the bottles out with (we had to use soap from the baby bath until our Wall-Mart run).


• When you are putting the baby in the baby carrier (aka Snugli), try not to bonk her in the head with your head (yep, J did that).

You get the idea. But we really are starting to get the hang of things. We are sure there will be new lessons to learn tomorrow and we just hope that Jennifer foregives us for our ignorance.

Today we ran around and did paperwork at several different offices. We also got to see some of her caregivers again at the Nanchang Adoption Center and ask questions about Jennifer and her time at the orphanage. The caregivers told us she is a very clever baby and we shouldn't be fooled by her angelic looks. They emphasized that she is "very, very strongwilled". So now J will have two strongwilled ladies to contend with.

Today's activities were really special -- particularly the time with the caregivers. There was also a great deal of formality to it -- we had to be interviewed by a Chinese official (with a translater) who asked us why we are adopting from China, how we plan to raise her, whether we plan to give her an education, etc. We also had to sign the official adoption documents and then also provide our fingerprints nex to every signature. There were other activities at the City police station and at the City notary (where we were again briefly interviewed before we signed more documents). You can see from being part of this how important it is to the Chinese officials that the babies are going to good, loving families that care a lot about education. It makes us feel good to be part of such a process even if it is difficult.

Tomorrow we get to chill out and experience day #3 with Jennifer. It's going to be a balmy 98 degrees tomorrow, so we are all looking forward to hanging out in the hotel with the air conditioning. Here are some photos from today's activities.

J & R

More Photos of Jennifer Rose

Here are a few more photos of our big day meeting Jennifer Rose. We are totally exhausted. In fact, R is asleep on the bed and J Ro (as R was calling her) is asleep in the crib. I need to put together some paperwork for tomorrow but I am just really happy. We know we still have a lot of mountains to climb but we just feel so wonderful to finally get to this point. We feel all of the love from all of our family and friends who have been waiting with us this past 2+ years. It is absolutely amazing. Ok - time to peek in on my two ladies. More later.

J.

Jennifer Rose is Here!

We don't even know how to put in words how happy were are to have Jennifer Rose in our arms! What a very emotional and amazing day! The babies were brought to Nanchang today after a 3-4 hour bus ride from the orphanage. At around 5 p.m. local time, we were able to meet the caregivers and the babies and have pictures taken with them. It is difficult to describe what a wonderful moment it was to be holding Jennifer Rose and have her snuggle up against Rachel. She loved Rachel's necklace and seemed content to be held for a long time. J also got a turn to hold her and it was amazing.

Of the 3 babies, Jennifer is the most petite. We kind of thought the pictures that we received were deceiving. We were all worried that we were buying clothes that were too small-- turns out, they are probably too big. Although she is petite, she seems healthy and happy and she is beautiful.

Once we got back to the hotel, Jennifer was hungry for a bottle. Etu and Joseph took care of getting that ready. Then we played with her for a little while-- she seemed to really enjoy playing with us and we'll have to go out and buy some more toys for her! Joseph changed his first diaper and Jennifer was very patient while he fumbled around with it.

After a while we gave her a bath (with the help Etu). She seemed to like it and she especially liked when R dried her off with the big towel. Then she started rubbing her eyes and after a few more minutes she was asleep. She is asleep now in her crib. We keep sneaking peaks at her just to make sure it's not a dream.

Tomorrow is more paperwork, etc. We have posted some photos - will post a second batch shortly. We are in love!

R & J

Last Full Day in Beijing

We just got back from a nice dinner with the group at the same amazing Chinese restaurant that we ate lunch at on our first full day in Beijing (the one where Etu and Jim ordered turtle). It was a really nice way to end the Beijing phase of our journey and we are all back at the hotel now packing up our things tonight for an early morning departure to Nanchang.

At one point during dinner tonight, someone asked Scott and Elaine (who already have a daughter) what their top tips are on being a parent. After a few joking comments along the lines of "you are on your own", they gave us some good tips, including something about being consistent, not using the child's bedroom as anything but a sleeping area, and a third one that I have already forgotten. It was fun and strange to even be having the conversation. How often can your really say to someone: "hey, real quick - I'm going to be a parent tomorrow. Any quick tips on how to make that work out ok?"

I'll get to the touring part of today in a moment, but for me the best part of the whole day was when we got in the elevator to go back to our room at the end of the day of sightseeing. A couple came in with a beautiful Chinese baby in an umbrella stroller. Of course, R and I were just so taken with the baby that I think the couple could tell that our reaction was more than just the typical "cute baby!". We told them, "we're meeting our baby tomorrow." They were very sweet and even stopped on our floor and told us how great it was going to be and how everything was going to be fine. I saw that as a good omen for tomorrow. The couple was part of the large Spanish contingent of adoptive parents here that we have seen a various points over the past few days. The babies all look happy and the parents look like they know what they are doing (they have had the babies for about 10 days so they have had lots of practice!).

Ok - a quick note on the sights. I sort of was on autopilot today with the sightseeing thing -- partly because I was more thinking about tomorrow and partly because I have gotten a bit overwhelmed by the crush of people at all of the sights. In any case, here are the highlights (my version) in order:

• First we went to the Ming Tomb. It was very beautiful. Check with R on the significance because I wasn't listening to the guide very closely. I can say that it was a very tranquil and beautiful place -- with a long path with carved animals on each side leading to the tomb. I realize I'm not giving you much here. Work with me. The layout of the grounds was just very beautiful and impressive at the same time. I have attached three photos from this part of our day: one of the girls; one of the guys; and one of me and R next to one of the animal statues. Other highlight: I bought my mom a straw hat similar to the one I bought Etu at the Temple of Heaven.
• Second stop: Jade store. Again, this was one of those deals where they give you an expert pitch on how the stuff is made and that quickly transitions to the hard sell portion of the visit. We were actually looking forward to this part of the day since our daughter's Chinese name (Yu Hua) means "beautiful jade". The store was one of the top places in Beijing to buy jade so we enjoyed buying some nice gifts for Jennifer Rose to give to her when she's old enough not to eat them. We know that these will be special gifts because we got them at a time with so much significant for us and when we are so hopeful about Jennifer Rose coming into our lives.
• Next stop: lunch. This was both a lunch spot and a place that sells all manner of items of interest to tourists. It was too much for me -- the volume of tourist nicknacks; the tour buses in the parking lot, the large volume of tourists (not just from the US). So while it was useful to pick up a few gift items there, I was glad when we got back on the bus to head to the Great Wall.
• The Great Wall was....pretty great. Ok - I'm fading, but how often do you really get to use that joke in context? Actually, it really was impressive. The only minor downside was that there were so many people all over the place and the crush of tourists, tour buses, and people selling nicknacks got to both me and R (that plus the fact that someone had yacked all over the part of the path we were hiking on). So after some climbing around on the Wall, we were content to hang out with Etu while the others climed to a higher part of the Wall. I have attached two photos of me and R with Etu at the Wall. It was special for us just to be spending time with her so we didn't mind that we didn't climb to the top of the Wall. The Great Wall is just an amazing thing to see -- another one of those parts of Chinese history that just makes you want to learn more and read more. Being in China you get so see so many thousands of years of history unfolding before your eyes.
• Last stop: Chinese acrobatic show. It was truly amazing to see what the acrobats can do. It was so good that it had me wondering if it was even real! Where is the trick? The acrobats were in incredible shape and they combined the skill of a top gymnist with what appeared to be a huge amount of risk. It was also interesting that this didn't appear to be a major foreign tourist destination. A lot of the audience was groups of young Chinese kids. So it felt very authentic. It was also very crowded and loud. So while we loved the show, we were happy to get back to the hotel at the end of the day and just unwind. Thus, it was such a welcome little interlude to have that conversation with the Spanish couple with the baby in the elevator as we were heading back to our room.

That's pretty much it for now. More to follow once we are in Nanchang. As Jim and I said to each other at dinner tonight: "this is not a drill."

One last item: please keep the blog comments coming. Even if we cannot currently read them (since the Blogger site is blocked for us in China), we want to have them as a keepsake to give to Jennifer Rose when she's old enough and we certainly look forward to reading them as well.

J.

Beijing Day Three

Another really full and good day seeing Beijing. The day started at about 6:30 a.m. when I went to get bottled water at the little shops near our hotel. After I got the water, I took a few minutes and checked out the various comings and goings of the people. It's amazing how varied the scene was. On one hand, there is our fancy hotel with a beautiful lobby and a bunch of really elegant restaurants and shops across from the hotel. But right around the corner from the hotel, there is a construction site (I believe they are building another hotel) so there are construction workers coming and going -- most not wearing shirts, all smoking cigarettes. And the little shops have activity of their own. There was a guy on the corner deep frying bread and serving it to the construction workers and other people on their way to work. There was a guy making what looked like crepes with eggs on them. There were people biking down the narrow street and people setting up shop. It was really nice to start the day that way.

After meeting everyone for breakfast at the hotel, our first stop was Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. The pic of R and Etu is in Tienanmen Square, as is the one of Etu wearing the hat I bought her yesterday. The other three photos are from the Forbidden City. Tienanmen Square was impressive mainly for its massiveness. The buildings look like they were built for giants and the same is true with the public spaces. The Forbidden City is also massive but not in terms of the size of the buildings -- rather, because there are so many buildings and the complex just keeps going on and on. I personally liked the Forbidden City more than Tienamen Square and we all enjoyed walking through the various parts of the City (although it was very hot!).

After lunch in the Forbidden City, the next stop was a factory that makes silk carpets. I had very low expectations here but we were all pleasantly surprised. The guide was really knowledgeable and we all learned about the process of making silk carpets. Short summary: it takes a long time -- years in some cases to make a single carpet. There is a lot af artistry involved. And even a small carpet is many hundreds of dollars. Luckily for me, R didn't buy anything. But our party didn't disappoint our guide -- a few people bought things, which made our tour guide happy.

We then spent all afternoon on a rickshaw tour of the old Beijing neighborhood. It was both fun and educational -- we had two people per rickshaw and the guys peddaling these converted bicycles were fearless as we weaved in and out of traffic, around pedestrians, and over bumps in the road. We stopped along the way a few times to have tours of various parts of the neighborhood -- including a stop in a nursery school and a house. Of course on the house tour Etu hit it off with the 95 year old grandmother who spoke no English! We all got pictures of the two of them hugging and (according to our guide) the grandmother wished us all well in our travels. It was touching and funny all at the same time.

Next stop was an early dinner at the top Peking Duck restaurant in Beijing. It was a huge place -- with photos on the wall of dignitaries who had eaten there (including Henry Kissinger when he was doing shuttle diplomacy for the Nixon trip to China). We all loved the duck. Jim, Etu, Gene, and I ordered four beers that came in massive bottles (see, even the BEER in China is huge!). Etu and Jim fought over who could eat the duck head (and then they realized there were two duck heads and were both happy)! We are all grossed out. Yesterday, they both ate turtle at a Chinese restaurant for lunch, so they are our adventursome eaters.

We managed to finish all of the beer and we made it back to the hotel in one piece. We are all tired but feeling good about how much of the sights, sounds, and feel of Beijing we have been able to absorb in a short time. Tomorrow we have an early start since we are going to the Great Wall. We are all getting increasingly excited as Sunday approaches. So the busy itinerary is helpful if nothing else because it helps us pass the time until we get to Nanchang on Sunday. But it also has been good just to get a better flavor for this amazing place. Ok - off to bed now.

J.

Beijing Day Two

As noted earlier, it really feels like we have been here much longer than two full days. We have been cramming so much into every day but that's the way we wanted to do it so that we can experience as much of China as possible.

We started this morning at the Temple of Heaven -- a really impressive set of structures. As with yesterday's visit to the Summer Palace, we were all impressed by the beautiful colors and architecture. I have uploaded a few photos that hopefully show this. In particular, I loved the deep blue colors and the gold colors as well as the elaborate patterns and designs. It's really hard to capture on camera -- you really have to see the entire place. The Temple of Heaven was such a large site that we did a lot of walking -- lots of steps! So we are getting our exercise even if we didn't bring our running shoes.

All along the way, there were lots of people trying to sell us various items - fans, hats, Beijing Olympics stuff, etc. I finally gave in and bought Etu a straw hat for $10 Yuan - just over $1. It was the best purchase of the day and she loved it.

As an aside, Jim H. noticed today when we were on the bus that the Green Tea drink that we have all been enjoying (see yesterday's post) has a website listed on bottle. I just went and checked it out and it's pretty cool -- mostly in Chinese but with cool animation. Here's the link: http://www.byunif.com/ if you want to check it out. We really do have to track the stuff down in the US to see if they have distributor. If not, this could be a hit business in the US (but I won't quit my day job just yet).

After the Temple of Heaven, we visited a silk factory. They gave us a tour where they showed us how the silk is made and we got to see women (not sure why no men) weaving with the silk fabric and turning the fabric into yarn. Not surprisingly, this educational component transitioned into the sales portion of the show -- and Rachel and Debbie did not let down our hosts. They both bought some beautiful traditional Chinese outfits for our little ones and also purchased silk bedding. This was exactly at the point in time where it hit me that: 1) I was feeling a big of jet lag and 2) shopping is shopping -- whether you are in Tyson's Corner mall in the U.S. or a silk factory in China. So I was fading quickly. But R is a decisive shopper - so she finished her purchases and we quickly made our way to the next stops -- first lunch at a Chinese restaurant then the Lama Temple.

I was not as into the Lama Temple as I was the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven. Perhaps it was that I was still fading from the travel. But my personal opinion was that it was just not as beautiful a site as the other places we have seen. One thing that cracked me up: they had a huge carved Buddha statue with a sign outside that said that this was the largest carved wooden Buddha in the world (carved from a single piece of wood) and was in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1992. I was sitting there thinking: so the monks at the temple took time away from their heavenly thoughts to be happy about being in the Guinness Book of World Records -- perhaps right next to the guy who ate 50 Nathan's hot dogs in 10 minutes? Etu and I were the only ones that thought this was funny.

R and Debbie had expressed interest in seeing a traditional Chinese tea ceremony (and after the shopping and Lama Temple I was thinking "please, no more"). But this was the surprise hit of the day. We had an awesome time getting a demo of the various types of teas and some of the ceremony around drinking tea in China. Our guide was a lovely woman who spoke great English and had an awesome sense of humor. As a bonus, drinking all of that tea totally helped my sore throat. So I didn't mind the obligitory sales part of the presentation where we all proceeded to buy large quantities of tea. So we're now set tea-wise for the rest of our lives.

We just got back to the hotel and R and Debbie had so much energy that they went out on a walk to see one of the supposedly good shopping streets near our hotel. Those guys are amazing -- not even showing any signs of jet lag and just wanting to experience every ounce of this place. I begged for mercy and was spared having to go along on this excursion. So I'm relaxing in the air conditioning of our hotel room. When they get back, we'll try to find a spot for dinner. We are all looking forward to seeing Scott and Elaine tonight -- they should get in around 10:30 p.m. local time and we'll try to meet them at the hotel. Hopefully their flight was as smooth as ours. Ok - time to get some rest. More later.

J.

Trying to Get the Hang of Posting in Chinese

Ok - I think I may have figured out the trick to posting to the blog. It appears that Blogger really is blocked in China but the tool that is used to update Blogger (called Blogger Dashboard) is not blocked. But it is in Chinese. So in trying to post to the blog, I feel a bit like someone in a room with no lights on. I remember where the buttons are (sort of). I just fumble around looking for furniture and the light switch etc. And I have no way to read the blog once we post something. Nice. So sorry in advance if the posts and the photos don't match.

We are now at the end of our first full day in Beijing. We are really getting into the swing of this place -- the beautiful hotel, the nearby shops, the restaurants. We took a nap this afternoon and just relaxed a bit. Tonight for dinner we went to a really good Hong Kong noodle place right near the hotel. It was a cool set-up -- at each table, they had a burner and they boiled the meat and vegetables right there (kind of like those Korean BBQ places except everything is boiled instead of fried). There was a nice variety of things that we cooked -- noodles, chicken, beef, mushrooms, tofu, etc. The server did most of the work and we just enjoyed it. It was just what we needed after the heavy lunch we had.

We kept asking the server for the Chinese name of the things we were eating. After a while, we gave up because her English was so much better than our attempts at Chinese. Everyone here has been so friendly -- it has really made it comfortable to be here and makes us feel good about the trip. It has been funny to see how Etu manages to make friends with everyone -- even if they barely speak English. She talks to the concierge and the lady in the gift shop and everyone on the airplane, etc. It's just so nice to have her here because she's a whirlwind of social activity and her smiling face attracts people.

One other totally random thing I just remembered from today: the drink we discovered today is a green tea that is sold in a plastic bottle similar to bottled water (I have attached a dorky photo of me holding a bottle of it). It costs about 40 cents and it is awesome. I downed two of them at the Summer Palace and then bought two more to take the the hotel tonight. They could do good business in the US if someone could figure out a way of selling it. It's not too sweet but is tasty.

Another random item from today. I picked up the China Daily today in the hotel lobby. It had a headline that read "China 'is no threat to anyone'". The sub-headline was: "Aim of economic development is to feed and clothe 1.3b people: Wu". I liked the simplicity of that headline.

Here are a few more photos from today -- from our trip to the Summer Palace. I like the one of R and Etu because it captures how happy we are to be here. I also like the one of Etu and Eugenio in front of the lake (we took a dragon boat across that lake to get back to our bus). Today gave us a glimpse of the amazing Chinese culture and history, as well as the friendly people. I'm sure we'll have so much more of that in the coming days.

Last item before I sign off: The last family in our China travel group (Elaine and Scott Sullivan) should have just left Dulles, VA an hour ago! They are on the same flight that we took on Monday -- the 12:20 p.m. out of Dulles via Tokyo. It's exciting to think that they will be here with us starting tomorrow night.

J.

Photos of Beijing Summer Palace

Per the earlier blog posting, here are a few photos of the Beijing Summer Palace. The place was really impressive -- the color of the designs, the scale of the place, and the unique architecture.
J.

First Full Day in Beijing

Surprisingly, we weren't feeling too jetlagged this morning when we woke up. It's hard to believe we are here after so much anticipation and waiting. In some ways, it's hard for both of us to get into "seeing the sights" mode because all we can think about is having Jennifer Rose in our arms on Sunday. But we are also excited about learning more about China and really experiencing the culture. So we all really enjoyed the half-day trip we took to the Summer Palace. The place is really huge and although there were a lot of tourists (mostly Chinese), it didn't detract from the impressiveness of the place. I'll try to post some photos later (Jim came up with a possible solution to the fact that the blogger site appears to be blocked - by posting mail to Flickr). It was hot but not unbearable and we enjoyed walking all around the huge palace grounds. The scale of the place is immense and I was really drawn to the colorful images and beautiful architecture. Hopefully that will come out in the photos I post.

After we got back from the Summer Palace, it was late afternoon and we went to a really amazing Chinese restaurant near the hotel. It was such good food we really enoyed the atmosphere (extremely elegant). Some of the more adventuresome eaters in the group (Jim and Etu) tried a turtle dish. The rest of us passed on that. We also had really good Dim Sum and two amazing clay pot dishes. We were all stuffed.

Now the entire group is relaxing before we re-gather and go out again. Adjusting to the time difference hasn't been that bad so far. We were tired before we left for this trip so this doesn't feel very different. Maybe it will hit us later today or tomorrow.

Ok - will sign off now.

J.