The Last Day

Today was a pretty relaxed day as we spent the morning shopping and filling the extra suitcase we bought. Eli took a two hour nap this afternoon, Kim a one hour, and Dad decided three hours was needed. I guess we all are saving up for the long odyssey home tomorrow that begins with a 4 am wake up call to get to the bus at 5 our flight leaves after 8 to Tokyo.
Eli was able to get his first taste of the pool this afternoon. He really enjoyed it and likes to float. This evening we had our final dinner with three other families at Lucy's. We've met some great people on this trip and the four of our families being from the midwest gave us lots to talk about.
Some final observations on China: Coke is definitely the soda here and you'll find Coke zero way more than Diet Coke. Pepsi is trying to make an imprint here, but not really making a dent. Mountain Dew is unheard of. We've avoided drinking milk the time we've been here since some of the problems going on. In thel big cities, KFC, Mc Donald's and Pizza Hut are easy to find. You can find some american products around such as Kellogg's, Pringles and an occasional Coors light. Snickers, and wrigley's gum is around. When making a purchase most places will require you to pay for a plastic bag. I still have not seen a stop sign. The parks are huge with people in them all the time. We did see kids in school on Saturday and Sunday. Only about 100 million people in China practice a religion of the 1.3 billion. One-third of those that do are buddhist, others do Tao, and christianity has some followers. Bottled water is the only way to go here and of course just about everybody drinks tea. Television we do get CNN and BBC and HBO and Showtime. It is funny though that the most recent movie I"ve seen on Showtime is Arnold Schwarzeneger in The Running Man from 20 years ago. At least HBO gives us the recent ones.
That's about it. Time to get some quick shut eye before the long journey back. Lastly, we want to say Happy 1st Birthday to Elise. We'll be home a day late to celebrate, but it has been our mind too much. We'll put in our final blog Wednesday night. Take Care all.

Otherwise, that is about it for now

Buddhist Temple,Oath, Dinner Cruise

We've just returned from the dinner cruise and are closing down another day in Guangzhou. Only one more full day here and then it is the 22 hour journey home (22 hours counting layovers in Tokyo and Detroit). Today started with the morning venture to the Six Banyan Buddhist Temple. The place was packed as today is first day of the holiday week off. It is customary to burn incense at these temples and it was burning everywhere. Eli and most of the other Chinese adopted children along with parents received a blessing from the Buddhist monk in the temple. You can see in the picture the monk at the bottom. After the blessing Eli even received two tangerines from a Chinese woman just outside the temple. It's becoming habit him receiving things from random people. After the temple we went and became americanized again at Lucy's cafe where Eli continues to devour french fries while Dad had his american burger, fries, and a cold malted mug. Mom decided it was time to refresh her palate at Starbuck's with a white mocha.
After the lunch and nap (where Dad continues to celebrate Brewer baseball with any internet article or replay he can find) it was off to the US Consulate for Eli's visa and the oath taking ceremony. All this build up and paranoia to this big event and then all we did is give a document to some person behind a desk and say a 5 second oath and it is now official from the US side of things. Now we get a sealed brown envelope that we cannot open and hand it to US officials at customs in Detroit.
After the ceremony, we again noodled Eli in our hotel room and hurried to catch our dinner cruise. Here's the funny part of the dinner cruise. Each family orders a Papa John's pizza and drinks from 7 Eleven and takes them on the boat...and that's the dinner part of it. According to our guides the food on ship isn't very good. The cruise part though was amazing as was the boat. The two pictures at the top show the view. The boat was decorated in lanterns and old, simple Chinese music played in the background. Weather was perfect and the ride down the Pearl River in Guangzhou was amazing. The buildings are lit up like Times Square in Manhattan on both sides with all different colors. Spotlights are everywhere and even the suspension bridges are lit. It was truly an amazing event. Absolutely gorgeous.
Sooo...one day left and tomorrow is free except for an exit meeting to confirm our departure times in the afternoon. We are passing on doing the Panda safari in the morning as we would rather do something like that on a heritage tour back to China (which our adoption agency offers) someday with the whole family and whatever relatives would like to come (hint..hint...). This country's image in the US is truly misconstrued. It is a great place to be and the people are incredibly friendly, helpful, and polite whether we've been in the north, central, or southern parts.
That's it for now...looks like clear flying weather wise as we've missed the two typhoons and the other two won't be a factor until after we are gone. Best wishes to all!

Picture Day at the White Swan

Today was picture day at the White Swan. I guess it is tradition for all the adopted children to appear in a photo together from this contingent of our agency. It was almost chaos getting them all to sit on the couch with crying or falling over. So that's Eli smiling in the picture and the other picture is of us in the center of the hotel in the large atrium.

Today was a relaxed day as Kim took care of some paperwork in the morning while Eli and I played in the playroom the hotel has. We then spent the day wandering the streets looking for good shopping deals. It is different because each store owner basically comes out into the street to bring you into their store. They all speak some english and try to flatter you in every possible way. Some even give out free gifts to the adopted child. I really think the store owners make up prices as we go and then when we are not interested they drop the price. Some are quite clever and some want to talk your ear off.

After shopping, we had the experience of taking a child to the barber for the first time. Eli's hair was kind of choppy, so we had a stylist here at the hotel trim him up. He was good for the first part, but we had to hold him down basically for the last bit as he didn't like the shaver behind his head. The stylist was very good with him. So Eli has something on Elise and Ella as they've never been to have their haircut yet.

Tomorrow we will be busy as it is a very important day. First we tour a Buddhist temple and Eli gets a blessing from a Buddhist monk I believe. Then the afternoon is spent at the vaunted U.S. Consulate where Eli's visa is finalized and we take the oath to be his parents from the US side of things and I think make him a US citizen. Then the evening we are going to be on a river dinner cruise around Guangzhou which should be a neat site at sunset. We do actually have sun here. Other parts of China it is often blocked out by the smog.

We are looking forward to getting home as it seems like a month ago we were even in Beijing. So much has changed. Tonight night I am going to be up at 2 am watching the pitch-by-pitch scroll come across the internet of the Brewer game. I'll be able to get the highlights on replay in the morning, but there's no way I can sleep knowing they are playing. They better win...I wouldn't want to fall asleep in the temple! Best wishes to all back home!

Todd, Kim, Eli

Med Exam and First day in Guangzhou

This morning began with Eli first getting his visa photo taken which he was the model boy (see picture). Then it was off to the doctor. We found out he despises tongue depressors in the worst way...our guess is he is VERY sensitive about his mouth area. He weighed in at 21 pounds and the doctor discovered he may have a possible hernia and we are to inform our family practioner in the States about it...didn't know little kids could have a hernia (he didn't even cough). So we'll get that checked out back at home, but he was in great spirits again today. Kim wasn't feeling too well today so Eli and I cruised the island we are on in the stroller. It really has a restored colonial feel to it with narrow streets and building very close to one another. One thing that doesn't make it feel colonial is the Starbucks. We did see a large number of brides and grooms wandering with photographers for photo shoots...must be the thing to get married before the Oct. 1 national day holiday week.

We have learned Eli really likes scrambled or steamed eggs along with french fries. He does enjoy his noodles as our previous blog photo indicates. Tonight we had dinner at the American cafe called Lucy's (we had lunch there too) with three other families we met. One for Iowa, one for Chicago suburbs, and the third outside Columbus, Ohio. I don't know how the Columbus family has made with him being a Michigan fan and she an Ohio State grad! We definitely have the Big Ten covered here. The Michigan fan and I were trying to locate a pub/grill where they might have American sports on tv for the footbal game tomorrow. Our guide just gave us a very stern "no". She didn't seem very amused by it. We had a very American dinner tonight, so I think our bodies are back to normal. Tomorrow is just a quick paperwork day for an hour in the morning and then off to doing...umm...I guess not much...that does have a nice ring to it since I know once we get back the kids will keep us from resting for another five years. Kim and I both agree that Eli and Elise are going to keep us on our toes as partners in mischief and getting into things. Big sister Ella we're going to have to bribe or do something to keep her on our side. Grandmas and Grandpas better look out!

That's about it for now as we wind down Saturday. I have to decide if I'm going to get up at 3:30am to follow the Badgers and more importantly Brewers on the play by play blogs via the internet...maybe I'll pretend to be a sportscaster from the 1930's as the feed comes in...ok now I'm pathetic.

Nanchang to Guangzhou

We have made it to Guangzhou our final destination in China. The plane ride was just over an hour and Eli was good on the plane. He even played with the Chinese man next to us who made him an oragami bunny rabbit which was quite kind. Only on the landing did he seem a bit nervous, but all was well.
This morning we visited what they call the pavillion which looks like a Buddhist temple/pagoda about six stories high that overlooks the city and Gan River. Mostly the pavillion was used as a place on entertainment and study by scholars, writers, and artists. Otherwise today was not very exciting as we just waited out our time to depart in the hotel.
Right now we are at the White Swan Hotel and this is definitely a five star hotel. Marble everywhere in our room and the place has more shops and places to be that we need a map to get around. The hotel is located on Shamian Island which is in the old British/French colonial area. Haven't had time to do much as we've encountered our first rain of the trip. Tomorrow is a major paperwork day for the US consulate, but we will get to stroll around this laid back quiet island with shops everywhere...yikes. This place is gorgeous, but we are at the point where we are counting the days to get back home.

Miscellaneous tidbits about China

Just some quick things we've also learned about China:

For weddings, the groom's family pays for the wedding.
The girl does not take the last name of the husband.
Crime is extremely low...robbing stores, murder all end up in death.
Non-potty trained kids where split pants...so they wander around with the front and back of their pants open.
It is ok for a non-potty trained child to go to the bathroom in public. The parent just stops and the kid lets it fly.
I am looking forward to being able to use ice when we get back home.
People can smoke in elevators...ugh.
The higher the value of their paper money the bigger size the paper money is...for example the size of the 10 dollar bill is larger than the 5 dollar bill (actually not called dollar, but yuan).
Cars do drive on the right side of the road (well at least they are suppose to). Japan they drive on the left side.
Restaurant menu has shark fin, intestine, eel, and pigeon for dinner options.
Just about all families dry their clothes by hanging them outside. Pretty funny looking at the apartment complexes and all the laundry hanging out the windows.
People own their apartments...comparable to what we call condos.

Orphange and shopping day

Eli continues to sleep through the night. This trip is really becoming very relaxing as Kim and I have had our best stretch of nights of sleep in five years. It's amazing how the body and mind feel so much better.

Thursday morning found us traveling to the biggest and possibly the best orphanage in the province. It is located right downtown Nanchang and has a nice large campus with many buildings. It even holds a public school within the gates as well. It really reminded me of St.Coletta's in Jefferson back in its' prime 20 years ago. This place houses orphans of all ages and those with many mental disabilities. Many people volunteer their time to help out here. All things considered it is run well from what we can see. It is by no means a resort, but a place where the orphans get attention and their needs met. Our adoption agencey, Holt, even has helped start setting up classes to teach skills to the older orphans with special needs so they can function in society if they want to leave. This site even has group homes where six residents can live with two foster parents.

After the orphanage we went to the porcelain shops. This province and city is where porcelain was invented. They are very proud of it and is considered the porcelain capital of the world. Kim and I are not into porcelain, but those who are found some very nice pieces at reasonable prices.

Eli napped for three hours this afternoon! So we decided to nap for a couple hours ourselves...yes life is quite rough right now! We then went down to the pedestrian mall a few blocks down and proceeded to take a nice walk and have just about everyone stare at us in some capacity. We grabbed two ice cream cones at McDonald's (about 33 cents each) and finally on our way back saw a biker get shmucked by a car. Considering the zillion of bikes, mopeds, buses, taxis, and cars on the road, I was thinking we would have seen this way sooner! The guy on the bike was ok, and got back up since the car wasn't driving all that fast. When crossing the street I do feel like the frog in the video game frogger.

Just got back from an authentic Chinese massage. Kim had it done yesterday and told me to go tonight. Let's put it this way...American massage and Chinese massage do not compare. America we like to relax and have a nice smooth rub down. Here they believe that the art of massage is in the pressure points. And do they ever push on the pressure points! I have never been stretched, twisted, and pummeled like this before. It is not relaxing. There were moments I thought they were going to carry me out of the room in pieces. The crazy thing is my body does feel much better than when I walked in. And that was only the 90 minute "foot massage"...I wonder what they do to you in the full body massage. Oh yeah...like I mentioned last night the bill came to $10 and that was with the tip.

Friday we have one more morning excursion and then we board a plane to Guangzhou...our final destination. As of tomorrow all our adoption paperwork for China will be completed and Guangzhou is where we await the anal retentive U.S. side of things. The plane trip to this city which is located on the Tropic of Cancer is just over an hour and from what we've been told the White Swan Hotel is located on an island that use to be run by the British and French during the colonial time period. It is apparently absolutely beautiful, quaint, and quiet. Our guide said we won't feel like we are in China anymore. We'll update you more on that tomorrow. Oh yeah, go Brewers!

Countryside village and School

We traveled to a village outside of Nanchang Wednesday morning. Every village has an entrance gate to it for the most part. Another myth I'd like to shatter right now is that the idea that China only allows one child is incorrect. Rural families have as many kids as they want. City people have one for free, but can have more if they pay a fee. The one-time fee I calculated would be about $50-$300. In fact in Beijing they are encouraging the business sector of people to have more than one child now.
The village was fun to see. The streets were paved and people do not have carpet in their homes. The doors of all the homes are open during the day and chickens and dogs walk through whenever they want. There are some shops open and you can see people processing fresh pork right in front of you and see it hanging right on the walkway. The sewer system is a little disgusting as it runs between the buildings that are built right next to each other. No one has a yard, but in the back of their homes is a concrete patio with some space to put in a garden. Some homes have rice sitting right in the front of their homes drying in the heat. I really get the feeling that stealing is not an issue in China...especially around the homes. The people again were really friendly to us and just thought we were quite a novelty...probably something they will remember for years. One more thing on the homes, they are quite baren as people in China do not really consume themselves with material things. They enjoy each others' company and spend time socializing than wanting.

This afternoon we visited a local school. We saw students that ranged from grades 2-6. The school was right in the heart of an urban area and the school was a 3 building complex shaped in a U that had the playground in the center. The school you cannot see from the street as the school building butt up against high rise apartment complexes on all sides. There is just a gate that you enter from the street that announces that a school even exists. As we entered we saw phy-ed going on outside and then sat in a chorus class next. The chorus class was just like ones in our schools...with large numbers and the teacher having to keep the boys in line! We sat with the kids and hummed the songs they were singing. After that we went to the dance class. The third graders performed for us and even the boys wore those little ballet shoes. The kids were dancing all over the place even though the room on the 4th floor did not have a/c. It must have been in the high 80's in that room, but not one kid complained. In both class setting the kids were excited to see us and wanted to talk to us. Kids in China begin school at age three. Around that age they are also taught beginning English. English is required in all schools. We had one 11 year-old boy on the playground speak fluent english to us. We then visited a reading class of third graders and they recited out loud the literature they were reading. 30 kids in a tiny room, no a/c and very almost no manipulatives for the kids to use. There was a tv, ceiling fan and some student writing samples on the walls. The samples we saw were very impressive english writing. Our last stop was the playground at recess. I was able to play basketball with a few of the boys and we were definitely celebrities. One boy gave his cookie snack to Eli and the girls just crowded around Kim and Eli. They do not use a bell system between classes. Instead they use music. It was ironic that when recess ended, yankee doodle was the song. The kids were amazingly friendly and the school kids were just like American kids in so many ways. Many people might think there is this rigid, no talking, obey type mentality here. Not so. They were just like us and the the second grade and fifth grade teachers in our group agreed to that. School lasts until 4:30 here.

After school, we made our way to the pedestrian mall...it is the street that is for pedestrians only to walk up and down and go into the shops. We ended up in a disney store and had about five women helping us. They were so helpful and would find us anything. We bought a hat, shoes, sandles, pants, and two tops there...cost came to about $50 US...unreal. Then we went to a store that had sports activewear...and I got a dri-fit polo for the equivalent of $10 US...unreal. Again, on our way back we were stared at with awe. We made it to the bakery on our way home and purchased a small loaf of fresh bread and two slices of jelly roll cake. The purchasing power here is unreal. Kim just got back from a 90 minute head-to-toe massage that came to $11 with tip...crazy. There are massage places all over China...people sure do know how to get rid of stress around here.
That's it for Wednesday. Off to an orphanage tomorrow. This trip just keeps getting better.

Eli and us

Eli continues to show us who he is as the hours go by. After the 90 minute cry and sniffles that first night and waking up crying, he's been absolutely perfect. This little guy is such a fighter and wants to learn and do everything he can. He eats well and is a solid 20 pounds. He especially likes bananas and steamed egg. He did enjoy the dumpling/meatball soup last night and yet because of his cleft lip and palate he still takes a bottle with formula mixed with rice cereal twice a day. He's starting to talk a little (babbling sounds) and will show us what he wants by grabbing our hands and moving them. He covers his eyes on his own to play peek a boo and loves it when we run with him or bounce him up and down. Such a boy is he. He loves to laugh and gets real excited. We can tell he is attached to us and yet will take some time to play on his own. No longer does he fear when we leave his sight, but he does keep a watchful eye out. On all our journeys around Nanchang he has been perfect. Doesn't whine, complain or cry. Just hangs out and takes everything in. Absolutely perfect. The best thing right now is he sleeps ALL night and 11 hours worth...we don't get that from our two daughters. He's so easy to put down for his two hour nap and bedtime, it's almost ridiculous. He whines for about a minute, but once we sing to him he closes his eyes and is asleep within 4 minutes. He really enjoys his baths and likes putting clothes on...something else he has one upped his sisters on. Finally Kim has a child who she can have fun dressing. We do need to work on his upper body strength because his arms and back are weak. He cannot crawl and being on his stomach is difficult. He enjoys sitting and pulls his legs in to scoot on his bottom across the floor. He does like to stand and walk, but cannot get up on his feet without help...even though he tries so hard. That's another great thing about him, if he can't do something he doesn't whine, he just keeps working and working and working. As you can tell we love this little guy and just feels so much apart of us and feels like he has always belonged to us.

World's Largest Ferris Wheel

Hopefully we'll get more pictures posted soon. The connection right now is not the greatest to allow us to download for some reason. Tuesday night was another great dinner at a local restaurant. The family style food is served on a gigantic lazy susan that sits in the center of a round table that seats 8-10. This has been a normal dinner set up here. We end up being served about 10 dishes. This central part of China is known for its spicy food. We found that out on the plane ride when we were served noodles, but after one bite we quit. It tasted great, but our mouths were on fire. The crazy thing is that the people here only drink a small juice cup size of water or tea during a meal like this. They prefer their drinks hot or warm so that's different too.

After dinner we went to the world's largest ferris wheel. This thing is ungodly tall! I'm glad we went at night so I wouldn't be completely freaked out. The thing measures 170 meters tall I believe...which I'm guessing is well over 500 feet tall. It thankfully is completely enclosed and has a tv and a/c. It takes 30 minutes to make one cycle around. The view is incredible. I cannot tell you how massive this thing is enough.

After the ferris wheel we headed down to the pavillion on the river (which splits Nanchang in two) and watched a gorgeous laser light show and colored water show in the massive fountain (massive I mean this fountain runs for about two city blocks long). Water shoots in the air in different lighted colors and laser beams coming flying out from all over around this fountain. The show runs each night for about 20 minutes. It is a great gathering place and place to socialize. We of course were celebrities here as people are amazed to see Americans here in central China. Many people come up to us and everyone has smiles for us. The people here really are good people and misunderstood by America because of our media/government. We really are treated exceptionally well. Tomorrow we are off to the countryside and a local school.

Park

We made our way to an immense park in the middle of dowtown Nanchang. It reminded me of something like Central Park in New York. Not THAT big, but I bet it would be the equivalent of 10-15 city blocks. There was a lake in the middle of it and tree everywhere. This is the place where retired Chinese people go to pass the time playing cards, getting a massage, dominos, checkers, dance, tai chi, and above all work out. We went to what we thought was a playground...which it was, but there were retired men and women doing exercises on the equipment to stay in shape. About 6-8 men were lined up to do the monkey bars-many with their shirts off. Within the park as well were gardens and an amusement park that is open 24 hours a day. The people in the park were so friendly and seemed to be enjoying the morning. People do not seem as stressed as Americans are. I will say that people still drive in an insane way here. For example, if someone is trying to make a left turn at an intersection and the car from the right wants to turn left...the guy from the right will turn left behind the guy waiting at the intersection and start down his new street in the wrong lane before working back over to the right side...really bizarre.

Wal-mart and Doctor visit

On Monday afternoon we made our way to Walmart. On the way our guide informed us that the US is the number one adopter of Chinese children and Spain is number two. She also mentioned that she prefers US adopters because most Spainish women smoke. In China, 99 percent of people who smoke are men. They do smoke alot and just about everywhere we are learning, but women do not. We also were shown a neat stretch of street that does not allow any vehicles or bikes and it is strictly a walking street for shopping. We were advised if we do go there we will be treated like movie stars since people hear in Central China do not see foreigners hardly at all...especially Americans. We would like to get out and see the mall and go for a walk, but the real idea of being surrounded by hundreds of people makes us a little nervous.

Wal-mart was a store in a mall and located on floors two and three. Clothing and such is on floor three and food is located on floor two. There is an escalator that gradually declines and you walk onto it with your shopping cart and ride it down. The organization of the store is quite different, but there is enough English words around the store and on products to make shopping relatively easy. Prices in many areas are comparable, but there are some things definitely cheaper. Bottled water you can purchase for the equivalent of 17 cents American and a bottle of Coke is 33 cents. You can also purchase your choice of duck hanging from a rack, squid, and Octopus in tanks like you do lobster back home. The smell in the food area can be a little repulsing at times.

We also noticed many people staring at us. Staring in China is not considered rude. One guy in our group has had his picture taken a half dozen times with Chinese people because they think he looks like Bruce Willis...I think he looks more like Kevin Bacon.

It was 98 degrees today and the humidity made it feel like 110. We have a typhoon (hurricane) sitting in the South China Sea and is making its' way to shore near Hong Kong tomorrow is the guess. That affects us even though we are a two hour plane ride north. The city we travel to on Friday, Guangzhou, is located about 45 miles north of Hong Kong. We are hoping things clear out before we have to fly there. The forecast is for lots of rain the next 3-4 days as a result of the hurricane, so we'll see how things go. Hopefully the thing stays south.

We had to take Eli to the doctor Monday night...actually the doctor came to us at the hotel. He was a man in his 60's or 70's and looked like the typical movie style doctor you'd expect with his balding head and belly and being relatively short. He practiced three years in the US, so he could speak English and helped us identify Eli with what we expected...an ear infection and chest congestion. We haven't quite figured out what the bill is but I think it will come to either $15 or $4 American for his visit. Wow... there's a novel concept. On another health note, we have bought non-china based formula for Eli so he will not be one of the 53,000 children that have hopitalized in the last week.

Eli is in good spirits. He is so easy to make laugh now. He's liking all the new adventures and thought it hilarious that I had him standing on my lap and looking over the bus seat at Kim. In China, momma means mom and babba means dad. He likes eating bananas and playing with toys. He does not walk or even crawl, but he sits up and does this butt scooting thing to move across the room. He also tries to get to the standing position by trying to pull his body up on things. He is strong and more solid than we expected. I'm sure once he gets around Elise he'll be crawling and Kim and I are concerned about all the mischief those two are going to get into. I think Ella is going to get a run for her money with those two siblings. Eli does have a flatter back of the head...almost a sort of square shape. In China, that is desired and children are put on a structured pillow from birth for a few months to get this shape. I've been told from another couple that will gradually disappear a little bit as he gets older. Strange how head shape is such a cultural difference. Overall he's adapting to us well and really enjoys being held. He's loving the attention. That and he is entranced by banana peels...we don't think he's been very exposed to a lot of different sensory things and right now a banana peel is pretty awesome. Dang, I wish that's all it took for me.

Oh yeah they have unusual flavors of some food here. I just bit into what I thought was a cheese ritz cracker sandwich I bought from Walmart. Well the cheese (which I should have put two-and-two together remembering they don't like cheese much here) is actually lemon. It actually tastes quite good. I have purchased three pringles cans for my students so they can try blueberry pringes, ribeye steak pringles, and seafood pringles. I couldn't find the cucumber flavored ones or the roasted duck ones yet. I'll keep an eye for those and slip those into my next family get together snack mix.

We'll update more as we hopefully make our way to the park today (Tuesday) and try out a Chinese bakery. I'm still looking for that Chinese sweet dough.

Todd (and Kim and Eli)

Eli is ours!

Sunday morning we left Beijing for Nanchung-the capitol of the Jiangxi province. The airport in Nanchang was something to remember as we immediately we immersed in the mid-90's with high humidity where you sweat almost immediately...and that was inside the airport. No A/C. We arrived and met our guide Sissi who knows three languages and studied some in Minnesota and immediately noticed I had a Wisconsin t-shirt on and teased me about eating cheese. She said people in China do not really care for cheese...even the mice don't eat cheese.
Nanchang is the city where the communist uprising began in 1927...in fact October 1 is their holiday to celebrate it. People get one week off from work to celebrate. In fact, we asked about Chinese holidays and in China people get the equivalent to six weeks of holiday days off during the year. The Chinese New Year in February gives everyone two weeks off from work. Amazing....China's whole identity and value system deals with family so during these two weeks people travel to visit family and their birthplaces. Labor Day for China grants them five days off as well. They even get three days off in April to go and visit cemetaries to remember friends and family. The family value system is so strong here that this country is extremely safe. We were in Beijing three days and didn't hear one siren or police interaction for traffic tickets. Young girls can freely walk anywhere at night without worry. Everyone watches out for everyone else. Kim and I are technically part of the Chinese family now since we have Eli. We are considered part of China in the beliefs of their value system...no questions asked. It is quite different from our country where people don't even talk or know their neighbors.
Some unusual things we noticed is travel is insane. Roads are jammed with people and cars and bikes. In fact, drivers don't even really use the traffic lanes. They just go wherever they feel. Bikes go where ever and almost dare you to run them over. People are walking all over the streets too. They do have traffic lights, but they follow them some of the time. You cross the street at your own risk because cars have the right away.
Anyway, back to getting Eli...

We arrived at our hotel and learned immediately that everyone packs into an elevator. Here they stuff as many people in as possible until the weight limit buzzer goes off...I know what a sardine feels like. We arrived at our meeting at 3:30 with the children to be brought to us at 4:30. It was amazing seeing the anxiety in the room and it seemed like a non-medicated ADHD gathering. Just like winning a contest, they announced a child's name and they came through a closed door and the parents proceeded to meet their child in front of the other seven families in the room. Tears and smiles were everywhere...except from the babies (they were crying). For most children it was their first big venture out of the orphanage so it was an extremely trying day for them before this point. Of the 8 families in our group, we are the only ones with a boy. Eli was crying as we got him and he continued for about the next 90 minutes. I will say after Elise's piercing cries we've been used to his cry is a muted one...so that made it easy to handle. When we went walking with him, I think it distracted him so he could forget about things for a few seconds.

Back in the room, there wasn't much comforting him. We did get him a much needed bath, but he refused to eat or play. It is normal for adopted children to spend the first bit of time scared and crying from grief. After a brief 20 minute meeting again downstairs to get paperwork started, we came back to the room exhausted. I crashed and fell asleep just after 8 and Kim was able to Eli down from exhaustion around 8:15 and Kim was up with him at 9 for a bottle. They both went to bed and we all awoke around 6 this morning. He was happy to see us and pointed to a bananna that he wanted for breakfast at the buffet breakfast. We got his first smile out of him after breakfast when we began playing with the stacking rings. He was just a like a typical boy who loves to throw things and make messes. We got lots of laughs out before our morning of offical documentation at offices downtown where we got his passport picture, went through interviews with adoption officials of China, and now it is official that we are his parents! He is offically Eli Bo Hoffman. Now he is taking his afternoon nap and we are in the process of doing room service (the roasted intestine didn't sound like a good lunch) and off to Wal-mart this afternoon...should be interesting there too. Hope all of you are doing well despite the Brewer collapse and Packer loss.
Todd

Here he is!

Just out of the tub. :) We'll write more in the morning. Right now Eli and Todd are sound asleep.

Book full of new info on Eli

Today was orientation day in the hotel and more importantly a chance to get the updated info of Eli and finally some pictures of him (we haven't had an updated picture on him for 8 months)! The meeting was very informative about what to expect when we get Eli, but also about how adoption works in China and also some cultural tidbits. They save giving the info booklets out until the last item (about 2 and 1/2 hours later). It was fun watching the parents squirm for that long and just like students in the classroom, come up with fictional plots to distract the teacher/presenter and raid their files for the much anticipated red booklet! I will say it was an adrenaline rush to wait and then show all the waiting parents their child's picture in a game of "guess who's child this is" on the powerpoint presentation screen. The screams and cries of joy were fun to witness and makes the moment tomorrow when we finally get him seem so much more real and something of a surreal nature. Only 19 hours left (3:30 am Wisconsin time we get him).

We had a smoggy, yet hot 90 degree day this afternoon on our journey to the fabled Tiananmen Square and the famous Tao "Temple of Heaven" where emperors use to go to give sacrifice in return for a good harvest. 5,000 years ago they would sacrifice humans there, but then switched to animals and eventually ceased sacrifices around 1908. It is truly amazing how old this culture is and how the traditions still live on today even though the people know that the traditions are based upon past ideas that were not exactly scientifically correct...example: the homes of people are built in squares because the Earth is a square and the temples round since the heavens are round.

We just finished up with a romantic Saturday evening meal of pizza at pizza hut and ice cream for dessert. Yes, Mom I did have an authentic Chinese lunch today (again family style) and tried just about everything and ate with chopsticks. The food was good, but man do they ever give you huge amounts of it to eat. The meal consisted of about 6 appetizers and 8 main course dishes and finally out came the sweet bread and fruits.

On a final note I took part in a much needed massage as I writhed in pain all night due to a reaggravated muscle spasm in my back (due to my sleeping on it wrong 4 days ago due to a little girl crawling in bed at 3 am...thanks Ella!). So Captain Jack Sparrow helped distract me through the night as I whimpered away...thank goodness Kim was able to do the Dave Hanssen ice massage treatment and limit it until I could get the professional work done by a nice Chinese lady.

Otherwise, the night is about done here and off to Nanchang (2 hour plane ride south in the morning) for one of the most aniticipated days of our lives tomorrow. I will have the camcorder rolling to collect all the beautiful pictures of my tear-soaked wife and probably shell-shocked son!

Talk to you soon.

Todd (and Kim)

Great Wall

Today was an amazing day. But before I go into that I just wanted to reflect (since this is my first legitimate post) about yesterday's flight. I had one of those "perspective" moments as we were in Tokyo. Looking over the city and country side on the way in and out coupled with being on a plane with people from China, Tokyo, and Korea, I really realized how similar we all are as people. The view from the plane over Japan made me see how the people down there live very much like us with their homes, forests, fields, etc. Then I recalled the views I've seen in history videos with the dropping of the bomb and suddenly I felt very moved. I could not imagine from the view I was in the midst of having that we killed 150,000 people or so in one of those bombs. I always thought dropping the bomb was a good thing to end that war, but in one moment I suddenly felt awful about it. Looking down, I wanted to go down to Hiroshima and Nagasaki and apologize as I thought about the innocent people...those same innocent people that were on the plane with me doing the same thing I was doing. It was a powerful moment and made me realize why it was so important for my late friend and fellow teacher and coach Steve Jacobson to build that peace garden at the high school. He taught and preached about people getting along and becoming a global family. I now understand. I get it. We are so much more alike than we really think.

The Great Wall was most definitely a physical workout! After an 1 and 1/2 hour ride we reached the base of the mountain where the Wall was. From there you take a cable car up the mountain to the Wall. Once there the Wall definitely goes with the terrain and the walking is quite difficult. The view is incredible even on an overcast, misty day. It is unfathomable to believe how they got the rocks and bricks up there. The other interesting thing about the Wall was where you get on and off the cable cars is a Wis. Dells type set up with little shops littering the narrow pathway. On the way down the path becomes basically a one way walkway in which you are literally chest to chest with these people trying to sell you the same t-shirts, postcards, and other "souveniers" and they get right into your personal space. I''ve never had so many little middle aged ladies who went chest to chest to me...it was a pretty impressive man-to-man defense. And of course each t-shirt was "two for a dolla" then when they had your attention to barter they would start at 200 juan (roughly $30)!

After the wall, we had a great lunch of authentic Chinese food served family style and much of the food was simliar to what we could find at these type of restaurants at home, except for maybe the fish which came with the head and tail on it yet. After a stop at an art gallery type place (some lady was badgering us to buy an $8000 painting), we made it to Hutong Lane which is the oldest neighborhood in Beijing. Our bus tour of adoption families were able to visit the home of a resident which was quite a nice chance to see what regular/working class people are like. Our picture below shows us in a "reckshaw" where they biked us around the neighborhood. One myth I'd like to shatter is only in some pockets of China you may find people eating dogs. From what we've seen people adore their pet dogs as they were all over. That's it for now...less than 48 hours before we get Eli!
Todd

I got it to work!!!

I am a computer genious!!! Uh...well, I just couldn't sleep so I started messing around with the laptop and figured out how to connect in our hotel room. Here is our first pic of the trip in Madison.

So.....we're here!!!!!!

I'm not attaching a photo, because you wouldn't want to see what we look like at this point anyways!! All of the flights and connections went smoothly. We couldn't have asked for a better trip. Right now it's 11:30 p.m. and I still feel like I'm on a plane. Off to get some bubbly to celebrate my short B-day and then to bed. Hopefully I'll get our laptop working so I can add pics. So far the most difficult part of our trip was figuring out how to turn on the lights in our hotel room in the dark (apparently you have to put your room card in a slot and......leave it there) :) We're off to the Great Wall at 8:30 tomorrow morning!!! We traveled 20 hours and the sun never went down as we headed west across the international date line. Needless to say it made for difficult sleeping arrangements. Ella and Elise.....we miss you like crazy. Hugs and kisses!!!!

Kim

Night Before China

Twas the night before China and all through the house. Not a creature was stirring.......well, o.k. Cinder was roaming around giving us the silent treatment. It looks like we are all packed and ready to go. Now if we could only fall asleep! The excitement level is off the charts, but at the same time we are dreading the goodbyes tomorrow.

Getting Ready

Here I go, starting my first blog.  Hopefully I can figure this out so I can keep you all updated!!