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
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
1 comment:
Todd and Kim,
We are so happy for you! Eli is adorable, and lucky to have such great parents! Congratulations!
Becky and Joe Kiefer
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