Tuesday Night Update

Hi everyone, Charlie here again...

Lisa and the boys are settling in after a really nice dinner at La Dolce Vita, followed by a Hagen Dazs ice cream treat at the Deli Store.
I am here at the business center with the "regulars", including an exceedingly interesting man who is an investigative journalist working on a new book.
(Noel, remind me to fill you in, since he's the kind of guy you would find fascinating. Honestly.)

Yesterday, we made a trip to the GZ Zoo here in town.
We had originally been slated for a tour of the Chen Family House/Museum, but for us it was a "been there, done that".
So we arranged, with the help of MJ, to visit the GZ Zoo.  We were guided by the very nice Miss Helen who did a great job of making sure we saw all the good stuff.

The GZ Zoo is an old style zoo, probably outdated by most western standards.
Smallish cages, not a lot of high-end habitats.  But very walkable and a nice way to spend a morning.
The weather was warm and humid, but we only spent the morning.
There was ample shade and the best thing we did was to visit on Monday morning (not Sunday - VERY crowded).
We had the place almost to ourselves, and got a chance to see many of the animals up close.
The famed Panda was pretty reserved, but we did see him move around.
Apparently, most of the time he is lees than energetic, some might even say lazy!
(A major 5-alarm nuclear meltdown was the only downer - but Kyle was able to recover after lunch.)
Lunch yesterday was...wait for it... McDonald's!
MH was really helpful in getting our order right, and we had a mini-picnic lunch just inside the back door of the White Swan.
We enjoyed the air conditioned comfort and the chicken nuggets & burgers on the red chairs and small round tables near the tour entrance (for those of you who know the White Swan).

For the past couple of days we've actually had a lot of free time between appointments.
So we've been in the pool a lot - did I mention it was hot, here?  Humid, too??
Anyway, the Boys, Mom & I spent an hour or so a day enjoying the cool water and the company of other families at the garden pool.
It is quite nice, lots of shade and lots of room to move around.  They even have a small kids pool.
I mentioned this to Kyle and he gave me one of the Kyle looks and said "Kid's Pool?? I don't think so."
So we all ventured into the big pool.  It was 1.6m (I should have studied the metric system a little harder in school, but I think its a little over 5 feet) deep.  The boys each have their own life vests (one of the reasons we have so much luggage!!!) Mom thinks of everything!
Kyle started out tentatively, but soon began feeling his oats.  He has taken to "swimming" on his own.
Most of the time he's fine but occasionally forgets to close his mouth.  Not good.
His vest keeps his head and face safely above the waterline, but he does sometimes get wound up when playing ball with Dylan.
He jumps off the edge of the pool - always into Dad's (or Mom's) arms. He's really changed in the past few days.
I don't know if it's the pressure of looking courageous in Dylan's eyes or not - whatever, he's really gotten much better in the pool.
It's been fun to watch him and Dylan.  Dylan is just really getting used to being in the water and the feel of his life vest.
We should have a lot of fun next week in Hawaii - maybe in the small waves in the ocean.

Dylan had his medical examination at the clinic here in GZ the other day.
We were luckily first-in & first out.
Just as with Kyle, there were 3 stations.
"Ear, Nose & Throat", "Medical & Surgical", and "Height & Weight".  Dylan was extremely calm for all of the poking & prodding.
(Likely due to his condition and having been evaluated for the special needs program.)  He passed all Stations (after a few back & forths between MH and the doctors about his special need).
They wanted to make doubly sure we were aware of his circumstances. Don't worry about that...we are.
Dylan is approx. 29 Pounds (+/- due to metric conversion), and 36 Inches tall - about 4-5 inches smaller than Special K.
He fits the Size 3 Tops and Size 2 Pants that Mom got for the trip.  Momma always knows...
At the clinic, we really just started to notice that he seems to be putting on weight - this is a good thing.
He is a free eater and will try most anything - he always smells unfamiliar foods first - it's funny to see.

One of the things that we found as a diversion for Dylan has been Play-Doh.
We sprung it on him on the plane ride from Shenyang to GZ.  He was instantly enthralled.
I showed him some of the neat stuff he could do and he really enjoyed it.
Play-Doh is now a permanent fixture in the "wanjun" (toy) bag...along with Matchboxes and the full line of "Ice Age 3" toys from McDonalds. (We have them all and we have multiples - We are even considering opening a store.)

One of the nicest things to watch has been Kyle and Dylan playing Play-Doh together on the small kid-sized table in our hotel room. Kyle talking to Dylan in English, explaining what to do (they were making Pizza this afternoon!).
Dylan answering back in Chinese, truly believing that "guge" (pronounced "gugga" = Big Brother) understands every word.
Highly entertaining for Lisa and me...

One other story I must relate - it happened on our walk home from Dinner tonight.
We stopped in one of the island park areas to let Kyle & Dylan push their strollers around & burn off some energy.
They had a lot of fun chasing each other around, while we rested.
We got going again just after that. It was dusk, and Lisa and I were just casually walking side by side pushing the boys toward our ice cream desert.

We walked by an older appartment building on our left - and then, just past that building, but before the next office building, there was a very narrow alley. (Not an uncommon sight here on Shaiman Island).
Lisa and I continued our conversation as we passed slowly by the alley. We both glanced down the alley, not breaking stride. There was a berely imperceptible pause in the flow of conversation.  At the exact moment that she said to me, "Did you see that?"; I said to her "What was that?"   We kept our measured, calm pace. Down that alley we both saw the same thing, but we had trouble making sense of it...

Why would a tall, thin, bearded Chinese man, dressed in what appeared to be some sort of loincloth (like you see on National Geographic when they have shows about how Indians in Bombay bath in the Ganges River) seem to be bathing himself from a large bucket in an alley in Guangzhou, (in 2009)? The kicker was the look on his face when our glance down the alley caught him in mid-rinse, in full loincloth glory? The look was a combination of:  "Why are they looking at me?", "Oh No, they busted me getting a bath in this alley", and "Boy, that was refreshing".  I tell you, I cannot make this stuff up!!!
Thank God the boys didn't see that! I would really have some 'splaining to do!

I have to go now - the boys are hopefully asleep - Mom is definitely asleep!

Good night to all...
C

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An Excellent Credit Score is 750. See Yours in Just 2 Easy Steps!

Update for June 30 - Tuesday...I think!

Hi there, C here...

Our workaround seems to be working fine.

I am posting via AOL e-mail.  I send the email to a special Blogger address and it posts automatically.

I cannot see my previous posts easily, so my apologies if I double-dip (especially given the missed post).
It left me a little mixed up since I lost so much.
Hopefully, I'll be able to catch up with this post...

If it's Tuesday, it must be Guangzhou and the White Swan...

Our flight down to GZ wasn't so bad.
It was a difficult leaving Shenyang, and especially the most excellent Miss Veronica.
It was a little misty for all of us, especially knowing that Dylan would be leaving his province for the first time.
Who knows if and when he might ever return?  Hopefully, like Kyle, if their interest is strong, we'll try our best to accommodate their wishes.

MV hung around the other side of the Security Checkpoint until we were safely near our gate.
She made sure to maintain line-of-sight with Dylan as long as she could.
We hope she's made it safely home and we want to let her know how much she meant to us on this leg of our journey.
We were also leaving the only other person we knew who could speak to Dylan for us in Chinese.
Not to worry, Life is all about new challenges.
If we weren't up for it we would not have come...

After a fairly significant swerve about 1/2 way through the takeoff roll, we were airborne.
In the excitement, I quickly checked my phrase book for some of the comments I heard in the cabin.
I thought that I may have heard the Chinese phrase for "goat on the runway - I can't be certain though...
Regardless...the flight was fairly uneventful (unless you are Lisa).
While waiting in line for the restroom, the Flight Attendants decided that it would be a good time to bring out the drink cart.
As they pushed up the aisle, they got to Lisa who mentioned politely that there were 4 more people behind her and perhaps they might wait for a moment or two?  Clearly they had a schedule to keep - they pretty much plowed through the restroom line and basically barked something in Chinese at Lisa and shoved her into a row of seats right into a none-too-happy fellow traveler.
Luckily no fisticuffs ensued (I think the man had a hold of Lisa's hand so she wouldn't take a swing) - RUDE much?

Dylan had a little rougher time than we had hoped - he was restless for most of the flight but finally passed out from frustration with about 1 hour remaining.  He is not as good a traveler as young Kyle.  Kyle was really unusually calm during his flight from his province to GZ. (However, it was a shorter trip. He played with a half-full water bottle as I recall. It's funny the details that you do recall about a trip that happened over two years ago.)

As we descended from our cruising altitude on final approach, the Flight Attendants led a 10 minute in-seat exercise routine.
If this was a US flight NO ONE would participate and many would ridicule.
One our flight, Lisa and I were the only ones NOT participating!! (Actually just Lisa, because I joined in during the elbow stretches...)

When we got to GZ, Miss Judy was waiting eagerly at the Arrival Hall and escorted us to our van.
It was hot, but luckily it was humid too!  We all broke sweats as soon as we left the Air Cond. of baggage claim.
Miss Judy (MJ) is very nice and told us all about our upcoming itinerary for the week on the way to the hotel.
She also gave us a rundown of many of the changes on the island (Shaiman) since we last visited.

After check in we took a walk around the Island to reacquaint ourselves. It is quite small and we do remember vividly many of the shops and the park. GZ has been rainy (as MJ explained due to the remnants of a Monsoon that was just about cleared out...) and we've seen rain every day to some degree.

There is a noticeable difference in the families that we've seen around the hotel and the Island.
There are many more older parents and families than we experienced with Kyle's trip.
In addition, there appear to be many more special needs children (us included).
On Kyle's trip, the rule was two young parents with a healthy baby girl (9-15 months).
On this trip this is the exception. It is really heartwarming and moving to see some of the families that we have seen.
- A late middle-aged father apparently traveling along with a year-old little girl.
- Many mixed families with bio. children AND previously adopted Chinese children
- A large family of SIX (three older bio. children PLUS a little adopted girl) enjoying every minute
- Many other families with parents older than Lisa and me with easily identifiable special needs
We can only imagine the love and compassion that these families share by accepting these children into their lives.
It's a humbling thing to see...

The island brings back a flood of memories for us, as well.
Walking with Kyle two-and-a-half years ago in a borrowed stroller down the main road, picking up large leaves from the hundred-year-old trees for him to carry and play with.  One of my favorite photos of him is with one of these leaves.
Conversations with other first-time families can be recalled almost verbatim at the exact spots where they happened.

There is now a Starbucks here as well (what took so long!).
We miss the "old" coffee shop - they had free Internet and free use of in-house computers!
That shop is now a restaurant - we spent many hours there last time.

On the upside, there is a newer Italian Restaurant - La Dolce Vita, where we've eaten twice already!
(I think we're headed back there as well tonight.)  The pizza is excellent, and the other meals are good too.
It's a safe choice in a sometimes uncertain environment.
We've also made the obligatory trip to Lucy's - same as it ever was!

Our room is smaller than we remember, but they have small kid-sized beds this time since the boys are older.
(No cribs necessary.)  These beds are a good fit for the fellas and they nap and sleep comfortably.
Sometimes, if they're restless, we'll let them fall asleep in the big beds with Mom & Dad and move them into their own beds once asleep.  They are both very good, sound sleepers. We are lucky and thankful for that.

I do need to run along but there is still much more I have not gotten to...

- The GZ Zoo
- The Pool and Kyle "Phelps"
- D-mans "extensive" medical exam...
- Dylan's clothing details...
- Play-Doh Pizza
- more GZ stories...

Oh yes, I almost forgot -
When I picked up the laundry the other day - it seemed like the whites were brighter and the colors bolder than we expected.
I asked them how they did it, and the young woman replied: "Ancient Chinese Secret"!
Ba-dum-Bum.

Thanks for following.
See you soon...
C

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An Excellent Credit Score is 750. See Yours in Just 2 Easy Steps!

Still more to catch up on...

Hi there, C here,

Still Monday afternoon - still hot & sticky.

Just dropped the laundry off to see Lisa & Dylan asleep, but Kyle wide awake.

He's sitting here in the Business Center with me at the White Swan - checking my spelling - so you can blame HIM if I misspell something! (Lisa's been on me about my misspelling errors but I try to tell her that people understand our situation and look past these errors. I'm a dad, not a data entry clerk.  - Please support me with your comments!)

The laundry was reasonable - about 10 Bucks for 2 good sized bags.
We did need it, though, we were getting pretty low.

From Shenyang...
We visited the Shenyang Forbidden City (the only other FC outside of Beijing).
Picture the Beijing FC, but on a smaller scale.  The construction was very similar and the decor just as stunning.
Thank God again for the marvelous Miss Veronica..
It seems that it is Chinese royal custom to have built-up thresholds on doorways between rooms and from the house to to the outside to protect from evil spirits.  The higher the threshold, the more protection.
Great for warding off evil spirits, not so great from strollers.
We took the strollers to keep the boys under control.
So to see the FC, we had to move the boys over EVERY threshold in the place.
Some we could just lift the wheels, others we had to LIFT.
These ranged from 6" to almost 18"
I hoisted Kyle and MV (Miss Veronica) and Lisa took care of D-man.
The boys lasted almost the entire way without too much of a problem.
We have some nice photos that I hope to post once we get to Hawaii.

According to MV, evil spirits moved by shuffling their feet in a sideways heel-toe/heel-toe sort of shuffle.
MV demonstrated - I wish I had the video of that!

Now, evil sprits probably aren't MENSA members, but you'd think that at least ONE evil spirit would be bright enough to know that all he had to do was just lift his foot over the threshold and it would be happy haunting? Then he could tell all his evil spirit buddies about it.  Soon enough word would spread and the whole threshold thing would be out the window (allowing us to simply roll the boys from room to room...)?  Alas, it was not to be.  Maybe that's why they're so evil - because they're so mad about the thresholds...
Could be...

Dylan likes his new Wal-Mart special $0.99 shoes, which he discovered to his delight LIGHT UP.
He literally wakes up, says "Zhoshang Hao" (look it up!), and makes a bee line for his shoes and starts to put them on (no socks!).
He told MV that his Mama got them for him - very cute.

We do not miss Shenyang in one respect - the 24-hours sound of beeping horns.
It got to be almost background noise for us to the point that we couldn't sleep unless we heard it!
Here in Guangzhou, beeping one's horn is punishable by a fine of 200 Yuan ($30 or so), or was it 2,000?
Either way, it's MUCH quieter here.  They also outlawed Motorcycles and scooters here in 2007, due to there being too many accidents.
Guangzhou has about 9 million people, and there are 400 or so cars added to the roads every DAY.
There are nearly 1 million cars in the city.  Luckily, the small island of Shaiman where we are is very small with few cars.

It is very entertaining to watch young Dylan when he speaks in Chinese.
I have been trying to use my phrase book to try to break through to him with "toy" and "water", and other simple words and phrases.
Watching his face as he speaks to us, you would swear that he thinks we understand every word!!
He has begun to mimic quite well, and has even said his name fairly clearly.
We tested this last night on our first phone call back home to Grandma & Pop-Pop Lockhead.

Kyle just asked me to say "Hi" to all of his friends at Goddard School in Malvern.
He would like to know if today is a sunny day or a rainy day?
"Hello" to Miss Pam, Miss Jessica, and Miss Kim.
We can't wait to tell you all about our trip.

We have met many other families here in Guangzhou and many of the native Chinese ask if the boys are twins!
Mom got them matching hats!  Many people also comment on Kyle's big beautiful eyes.
One couple (Chinese) even asked MV how we, as an American / Western couple, could have produced two Asian boys.
Ever the professional, MV patiently explained that we had adopted the boys (and they were not immaculately conceived as Chinese from American parents)!

At some times, the boys seem quite close, especially during our nighttime routine.
Kyle is always the first one to Brush, Floss, and rinse with BubbleGum Fluoride Rinse.
Dylan carefully studies his big brother and accepts that he will follow when Kyle finishes.
As we though, Dylan looks to Kyle for many cues especially in unfamiliar circumstances.
Kyle usually knows this, and tries to be a good big brother.

Time to go again, Mom & Dylan will be waking shortly and she will FREAK if she sees that Kyle is missing, but doesn't see the BIG NOTE we left on the floor by the side of the bed.

Have a good afternoon.
We'll reconnect shortly....

Thanks for following.
C

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An Excellent Credit Score is 750. See Yours in Just 2 Easy Steps!

Recovering the Lost Post...

Hi there, C here,

I will try to recreate some of the content from the lost post over the next few posts.

It's Monday afternoon and we returned a while ago from the zoo.
We're waiting out some passing storm clouds before we hit the pool.
Lisa has the boys - trying to get them to nap.
(Not yet before I left...)

Anyway...

On our Bus ride BACK from Dalian, at least we had a new Driver!

We were fortunate enough to be able to see the movie "No Reservations" AGAIN.
It was the feature on the trip TO Dalian the day before!
The voices were dubbed in Chinese, but we'd seen it already so it almost made sense!
The good news - there were subtitles.
The bad news - they were in Chinese, too!

Right after the movie, we were treated to a really bad program called "Les Dennis's Video Heroes"
Imagine "America's Funniest Home Videos" - but in Chinese, and not terrible funny.
Lots of sleeping cats falling off of things, slips & falls, and kids careening down sledding slopes upending unsuspecting adults.
There you have it - now you don't have to watch.
(You can thank me later...)

On the bus, Lisa & Kyle shared a right side single seat while I had Dylan.
I had to make a quick potty stop before the bus made the rest area, so I ventured back...
The bus we rode on was pretty nice and had two doors, one at front and one mid-coach.
Inside the mid coach door were three steep steps up to the seating area.
The "restroom" was just to the right of these three steps.
Picture, if you will the on-board restroom on a commuter prop-job airplane.
Now shave 2 feet off width AND 2 feet off depth.
Now imaging the ceiling starting just inside the door at about 5' 8" and angling to the back at 45 degrees!
I couldn't stand up straight - thank god I was quick because my hip and knees were starting to lock up!
And, as you can imagine it could have been tidier.
This thing made the public stalls at 30th Street Station (Philly Train Station) seem spacious and sparkling!
No further description will be given...again, you can thank me later.

Across from Lisa and directly in front of Dylan and me sat Miss Veronica.
Next to her was a larger man who had been napping.
As I emerged and returned to my seat, Kyle announced:
"Miss Veronica that man beside you is snoring very loud and it's hurting my ears!"
Without ANY hesitation, Miss Veronica poked the man awake and "urged" him to stop snoring.
She spoke in Chinese, but I would bet a paycheck that her command didn't include the phrase "Pardon me for interrupting, sir...'
Miss Veronica doesn't pull any punches. In fact I can imagine that she's delivered some - deservingly so.
Once again Miss Veronica, our most excellent guide to the rescue!
(She actually had to wake this man THREE more times!)

There is more to come but I've got to run.
Gotta go pay too much to a local shopkeeper for doing our laundry.
Hopefully, we'll get all of OUR stuff and none of anyone else's.

I hope this POSTS!!!!

Later,
C

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An Excellent Credit Score is 750. See Yours in Just 2 Easy Steps!

LOST POSTING

C here, last posting LOST!!!

Sorry for the gap again.
I made a SUBSTANTIAL posting yesterday that has been lost somewhere in the internet.
I should have CC'd someone since I was poting to the Blog directly for the first time.
Lesson learned...

This posting would have been just before "A Few More Nuggets".

I am extremely disappointed and even a little angry that this has been lost.
I will try to recreate this and repost.

It had stories about the bus ride back from Dalian...

I need to get back now...Kyle and I are in the business center and Mom is alone with Dylan (who was none too happy that we left without him.)

More soon.
C

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A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!

A few more nuggets...

Hi again...just a few more stories...

While at Wal-Mart, Mom got Dylan a new pair of shoes that he discovered, to his delight, LIGHT UP!
He even told Miss Veronica that Mama Got them for him!
As soon as he wakes up, he makes a beeline for his shoes - every morning, without fail.

We got a real workout when Miss Veronica took us to visit the Forbidden City in Shenyang.
It is the only other forbidden City, other than the one in Bejing.
It is very much like it in design, but considerably smaller.

Unfortunately, we learned that the Chinese dynasties dind't use strolers or wheelchairs!
There were thresholds (at least 6", sometimes 2') on ALL dorrways.
It turns out that according to Chinese custom, the higher the threshold, the more resistance to eveil spirits.
Miss Veronica showed us how it was believed that evil spirits moved - they basically shuffled to one side heel-toe-heel-toe.
Hence the thresholds were highly effective again these spiirits.
Not very friendly to strollers however, as we had to lift & carry the boys (in-stroller) across EVERY ONE!
Again, thanks to Miss Veronica who helped Mom with Dylan, while Dad hoisted yuong Kyle.
The forbuidden City was really interesting - we have many photographs showing it from many angles.

Time is up again.
I must go.

More soon...
C

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A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!

Update for Friday & Some Catch-Up...

Hi there, C here,

We just finished Lunch (we tried McDonald's for a change!!) - we had to eat in a common area of the hotel since our room was being cleaned by our maid crew. After the meal, I broke out our phrase book and tried to ask Dylan if he enjoyed his lunch. After re-checking the book, I fear that I may have told him that I was pregnant and due in two weeks. We'll continue to work on this...!

Here is a quick photo of Lunch Today:



Much to get to this afternoon, so let's shove off...

One note about our 2nd appointment here in Shenyang the other day at the civil affairs office. We had to sign some papers, and have them registered and notarized.
Dylan indicated that he needed to go to the potty. No sweat now that I know what to do to help him. We went back into the same bathroom that we used the previous day. As we went in, I had to do a double take when I saw a very nice gentleman washing his hair in the sink. Not just wetting it or rinsing something out of it. I'm telling you he had a full-on, TV-commercial quality lather going - in the SINK. He didn't hear us as we slipped in to a stall to use the same squat potty we used the other day. We finished and came out to find him almost finished rinsing his hair - it looked like he was dressed to head off to work. I lifted Dylan up to wash his little hands, only to find NO SOAP. This generous, now cleaner man saw our dilemma and offered us his soap. I figured it would be rude to refuse his generosity, and after all, Dylan's hand did need to be washed. So we lathered up ourselves, rinsed and as quickly as we came we were on our way with a quick "XieXie" from Dylan. Very funny!

Just a note from the Bus trip TO Dalian City.
Kyle & I shared the front seat behind the driver and we noticed that he seemed to be drinking an awful lot of tea. The driver was assisted by a sidekick/conductor who sat beside him in the passenger side of the driver's compartment. I counted 4 cups of tea - my guess would be "Venti". Beeping as one passed another, esp. when passing older "Fred-Sanford" type trucks is common in China - it happens a lot on the city streets. Now granted, I'm no commercial bus driver, but it seemed like there were an unusually large number of other cars/trucks/buses that were passing us (we passed many as well) that beeped much more (and longer) than they should have, given that we were on a fairly open stretch of highway. As I paid more attention, I would swear that the driver was drifting - obviously due to the lack of a stronger blend of tea! Believe it or not, after we stopped at the rest stop, he actually drank 3 more cups of COFFEE for the 2nd half of the trip. I'm glad Kyle & I drifted off to a nap for this leg of the journey!

While in Dalian City, after our short walking tour (picking up from a previous post...), we had to go to an appointment at the central Police Station to apply for D-man's Chinese Passport. Somehow, Ms. Pan was able to compress a normal 2-week turnaround into 2-days. We are taking a "don't ask, don't tell" approach on the process. Our grateful appreciation goes out to Ms. Pan. Veronica is on her way to pick this us as I type.

Now the situation at the police station was one of the absolute funniest things that has happened to me in our adoption adventures(considering BOTH trips) - I hope I do this justice in words.

The first step in the process was a Photo for the Passport. As Veronica, Dylan and I stood in line for just a few moments under the sign that said "Photography Station", she explained that the picture need to be very good or they would need to retake it. No problem, thought I, that makes sense.

The team consisted of a photographer, a photographer's assistant who positioned the subjects, and the ever-present supervisor who, well... supervised.
We moved Dylan into position on a normal chair and backed away. Dylan drifted just a little as the flash went off. The photographer's assistant quickly grabbed a booster seat from the side of the room, and sat Dylan up on it. After another quick flash of the shutter, the photographer indicated that the shot was no good. The assistant grabbed Veronica's arm and pulled her into service. He had her sit at Dylan's left side down out of frame to hold his little hands in his lap to steady him - remember, the picture needed to be very good, or no-go.

The assistant cupped little Dylan's face at the exact angle indicated by the photographer as he looked on from his console. He slowly backed away and held up a small plastic animal to get Dylan's attention. He was using what looked to me to be a very frightening-looking plastic PIG. Dylan was NOT buying this! His tiny head bent to the left ever-so-slightly. So slightly that I really couldn't even notice it as I looked on - helpless for now - from the edge of the room.

FLASH went the shutter. No-go, leaning to the right. The assistant approached again, careful not to step on poor Veronica as she steadied Dylan. He cupped Dylan's face again and as he began to back away he turned to the photographer seeming to say "take the picture". So he did - before the assistant could get out of the way! (I was able to sneak a peek at the console - it was actually a very good shot of the assistant's face as he blocked out Dylan.) This happened a few more times - sometimes the flash went off as the assistant approached Dylan, sometimes as he backed away!

Just then the supervisor (a stern woman - the sort you would picture as a headmaster of a boarding school for ne'er-do-wells) barked something angrily in Chinese. The assistant glared at the photographer - the photographer glared at his console - and they quickly shuffled Dylan out of the room. Veronica explained that the supervisor said that the graphic on Dylan's $0.99 Chinese Wal-Mart T-Shirt was not appropriate for an official photograph. It was kind of cute - a little kid surfing with the words "Ocean Refueling"(?) I kid you not, I cannot make this up.
I'm not sure who was doing the translating in the T-shirt silk-screen department at the factory that day, but they may want to brush up on their English.
(Photos Taken to this point = 8-9).

As we moved to an adjoining room, they handed Veronica another shirt for Dylan. (Now, Dylan through all of this, did not even change his expression - it was still as stone-faced as it was when he first encountered that Pig!) The shirt we were asked to dress Dylan in was a MENS XXL! If we hadn't buttoned it to the very top, it would have easily slipped over his whole body. It was threadbare and it was the dingiest dark blue you can imagine. Over the left chest pocket was a very worn, barely readable set of Chinese characters. I was afraid to ask Veronica what it said, so I just kept quiet. It really didn't matter for the picture, because the shirt was so big that the characters covered Dylan's left shoe!

Once he was suited up, Dylan and Veronica were shuffled back into the room. Believe it or not a nearly identical comedy of errors ensued. As Veronica steadied young Dylan, a FLASH, a lot of yelling, then a repositioning. FLASH, no-go - cup his face and turn arou... FLASH. Much more yelling. (Photos Taken to this point = 18-20).

It was one of the the funniest things I had ever seen - until they grabbed ME by the arm. I was laughing pretty hard to myself, so I though that I was being escorted from the room so as not to be a distraction. No such luck. The assistant moved Veronica from the side of Dylan and had me settle in as her replacement - I held Dylan's hands gently and she crawled around on the floor behind him. I looked at her, and she at me, tears in her eyes, and we stifled our laughs the best we could. (For you religious folks out there, it was as if someone far*ted in church - I know you know what I'm talking about!) Any composure that was still there quickly evaporated as we were laughing so hard tears were streaming down both our faces - believe it or not Dylan saw all of this but yet still sat there - stone-faced!

They actually asked Veronica to HOLD DYLAN's head so it would not sway to the side. She positioned her hand carefully behind his tiny neck and held as steady as she could - which was tough because her shoulders were vibrating from the stifled giggles. It took a few more shots to make sure that Veronica's fingers didn't show in the photos. FINALLY, the supervisor grunted her approval at the last of the 30 or so photos and were dismissed with a disapproving glare. I really wanted to get my own photo of Dylan in this shirt, but though better of it. Good decision.

Unbelievably funny. Thanks Veronica, for service above & beyond the call of duty!

Later that day, we took a driving tour of Dalian City, and we stopped by Dylan's orphanage. Ms. Pan said that ordinarily we could go in and look around, but due to the H1N1 flu, we could only stay around the gate. I'll post a photo of the outside as soon as the camera recharges...

We visited a very large ocean side park in Dalian. There were several interesting monuments, a handful of kid's amusement rides (We all rode one of them together) and a lot of local Chinese tourists. Veronica was "attacked" by a band of pigeons when she tried to feed them - luckily she escaped unharmed. It was a very nice, pleasant afternoon. We all lunched at McD's for a change ("We're lovin' it."). We'll post pictures shortly...

There were several condo high-rises near the park, each selling for $US 200K - 500K!
Dalian populations is around 3-4 million. It is where Dylan was born.
The ecnomy is less a factor in Dalian than in Shenyang, as it is generally wealthier. Our driver said that there are many more cars in Dalian (vs. Bikes & Scooters in Shenyang). He said there are 200 cars/Day sold there!

After lunch, and our tour, we headed back to the Bus Stop to catch our Bus back to Shenyang.

Gotta run now, more soon.
C

Things of Note from Dylan's Background

Hi all:

The posts may be a little out of time order at times, as we remember things or actually now have some time to type them. Unfortunately, the Business Ctr. is only open between 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., which doesn't ever leave us vast amts. of time with a packed daily schedule.

I have left Charlie and the 2 boys for the first time this afternoon with the orders that the boys must nap. We will see what happened upon my return. We definitely have the "wild child" now with us. Veronica has told us that Dylan is only used to very small surroundings and bare minimums. He is now exploring everything, so everything needs to be touched and examined and he climbs on everything. We are also buying him a superman cape as he launches himself off the bathroom potty each time and he stands straight up on our bed and then just jumps straight off at rapid speeds. I can already envision trips to Grand View and several trips to our house by Nurse Rita!! He is fascinated by the toilet flusher so our toilet gets flushed multiple times each morning. I am sure that the hotel loves that; the water bill for our room might just exceed their daily usage for the entire hotel.

Dylan seems very comfortable with us, with no immediate separation anxiety or massive grief, which seems atypical. Although, he watches Kyle constantly and imitates or tries to do EVERYTHING that he does, whether he can or not. He also told Veronica today that he is 4 and Kyle's older brother. His language skills are amazingly well-developed. We understand very little, but he does tell Veronica a great deal using very descriptive words. He also has picked up some words that he can say fairly clearly like "mama, baba, guga (big brother), bus, beep beep, meow meow (he says that very clearly), siren, people." He can listen to words and imitate many. Charlie is picking up a little of the Chinese phrases, too. The phrase for "no" is "boo" so we have been using that alot. Because he has come from such a protected environment, he is not necessarily aware of the "social" skills when out. He had never eaten in a restaurant before, but now has been in some McDonalds and the Italian and breakfast restaurants at the hotel. His foster parents taught him many manners, so he will carefully wipe his face using a napkin. He can also use a fork, but wields it as a weapon many times. The restaurants here are very non-kid friendly, so it's all glass, China and adult silverware. He cannot dress himself, but he does know how to bath himself and clean his hair. It's very funny.

We had a very interesting and unexpected 2 days. Ms. Pan, the Asst. Orphanage Director, who brought Dylan up to us on Monday, also accompanied us back to Dalian on the 5 hr. bus ride, then met us yesterday morning to go to the Passport Office and then drove with us all day on a bus tour of the orphanage (outside only) and the City of Dalian. Because we had some one on one time with her, she slowly grew more comfortable in speaking to us and began asking Veronica many things. She also told us the following. Dylan was from a foster family that lives in a village 2 hrs. from the Dalian SWI. The village is all foster families. They are monitored both by a group at the Dalian SWI and then a group that remains on site at the foster village. Dylan's foster mother was 45 yrs. old, father was 46 yrs. old. There was one bio daughter, a younger foster brother (who is being adopted into a Spanish family very soon), and a 13 yr. old foster sister who has spina bfida. She was placed with this particular family, as her past foster family was not very caring of her. The foster family also had a small dog.

The Dalian SWI is home to abandoned children, disabled people and senior citizens. There are approx. 230 children in the Dalian SWI, 100 of who are in the care of foster parents now. Most if not all of the children are special needs children with most of them now having celebral palsy. She told us that the adoption process has changed greatly, with domestic adoption becoming more prevalent now. Domestic adoptive parents will always get primary placement of children prior to the international adoptive parents - quite interesting. Ms. Pan started her career as a nurse and then became the Asst. Director 9 yrs. ago. She told us that if we had stayed in Dalian for two more days, we could have gone into the orphange (that would have eliminated any risk of us bringing in swine flu). Because we could not stay, she invited us to visit any time in the future and she would give us a full tour. She also asked us if we would be adopting again. She watched both Dylan and Kyle closely out of the corner of her eye. It was a little unnerving as you feel that they are watching how you care for your children, especially in a stressful situation. She seemed very impressed with Kyle's development post adoption, too. She actually exchanged her email address with us, and wanted us to send pictures and she says that she will send us pictures of Dylan's bed at the orphanage etc. It was a very cool experience. We ended our day with a McDonald's lunch of all things - she and Veronica had those tasty fruit carbonated drinks that I had recommended.

It is still very difficult to get used to the constant staring and not just looks, up and down the body stares. Now, that we have two boys, we are constantly being asked (thru Veronica) if they are twins. Many want to talk to them and some want to touch them. One man even had his picture taken with us at the Forbidden City today, while his other friends laughed hysterically. Kyle is very unnerved by the entire process. He does not like strangers to begin with and it is getting him very upset, when they try to be so friendly. Dylan is actually quite shy, too, but will wave and say "bye bye."

Kyle has done quite well so far, but the trip is wearing on him a bit in terms of schedule, food and probably some jealousy. We had our first major meltdown last night due to Dylan getting his PJs on faster. He tries so hard to be the big brother, but it is tremendously hard for him to have to compete with Charlie's attention, in particular, so when Dylan is doing something that he shouldn't, Kyle will quickly regress. He is so worried that he is missing out on something. Of course, Dylan is trying to become a Daddy's boy, too. I would not expect any less. Baba is very comforting to him, although he does sleep with me at night very easily.

I don't think that I could ever live here full-time. I was laughing with Veronica today over the fact that this country is very male-dominated. The men will actually push you (a woman) right out of the way to get somewhere or do something. They will also do the same to children. They will not even hold a door for you, knowing that you have two full hands and are balancing addl. items. Itold her that doesn't really happen in the US. She said that it has been that way for 2000 yrs., but the "new" generation is trying to change that. They have alot to change!!!

We have been lucky with our health, so far, this trip. Probably because we really have primarily only eaten American type food. It is really difficult to only drink bottled water or Coke. Not a ton of options and nothing can have ice. There is juice at breakfast, but to me, it tastes like the weird, undermined smell from our hallway so I can't drink it!

I will let Charlie fill you all in more on our bus ride and trip in Dalian and the Forbidden City today. I need to go make sure that he is still alive and not taken over by the two soldiers!

p.s. The favorite toys that we have in our room are either 1) McDonald's Ice Age toys (hmmm, who figured that hard plastic toys that can be thrown or banged together was "kid friendly?!") or 2) the KFC house and wind-up chicken (we have 3 of those). Today's winning toy is the old camera that had pix in from the orphanage and foster home that we are having developed today. We will be quickly re-child proofing our house in PA with child-locks and removing all glass and breakable things. Additionally, putting away any hard toys. Also, for the Wedder cousins, I think that we have a child that might want to challenge you to some of your wrestling matches. This little one is on the move!!!!

p.s.s. We are still really only calling him Fuxu or Xu Xu ("shoe shoe" - most of the time)as he understands those names much more right now.

Signing off for now.. Chal will post more pictures later, too.

The Road to Dalian City & Back...

Good morning/evening all, C here.

We are recovering from a round trip bus ride for the ages.
(Adoptive families who might be following along will know this story well.)

We had to make an overnight trip to Dalian City, which is where Dylan was born and where his orphanage is located. We left yesterday afternoon from the Shenyang bus terminal (could have been the Pittsburgh Terminal except for the Chinese signs). The trip would be a 5 hour journey. The bus was actually vey comfortable with comfortable divided leather seats (2 left, 1 right) and curtains for the windows.

The buys were tired and slept for a good part of the trip. We made 1 stop about halfway through at a rest stop that made those "old-style" rest stops on the PA turnpike look the Four Seasons! "Squat potties only", Veronica said with a knowing laugh; so the D-man was right at home - the rest of us had to tough it out.

We made it through the trip to Dalian and we got off at the bus "terminal" at Dalian - this was quite literally 3 Large Bus-sized parking spots on an very busy downtown street (across from the Ramada if you happen to know the layout of downtown Dalian).

We took a driver and minivan to the hotel as the trip was arduous and everyone was at the same time exhausted and a tad 'rammy". Veronica helped us to check in and we made our way to our "room".

OK, for all you Johnny Carson/Carnac fans, please indulge me in a little "Charnac".

The answer: The Shower.


"What was the single redeeming feature of our hotel closet? ...I mean hotel room."

The Dalian Wan Lee Hotel - I think it must have been #101 on the list of best htels, because I didn't see it in the last issue of Travel & Leisure! The sign that I saw showed it was rated NEGATIVE 2 Stars. OK, you get the picture.

Smokey - Check!
Small - Check!
A little darker than we'd like - Check!
Hard Beds - Check!
Icky Carpet - Check!
Shower - EXCELLENT - Very Hot Water and strong stream.
(If any of you golfers has ever played North Hill CC in suburban Philly - this shower rival the showers in the Men's Locker Room at NHCC - best I can remember!)

Back to the story...
As Kyle was lying in his bed he pointed up at to the ceiling in the corner of the room and offered: "Mom, what's that black thing up there. I don't like that!"
Lisa spun around and checked for signs of movement - luckily there was none. I kept an eye on it while she met Veronica at our door for our dinner - take-out Pizza Hut pizza. I scanned the "thing" for a few more moments and still no sign of life. We took a vote and decided that we would stay in this room and we all tried to ignore it! Thanks, Kyle!

We all inhaled our dinner. Dylan eating cheese off the top first then the crust, and Kyle using his Goddard School Friday Pizza technique of folding a slice lengthwise into a "pizza samich". Thanks again to Veronica, our most excellent guide.

We got up the next morning with the sun at 3:45!!! (Lisa and enjoyed a few moments of peace in the early morning light as the boys came out of their hibernations.) We made our way to breakfast and were met with a surly staff and a disappointing dearth of high chairs. We fought out way through breakfast - hard boiled eggs for the fellas, and strong coffee for the grown ups. The breakfast buffet was swarmed by a collection of Chinese, Russians, Koreans, Japanese, Germans, and the occasional Aussie - most of them would be guys you'd tend to pick out in lineups or pray that you didn't tick off in some way - rough crowd. After all we WERE in the heart of the dock district of one of the businest port cities in China. Looking at the breakfast crowd, that's exactly what you would have guessed if someone asked "Where are we?"

We took a short walking tour of the hotel environs to find that we were also in the center of the "Leisure" club district! In the States, they're Gentlemen's Clubs. In this area of Dalian (since there didn't appear to be too many folks that fit this description) they were just called clubs or Leisure Clubs or Business Clubs. I'm sure lots of "Business" gets transacted every night!

Gotta go now... here are some photos:

Later, C.

The room (I didn't include a shot of the Black Thing)...



The boys at a carved monkey (Stone):

Short Window to Post - Leaving for Dalian Shortly...

Hi there, C here.

Just to recap from last Post (before Dylan...):

Kyle insisted that we take a swim in the "heated" pool. I told him it might be cold.
He replied confidently, "I like it cold".
It turns out he din't like it COLD. We got it at one end I held him as we walked to the far side of the pool and back. I hoisted his shivering little bluish body out of the pool. We got dried off and went back to the room to get a warnm shoiwer before bed.

Veronica took us to a local Park on Sunday afternoon, where we had a nice time enjoying the local flavor. Kyle was fortunate to meet a small friend who was playing soccer by himslef until the ball careened our way. The game was on as Kyle and this little boy (joined by another little boy shortly after) played an impromptu soccer match for about 15 minutes. here they are after the match:



The park was very nice and Kyle even played in the playground with a gaggle of other Chinese children. There was even a duckling running around that tuirned out to be the pet of a small girl - she scooped him up when her mother called like she was picking up a playground ball.

We has dinner at the Italian Restaurant in the hotel (Lisa's Planning made sure of this...) and had a quick dessert at Starbucks right down the street. Kyle had a water and Lisa & I enjoyed hot chocolates to the sounds of American Jazz - if you wouild have covered the windows, we could have easily imagined that we were in Lansdale for one of our regular trips out in the winter...

Since Lisa packed many new clothes for Kyle, we are in need of a belt for Kyle.
I should say that we WERE in need of a belt. I had a short piece of clothesline that we used an an impromptu belt. Kyle was near giddy aa I tied him off with a figure-eight finished with a half-hitch. (I read a book about knots once, so I really don't know whether what I just wrote is even possible!). I just tied his pants so they wouldn't be around his ankles every 10 steps!


Moving on the Dylan stories - Lisa is helping me to keep track of them so I remember to post them. I must have 10 scraps of paper with all of the details that I need to transcribe.

The boys took a bath last night and really enjoyed the new rubber duckies that Mom packed. Dylan has a number of scratches and small sores on his arms, cheeks & legs. Nothing that much to be concerned about long term, but still a little surprising to see (as we are used to Kyle after 2 and a half-years later).
Here is a tub shot:



Dylan is pottied trained and he has let us know easily when he has to go. He even has the "post-potty hand-sanitize technique" down pat that to guga Kyle.

Dylan is much smaller than we expected and is very slight in his build. He's more likely a size 2T in shirts and 18 Mos. in pants. Kyle seems a full head larger. It's just a reminder of how much Kyle has thrived after being in the US with us.

He loves food and and is not very picky. He enjoyed Raisins, Fresh Fruits, Hard-boiled eggs with yolks & dumpling for Breakfast this morning - the hotel breakfast is excellent and has something for everyone. He loves chocolates and sweets and definitiely wants them if he can have them. (He gets that from Mama & Baba.)
He is adept with a fork and does not use chopsticks (anymore?).

Last night on hs first night, he slept with Mom and she soothed him as he talked himself off to a relaxing sleep. He slept soundly (like Kyle) once he fell off but it took quite a while - he did suck his thumb for a while while Mom tried to help him relax.

He is a happy little boy and frequently talks non-stop in a very soft sing-song little voice, not seeming to care that we don't exactly know what he's saying.
Veronica has asked him and he says that he loves his mama guga and baba. He laughs a lot and he smiles even more. He is getting used to us slowly and surely.

I've got to run now as the bus will be leaviung shortly for Dalian City.
We had our second appointment today at Civil Affairs here in Shenyang to finalize the local paperwork. Off to Dalian City...

We'll post more when we can.

Here is aparting shot of the fellas:

Table for Four, Please...

Good afternoon to all,

If you would have asked us to imagine the scene of how we would want our first introduction to Dylan to unfold, we never, in our most optimistic moment, could have come up with anything close to what happened this morning.

We left the hotel at around 9AM. In the car were Veronica, Kyle, Lisa, me and all the butterflies that would fit. On the way over, Veronica briefed us again on what might happen when we met Fuxu. Having come from a solid foster situation, he would likely be experiencing a lot of confusion and may not approach of even want us to be near him. This was no real surprise to us, as we had prepared by reading (Lisa much more than me - then she coached me) books on toddler adoption and the trauma of the shift from foster family to forever family. We were prepared for what might happen and had even tried to explain to Special K what he might see and hear.

We arrived first at the civil affairs building and we were led to a small nondescript conference room upsatirs. The lady janitor removed the lock and heavy chain, not caring that the racket was frighteningly loud to Kyle. From the size of the shackles on the door, you would have thought that the room safeguarded last surviving copy of Chairman Mao's Little Red Book. Instead we found ourselves in a simple room with a conference table, about a dozen chairs, and a carpet that had seen many and better days. It was not difficult to imagine the City Planning Meetings, or the Department of Agriculture Conferences or the meetings of the local Party Assistant Deputy Directors that probably happened here every other Tuesday night at 8:00. (The room's table seemed like it was the perfect size for a Poker table for the third shift bureaucrats - so I would not rule that out either.)

After 10 minutes or so (it might as well have been 10 hours), we heard the elevator door open, but the elevator was out of our sightline, as it was slightly down the hall. The seven to ten seconds that followed brought on the most incredible sense of anticipation I can recall. (You may remember that Kyle was already in the room when we came in for his Gotcha Day...)

The first person around the corner was the most petite, most handsome, most perfect little boy. He saw us and really didn't hesitate very much. He didn't come running into our arms, but he didn't sprint screaming in the other direction either. He was cautiously interested - I believe that this was because of Kyle. They seemd to make a tenuous sort of connection. Ms. Pan the orphanage Director was Fuxu's escort and she patiently explained over & over to him that we we now Mama, Baba & Guga (big brother). We all interacted in various ways over the next few minutes while Veronica and Ms. Pan took care of the ever-present paperwork. Kyle was an incredibly positive influence and we could not be prouder of the way he was trying to comfort and play with Dylan Fuxu. It was remarkable to watch.

Lisa held Dylan Fuxu on her lap, I held him in my arms for a few moments, he and Kyle played with matchboxes on the carpet - Dylan seemed comfortable with us, while Ms Pan was in the room. She left for a few moments to check on the family photo we needed to take and we saw in Dylan's face the exact same look of panic and confusion that we saw in Kyle's face two and a half years ago when HIS escort left the room and got on the elevator to leave.

There were some tears but only for a few short moments, as Dylan, Lisa, Kyle and I looked at the family pictures that we had sent over to acclimate him to what we looked like. Kyle would show Dylan the photo, and Dylan would ever so softly say "Mama", "Baba", "Guga" as we pointed to each of us in the photos. We moved to an adjacent room to take the required family photograph for the Civil Affairs Department's paperwork. We didn't see it, but the photographer and Ms. Pan seemed pleased with the result. We'll see this photo tomorrow in Dalian City when we travel to see the orphanage and get Dylan's passport.

We went back to the Conference Room and Lisa scored again by offering Dylan a small red box of Sun-Maid Raisins and a cold drink from the hand-me down sippy cup that she thought to bring. Brilliant. He carefully picked the raisins one-by-one from the small box and deposited them in his tiny mouth. Kyle & Dylan quietly played with their matchboxes, pushing them back & forth to each other across the worn carpet.

His panic clearly subsiding, Dylan told Ms. Veronica that he needed to go to the bathroom. I took him in and he patiently waited as I fumbled around trying to get him situated over the only squat toilet that was available on our floor. He did his business as matter-of-factly as you can imagine and I fumbled just as clumsily to get his pants back on and up. He looked at me, said no words but with his eyes, saying "Don't worry, I know you are probably not used to using these squat jobs..."

A few more minutes, a few more signatures, a last few photos and we were on our way -just like that it was over. Gotcha.

As we left, and got off the elevator on the first floor, Kyle scrambled to make sure he held his new didi's (little brother's) hand as we walked out to the car. I hope the video I hastily shot captures the magic of this 30 steps.

As we drove away in the car, Dylan sat on Lisa's lap looked out the window and laughed and smiled and giggled, playing with Kyle who was in the seat in front of him...

Which bring us to the FIRST photo that I am posting - No caption necessary.



Here are a few more from this morning:





Here are the boys getting ready to take a nap after getting back to the room...



FYI - I just had to run back upstairs to the room for a moment (needed a new battery for the camera). That nap thing didn't happen as planned. As I quietly put the keycard into the lock, I heard the unmistakably wonderful sounds of two little boys, born 5 months and hundreds of miles apart, playing as if they were meant to be "guga" and "didi" to each other.

We know it won't always be like this, but thankfully, today is.

Gotta run now, but much more to come, now that I have got the camera cable and can upload photos.

We hope you have as good a day as we're having.

C

Some of the things we'll be covering next time...
- Our trip to the park yesterday
- the 'heated" pool
- Starbucks (they are, in fact, everywhere)
- Weather forecast for Guangzhou (toasty & moist)

I will leave you with the proof that Lisa was "assaulted" by a 90 year old woman in the park (we do not have access to Photoshop here, so you'll have to take me at my word on this):

Shenyang Part II

Well, we are finally just about caught up on life to date in the world of Shenyang.

We are staying at the Intercontinental Hotel, which is part of the Holiday Inn chain, so it's fairly westernized. There are alot of Germans also staying here, supposedly due to the heavy car trade. The contrast from our days in Nanchang in 2006 is very different. In front of the hotel, there are 10 lanes of traffic - and directly in front of the hotel is a mini sidewalk (?) except cars and motorcycles drive on it, just around the pedestrians! It's very bizarre. Trying to cross the street at any given time, is ridiculous as the traffic barely stops, even at red lights. This morning, we had to basically hook ourselves on to a Chinese family as they dodged and darted across multiple lanes of speeding traffic, in order to cross the street. Last night, as we were crossing the street with Veronica, she just held up her hand to stop traffic - some stopped, some kept on speeding around us, all while Kyle was screaming "Mommy, Daddy, I don't like this. Don't do this. This is not safe!" If you haven't noticed already, Kyle is our safety policeman. So far, he has also pointed out that people bike with multiple people on one bicycle (some with seats, some without)and no one wears a helmet.

This city is more modern than Nanchang - it is full of taller buildings and actually some wealthier stores. There is no meat hanging from people's windows, curing in the polluted air either! Supposedly, they have very harsh winters here, so few venture out until the late Spring and summer. The streets were filled with people last night. The weather is much more comfortable, too. Just a little bit of humidity and temps in the lower 80's.

Next to our hotel, we have a KFC, an English Pub, a dessert place, Starbucks and then a neon strip of Chinese restaurants. We also spotted a Haagen Daaz earlier today, right around the corner. In Nanchang, we didn't have any of that locally to our hotel.

The last time that we were in China, smoking was very prevalent and spitting was big, too. Much has changed. Now everywhere we go pretty much has a smoking OR a non-smoking section and you don't see as many folks smoking at all. Supposedly, they are getting more healthy now. However, Veronica told us that cigarettes are extremly cheap, like 40-50 cents a piece, so they are easy to buy and use.

Veronica has been speaking with Ms. Pan daily about our impending meeting with Dylan. Supposedly, he has done very well in the orphanage. Veronica told us that the Dalian SWI is one of the best and cleanest orphanages that she has ever visited, so that is a bit comforting, I guess. She said to us yesterday that Ms. Pan's first question to her about us was confirmation that we would be staying in China for at least 7 more days post getting Dylan, due to the H1N1 virus issues. I guess she wants to be ready to track us down, if necessary!! We will meet Dylan tomorrow a.m. at the local Civil Affairs office. Then we will travel to Dalian on Tuesday afternoon (about a 4.5 hour local bus ride - can't wait for that!) to get his passport and do more paperwork. We are not allowed to go in the orphanage due to the H1N1 issues, but Veronica said that we could go around the outside for a visit and do a few local stops in Dalian itself. We will then stay overnight and travel back here on Wednesday.

This a.m., we all walked to a local park a few blocks from the hotel. Kyle found a little Chinese boy who wanted to play soccer with him, so Kyle, Charlie and the little boy placed several rounds of the soccer game. We then got their picture together. It was very cute. Before the game, Kyle chose to try a local delight of some sort of honeydew melon popsicle, but only took about 3 licks before he was ready to be done with it. It didn't taste too badly, but I can't say that it was one of my favorite flavors (our other choice was a milk popsicle -- yum). The park was filled with people, so Kyle played in a playground with other children for a long time. Then we had a little girl come over to us, who was 6 yrs. old, and speak to us in rapid fire Chinese with a few English words thrown in. She was very proud of her English and promptly sang us a few rounds of 10 Little Indians and 10 Little Apples. She also did some sort of Asian dancing for us, and was extremely graceful in all of her moves. She definitely was very extroverted and very cute. During our time in the park, we also visited some sort of historical monument room, which I'll have to confirm the name of later. It's too hard to remember all of the Chinese history now. Our guide told us that she has to learn lots and lots of history, for all of the Provinces. That cannot be easy. We spent a very long time today speaking with her about the Chinese way of life and the differences from the U.S. It was very interesting to hear and learn so much.

Lastly, just in case we get hungry at night, we have some "tempting" things to order from on our room service menu. I could bring a few samples home of: double boiled pigeon with ginseng and red dates; jellyfish with vinegar; or mixed soybean with boiled kelp. Just put in your orders now!!

The boys are down trying out the pool now, so I am going off to join them.

We'll probably post later on tomorrow night. Still trying to find a camera USB cord which is not readily available, we are quickly finding out. We have to visit a special electronics store tomorrow, on our way back from Civil Affairs.

Sunday Afternoon Update - Father's Day

Hi all, C here.

We would first like to wish all of those Fathers out there a Happy Father's Day.
Dad, Noel, Mark, Sean, Curtis, et. al.

I come to you from the Business Center at the Intercontinental Hotel in Shenyang with today's report...

Before I begin, it is somewhat humbling as I look out the window at the business center. I'm on the 2nd floor overlooking the street and at about eye-level is the Chinese National Flag, with its 5 gold Stars on a bold red field, waving nearly straight-out in a steady 20 mph breeze. Just to the left and perhaps 3 feet LOWER is Old Glory - to the right at the same height is the Union Jack (which is, inexplicably, wrapped tightly around it's staff - so much so that it's hard to recognize - I'm not sure if I should be attaching any significance to that or not?)
Anyway, as I think about where we are and type (actually more hunt & peck), I realize that we sometimes take for granted the sight of our flag in the position of prominence. I hope I always remember what that feels like - and not just on Flag Day or Independence Day. Just another gentle reminder that we're not in Kansas anymore.
Another, less gentle, reminder is the 60 foot statue of Chairman Mao in the center of a large commemorative square two blocks down to the left!

We have already spent quite a bit of time with Veronica, our most excellent guide on this most excellent adventure. Among many other things, she has told us that Shenyang is one of China's SMALLER cities - only 7 million people! (I think most of them are driving up & down the street out front as I look up every few moments.)

But I digress - back to Today's report (and some catch-up from the past couple of days, too):

On Friday evening in Shanghai, we went out to see one of the Chinese Acrobat Shows. There are three available, one is a Cirque-type show, another is very traditional, and one is sort of in the middle (this is the one we saw). We really enjoyed all of the performances (ranged from tumblers to aerial dances, to contortionists). Kyle made it almost to the end before he passed out - luckily he woke up in a good mood and we caught a taxi back to the hotel.

He recovered quickly enough so that upon our return at 10:30 PM, he enjoyed a banana flavored ice cream bar on the wall out in front of the hotel in front of the fountain. After we were done, we cleaned him up and I took the trash down to the waste can near the corner by the street. This is where things got interesting. Three times by three different gentlemen (?) I was offered the services of a young Chinese woman/women - in the span of approximately 40 feet of walking. The first one offered "Just have a look", the second "A lady for your company this evening?", the third was a tad less subtle and asked me (perhaps the only English word he knew) "Sex?". Funny, yet depressing...

Enough of that...
We awoke Saturday morning on our last day in Shanghai, with about 5 hours or so to kill. We all sort of came alive from our sleep at sunrise at around 4AM (jet lag, much!) but yet still there was much activity on the street - traffic, street cleaners, bikers, walkers... We checked out & grabbed a taxi to Fuxing Park in an area called the French Concession. The park was a treat for the senses. We could tell it was a place of sanctuary and yet very active and extremely alive in a variety of ways. We got a lot of photos and video of all parts of this excursion, hopefully I will be able to upload these when I find a USB cable for the camera tomorrow.

Lively music surrounded us from all directions...In one area we saw dozens of older folks dancing alone and in pairs, practicing their ballroom moves. Some appeared to be part of a class, closely following the instructor's every shuck & jive. Couples in another area nearby were much more relaxed and simply enjoying each others' company and enjoying being with each other in their group. It was truly refreshing to see the sense of enjoyment and liveliness that everyone had. The average age could not have been less than

Mah-Jong over here...card games over there...Tai-Chi in the grove...impromptu jam sessions under the statue of Marx & Engels...kites soaring overhead...karaoke over by the Children's park. Kyle was even able to enjoy a few kid's rides in a small area set aside for kids (good pictures to prove it hopefully!).

As we relaxed in the park during a bathroom break, an older Chinese woman (she must have been at least 90) walked up to Lisa, took her by the arm and started running through her series of exercises to loosen up her wrists, elbows, shoulders and neck - very funny to see - the woman explaining the benefits of every move to Lisa (of course in Mandarin!!). Before she left she spun Lisa around and gave her an odd version of a massage - think Austin Powers and "Judo - Chop" and you can picture it. I asked Lisa how it felt and she said "That really hurt" - yes, I said 90!!
I am still kicking myself for not having video of this - it may have come in handy later in life!

Did I mention that we had a lot of fun at the park?

After we left the park we walked around the neighborhood and had a really nice time just people-watching (most of the time it seemed we were more the "people-watchees").
We stopped for lunch at McDonald's (props to Ray Croc for that international expansion idea - GENIUS!) where Kyle had the standard McNugget Kid's Meal - he could not tell the difference, if there was one. He also made some great faces when he tried Mom's special fruit drink (available for a limited time, only) - it was a carbonated concoction of very sweet fruit juice and crushed ice. His words said "I like it, but his face said "this is not what I was expecting!" We ended our walk by visiting a 6-story Barbie Store - all Barbie, all the time.

We cabbed to the airport, and readied for our flight to Shenyang. Kyle was a little surprised to learn that there was not going to be any carseats in the cab. "That's not good" he announced. He made sure to check in with us every now & then: "Are you OK guys?" The cab ride was fine but we had to put one of our suitcases in the front seat next to the driver. No problems at the airport, except for a 40 minute departure delay. Once on board, Kyle was asleep shortly after take-off - which was a shame because he missed the in-flight meal, which was a lunch box of local favorites!

Lisa and I both opened our boxes at the same time, and (unluckily for her) she did not have her glasses on. She excitedly picked out the package of cookies from the box, just as I was reading the wrapper (I really should have warned her...). Just as she took a generous bite of her first cookie, I could hardly keep a straight face as I asked her, "How are the cookies?". She made an odd face, that after 18 years of marriage I swear I've never seen, and mumbled with a mouth full of "ONION Cookie" something like "Uuuuhhh, what are these...?" It was at that point I pretty much exploded with a really loud (the flight attendants both turned around sort of loud) laugh! She yelled at me: "You knew! Why didn't you say anything?".
Guilty as charged, your honor. (I think she still loves me...?)

So she would not feel as bad, I agreed to try the other little "treat" in our lunch box. A tea-bag-sized little packet of dried fruit (or vegetable - I'm not really sure myself). Yes, it was in fact, "Dried RADISH" - and yes, it did taste "that bad".
I'm calling it even.

(I can't make this stuff up - I'm just sorry I didn't pocket a packet of dried radish to bring home as proof...)

As the plane taxied toward the area of the tarmac (note a gate, really) where we would get off, we stopped momentarily as the ground crew rearranged the cones. At the moment we stopped (still probably hundreds of feet from our actual end-point), EVERYONE, except Lisa Kyle and me, stood up and started scrambling for their overhead bags at almost the exact same time (they could not have been more in synch if they rehearsed)! The flight attendants literally ran down the aisle and forced everyone back into their seats - yelling as if they were stealing the bags! Very funny.

I need to take a break now, but I'll pick up with our arrival in Shenyang last night.

Here are a few more things we'll cover:
- Intercontinental Hotel
- Shenyang, the city
- Pizza for Dinner
- Kyle's displeasure with the traffic as we walked to the grocery store
- Delicious Room Service Menu
- Ms. Pan's (the orphanage director) H1N1 concerns

Kyle asked me to say Hi to all of his Thunderbolt freinds at the Malvern Goddard School...especially Ben. Hello also to Miss Pam & Miss Jessica & Miss Kim.
(Note to Miss Pam: if you share any of this with the class, you may want to skip the part about me throwing out the trash after Kyle had his Ice Cream.)

Thanks for tuning in - check in again soon...

C

Back in the Saddle...in Shenyang

We are finally up and running again on the blog; for the last two days, based on what we have read, Google and the Chinese authorities have been working through internet search issues due to the use of too many explicit phrases. From what we read in the Shanghai post yesterday, the authorities sent Google so many words that they wanted blocked, that it was going to take more than a day to handle!!

Anyway, to start filling in some of the blanks from the other day. We left Detroit airport after walking through a group of 7-8 TSA agents who were told to "randomly" search the passengers boarding our plan; then we were next met with another group of 8-10 customs agents, who were guarding the door and searching all passports. Those were the folks that told our flight attendants that it was "none of their business" why there were there. Supposedly, from other press that we have read, there is an increasing Heroin trade that is flowing through Shanghai recently. It was not a comforting feeling to have all of those folks at our plane door, though!!!

The flight from Detroit to Shanghai was very long - about 15 hours in total. Luckily, Kyle slept off/on for 8 hours of the trip. The entire flight was packed full of passengers. We ended up flying up over the North Pole and Russia, so we had daylight the entire way - it was pretty wild. We think that we even saw Santa and Mrs. Claus waving at us from the frozen tundra! To top off the long flight, when we arrived in Shanghai, the Medical Team boarded the plan the take every single person's temperature. They were dressed in white suits and it was very surreal as they pointed a scan gun directly at your forehead, while you held your breath praying that you didn't show a temperature (otherwise, you would have been sent directly to quarantine!) Also, if anyone in any of the rows - 3 in front of us or 3 in back of us would have had a temperature, we would have been sent to quarantine, too. Luckily, our entire plane was cleared.

After we hit the airport, we knew that we were totally being scammed for the cost of the cab ride (which was exorbitant), but I could not pinpoint the woman directly and accuse her of taking advantage of us. After 25 hrs. of traveling and being dead tired, we were about to pay anything just to get to our hotel, so we just sucked it up knewing that a scam was at hand. As the driver drove the roads to the airport, he was doing 60-70 mph and then would just stand on the brake within inches of needing to stop. It was quite a comforting ride. He also hit a massive metal piece of something and we went flying over that....sort of like the Wild Ride of Mr. Toad!! Kyle loves the fact that none of the cabs have car seats, so you just get strapped in and hang on to the "handle" for support.

The next day, post massive jet lag, we were up around 5:00 a.m. and out the door by 6:00 a.m. to explore Shanghai. We went to the Oriental Pearl Tower which is the third tallest building in the world, and we went up to about the 1000 ft. level (go figure that I am afraid of heights, so remained plastered against the back wall of the observation tower, while Charlie and Kyle went right up the the big windows to see the world.) It was actually pretty cool. As we rode the elevator up, they ignored all rules of how many people were in the elevator, and Kyle screamed out "too many peoples in here. It is NOT safe!!!" Luckily, no one could understand him. We started laughing. He was totally squeezed in amongst the masses.

Next, we rode the infamous Bund Sightseeing Tunnel. I highly recommend it - it is sort of like Space Mountain at the end of the ride when you go up that moving sidewalk to see the 20 yr. old exhibits and then there are all colors of flashing lights at rapid speeds. You can read all about it under "hokey" in the dictionary. We were laughing so hard at it. It goes under the river to get you back and forth between the 2 areas.

Then, we took the Huangzhou River Tour, which was a big boat that floated up and down the river, so you could see all of the massive skyscrapers in Shanghai. It was a pretty neat way to see lots of the buildings up and down the waterways. We met some neat American women, Sally and Courtney, so we had a fun time chatting. (Thanks for making the trip such a fun ride, guys! Courtney, get that Malawi trip all set up too - ha.ha.) We were the only Americans on board. It was also filled with a Senior Citizen Asian trip, who was staring at all of us during the trip.

While we were doing all of these things, it was only about 90 degrees with 99 percent humidity. It was so hot, it was ridiculous, so we walked back to our hotel to rest for a bit and catch our next breath.

We will post more pictures later today (we are dependent on the business center to take care of our computing needs and we need to find a camera cable to upload the pix). We'll also write more later on yesterday's events in Shanghai as we had another full day.

Shanghai Surprise...

We have made it to Shanghai safe & sound.
There is much to tell already. As usual Lisa & I run through the events of note since the last post & I have said list ready but...

Once again: Good news / Bad News.

Good news is that we changed the settings to allow anyone to post comments. No annoying Google login or account needed.

Bad News is that the blogspot app. is not accesible from the Westin Business Center - must be a blocked site deemed so by the Party.

Here is my list; I will try to add more details soon:
TSA in Detroit: "None of your business."
Forehead scans by men in white suits
Kyle's Excellent behavior
Car ride from airport
Early up on Thursday
Bund Sightseeing Tunnel
Pearl Tower - "Going up?"
River Cruise with Sally & Courtney

I'll catch up at the first opportunity.
C

Deja Vu all over again...

It's Tuesday night and we're back where this whole thing began - only 2 and a half years later. We're here for the night at the airport hotel in Philadelphia and awaiting an early wake-up call. We just had a quick drink in the bar and Lisa & I were joking about the conversations we had when we were departing to meet Kyle for the first time. Tonight we sat just a few tables away from where we were then.

The memories of that trip are still vivid and the anticipation and sense of excitement this time around are magnified by Kyle's presence. He's very excited to be a big brother and he's ready to go!

I'm glad today's winding down - Thanks to Grandmom, Pop-Pop and Aunt Mary for a nice send-off meal. We got there a little later than we'd hoped due to some financial hurdles we had to overcome! The Bank "promised" that we'd have the money we requested this afternoon - in fresh uncirculated 100's! As we're leaving the house to go to the Bank, the Bank called us in the car.

The good news: We have the money.
The bad news: WE don't have the money.

What looked like a casual trip around the corner (to the branch that DIDN'T have the money) turned into a white knuckle race of about 4 miles in rush hour traffic to the Branch that DID have the money. Oh yeah, did I mention that it was 4:45 PM when we got the call - and the branch we needed to get to closed at 5:00PM!
Apparently the "new" money was delivered to the wrong branch.

Not to name names but thanks TD Bank!!! (...did I say that out loud?)

As you've probably concluded, WE now have the money. It's a little unnerving carrying that kind of wampum, so to throw off any would-be bandits, we've decided to let Kyle carry it - they'll never look there! (Relax, I'm just joking - it's safely stowed just where it needs to be.)

I think Lisa may have posted this, but we finally got our intra-China Travel arrangements (hotels & flights) - TODAY! Nothing like a little advance notice.

Again, not to worry, it will take nore than this to throw off our trip composure.
After having done this once before, we have a lot of experience with the ups & downs of this journey. Not just the trip, but the journey we've taken to find Dylan.

From the first application we submitted (one year + one day after our return with Kyle), to our decision to take the special needs path less traveled, to the late night conference calls going over sketchy medical records with the CHOP international adoption docs, to the difficult decisions to NOT proceed with other children, to the relief and exhilaration of knowing that our request for Dylan was greeted with a referral.

We are locked & loaded - hang on - we'll try to bring you all along for the trip.

Good night - I don't know when the next post will be...
C

The Final Countdown

It's 10:45 a.m. and we just got our final itinerary as we are leaving the house in the next few hours, and I was getting a little nervous that we were going to be forced to go without any prior pre-planning!!

Out trip will follow this schedule:

6/17 - fly from Phila - Detroit - Shanghai (for those of you asking, yes the flight to Shanghai from Detroit is 15 hours (in coach)!!!)

Kyle has been told that sleep would be good (but there are no less than 10 DVDs in his bag for "just in case") + lots of nice activity gifts from Charlie's co-workers to keep him extra busy!

6/18 - Arrive in Shanghai and then stay until June 20 - we will be staying in the famous Bund area of Shanghai

6/20 - Fly from Shanghai to Shenyang (Dylan's Province)and stay at the Intercontinental Hotel

6/22 - Meet Dylan (a late Father's Day gift!)

6/23 - Go from Shenyang to Dalian for a 1 night stay to process Dylan's paperwork and passport. In Dalian, we are staying at the Leewan Hotel Dalian.

6/24 - Go back to Shenyang and stay there until 6/27. Sightseeing trips are planned for the Forbidden City and the Former Residence of Zhangxueliang (I wonder if both of those historical and probably quiet places are ready for 2 three yr. old tourists?!)

6/27 - fly to Guangzhou and stay at the White Swan Hotel until July 2nd. Tours include the Chen Family Temple and we hope to hit the Zoo that week

7/2 - fly to Hong Kong

7/3 - fly from Hong Kong to Tokyo to Honolulu

7/3 - arrive in Honolulu and stay until 7/9

7/9 - fly from Honolulu to Minneapolis to Philadelphia and arrive home on 7/10

This trip, we will be the only family with our guide in Shenyang and Dalian, which will be different. In 2006, we had 12 entire families in Kyle's adoption group with us.

Veronica will be our guide in Shenyang and Judy will be our guide in Guangzhou

Next post will be "from the road"

The Week at Large

Well, it's been an interesting week so far as we get closer and closer to our final leave date.

Things that would never normally go wrong but chose to this week, just because.....

We started the week with our brand new car being hit by someone "who wasn't looking and who was having a bad day." Hmmmmm, I know the feeling on bad days.

Then, we finally got our provincial hotel confirmations on Thursday afternoon, but were told not to worry, that our daily itinerary would be ready "in a few days." That could get interesting since we are leaving on Tuesday, so we may be leaving without our daily itinerary "in hand" - just know that we are "in China" - ha.ha.

Then, for the Chinese adoptions, you must take brand new $100 bills with you for some of the fees. Charlie has dutifully called the bank three times in the last month to get the money ready, to tell them to hold it, when we'll pick it up. Of course, yesterday, he is told (as we are getting ready to pick it up) "sorry, we used it for something else as we did not know who is was being held for. We'll call the main bank and you can pick it up on Tuesday AFTERNOON." (I guess as we are running out the door!)

And of course, we are one of the families that you have seen on TV that is NOT Digital TV ready (even though we've had a year to prepare) so the boys are at Comcast this morning to get the converters for two of our sets.

By now, we all just continue to laugh at all of the things that have occurred as we prepare for Dylan's arrival.

We are spending our last weekend at home running around for the important things (like M&Ms for the trip and other American snacks). We are also now down to our deadline on "do we take strollers or do we wing it without?" Based on our luck and sense of adventure, we are looking more at the "wing it" stage by now -- of course, the Shenyang Walmart will carry strollers, right?!

Tuesday Night in Harleysville (T-minus 7 Days)

Greetings to everyone who might be following along.

First, thanks for following along...

(I was able to add the Shenyang Clock to this site, so I'm hopeful that Lisa will be pleased.
We can take that off the list...at least that's something off the list that never seems to get any smaller!)

In about a week we will be at the hotel at the Airport getting ready for our Wed. AM flight out and the start of our second journey halfway around the world. Lisa might have something different to say, but to me it's still not completely real until we're wheels up on Wednesday.

Paperwork...check
Money...check
Tickets & Itinerary...check
Gifts for the Chines Officials...check
Luggage...check
Did I close the garage??
"Remember Kyle, Parking Lots Rules apply ALL THE TIME."

The first time around with Kyle seemed like it took forever and yet now I look back on it and it seems like such a blur. So much activity in 3 weeks.
At the time, we were making sure to really take it all in - as you could probably tell by our postings at our other Blog.

If you would have told me 5 years ago that we would be making our SECOND trip to meet our second SON, I probably would have suggested that you seek professional counseling; or at least have a cranial x-ray.

Us...China...Sons...TWO?
What are the odds - I feel like I should buy a lottery ticket.
We have been very blessed with Kyle - he is a beautiful and wonderful little boy.
And I feel like we are about to be blessed agian with Dylan, another beautiful and wonderful little boy.

Lisa has been an absolute champ in orchestrating the details of this trip - I am fortunate that she actually said "I do" 18 years ago. I'm sure it will all come together it always does. After having done this once I really feel like we can overcome any obstacle we might come up against this time.

We are so very much looking forward to meeting Dylan and welcoming him to our family.
Kyle is as excited as we are and we're a little anxious about taking him but we're confident that he'll be fine.

There are many details to be taken care of and only a few more days to go...
I just wanted to post a first message to get back in the swing of posting; and I can hopefully add to the journal we will create, and give you all a flavor for what we're experiencing. We'll be in different parts of China for the first part of the trip and ultimately we'll make our way back to the friendly confines of Guangzhou and the White Swan Hotel.

It's off to bed now for me, as I've got the clock installed - I don't want to peak too early!
I don't want to create any unrealistic expectations!

G'night and keep watching...
C

The Waiting Game

The days continue to pass, and we continue to wait on trying to finalize each and every detail of our trip. Last Friday, we were able to book all of our US and international travel flights and hotels, but as of tonight, we continue to wait on the final confirmations for the provincial hotels, flights and our guide(s). There is nothing like planning a long 3 week international trip only days before you are actually taking the trip!! I highly don't recommend it. As we continue to wait, we also have the overhang worries of the H1N1 virus issues which are still harboring themselves all over the world, the impending tensions in North Korea and just thoughts of the trip itself. For Kyle's adoption trip, we were packed weeks and weeks ahead of time and surveyed all of our packing lists daily. For this trip, I have already packed and unpacked the boys' suitcase twice as the wait has grown while I have added things and taken out other things. Yet Charlie and I have either sort of packed (myself) or not packed at all (Charlie). I think that we will start into that mad last minute dash to prepare later this week. Right now, we are probably less stressed about the things to take this trip vs. having all kinds of thoughts about adding Dylan to our family. We are very hopeful that his transition and early reaction to us will not be as traumatic and stressful as Kyle's was. Kyle and Charlie already have the Chinese phrases of "no problem, hello and thank you" down pat! I guess they'll be saying that to Dylan alot - ha.ha. Hopefully, that will cover most of his immediate needs - LOL.