Today was pretty much all "business". After the usual breakfast buffet at the hotel (a China adoption tradition), we traveled to the local Civil Affairs office to begin the official adoption paperwork. Because 9 families had picked up kids at the Tianjin Children's Welfare Institute yesterday, the Civil Affairs Office was very busy when we arrived. (In fact, the families all seemed to be following each other around town as the day progressed and we moved form office to office :) We had a picture taken for the official adoption "red book" document that we receive with each adoption, and we signed a few more sets of papers. Then, we went to the notary office to sign some more papers. (The notary makes sure that the Chinese and the English versions of the birth certificate, abandonment certificate, and adoption notice all say the same things in both languages). Then, we grabbed a quick lunch at McDonald's (always amazing how it tastes exactly the same wherever you go :) and went to the local police station. There, they took another picture of Jensyn and we signed a few more papers (something to do with getting Jensyn's passport).
We were scheduled to return to the orphanage at that point to give them our donation and for a short ceremony, but they called and said there were too many families there and asked that we come about an hour later. So...we made a quick detour to a local shopping mall to get Jensyn a few clothes (now that we have her with us to check sizes.....we really lucked out that the stuff we brought with us mostly fits, but we didn't bring enough to get us all the way home). One pair of light-up Barbie tennies and a few outfits later, we were headed back to the orphanage.
The visit to the "Children's Welfare Institute" was mostly for a short ceremony that they do for the adoptive families. The director was there and she personally thanked each family for loving the kids that they were adopting. We gave them the gifts we brought for them and they gave us a bag with a small gift, a small banner with the name of the orphanage on it, our red adoption book and Jensyn's immunization record (such as it was). After that, we got to take a quick tour of the orphanage (an impressively modern, clean and generally happy place...at least, as happy as an orphanage can be).
By that time it was late afternoon and we were all very tired from all the traveling around Tianjin, so we went back to the hotel, went up to our room, ordered room service and "put our feet up" for the day.
That was the "long" part...the "amazing" part was....
As we were leaving the first stop of the day (the Civil Affairs Office), our guide gave us some papers that had been in with Jensyn's file. It was a long, detailed letter from JinXin's foster mother (written in English) dated September, 2008. It gave us lots of information about the last several years of our little one's life. The foster parents were "Korean Canadian". They were raising 4 other Chinese foster kids along with JinXin. Dad was a professor in the Philosophy Department at Peking University and mom (who had taught Korean in the past) home-schooled the kids (with help from other volunteers from Peking University). They had recently moved from Beijing to the Guanxi province to work at "The Loving Heart University" for handicapped people.
According to the letter, JinXin has been studying English for about 2 years. She has completed kindergarten and some grade one math. She has finished the first grade Chinese text book and can read and write Chinese "pretty good". She can speak and write some basic Korean. She has studied piano a little bit, can play a few songs on the Chinese "er hu" (a two-stringed instrument), and has had a year of weekly lessons on the violin.
While sitting at the notary office, we decided to test her a little. We wrote "7+8=" on a small pad from Cathy's purse and gave it to Jensyn. She looked at it for a few seconds and wrote "15" on it and handed it back with a smile on her face. She could add and subtract one and two digit numbers. She could do "6+_=10", fill in the blank type problems. She wrote, in English, the entire uppercase alphabet. It was all a wonderful surprise.
Then, this afternoon, Cathy was going to read a beginner book to Jensyn, and before she started, Cathy pointed to the title and Jensyn read "I Like Bugs" (the title of the book, not a comment on her eating habits :).
Needless to say, we feel even more now than before that we have been given a true "jewel". And we're also feeling some pressure to be as good for her as her foster parents obviously were. But what a wonderful challenge for us to have.
One last thing for the day.....here is our "jewel" modestly singing in English.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
THE Day - Monday, September 8
This morning started very early because we had to leave our hotel in Beijing to go to the train station. There is a new very fast train from Beijing to Tianjin (we were doing 324 km/hr at one point) and we thought it would be a good way to get where we needed to go and see some of the country at the same time. We left Beijing at 9:15 and arrived at the Tianjin station about 30 minutes later. Other than the fact that we had to be our own porters and drag our heavy luggage around ourselves (including carrying that same luggage down a couple of long flights of stairs), it was a great experience.
On the train ride our guide gave us our schedule for the day. We would be going directly from the train station to the orphanage and getting JinXin before we even went to the hotel. We rode thru the streets of another busy Chinese city and turned down a dark and dreary-looking alleyway that ended in a small coutyard outside the very clean and nice Tianjin Children's Welfare Institute.
Our guide took us upstairs to a small office to wait. After a few minutes the guide said we needed some of the papers we had brought with us, so I went back downstairs to the van to get them. When I got back to the office there was a small crowd standing in the doorway and right in the middle of that crowd was beautiful, little JinXin. She was wearing a pink SpongeBob Squarepants shirt and was holding onto a pink Snoopy suitcase. (And they had honored our request to not cut her hair short before they brought her to us ! ) She was very shy, but she WAS talking to our guide and responding to us.
We spent about 30 minutes talking to her in the doorway of the office. She enjoyed seeing the pictures we had brought with us of her and she spent quite a while showing us a photo album of pictures she had brought with her (friends from the orphanage / foster care). And then the guide said it was time for us to go to the hotel (we HAD signed a few copies of some papers somewhere along in there), so we all piled into the van. JinXin never seemed sad or hesitant. She just went along like she was one of the group (which, of course, she WAS at that point).
At the hotel, Cathy gave her a quick bath and put her in some of the clothes we had brought with us (after painting her fingernails and toenails bright pink :) and we walked to a restaurant down the street for lunch (Chinese food, surprise, surprise). JinXin ate well and told us she liked spicy food (just like big sis Marissa).
After lunch, the 3 girls bonded by drawing pictures and doing puzzles and generally just acting like kids in a hotel room. Our guide helped us get more information from JinXin about the friends in her picture album (we wanted to write the details down so she could remember it later).
After a short walk along the nearby river, dinner was dumplings at a restaurant near the hotel. By the time we returned to the hotel afterwards, all the kids were getting tired from their LONG day. Cathy asked JinXin which pajamas she wanted to wear - the new ones we had brought with us of the familiar ones she had brought with her (the familiar ones won tonight). Cathy gave them to her and JinXin went into the bathroom and put them on without any help, then came out to her Snoopy suitcase, got her toothbrush out and headed back to the bathroom without any guidance from us (better than we can get her older sisters to do most evenings).
Currently the lights are out (we have connected rooms) and everyone is sound asleep. It's been a VERY good day.
A Rainy Day in Beijing - Sunday, September 7
Well, our luck finally ran out. This is our third trip to Beijing and today was the first day we had ever had to deal with rain. But, at least it was warm, so we grabbed some hotel umbrellas and headed out into the city because there were still a few sights we wanted to see.
First stop was the Temple of Heaven. This is a beautiful park with several temples that the emperors of China used for ceremonies to give thanks for bountiful harvests and other ceremonies to pray that this year's harvest would be a good one. At the end of the park is an area where Beijing residents come to perform (sing, play instruments, play games) for others to watch. Because of the rain, this area was much less crowded than when we visited five years ago, but it's still a fun place to visit.
Next we stopped at a "hot pot" restaurant for lunch. This place had large heated pots of water in the middle of each table where we cooked thin strips of beef and lamb and vegetables. It was one form of Chinese cuisine that we had not experienced in the past and it was great!!
After lunch, we walked to a new park that showcases the many ethnic minorities of China. It has areas that show what the houses of that group look like and at several of the areas we got to see shows of singing and dancing of songs unique to that minority. Marissa even got to join in on several of the dances.
Finally, we walked to the Olympic area and got as close as we could to the well-known venues. The Paralympics had just started that day and only people with tickets could get near them. But we DID get these pictures (according to Natalie, the Bird's Nest is for Mrs. Rippee and the Water Cube is for Mrs. Gillespie :).
We got back to the hotel as early as we could because we leave tomorrow morning for Tianjin and our meeting with little JinXin.
First stop was the Temple of Heaven. This is a beautiful park with several temples that the emperors of China used for ceremonies to give thanks for bountiful harvests and other ceremonies to pray that this year's harvest would be a good one. At the end of the park is an area where Beijing residents come to perform (sing, play instruments, play games) for others to watch. Because of the rain, this area was much less crowded than when we visited five years ago, but it's still a fun place to visit.Next we stopped at a "hot pot" restaurant for lunch. This place had large heated pots of water in the middle of each table where we cooked thin strips of beef and lamb and vegetables. It was one form of Chinese cuisine that we had not experienced in the past and it was great!!
After lunch, we walked to a new park that showcases the many ethnic minorities of China. It has areas that show what the houses of that group look like and at several of the areas we got to see shows of singing and dancing of songs unique to that minority. Marissa even got to join in on several of the dances.
Finally, we walked to the Olympic area and got as close as we could to the well-known venues. The Paralympics had just started that day and only people with tickets could get near them. But we DID get these pictures (according to Natalie, the Bird's Nest is for Mrs. Rippee and the Water Cube is for Mrs. Gillespie :).
We got back to the hotel as early as we could because we leave tomorrow morning for Tianjin and our meeting with little JinXin.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Another Great (Wall) Day - Saturday, Sept, 6
Another day of touring. One day closer to our real reason for being here.
Today's main destination was the Great Wall at Badaling, but on the way we stopped at a huge jade factory to see how raw jade is turned into the jewelery and sculptures we are all familiar with (and for another opportunity to shop in a huge store "stalked" by many eager salespeople).
We had been to the Badaling section of the Great Wall on our first visit to China seven years ago (hey, if it was good enough for Richard Nixon, it was good enough for us). But on that previous visit, we had gone to the southern arm and because it was very steep (and because it was 100 degrees F that day) we had really not been able to see a very large part of the wall.
This time was different. We went to the northern section of the Badaling Wall. We took a cable car to the top of that section and then we saw a large beautiful section of the Wall as we walked down.
The Wall is still very steep in parts of this section, and several areas have difficult to navigate steps of frustratingly varying heights. But it was definitely worth the aching legs we had at the end to have made the trip.
The day had started hazy, but as these pictures show the sun came out for us while we were on the wall. Luckily it was only about 85 degrees today.
Tomorrow, we're supposed to visit the Temple of Heaven and hopefully get to see some of the Olympic sites (that may be difficult because the Paralympics have just started and our access may be limited). And then, on Monday, we'll be off to Tianjin and our new daughter.
Today's main destination was the Great Wall at Badaling, but on the way we stopped at a huge jade factory to see how raw jade is turned into the jewelery and sculptures we are all familiar with (and for another opportunity to shop in a huge store "stalked" by many eager salespeople).
We had been to the Badaling section of the Great Wall on our first visit to China seven years ago (hey, if it was good enough for Richard Nixon, it was good enough for us). But on that previous visit, we had gone to the southern arm and because it was very steep (and because it was 100 degrees F that day) we had really not been able to see a very large part of the wall.
This time was different. We went to the northern section of the Badaling Wall. We took a cable car to the top of that section and then we saw a large beautiful section of the Wall as we walked down.
The Wall is still very steep in parts of this section, and several areas have difficult to navigate steps of frustratingly varying heights. But it was definitely worth the aching legs we had at the end to have made the trip.
The day had started hazy, but as these pictures show the sun came out for us while we were on the wall. Luckily it was only about 85 degrees today.
Tomorrow, we're supposed to visit the Temple of Heaven and hopefully get to see some of the Olympic sites (that may be difficult because the Paralympics have just started and our access may be limited). And then, on Monday, we'll be off to Tianjin and our new daughter.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Touring Day 2 (Friday)
Today was a great mix of re-doing things we had really enjoyed on previous visits to Beijing and trying some other things for the first time.
We left our hotel this morning and headed to the northwest corner of the city to visit the Summer Palace. But, when we got there we discovered that the torch relay for the Paralympics (which is also being held here in Beijing at the sites of the Olympics) was going to pass thru the area later this morning, and the Summer Palace was closed to visitors until about 2PM. So, we did a little schedule juggling and switched our morning and afternoon activities.
We traveled to an area near the drum and bell towers in the center of Beijing for a tour of the "hutongs". This area is what much of Beijing looked like in the early to mid twentieth century - rows of courtyard homes along narrow alleyways. The best way to see the area is shown in this picture of Natalie and Marissa (with a friend they've made from another family touring with us). The hutongs are generally too narrow to be navigated with a car or van, and so bicycles (or in this case rickshaws) are the way to go.
After riding around for a while, we stopped at the home of a family that lives in the hutong for lunch. (This was a favorite part of our previous trip to Beijing and we weren't disappointed this time, either.) The surroundings were very simple, but the food was plentiful and delicious. After the meal, the family showed us around their home. Then, we rode our rickshaws back to our starting point with a much better understanding of just how blessed our lives really are.
Our next stop was at a tea house for a "tea ceremony" where we learned a lot about several different teas popular in this area of China and were give the opportunity to purchase some of the teas we had sampled (yes, we gave in and made some purchases :).
By then, it was time for us to return to the Summer Palace. This is a large park on the edge of a large lake with a number of beautiful buildings that were used in the past by several emperors and empresses as a summer "get-away". One of the most famous "buildings" on the grounds is the "marble boat" you can see in the background of this pic. We finished our visit with a boat trip across the lake, which we hadn't been able to do on our previous visit because the lake had been frozen solid (it was in February that time).
After a quick stop at a "pearl factory" (Marissa got a necklace and earrings and Natalie said she isn't "much into jewelery"), we headed back to the hutongs for our last stop of the day. On our two previous visits, we had missed the chance to try a delicacy named after this great city - Beijing roast duck (Peking duck). This time, we decided it was something we would experience for ourselves. We had read online that one of the best places to get this dish was at "Li Qun roast duck restaurant", actually housed in the place where the chef lives. Once again the setting was extremely simple and the food was marvelous. Every plate they brought to our table, including the thinly-sliced-right-there-at-the-table roast duck, disappeared quickly.
A short ride back though the lights of Beijing and we were at our hotel to rest up for another day of touring tomorrow.
We left our hotel this morning and headed to the northwest corner of the city to visit the Summer Palace. But, when we got there we discovered that the torch relay for the Paralympics (which is also being held here in Beijing at the sites of the Olympics) was going to pass thru the area later this morning, and the Summer Palace was closed to visitors until about 2PM. So, we did a little schedule juggling and switched our morning and afternoon activities.
We traveled to an area near the drum and bell towers in the center of Beijing for a tour of the "hutongs". This area is what much of Beijing looked like in the early to mid twentieth century - rows of courtyard homes along narrow alleyways. The best way to see the area is shown in this picture of Natalie and Marissa (with a friend they've made from another family touring with us). The hutongs are generally too narrow to be navigated with a car or van, and so bicycles (or in this case rickshaws) are the way to go.
After riding around for a while, we stopped at the home of a family that lives in the hutong for lunch. (This was a favorite part of our previous trip to Beijing and we weren't disappointed this time, either.) The surroundings were very simple, but the food was plentiful and delicious. After the meal, the family showed us around their home. Then, we rode our rickshaws back to our starting point with a much better understanding of just how blessed our lives really are.
Our next stop was at a tea house for a "tea ceremony" where we learned a lot about several different teas popular in this area of China and were give the opportunity to purchase some of the teas we had sampled (yes, we gave in and made some purchases :).
By then, it was time for us to return to the Summer Palace. This is a large park on the edge of a large lake with a number of beautiful buildings that were used in the past by several emperors and empresses as a summer "get-away". One of the most famous "buildings" on the grounds is the "marble boat" you can see in the background of this pic. We finished our visit with a boat trip across the lake, which we hadn't been able to do on our previous visit because the lake had been frozen solid (it was in February that time).
After a quick stop at a "pearl factory" (Marissa got a necklace and earrings and Natalie said she isn't "much into jewelery"), we headed back to the hutongs for our last stop of the day. On our two previous visits, we had missed the chance to try a delicacy named after this great city - Beijing roast duck (Peking duck). This time, we decided it was something we would experience for ourselves. We had read online that one of the best places to get this dish was at "Li Qun roast duck restaurant", actually housed in the place where the chef lives. Once again the setting was extremely simple and the food was marvelous. Every plate they brought to our table, including the thinly-sliced-right-there-at-the-table roast duck, disappeared quickly.
A short ride back though the lights of Beijing and we were at our hotel to rest up for another day of touring tomorrow.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
We made it !!!
When we last posted, we were getting ready to board our LONG flight from Chicago to Beijing. Well, everything went well with that flight. We left on time and arrived in Beijing about 12 and a half hours later (by our watches it was a bit over 12 hours, but it was 12:30PM Chicago time on Tuesday when we left, and it was 2:30PM Wednesday, Beijing time, when we arrived). None of us had been able to get much sleep on the flight, and since we had been traveling for about 20 hours by the time we got to China, we were all feeling pretty rough. 
So, we had the guide that had met us at the airport take us to our hotel to drop off our luggage. She then took us to a nearby restaurant for a quick dinner, and then we returned to the hotel to try and get caught up on our missed sleep.
Thursday morning we started a few days of touring to get over our jet lag and to let Natalie and Marissa see some of the famous sites in Beijing that they had not gotten to see before (or were too young to remember when they had been there before).
We started by taking a quick look at the new Beijing performing arts center. Then we walked to the nearby Tiananmen Square (the largest public square in the world). Here's a pic of the whole crew in front of the Great Hall of the People, where China's government officials meet. (On the west edge of Tiananmen Square.)
From Tiananmen Square we walked to the Forbidden City and spent several hours touring that amazing complex where China's emperors had lived over 600 years ago.
After lunch we toured a "silk factory" where they showed us how silk was made by silkworms and then tried to sell us everything you can imagine made from silk.
By late afternoon we were all feeling very tired, so we returned to the hotel for a little food and a lot of rest. Tomorrow, we'll be back at it again.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
On our way....
Well, this is what happens when you give a traveling geek a computer, a WiFi hotspot and TOO MUCH time in an airport!!!
We're sitting here at gate C16 at beautiful Chicago O'Hare Field. We've been here for about 3 hours and we still have a little more than an hour to wait before we get on our plane for Beijing. All of us were too excited to sleep much last night, so we're all feeling pretty tired already. Hopefully, that will make it easier to sleep during our 14 hour flight. Anyway.....here's a little proof that we are really here in Chicago.
More later when time/internet access allow.
We're sitting here at gate C16 at beautiful Chicago O'Hare Field. We've been here for about 3 hours and we still have a little more than an hour to wait before we get on our plane for Beijing. All of us were too excited to sleep much last night, so we're all feeling pretty tired already. Hopefully, that will make it easier to sleep during our 14 hour flight. Anyway.....here's a little proof that we are really here in Chicago.
More later when time/internet access allow.
Monday, September 1, 2008
And here we go....
It's a little after 9PM. We're getting up early to catch a 5:50AM flight out of Springfield tomorrow morning on the first leg of what will be about 22-24 hours of traveling before we finally reach Beijing. But we're all excited about the trip and what it will mean for our family, so there's no telling how much sleep any of us will get. Just wanted to post this pic to show that we really are taking less this time around (REALLY!).When you next hear from us, we'll be "reporting" from Beijing.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Time to get REALLY serious.....
It's taken a little bit longer than we would have liked to get this post up here, but.....we now have our travel approval, an appointment at the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, and an "outline" of an itinerary. And it all happened a little faster than we expected.
The details.....
On Friday, August 15, we received notice from our adoption agency that we had approval from the Chinese government to travel to China. We had been told that once we had approval, we would probably travel about 4-6 weeks later. But the agency requested a Consulate appointment on September 15, 16, or 17...and since that appointment is one of the LAST things on the itinerary, it meant we'd need to leave with only about 2 weeks to get ready.
On Saturday, August 16, we sent (Express Mail) our passports to a courier service to get the visas we need to enter China. (We are supposed to get them back this coming week.)
Then, this past week we worked with our adoption agency, a local travel agent (for flights from Springfield to Beijing and back), and a travel agency in China (for all of the in-China arrangements....hotel rooms, touring, etc.) and the details of our latest Chinese adventure have become a little clearer.
If we get our visas back in time (and we have been assured we will ), we leave Springfield on September 2 and arrive in Beijing on September 3. We get to meet JinXin on September 7 or 8. And we return to Springfield on September 19. We'll get our more detailed itinerary this week.
To say we are excited would be an understatement. In 2 weeks, we will have another beautiful daughter. But first we have to think about packing.
The details.....
On Friday, August 15, we received notice from our adoption agency that we had approval from the Chinese government to travel to China. We had been told that once we had approval, we would probably travel about 4-6 weeks later. But the agency requested a Consulate appointment on September 15, 16, or 17...and since that appointment is one of the LAST things on the itinerary, it meant we'd need to leave with only about 2 weeks to get ready.
On Saturday, August 16, we sent (Express Mail) our passports to a courier service to get the visas we need to enter China. (We are supposed to get them back this coming week.)
Then, this past week we worked with our adoption agency, a local travel agent (for flights from Springfield to Beijing and back), and a travel agency in China (for all of the in-China arrangements....hotel rooms, touring, etc.) and the details of our latest Chinese adventure have become a little clearer.
If we get our visas back in time (and we have been assured we will ), we leave Springfield on September 2 and arrive in Beijing on September 3. We get to meet JinXin on September 7 or 8. And we return to Springfield on September 19. We'll get our more detailed itinerary this week.
To say we are excited would be an understatement. In 2 weeks, we will have another beautiful daughter. But first we have to think about packing.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Much Closer Now....
All of a sudden, our latest adoption journey has been put "on the front burner".
We had been waiting for a document to arrive from the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA), called a "Letter Seeking Confirmation". (This document essentially says that the CCAA has reviewed all the papers we sent and everything is good with them.) Our dossier had been "logged in" at the CCAA on 5/20/08 and most familes had been receving their "Letter Seeking Confirmation" somewhere between 2 and 3 months after their dossiers had been accepted. Well...on 7/24/08, our adoption agency received our LSC from the CCAA. It was sent "overnight" to us, we signed it (telling them that we really, really did want to adopt Jin Xin :) and "overnighted" it back.
Now, we wait to get travel approval (usually about 4 weeks) and then we can make official travel plans. So...mid-September is a definite possibility and suddenly we are once again contemplating our international travel "packing lists".
We had been waiting for a document to arrive from the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA), called a "Letter Seeking Confirmation". (This document essentially says that the CCAA has reviewed all the papers we sent and everything is good with them.) Our dossier had been "logged in" at the CCAA on 5/20/08 and most familes had been receving their "Letter Seeking Confirmation" somewhere between 2 and 3 months after their dossiers had been accepted. Well...on 7/24/08, our adoption agency received our LSC from the CCAA. It was sent "overnight" to us, we signed it (telling them that we really, really did want to adopt Jin Xin :) and "overnighted" it back.
Now, we wait to get travel approval (usually about 4 weeks) and then we can make official travel plans. So...mid-September is a definite possibility and suddenly we are once again contemplating our international travel "packing lists".
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