Only Two More Nights!!!

Monday
Hey again. We haven’t had any grand sightseeing trips or huge breakthroughs with Amelia Belle, but still some good days. It is Wednesday night here, so only 2 more days until we leave--we could not be more ready to go home. The days are all running together now, so it’s hard to keep things straight, but over the last few days I have been over to the mainland three days in a row, Thatcher has had a Chinese haircut and Kristi had a rough experience getting a massage…not a “goofy” massage as Mr. Zhou calls it and we took pictures as a group at the White Swan Hotel. Amelia Belle has gotten even louder and a lot more comfortable with us and a little more comfortable with me.

On Monday, we did not have any group plans, so Thatcher and I went with a couple of other guys to the mainland, through the open air market to the shopping. I say mainland, but Shamian Island is a very small island on the Pearl River that is connected by short bridges on one side and a ferry on the other. It was a French and English trading colony so is very European in layout and has a rich history. The two bridges were blockaded at night in colonial times, but not now. The only U.S. consulate that processes adoption visas is on the Island (for now, will soon move off the island) is here, so that is why we are here. We just walked to look around and Harris needed to go back to the pearl market. On the way back we went through some back alleys, and saw some interesting things. We also saw some cool stuff at the fish market. We saw snakes, snapping and other turtles, crabs, lobsters, fish and live and crocodiles in various states of being slaughtered. We even saw cobras in a cage…we saw them stand up and extend their hoods.

When we returned to the island, Thatcher and I went to where Kristi and her friends were eating lunch and we sat down to eat outside as the girls were leaving. We had hamburgers and fries and spaghetti. Kristi had been complaining about Thatcher’s hair so we decided to make her happy and go get him a haircut. We went to the old Victory Hotel to the salon and three women there went to work on him. One washed his hair, taking about 15 minutes to do it, then another cut it. It seemed a little strange the way she did it, she edged around his hair with clippers with no guard and used shears to thin it before she cut it. It was strange and a little uneven, but overall not bad. But not a good bargain at about $20. The women loved him, ooh’ed and ah’ed over him and talked about his eyes and eyelashes the whole time. All week as we were walking around, people kept coming up to him and touching his hair and his face.
After his haircut we went back to the room and then shopping in Shamian Island and the park. After, we went back to hotel, got baths and ordered Papa John’s with several other families and ate it together at the end of the hall. It was fun.

Tuesday

Tuesday at breakfast, Kristi, her mom and two friends, Jackie and Traci made plans to get massages. Mr. Zhou warned us against one place on the island, with a woman in a cape standing behind a booth in front that gave “goofy” massages. He also warned that the Victory Hotel salon was not a professional massage. He directed them to a place that gives massages “to cure your pain and care about the health of your spondyle.” The massages turned out to not be so great, all of the women complained that they were rough, painful and given through a towel. Also, they had to pay not only for a massage and tip ($20), but also for their paper gown and paper for their table.

Me and the kids (that sounds cool, but I’m not used to it yet) had a lot more fun. We went straight to the park with the two other dads and kids. For a while Thatcher played and Amelia Belle and I watched. Thatcher went across the entire monkey bars by himself while we were there, and he and I spun around on something that makes you really dizzy--check out the video.www.picasaweb.google.com/gellender03. Soon, though Amelia Belle was ready to get out of the stroller. I put her down and she immediately started climbing steps and wanting to slide. I was helping her, but I was quickly moved out of the way by two Chinese grandmothers. Check out the video. It was pretty warm, but notice the child in all the layers. They are serious about keeping kids warm here. We had a great time for a while, then we got some cookies to keep us all happy and we went to check out some movies. I have bought quite a few. If you want to know why DVD sales are down, blame China. Copies on every street corner. Then we met Kristi and headed back to the room for a small lunch of noodles (Cup o’ Noodles type) for Thatcher and I and Rice cereal for the baby.

After lunch I went walking again with Harris and Keith again. We saw a lot of the same things, but we tried to take some different streets. We went into an army surplus store that sold silencers (one U.S. Govt issue) for $45. We also went into a “pharmaceutical” company that had huge vats of roots, herbs and animal parts for grinding into medicine. Check out the pictures of snake wine and snake penis wine. Chinese medicine is a large part of the culture here, and Zhou told us that Chinese people will put snakes, scorpions and all kinds of things into wine to make them strong, healthy, etc.

We got back just in time to go to the Victory Hotel for pictures. Kristi got Thatcher and Amelia Belle traditional Chinese clothes for the pictures. Thatcher wanted a ninja suit, and then he started calling it a kung fu dragon suit all week. He got nun chucks the day before, and he had them in most of the pictures. Take a look at the video above, but also check out the other one from when he first got the nun chucks. It’s really funny.
After pictures, we went to Lucy’s again and to bed.

Wednesday
Today, we slept late. We ate breakfast then Kristi, her mom, Thatcher and Amelia Belle and I all walked to “over there” as we call going into the city. It was a pretty warm day, so Kristi put Amelia Belle in a cute short sleeve dress, forgetting how serious the Chinese are about keeping babies warm. We were on the walking overpass over the highway to get into the city when we noticed the people, mostly older, pointing at the baby and giving disapproving sounds and looks. We looked around and the adults were wearing jackets, but the babies were all wearing several layers. Keep in mind that we were wearing shorts and our baby seems to sweat a lot. When we got to the main shopping district, the first place we went to was the department store to get the baby some tights. This seemed to keep the Chinese from getting too upset with us.

Next, we looked at electronics and then ate at McDonald’s---it’s a hassle just to get more ketchup. The main shopping street is lined with shops, and every so often there is an entrance, like a mall, with escalators going up and down several levels. McDonald’s is located on the second floor of one of these buildings and the bathroom is located on the top level. After lunch we were checking things out. In this one building there were probably 30 small shops that did hair, bazillions of jeans and t-shirt shops, shoes and nail salons. Kristi’s mom wanted to get her nails done and for less than $2 with a tip she got them done, and she said they did a good job. While she was getting them done Kristi and I looked around on several different floors and nature called for Thatcher. There was no American toilet, just the Chinese style, so we had to make do. Ask me about it and I’ll tell you sometime, but I’ll just say that we had to go downstairs to Kristi to get baby wipes, and it was a disgusting and acrobatic experience.

Lots of things are cheap here, but lots of things are low quality. Thatcher’s Mimi bought him another remote controlled car (his first one broke) “over there” and on the way home we bought a couple of suitcases. We had a limit of one per person of 44 lbs. for the in country flight, and we have all bought some stuff. They were less than $10 apiece, and I’ll be surprised if they make more than the trip back home.

When we got back to the room, we tried to get the baby to sleep. She flopped around and was loud in the bed with us, and she cried in her bed. I can’t let her cry; because I believe that she’s cried herself to sleep enough in her life. She doesn’t have to do that anymore. It breaks my hear to think that my baby has spent 22 months not having any one love her as much as we do. I’m sure we’ll have some work to do, because there are a lot of coping and defense mechanisms in place to help her survives, but we’re happy to do that. When we decided that she was not going to sleep, Kristi got her up and they went with her mom and Thatcher out again. They left me in the room to upload pictures and videos and work on the blog.

At 5:30 the entire group went to the Chinese restaurant at the old Victory Hotel. The food was excellent. Mr. Zhou set it up and we had vegetables, noodles, soup, beef and chicken dishes and fruit. It was really nice and once again nothing we ate was that different from what I would eat at a Chinese restaurant in the U.S.

After dinner, back to the room. Amelia Belle is getting better with a bath, she didn’t cry at all tonight and she and I played for a long time while Kristi bathed. She still prefers Kristi, but we are getting somewhere. She didn’t go to sleep easily, but she did eventually.

It is eleven o’clock or so on Wednesday night and a few things are going through my mind: 1. how much I want to get back home. This has been an amazing trip, but I am ready for normalcy. It’s not that I miss TV and Mexican food so much (I do), but I am very anxious to get my family back and get us functioning in a regular routine--work, school, soccer, t-ball, etc. 2. I think about how Thatcher’s world is being rocked. From his perspective, they used to “my” French fries, now they are “our” French fries. He has to get used to sharing things, but also me, and most traumatically, his momma. I love that boy so much it hurts. I know every kid goes through this when they go from being an only to being an older, but I feel for him…even though I have been all over him for acting out. 3. Kristi. She has made this an amazing trip. It has been stressful at times, and (for us, not Zhou…he has it under control) lots of not knowing, but she has kept her composure and kept things in perspective. When I have been stressed about the baby not liking me, she has been loving and encouraging. When I have been upset with Thatcher because he’s aggravating Amelia Belle, in her face or just acting silly to get attention, she’s reminded me of what he’s experiencing. I am a lucky man and Thatcher and Amelia Belle are lucky kids. She loves them very, very much.

Two more nights. Today, Zhou went to the embassy for us and everything went smoothly. Tomorrow at 12:40 we have to go there and swear an oath, get her visa and we are ready to leave. We have to have our bags outside our room at 5am. I am not sure what time we leave, but I know it is early. We will leave China Friday morning and arrive in Shreveport at 6:30 Friday evening. I might post before then, but if not, keep us in your prayers, wish us luck and we would love to hear from you.
--Gene