Its a good thing I waited a few days to post from the Swan. Otherwise I am afraid I would have come across like a spiraling Kurtz (Marlon Brando) in Apocolypse Now as the stomach virus that selected every 5th person on our bus chose me on Monday.
I was down for the count for 18 hours but the past few days have been shopp-er-ific! This little temporary expatriot island know as Shamian: 1) is pretty and somewhat tropical, 2) a bit overboard in catering to us swarms of adoptive parents from all over the world, 3) has refined the art of selling us tons of things we don't really need but can't resist buying because "they give you very bess deal!". The White Swan is truly a world class magnificent hotel.
Guangzhou is all in all a pretty exciting city. I am mesmerized by the number of people, buildings, constant energy and specifically at the Swan, some pretty high end living going on. For example, the Swan has a fleet of about 30 luxury vehicles for guests, the lobby and first three lobby floors are filled with various sculptures worth tens of thousands of dollars, and each evening those Chinese/Cantonese folks who can afford to do so stream in for a buffet that is both delicious and artistic. Just viewing the sushi chef and spread is a visual treat. There are orchids everywhere and a large waterfall that spans three floors into a koi pond in the center of the Swan. It is all way over the top and has been quite enjoyable.
Our morning breakfast buffet though not quite as expensive or extravagant, has been a very good way to begin each day. The pace has been relatively relaxed (compared to the previous week) with tours offered and only a bit of adoption finalization activities. As with Nanchang, CCAI has made it all very painless for us. Yesterday we were all bussed to the U.S.Consulate to receive Li Jing's Visa and citizenship paperwork for entering the U.S. We had a little swearing in ceremony and were congratulated by the U. S. Consulate Ambassador for Guangzhou. It was actually a rather nice little formality. Today we also went to the Guangzhou Zoo, which Andie, and all of us loved. It was not a huge zoo, but well kept and clean.
Yesterday we all took a walking tour through the streets of Guangzhou down to the market area and eventually to the Pearl Market. It was a real slice of the working person's life as opposed to the lives of those who dine at the Swan in the evening. I was most impressed by the huge tub of live scorpions, a variety of pet shops along the way (yes, they do love animals as pets), and the number of people navigating these narrow streets and alleys hawking their wares. The Pearl Market ended up being fun, and we actually got in to bargaining a bit to get the girls some necklaces as keepsakes. We also took the official White Swan Red Couch photos yesterday which was very entertaining. You must check out the complete photo set of this free for all event of trying to place 14 babies on one sofa for portrait (link on your right column somewhere)...
(below added after our return and recuperation from severe jet lag, on November 10th...or either someone slipped Thorazine into my Mango Juice Box on the plane) From my observations, the White Swan clientele consists primarily of two categories of guests, 1) wealthy or at least upper class Chinese business persons and 2) adoptive parents. We are pretty easy to pick out generally being under-dressed and armed with a stroller and slew of cameras.
The passport neck wallets serve to complete the “I’m traveling abroad” nerd ensemble. The nearby western restaurant Lucy’s even has set of bronze statues effectively stereotyping us all. While I found the food at Lucy’s only marginal, I would highly recommend the peppermint milkshake. In addition to settling in for week number two with your new child, shopping around Shamian Island and beyond is clearly the focus while at the Swan.
The locals realized long ago I suspect that Americans are highly addicted to purchasing stuff we don’t really need and have refined their sales strategies accordingly (“your baby is so CUTE!..how ole is she?..where she from (Jiangxi)..ah! she is spicey girl!”). Though... I must admit it was all fun and entertaining. We really did not encounter anyone who was really pushy or obnoxious in trying to make a sale. Most seem just as excited to try out their English as I do to try out my Chinese.
In many cases, the babies are beginning to come around and respond to their new parents more positively during this second week which I think fires off a serious round of dopamine in the brain, which spurs on the shop-o-holic binges. Armed with strollers and fresh un-creased Yuen, we set out on a mission at least several times daily...well into the evening.
One quickly does the math and realizes that a Beijing Olympics 2008 T-shirt can be haggled down to 35 Yuen, which translates to around $5 bucks US. Then comes additional rolling duffle number one purchase, followed by rolling duffle number two purchase. I was at first resistant to succumb to this fever, but then was directed to the black market North Face venue where I lost all decorum after checking to ensure that the seams were actually taped and zipper tabs all bore the insignia. The Ray Bans also looked legit or if knock offs, were well done. The Oakley’s were a bit more suspect so I passed on them.
After visiting the money-changer in the Swan lobby way too many times, (now I realize why Jesus threw them out)..I put an end to my delirium with one last purchase, a large script late Qing dynasty horsehair brush with a sharkskin handle. This deal went down in one of the Swan antiquities shops where “Amy” refused to bargain on the item citing its historical importance. Who would know if legit? Not me for sure, but it served as my one last fling at the Swan. Our trip to the Pearl Market several days earlier was quite an experience as we negotiated our way to this setting via narrow market streets filled with vendors selling…lots of dried up stuff in clear bags (large black dried bracket fungi), snake-skins, live scorpions in a tub, pets (yes actual malemute puppies, lhasa apsos, and poodles with dyed pink ears and tail).
The market streets opened up into a huge plaza area with a 50 foot big screen TV playing some official looking governmental meeting, and hundreds of people swarming in various directions. The smell of food cooking, the sounds of music and the cacophony of vehicle horns all merged to make me feel way over-stimulated and a bit out of my comfort zone. Especially with a new one year-old baby and a 5 year-old blonde daughter that I wanted to ensure I returned home with.
We entered the Pearl Market and managed to spend even more money getting the girls each an heirloom necklace. I have no idea how one would discern the best pearl outlet to gravitate toward when there is an entire multilevel shopping mall full of only pearl vendors. Like lemmings we just wandered around a bit until we realized that there was no food court, and eventually decided to enter a few establishments.
The quality looked good and the prices did seem reasonable but I am not exactly an expert on oyster products, so I hope we did OK. I was proud of myself for bargaining rather assertively, but then again you always wonder if they crack up when you walk out the door with your purchase. While the Swan was overall a great and very memorable experience, by the last day you begin to think of getting this entourage home. While very nice, the room in the Swan seemed to get smaller as the week went by.
I would recommend to others the idea of up-sizing to a suite especially if you have 3 folks and a baby like we did. The standard room is pretty diminutive and felt to me a little bit like Tattoo’s private quarters on the Love Boat. The baby food fixin areas in the Swan also leave a bit to be desired as the mini-kitchen and hot water heater are a long way from the watersource (the bathroom).
We had a lot of issues with the circuit breaker popping (even with my transformer) so this was really beginning to get on my nerves as problems in making that afternoon bottle in a timely fashion resulted in a screaming baby. I did my best to convey the severity of this electrical dilemma to the 24 hour elevator button pushers stationed on our floor, and they would come and look inquisitively at the outlet and promise to have someone come up. After three days however, I gathered that my pronunciation of "bad electricity" somehow was lost in translation. The bathroom while opulent with brass, black and white marble, etc. is not a great space for baby care, and as Todd noted, brown water in an opulent bath tub is still brown water.
As the week wears on you also begin to take note of all of the logistics and complexities involved in getting out of the country, through customs and immigration, and of the 18 hour flight time home. It doesn’t help that you have accrued a number of new luggage items that must be checked in addition to the baby and baby accoutrements.
Again, CCAI did an awesome job of helping us all out here and running us through all the finalities successfully. Getting to the U.S. Consulate to take the Oath went pretty well. All in all there were 45 baby girls and 10 boys adopted in this batch for Oct/Nov. It appeared a number of Special Needs children were in this group and most I observed seemed to be adapting well to their new family in spite of being more advanced in age…some looked 4-5 years old and of course spoke no English.
One very happy little girl and her new family rode up on the elevator with me. She appeared about five years old. When they exited the elevator I noticed her hopping off, literally, as she was missing a lower leg. I imagined how her life will be changed as she receives her first prosthesis and a lot of TLC. There are times at the Swan where it all seems a bit strange and unsettling, this Chinese adoption process. Despite our best efforts to compensate, … these children we return with will be leaving their inherent culture behind. There was something a little sad about this to me. I do however agree with our guides that what these kids will gain in the love of a family, a brother or sister and the opportunity to flourish in life will far outweigh the cultural transition. I remind myself that these babies were abandoned, with no family and only an overburdened orphanage staff to provide for them.
I did feel strongly that the Chinese people care deeply for their children. Though my experiences were limited, I found them hospitable, kind, inquisitive and curious, and overall very pleasant to interact with. They are however, quite visceral in their food choices and certain "passage clearing" behaviors that makes us westerners pretty squeamish. While I am rather adventurous regarding food, I do have to draw the line on menu items such as "insect in sand butter", on the menu at J.M.Chefs (across the street from the Swan) in Guangzhou (along with "pigs elbow"). I was satisfied with my fried Grouper (not beheaded of course) and the green tea there was awesome. The Chinese folks found my feeble attempts at Mandarin positive and seemed excited that I was making the effort.
I would love to return someday with Li Jing and family and visit the area where she was born. Not being able to do so (or visit her orphanage) was the only disappointment of the trip, but it was a 3.5 hour one way trip from Nanchang and we would not have been allowed in the orphanage at this point, so it seemed rather futile to spend an entire day in this regard with most of the time spent on a bus. We respected the preference of our CCAI guides that we not spend time in this manner but instead, enjoy local Nanchang tours and time with our child.
In hindsight now that we have returned, introduced Genevieve to family and friends and reflected on the experience (though not fully), I must say that CCAI was top notch in all they did to make our adoption experience a positive one. Lynne, Andie and I were very fortunate in that Genevieve was a great baby “out of the box”. We immediately felt comfortable with her and evidently, she with us. We were lucky indeed that this was the case as it enabled us to truly enjoy the trip and experience the Chinese culture.
While they point out that the adoption trip is certainly not a vacation (and we agree), at times we came pretty darn close. We can truthfully say that our only negative for the entire time was one bad return flight from Hong Kong to San Fran due to "way bad" seating issues. To make matters worse we got to observe a kid the size of Gary Coleman occupy the bulkhead crib while at least six couples wrestled one-year olds on our laps for 12 hours. His mom played pop-a-mole with him the entire flight and he slept not one hour in the crib. I know this for a fact in that I also was awake for the duration of the flight. While there is more dark comedy in the flight story that I could elaborate on, I prefer to expunge the whole flight from memory so I won’t go there and put a damper on an overall positive trip. We appreciate all the comments and emails we received letting us know you all were on the other end rooting for us. This connection was very important and enhanced our experience. I look forward to seeing what perks up from over a thousand photos and much video over the next few years. Who knows, maybe I will connect with my Qi and put the Qing dynasty brush to rice paper.
Andie celebrates her 6th birthday today as I type. I hope her trip to China for her sister will be a memory of a lifetime. I can’t imagine any other 5 year old making such a journey in a more positive and fun fashion. She was nothing but a pleasure to have on this trip. Lynne and I are very thankful for so much, not the least of which is that this long arduous process has come to a wonderful conclusion.
NO, we will not be going back for number two or three (I am way too old for that to be a consideration). But, we will enjoy following the course of others willing to take the leap and bring a child into their family. Stay tuned, I plan to keep the blog alive as we watch Genevieve grow up, become an Appalachian fan and great artist, musician, poet or perhaps neurosurgeon. My posts may be spaced out a bit but this is such a great medium to work with! Below is our coup de grace shot of Andie passing back by the San Fran Mosiac with Li Jing as booty from the trip. After the Hong Kong flight just gathering the energy to stop and take this shot was a major endeavor. Of course she looks uncomfortable, we've been uncomfortable for 12 hours...we have 800 pounds of luggage on a hand cart and now have to go through customs and immigration and hopefully still have the BROWN SEALED ENVELOPE..just smile OK!
It actually reminds me of a 14lb bass shot in the local newspapers. Thanks to Tali and Yaniv (and airport bellman) for the final parting shot of our two CCAI groups calling it a wrap! Zai jian for now, WES
P.S. Look for the official Mattel Cen Li Jing doll at all major retailers prior to the Christmas Holidays......
Genevieve has evolved into "GiGi" more often than not but also still remembers that she is also Li Jing. We have ditched the bottle a good while back, real close to ditching the diapers (but not quite), and her purple blanket is her current nighttime security device.
Andie has had a great year as a first grader, and amazingly we manage to get her on the bus at 7:15am MOST days. The days we falter are probably due mostly to Mom or Dad (or both) being comatose. We have had a long and cold winter here in Boone and anxiously await the re-greening of our yard. We had our share of colds and flu over the winter (as did most of Boone it seems) and may be looking at having another child with "ear tubes" sooner than later as this seems to be Gigi's key malady. Our trip to Disneyworld and Seaworld in February was a great break from the Boone weather. Ah, to be wearing shorts and t-shirts if only for a week!
The girls absolutely loved the trip and parks. We did five straight days covering the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Seaworld from morning until 9 or 10pm each night! I was one tired "Pops" at the end of the week as Lynne was attending a conference for several days and I had to fly solo. The entire Disney experience is pretty amazing...fascinating to me how they pull all that off each day of the year with so little visible infrastructure. I would NOT want to be there in the summer, that much was clear. February seems an excellent time to visit, though the crowds were still pretty intense at Magic Kingdom despite a recession!
We now will be gearing up for summer camps for Andie, visits with grandmothers and as usual, lots of work in all directions for Mom and Dad. I will be teaching a week long watercolor workshop at Cheap Joes in June, Lynne will be feverishly working Orientation at ASU...and as always we will wonder in September where the summer went.
We enjoy hearing and getting photos from our HengFeng sisters all over the US, and hopefully will get together with at least a few of them over the summer. Family events, whether a wedding or a funeral, always remind us that life is precious and fleeting. And...despite the challenges we face in our country at present we are all extremely fortunate. Hope everyone is doing great!
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