Smoggy. That’s Beijing. The smog and/or cloud cover was so thick the first
several days here that I finally asked Happy if they ever see the sun. She
assured me that they do for much of the summer. Yesterday at the Great
Wall we had our first small sun sample peeking out from the smog. As a
result the temp was significantly higher. And today, the sky was clear and
the sun out all day. It was warm, although the wind that seems to
frequently blow here helps to keep the temp manageable. Happy says that
the smog has been significantly better ever since the Olympics and the new
regulations regarding # of cars on the road. 5 million cars in Beijing,
with an additional 1,000 added each day.
Following breakfast buffet (sadly our last in Beijing!), we headed to Holt
orientation. Here, we learned more about the Chinese culture and the
adoption process. One question I had, “Why are there less children
available for international adoption?” was answered. According to Les, our
facilitator, significant numbers of children are now being adopted by
Chinese, without penalty. This includes many girls.
At the end of our meeting came the moment we’d all been waiting for…we
finally got to receive the “red book” with new photos and updates of our
child. We were happily surprised to receive the first very happy looking
pictures. The last batch we got in February looked very, very anxious. In
these pictures, the look is one of pure delight. Hopefully that means
there’s been some education about what is about to occur. Hopefully. I
have heard several people including Les say that it’s pretty usual for
children to go to the orphanage for several days prior to the arrival of
the adoptive family. We’ll find out tomorrow. We received face masks that
we’ll be required to wear to the initial meeting. We’re also told that
it’s possible that they may bring the child to our hotel rather than
having us come to the office, so as to avoid too much contact with us. But
we won’t know til we arrive.
We leave our hotel at 5:30 a.m., fly to Guangxi, and meet our child at
3:30. Busy, exciting day. Today is my last day without an Ergo (child
carrier) for awhile. Hard to believe that the day has finally arrived.
It’s been quite the year. After we receive our child, I’ll post when I
can, but my time may obviously be limited.
At lunch we had another family style Chinese meal. Each person gets a tiny
plate on which they can serve themselves whatever they’d like from more
than 10 main dishes on a Lazy Susan in the center of the table. We ate til
we couldn’t eat more…and the table was still full of food. So yum! This was the table AFTER we were finished:
This afternoon we slathered on the suntan lotion for a warm trip to
Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Dh asked Happy a few questions
about the uprising at TS and she was pretty frank about the fact that she
knew almost nothing because it wasn’t in textbooks or accessible on the
internet in China. She couldn’t even begin to say when it happened,
thinking it may have been as far back as the 1960s. I was talking to
another one of the moms about this. While we’re very aware of massive
censorship, government presence, etc., we feel totally oblivious to it
here. It’s much different than what we expected in that sense. We have
experienced some annoyances—loss of access to blogger, for one. Today
Anakin lost his ability to access his Google mail account; we figure that
some filter picked up something and shut him out. But it’s so subtle that
you really forget about it if you aren’t looking.
It was interesting to see Tiananmen Square, with the famous building and
picture of Chairman Mao, but by the time we’d spent several warm hours
slowly walking through the very long Forbidden City, I’d come to a
conclusion. The Forbidden City, Summer Palace, and Temple of Heaven are
all historical sites that seem very much alike. Buildings look similar.
Tons of people. And each has a few very dirty (from all the people’s
fingerprints) windows that you can look through into very, very dark,
unlighted rooms to see a few artifacts. And you have to walk and walk to
see them. I really liked the stories behind them--I especially want to go
home and read about “The Dragon Lady”—but as far as getting a lot out of
seeing the actual buildings, well, I could take it or leave it. I loved
the Great Wall because it was different. Hutong because it was a slice of
real, contemporary life. Acrobats, tea house, and silk factory because
they were fascinating. But the historical buildings? Eh, not so much. I
think I enjoyed watching the tourists in each location more than I enjoyed
the actual tours. And it wasn’t for lack of a great guide. We love Happy.
And China.
Well, that’s it until I’m a mom to five. Next post from Guangxi.
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