When In Rome...Uh...China

I feel like in a lot of ways, I haven't had an organic China experience.  I flew into Guangzhou and have stayed here the entire trip (except for a short visit to Shenzhen, more on that later) and to be honest Guangzhou isn't exactly "China".  It's very metropolitan, very cosmopolitan, and, honestly, relatively European.  Almost everyone I've spoken to, even on the streets, speaks at least basic English.  Lots of them are very fluent.  The area we're in is full of restaurants, stores and night clubs.  There's many, many Europeans on the streets here and it's clearly a popular tourist destination for the entire world.  I've eaten Chinese food off and on, but we've mostly eaten versions of popular restaurants the world over.  KFC and McDonald's are popular.  Also frequently seen is Pizza Hut and Subway.  Of course, there's a Starbucks in every neighborhood.  What I have to say I didn't really expect is the overwhelming popularity of 7-11.  In America, 7-11 is definitely out of style and I'd say their numbers are really dwindling.  But there's one on every corner here in Guangzhou, and that's literally not a joke.  If you are on a side street, you'll see a 7-11, go around the corner to the major road, and find another one waiting. 

Here's our view from our hotel window. 

Pretty much sans the Chinese characters, we could easily be in a nice hotel in Manhattan.  Mike had a more "China" experience in Zhengzhou where he picked up Jake.  Many less English speakers, lots of scooters driving on the sidewalks and some seriously crazy traffic (not that the traffic isn't also crazy here.)  Actually, speaking of 7-11, right there in the bottom corner, where the light is always shining there's a 7-11.  If we go out the door and turn left, there's another 7-11 about one block over. 

It is SOOOOOO hot here.  Coming from New Mexico, we just aren't used to the humidity.  It's like 900% humidity every moment of the day.  When I first got here it was still in the mid-90s every day but now it's into the low 90s and sometimes even into the 80s.  Our guide says it never gets very cold here.  I guess winter is setting in for them lol.  It isn't just me either.  People who know me know that I've been inclined towards feeling like just existing is too hot since the moment I was born.  But the other adoptive parents feel the same.  Jake and Finn are runners, so we spent our first couple of tours dripping in sweat and chasing down these crazy boys.  At that point, we decided touring wasn't worth it lol.  We started just staying at the hotel during arranged tours after that.  We have had dinner with a couple of other adoptive families, and we've been up to Shamian Island three times.  We might go a fourth time, depending on our schedule tomorrow. 

There's a family there who runs a shop called Susan's.  It's a really great place, full of just about everything you might want to buy in China.  But the best thing about Susan's is the husband and wife who run it.  They speak English very well and they are experts in local history and Chinese history in general.  They explained so many things to us.  We even recorded him showing us how to properly make tea.  They really wanted us to come for tea, which of course we didn't know how to avoid without being rude.  We said we had to hurry and catch the bus, which was true, but we also didn't want to be rude and refuse the tea, which we'd have to do, since LDS people don't drink tea or coffee.  But the next time we went in, to pick up some name posters we ordered, he really wanted us to have tea with them and he was freaking out excited.  It was clearly really important to them, so we sat at the tea table and just kind of looked at each other while he poured the tea into incredibly tiny glasses.  Like midget shot glasses.  Finally, I just didn't know how to avoid being potentially rude, so I just said, "Do you have any herbal tea instead?"  It was super funny, he looked at both of us and said, "You don't drink tea?  Are you Mormon?" LOL.  We said yes, and he pulled out the herbal tea and poured us some of that instead.  

He's asked us to come for tea again tomorrow before we leave the country, so we're going to call him and see what time they close and we might do that again.  He gave us his email and has asked us to send them periodic emails.  We do plan to return to China, whether we choose to adopt again or not.  It's our hope to be able to return to China at least every two years, every summer if finances permit.  So making a few friends is fun since we'll be able to see them again. 

Jake gets sick and throws up every time we get in the car.  Part of this is because he'd never been in a vehicle before, part of it can definitely be attributed to the insane way people here drive.  There's definitely no turn signals, no car lengths apart, and no safe changing of lanes.  I wish I could explain the way driving is typically done here.  Three and four cars will try to enter the same lane at the same time and just hope for the best.  It's crazy.  Also, the cars don't seem to have shocks.  It's a bouncing adventure every time we drive. 

I could write for days about China, but it's bedtime now.  I think I'll try to do more posts about China when we get home, since the internet is very spotty here and blogging is hard.

Amber

We're Not Dead Yay!

Sorry for my total absence of posting.  The VPN wouldn't work on my Kindle.  I tried downloading it over and over but it didn't want to work.  So the only VPN we have is on Mike's laptop.  But Mike was in Henan while I was in Guangdong.  Now we're finally back together, but the internet is spotty at best, so my updates might be a little sparse. 

Mike and I both picked up our assigned child on the 15th.  Jake, as might be expected considering his older age, came easy.  He and Mike were a little bit cautious with each other, as one would expect, but they bonded over swimming, which they did every second of every day until they came up to Guangdong on a VERY long train ride.  We only go once a day up here.  It's way too hot to go outside very often.  More on that later.  He came with a lot of super cute baby and little Jake pictures, which he likes to show very often.  The orphanage was super good about making sure he came with a past to remember, which we really love and appreciate! 

Gotcha with Finn was a little bit traumatic.  He was very excited.  Before the appointment, I went to the store and our guide, Judy, called the orphanage and asked what his favorite snacks were at my request.  He said over the phone that he was so excited he couldn't think about what he wanted lol.  However, when the reality came he was less excited.  He wouldn't look at me at all when they brought him out.  He was trying really hard to pretend we weren't there.  When I said hello to him he burst into tears.  I got pretty upset at that point and I think the nannies thought I was sad because he wasn't happy to see me, but that's not it at all.  I did try to explain that wasn't why I was tearing up.  Genuinely scared or hurting children make me very sad.  I cry when kids are undergoing painful medical procedures too.  I was just really sad that he was scared and hurting.  He wanted absolutely nothing to do with me for about three hours after we got back to the hotel, but he came around pretty quickly.  He did routinely refuse to hold my hand for another day or two and he always wanted to sit next to Judy.  But it's all going good now.

When we finally reconnected Finn was very tired and already in bed and he was NOT excited at the presence of Jake and Baba.  He kept shaking his head and saying no.  Then he shined a light in Mike's eyes and Mike pretended to scream and cover his eyes before falling on the floor and theatrically dying.  That was all it took for Finn.  He was won over.  Now he's a hard core baba's boy.  He wants Mike to carry him all the time and wants to snuggle with him.  Jake is interested in me, but since we can't really communicate very well, we're still not sure what to make of each other.  His body language cues aren't great, so I have a much harder time understanding what he wants.  Mike speaks some Mandarin and Jake speaks a very small amount of English, so they are working it out better than Jake and I do.

Jake is pretty much exactly as we expected.  He's 11 and that should be enough to explain it for most people who've ever had an 11 year old lol.  He is by turns excited by childish things and petulantly being dragged on family outings.  He rotates between enjoying his new taste of freedom and being annoyed at us because we make him do things like eat or take a shower instead of playing on the Kindle or watching TV.  Basically, as aforementioned, he's 11.  He acts just like our bio kids did at 11, but he's under a bit more stress.  He is quite annoyed that we aren't all able to communicate.  He speaks very well and he speaks a lot, and he's not happy that we aren't able to understand what he's saying.  I get frustrated in the store because I can't get any of my questions answered, so I can't imagine how he feels with parents who can't completely meet his needs because we just don't understand what they are.  His special need is pretty much exactly as expected.  Except since he stopped receiving physical therapy from Love Without Boundaries a few years ago it seems he's gotten a little lax.  He's realized that he doesn't have to use his left hand in most cases, and he's gotten lazy about working it out since he can do almost everything one handed. He's a smart, smart boy.  We were a little worried he might be slower to learn English as foreign languages are much harder the older you are, but communicating is so important to him, I think he'll come around pretty fast.

Finn is pure energy.  100% on all the time.  He's always running, always yelling, always jumping, always moving.  He's adorable.  Everyone loves him immediately.  I don't know what he's saying to people but evidently it's funny, because they always laugh, and the ones who also speak a bit of English almost inevitably tell me that he's funny.  He is certainly mischievous.  He is a straight up practical joker and a great lover of getting into trouble.  He dropped 400 Chinese Yuan in the toilet yesterday laughing the whole time.  He also likes to throw away important documents, hide the hotel room key, and run away as fast as he can when we are out in public.  In our family we call this 'a runner' and we had another one in our daughter Gillian, so we used a monkey backpack with a tail that served as a leash.  We wish we had it here!  Finn's condition is certainly serious.  The doctors here say they've never seen a worse case of Beta Thalassemia Major.  However, he's better off than we expected.  We thought he would need to be immediately hospitalized but we no longer believe that's true.

I will post about China in general later on today.  Right now we're headed off to do a little sightseeing with another American mom staying here in our hotel.  She is also adopting an older child with Thalassemia. 

Amber

Stop! Tally Time! Oh ohohoh ohohohoh!

I leave on Thursday night.  Ohmyheck!  Craziness!  Mike leaves on Friday afternoon.  We will both be picking up our assigned boy on early Monday morning, which will be Sunday night for most people in America.  Crazy that it's so soon!  It's still very surreal to me.   I don't know when it will sink in.  Maybe the day after we get home? ;)  We are starting today needing $4054 to be fully funded.  That may sound like a lot, but we are were at $5700 give or take at the beginning of yesterday!  God is working to help us bring these boys home right now!  We could not be more grateful to all who are sharing, praying, and donating!

Amber

Tally Ho

I thought it would be fun to do a tally when I wrote that the other day.  Turns out it's not so fun when the total doesn't change.  We are at $5704 needed to be fully funded.  Our fundraisers and donations have totalled less than $70 in three days.  Obviously, this is freaking us out since we have no other sources of money.  At this point it's a good time for a miracle.  Please pray for us, share our fundraisers, and donate if you feel so called.  We are grateful for all the help people have given!  Thank you!!!

Amber

Daily Tally

I think it might be fun to do a daily tally of where we are and where we need to be with our fundraising efforts.  We are starting today with a new Fully Funded total because of a PayPal donation. $21,591 is our new goal. Currently we need $5,772 to reach our goal. I know we've already fundraised a lot. 15k worth! But we're down to the wire. And we can't wait because of this sweet face. I got this picture this morning. Yes, he's adorable. Yes, he's smiling. But it doesn't take a lot to see how sick he is. Please consider our fundraisers or share!  You can follow along with our totals in the corner on the Reece's Rainbow bar.  Thank you so much for helping us go these last few miles!!  And prayers are always much appreciated!

Amber

Excitement and Stress!

Okay guys, exciting stuff and stressful stuff! Exciting stuff! We leave next Friday!!!!  One week!!!  We got our Chinese visas today. They look so cool! Maybe I'm just excited by simple stuff, but I dig it. I have a lot of trouble conceptualizing things before they happen and I always have. Until that baby comes out, I have a lot of trouble believing it's real lol. So getting my visa today was one of those moments. This is real! Stressful stuff... We need to be at $21,741 to be fully funded. That means that $6058 lies between us and complete funding. We can leave and hope for the best in about another $3000. We need 41 more donations before we can draw from tier one. Any donation of $15 or above will be entered into a drawing for gorgeous quilts. You can see more info on our blog or make your donations here http://reecesrainbow.org/70645/sponsoranderson-2 If you own a business, the fiscal year is almost over. Consider making a tax deductible donation at this same address and have an instant write off! 

Because tier 2 has had no entries, I am disbanding tier two and selling each blanket individually.  Please consider a blanket for a loved one who just looks like they need some warming up, or please share!!

 Build a Bear Quilt $15

Do you have a daughter who loves to build herself some friends?  I have two of them!!  Check out this adorable toddler or crib sized blanket with licensed Build a Bear material.  Friends Furever!!  $15 plus $5 shipping.

Baby Bundle!! $25

Got a sweet little one, or one on the way?  This is a great deal and so sweet and perfect!!  Sweet yellow baby blanket, crib or toddler bed sized, with lovely flowers in each corner.  The matching hat is made for a newborn, so it won't last forever, but this blanket will have years of use in it and become a sweet family heirloom!  Small flannel car seat quilt.  Perfect for tucking around your little ladybug on a cold morning in the car!  Plus two bonus newborn sized hats, pink and green with an adorable flower.  This is so cute and a great baby shower present value, too!!  $25 plus $7 shipping.  

Thanks everyone for helping us get this far and helping us go the final miles to bring home our boys!!

Amber