After hitting the hay pretty hard we woke up early again with the anticipation of the day ahead running through our minds. Today was THE day we've been working towards for so long. We were going to meet our son this afternoon! Waking around 5AM when we were not scheduled to leave until 3PM meant a long day of "hurry up and wait." We got ready and went downstairs to breakfast and apparently timed it just right as a large tour group was leaving as we arrived. Breakfast was nothing new and I passed on the noodle bowl for today. Maybe tomorrow is when I'll give it another go.
Back in the room and we are getting things ready and milling about. I worked on the blog and tried to sort out the formatting issues and think of an easy way to get pictures out there. I'm really hamstrung at the moment but have an idea I want to try. We called home and it was nice to hear our kids on the other end. We watched 2 movies, napped and enjoyed the view from the hotel room. It's really clear today and we can see the mountains in the distance. The electronics store across the road was having a big sale on either refrigerators or ovens (we couldn't tell) and had a lady with a microphone talking very loudly for about an hour and had some women dancing on a stage for part of their promo. Seems they have annoying sales stuff in China, too. Sort of a mix between the monster trucks announcer guy "Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY" and a concert, blended with a union strike with a picket line. It was annoying but fun to watch.
The time finally came to meet our guide in the hotel lobby so we grabbed the six bags of gifts we were giving to the orphanage officials and nannies, the required paperwork and headed down. We met Sherrie and made some small talk. She was impressed that we had walked 8 miles the day before in the heat to see the wall and the Drum Tower. Soon another couple joined us and we found out that they are from Ohio as well and only 20 minutes away from us. Small world, huh? The other two families are from Maine and California. We all loaded into the bus for the 30 minute drive to the Civil Affairs office where we'd meet our son. You'd never know it was a Sunday from the traffic - bumper to bumper. We rode the elevator to the 20th floor and all sat in the room waiting for our children to arrive.
We didn't have to wait too long before they all came in and we spotted our son right away. Soon he was in Julie's arms. He was crying, which was to be expected and the rest of the kids were crying too so it created quite a cacophony. We didn't have much paperwork to do today, which was different from our first adoption. They had a photographer there who took pictures of all of us as well as the photo that we think will become his passport picture. This was a huge change from last time and we were very grateful it was right there. With our first adoption we had to take a car to a store front and then go through what we remember as shady areas and stairwells to get the picture taken. This was much, much better. We talked with the nannies, exchanged WeChat QR codes and emails (that's something new, too!) and then we were all asked to go downstairs. We waited in the building lobby for a few minutes and then it was back to the hotel.
Our guide gave us some directions as we got closer to the hotel including a grocery store and a few restaurant recommendations. We went back to the room to chill and bond a bit. He was very tentative as you'd expect but he did a good job exploring and playing with toys. It was starting to get late and we had not eaten anything. We decided to venture out to the mall across the road where our guide said there was a restaurant with English menus and pictures. It's funny how your perspective on what is a menu changes when you can't read anything. The mall is a tea emporium and the first three floors were more or less tea shops selling all kinds of tea or shops that sold tea sets, tea tables, etc. The top floor is a movie theater and is also where the restaurants are. We walked around and found the one she recommended and while perusing the menu which featured delicacies such as "snake head soup" and "spicy duck head" the power went out. We decided to take a pass on eating there since it was dark and we had no idea when the power would come on.
We wandered from the mall towards the grocery store. If you like shopping on Black Friday, a Chinese grocery store will be right up your alley. It was chaotic inside and very crowded between the carts, people and workers stocking the shelves as fast as they could. We walked every aisle looking for food we thought would be vegetarian friendly and for instant coffee. After we walked the store all we had was a bunch of bananas. Frustrated, we left and went to the hotel to order dinner there. This time we ordered at the restaurant where the staff spoke good English and when the food arrived in our room it was just as we ordered.
We all ate and our son enjoyed some applesauce and formula and when we were done, we called home to let the kids know their brother's name and went to bed. Growing your family is tiring work.
Operation Gotcha - Day 13
Operation Gotcha - Day 13
No comments:
Post a Comment