July 13, 2006 "Last Full Day in the Wuhan Furnace"
Wuhan is called one of the three furnaces of China and boy have we found out why. Any time of day or night, you walk outside and literally drip with sweat from the heat and humidity. The Harp family got all ready for our trip to the park (evening of July 12th) and Sharon said, "I better take a sweater for Anna in case it's cool tonight" (it was 9:00 pm). Well let me tell you, when we exited the hotel, we were hit with a burst of heat and humidity similar to earlier in the day. We looked at each other and laughed and Sharon said, "I guess Anna won't be needing this sweater". The heat has been incredible here in Wuhan!
The walk to the park was certainly interesting. The rule in China is that cars have the right of way, not pedestrians. . . so people just walk across the street literally dodging cars. Also, traffic lanes seem to be optional. The cars weave in and out and in many cases they will make four lanes out of a three lane road. We are amazed that we haven't seen more accidents. After waiting for an opening, we sprinted across the street. After the nerve racking crossing, we were calmed by the atmosphere in the park. There were hundreds of people of all ages doing Tai-Chi, dancing, and playing. We walked around for a while without being noticed. . . or so we thought. After circling the park, we decided to sit and watch the children playing in the courtyard area. In only a matter of minutes, several children came up to see Anna. One boy in particular reminded us of our little friend Michael Cote. He even wanted to get his picture taken and then would run over to see it on the digital camera. . . yep, just like lil' Cote does when we take his picture back home! Another boy and girl came up to look and I said "ni hao" (how are you in Chinese). They ran away laughing and saying, " he said ni hao, he said ni hao". Shortly after, he came back and said, "hello" (as if to say, my english is better than your chinese). It was then that we realized that we (or Anna) was drawing a big crowd (probably 40 - 50 people). Some of the older women would come up and speak directly into our face and look at the baby. I hope they were saying nice things but who knows? We did have a couple of women about our age ask us things like, "where are you from", "what is your baby's name", "how old is she", "was your baby an orphan", etc. After about 15 minutes we decided it would be best to part the sea of people and head back to the hotel. Wow, we are celebrities. We now know how Angelina and Brad feel.
After having a difficult time getting Anna to sleep and an even more difficult morning with lots of tears and fussing, we headed down for breakfast late. After rushing through breakfast, a miracle occured. . . Anna let Sharon pick her up and hold her until we boarded the bus. This was a real breakthrough and answer to prayer. Just in time for our last day of sightseeing in Wuhan. We started out at a Bonsai and Rock museum that ended up being pretty fascinating. We were particularly impressed by the Bonsai and the local Chrysanthemum Stone, a black stone with natural flower-shaped etchings. We purchased a heart-shaped chrysanthemum stone necklace that will someday be given to Anna as a keepsake of her birthplace.
After the museum, we took a bus tour around Eastern Lake, one of the many lakes that are throughout the city of Wuhan. On the tour, we stopped at a Lotus blossom field to take pictures of this famous Wuhan flower, a large pink blossom on green foliage. Anna fell fast asleep on the bus and we decided to have Sharon hold her until she woke up. This proved to be good. When she awoke, she let Sharon hold her all the way back to our hotel. Sharon carried her into the hotel and we had our most fun meal yet. Anna was in a paricularly fun mood and I was actually able to go to the buffet and use both hands to fill my plate while Anna laughed at Mommy singing the world famous Scheneman pie song. Anna ate rice, noodles, smashed bananas, mashed potatos, and ice cream for lunch! This lunch was the official site of the "mashed potato incident". . . so fun! When you feed her she takes the spoon from you and tries to feed herself. She also squealed between every bite of ice cream! Too cute for words. . .
We then all went to the room for a clean-up and nap before our big evening out to the Wuhan Pizza Hut. It was much like the Pizza Hut in Elyria but cleaner and less expensive (a large pepperoni pizza was 48 Yuan - about $6). Anna munched on pizza crust and cheerios while entertaining us. The pizza was a nice break to the hotel restaurant that we have been eating every meal at since arriving into Wuhan. We did a little more shoe shopping for Anna before walking back through the furnace to our hotel. After showers and a bath for Anna, we were able to get her to sleep in less than 30 minutes, best night yet!
Now, if you haven't figured it out, the now famous writer Sharon is sleeping, along with Baby Anna. I hope that my narrative is even half as good as the past few days from Sharon. We are so glad that everyone is enjoying the site and really appreciate the emails. We look forward to getting up each day and reading them before starting our day. You all seem to have the right words to keep us pressing on through the difficult times. Anna is such a beautiful "Child of the King" and we are so happy that He has given us this amazingly perfect gift.
We have been calling Anna "Xiu Xiu" for now because that is the name she was called at the orphanage and it is familiar to her. The funny thing is the name is growing on us! We think she looks more like a little Xiu Xiu than an Anna. I don't think we will change her name but will definately use this as her nickname. Tomorrow we will have a meeting to receive Anna's passport before heading to the airport for Guangzhou. Although we will be happy to move on to our next destination, it will also be a little sad knowing Anna will be leaving the place of her birth possibly never to return again.
