Our group suddenly got bigger. A number of adoptive families flew in last night. We were finally able to put faces with the names of people we had been talking to via the internet for a number of months. There are 36 families with our agency – 13 will be traveling to the same province our daughter is in. The rest are spread out over China. We will meet up with them again after we receive our daughters in Guangzhou. One of the new families we met is traveling with their daughter Haleigh, whom they adopted from China about two years ago. She will soon have a baby sister.
Today, we visited the Temple of Heaven which is located within a park here in Beijing. We arrived early this morning and the elderly Chinese men and women were doing their morning exercises. This is very common in China. Most start their days with either dance or some sort of Tai Chi. The park was like a social gathering place for older Chinese men and women. Groups would be sitting playing cards. Another group would surround a singer. Another group would be playing music on traditional instruments and many would gather around to watch. . It definitely wasn’t for the tourists; It was just part of their day. I’ve never seen anything like that in the United States. We were definitely entertained by a beautiful Chinese girl who was there with her Grandparents.
We then visited the Temple of Heaven and were photographed as we stood on what’s suppose to be the highest point to Heaven.
After the Temple of Heaven and the park, our group went to another huge but fantastic lunch at the Friendship Hotel. 17 courses of fine Chinese cuisine. Too much.
We then went on a rickshaw tour of the Hutong area, which is one of the oldest areas in China. We visited in the home of a woman whose family has lived in their home for four generations. She is retired and lives off $300 a month. She was very gracious. The conditions in China are so different from that in which we live. She has to share a toilet with four or five other families.
Tomorrow is our last full day of touring – we climb the Great Wall. We will also return to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. A very special luncheon is scheduled f
or us tomorrow – Peking Duck is the featured item. Tomorrow promises to be pretty spectacular.
Finally, we’ve just met some great people here. The Nashville crowd is a blast. Also, Shane and Stephanie, our friends from Seattle, are folks we would love to hang out with on a regular basis. Beijing has been a great experience, but I’m ready for Nanchang and to meet the reason we are in China.
At The Temple Of Heaven
Chinese Beauty In The Park
Haleigh
Kind Woman Whose Home We Visited
Tomorrow we will post Day 5 in Beijing. It will be combined with this post. So, you will have to scroll down below this entry to view it.
Morning Exercises In The Park
November 12, 2005 -- Day 5 in Beijing
Today was our last full day in Beijing and the first “official” day we were required to be in Beijing by the agency. We started the day at 8 o’clock a.m. and first went to the Children’s Hope Beijing Office where we had a very brief orientation – basically we watched a Power Point presentation about Chinese adoptions that made us all cry.
We then headed to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. This was part of the “official” tour by our agency. Fortunately, we had already done both a few days ago “unofficially”. Today’s tour was organized to move us through the places as quickly as possible, which was actually fine with us since we had already seen everything a few days earlier. We did, however, cause quite a stir with our tour guide, when we broke off from the group to head to Starbucks. Yes, there is a Starbucks in the Forbidden City, much to the delight of Roy, Sutton (from Nashville) and our Seattle friends, Stephanie and Shane.
After the Forbidden Center, we went to a restaurant that specializes in Peking Duck. It was just great. Our whole table was in stitches throughout the dinner. We’ve met some wonderful friends here. It’s like we’re going through labor together and tomorrow is delivery day!
After lunch, we drove about an hour to the Great Wall – one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Roy climbed to the first tower. I didn’t make it that far. It was really incredible and really steep. I made it a little way up before I turned around and went back down to wait. I did not feel very comfortable with the height, nor did I feel very sure-footed on the steps. Roy, however, kicked it up a notch and made it to the first tower! Must have been that Starbucks coffee.
So, tomorrow is the day. I will be packing our bags tonight and they will be picked up at 7 a.m. tomorrow. We leave for the airport at 9 a.m. and fly to Nanchang at 11:30 a.m. It’s about a two hour flight. We will go to our hotel, the Gloria Plaza. A little before 4 p.m., we will be driven to the Civil Affairs Office. If you’ve ever watched “The Lost Girls of China,” a National Geographic documentary, you may recall the scene where the families get the babies. We will be in the same Civil Affairs office as the families in that documentary.
All the babies from Lilyanne’s hometown were returned to the Social Welfare Institute (SWI, also known as the orphanage) from foster care three or four days ago. This is apparently done to ease the transition away from the foster parents. I’m sure it is very difficult on the babies and the foster parents. The babies will be driven to Nanchang from Tonggu tomorrow. It’s about a three and a half hour drive on what we understand to be very mountainous roads. We both fully recognize that tomorrow may very well be a difficult day for Lilyanne and we don’t expect to be handed a smiling, laughing baby girl. We pray that she will soon feel safe and secure with us, but recognize that it may take her some time. So say a little prayer for Lilyanne and for us as we prepare to meet our daughter for the first time.
Chairman Mao Overlooking Tiananmen Square
Roy And His Coffee At Forbidden City
Soldiers Of Tiananmen Square
The Great Wall -- Roy Climbed To The First Tower Pictured Above
