Food!

The food has been terrific and not that different than the Chinese we get at home.

Breakfast in Beijing.  Clockwise starting at 12:00 – orange & kiwi, a green date (the brown thing – they were very good), butter & jam, sausages, some red beans and garbanzo beans in a dressing, chicken wings (above is a jicama-type salad), noodles, a type of baked beans, a hot hard-boiled egg, dragonfruit (the white and black fruit).  In the middle of the plate is some “bacon” which was more like ham but still good, and watermelon.  The fresh fruit was great.

The desserts at breakfast.  Yum!

Lunch after touring the cloisonne factory (metalwork).  There was so much food.  We shared with another adoptive family and there was enough for 16 people.

There was a beef soup, fish, noodles, sweet and sour chicken, pork dumplings, pea pods, broccoli, rice and more.  I liked everything.

Except this.  This is a rice liquor.  It was served in little shot-like glasses (below).  It was 56% alcohol.

Marsha almost fell off the stairs checking out this painting.  (It was on the wall coming down from the restaurant).

The shrimp roll pizza from Pizza Hut.

Tomorrow is the Big Day

We arrived safely in Kunming today around 4:00 pm.  We walked around and enjoyed some shrimp stuffed crust pizza from Pizza Hut for dinner.  Tomorrow we will meet Titus Yong Hui.  He will be brought to our hotel around 4:00 pm here (that’s 1:00 am Sunday morning in Oregon).  We don’t know yet whether we will be able to go to the orphanage or not.  There will also be a 12 year old girl coming from the same orphanage to another family here.  I am filled with mixed feelings.  I cannot wait to meet this little boy, but my heart hurts for him.  I’m sure he will be confused and scared, but I’m trusting God to be working.  Thank you all for your continued prayers.

Our first look at Kunming.  Somewhere in this city, my little boy is spending his last day and night without a forever family.

Our hotel (Green Land Hotel).  More on this later (hopefully).

Kunming business district at night.  There is a GIANT TV across the street that we can see from our room.  And outside our window next door they are doing construction to put up a 333m tall building.  It will be a hotel, shopping center, and office building.  It’s amazing.

I’ll end with a funny story that happened tonight at dinner.  We were having trouble figuring out the correct Chinese way of getting the waiter/waitress’s attention.  So, I busted out my Chinese “FOO-OO YAR!” (which means “waiter/waitress”) and it was so loud it was like I was trying to get attention from across the restaurant.  The waitress who it was aimed at had a priceless reaction of “what the heck!?”, followed by “O MY GOSH IT WAS THAT WHITE LADY”.  It was so awkward.  We all nearly died laughing but it got the job done.  My shamelessness remains intact.

In Beijing

First, picture catch-up.  I think we packed just about the right amount of stuff, but I’ll get back to you in another week and let you know if we all smell like middle school gross-left-way-too-long-in-the-bottom-of-a-gym-bag socks.  We feel pretty good about getting everything into carry-on bags.  The real test will come tomorrow when we fly to Kunming.  We may have to check our larger bags, but that will be alright.  A picture of the four of us who began the journey, I can’t wait to post pictures of the fifth who will join our adventure!

Today, we visited the Great Wall.  It was as amazing as anything you think about it.  Climbing it was truly a workout.  It was the kind of workout where your legs tremor for the whole climb down.  We are all beat, except for Sunita because she a) didn’t climb the wall (she was in the ergo), b) she got a looong nap, and c) she is a 3 year old who never seems to run out of energy.  More then once tonight each of us adults have said, “Is it time for bed yet?”.  After I finish this I will be heading right to bed and it’s only 7:25 here.

OK, so it isn’t true she never runs out of energy.  She is sleeping now and fell asleep promptly in the car on the way “home” from the Great Wall.  It’s more that she never thinks or appears to need sleep.  I, on the other hand, am about to fall asleep writing this.  So, goodnight! (Or good morning for most of you reading this!)

P.S.  I apologize if the grammar/spelling/other literary functions are terrible.  Usually Husband edits blogs for me, but while in China – you get them while they are hot.  This means ZERO editing and I’ll just try to keep posting!

We’re off!

We left PDX yesterday around 4:30pm.  We are in China.  We arrived in Beijing around 10:30pm, China time (15 hours ahead of us).  For those of you who are math/number-challenged (like me), our long flight was about 12 hours.  We had a smooth journey without any complications.  It was long, but good.  Sunita was a champ!

Our itinerary from here on out includes a luxurious 2-night stay in Beijing at the Lee Garden apartments.  The “room” we are staying in is bigger then our house.  It was the only good option our Chinese coordinator could find for us.

After seeing the Great Wall, eating Peking duck (personal goal), and most importantly sleeping (while in Beijing) we will fly to Kunming around 11:30 am on Saturday.  We will arrive in Kunming around 3:30, maybe explore Kunming a little and probably go to bed early.  The next day we will meet Titus Yong Hui, who will become an Ocker.  That will be on Saturday (Oregon time) and Sunday in China.  He will be brought to the Green Land Hotel (where we will be staying).  We will stay in Kunming 6 nights and then fly to Guangzhou.

In Guangzhou, we will stay in The Garden Hotel.  These hotels are all high class places.  So far, we are having a wonderful journey.  I will post pictures (hopefully) tonight!

thanks

#31 snuggles

#32 easy time through the airports

#33 sunita enjoying the adventure

#34 food being plentiful and good

#35 being able to walk around the plane

#36 meeting 3 other adoptive families I had previously “met” only online (2 on the airplane and 1 in the hotel)

#37 only one connector flight

#38 being able to bring sunita (and for marsha’s help)

#39 beds – to stretch out in

#40 we are in china!!

Living it Up

In China we will be staying in posh places.  In fact, we may stay in nicer hotels then we have ever stayed in.  And although this isn’t a vacation, at least not technically, it feels like it is.  And I can throw my towels on the floor and, magically, there will be clean towels hanging up the next morning.

I love Chinese food.  No I’m serious, I LOVE IT.  I will not do dishes for two and half weeks.  Two and a half weeks people!  I will not cook or plan menus, AND I will get to eat food that makes me salivate every time I think of it.  I will not do laundry for two and a half weeks.  I will not be concerned that my toilet is overdue for a cleaning by two or three days.  I will not have to pick up toys every.single.day.  Oh, wait, scratch that – I still will have to pick up toys everyday.  I may not get to sleep (think jetlag, new child, older sibling being introduced to (displaced by) sibling, hotel beds), but shucks people – I feel like I’m on the verge of vacation.

Thanks, Part 3

#11 amazing friends who fit us into their busy lives

#12 family who are supportive and kind

#13 a network of people who just want to help in anyway they can

#14 ice cream

#15 nights that cool off

#16 seeing Husband be a great father

#17 seeing my daughter use her manners unprompted

#18 our church family – seriously, these people rock

#19 my daughter with her friends

#20 our health

Grateful

thanks

#1 receiving travel approval

#2 being able to travel so soon and beating the October shut down

#3 little boys and little girls

#4 a wonderful husband who handles so much of our family business

#5 a sweet boy i have the pleasure of baby-sitting

#6 so many friends and family to celebrate with

#7 a good night’s sleep

#8 friends offering to lend a hand, wherever they can

#9 for popcorn and m&ms

#10 fresh corn on the cob

Adoption News!

WE GOT TRAVEL APPROVAL!!

We need to arrive in Kunming, China anytime on September 17th.

We can come home from Guangzhou, China the evening of September 30th.

We’re coming little boy!!

Rhyme This

Me: What rhymes with pork?

Sunita: I don’t know

Me: Something you use to stab food…

Sunita: I don’t know

Me: You have a knife, a spoon, and a…

Sunita: CHOPSTICK!!

“The Pen”

While in Idaho we visited the historic Idaho State Penitentiary.  Sunita had to be woken from a nap, so she was not excited at first.

The grounds surrounding and within the Pen were beautiful.

The first cell block was finished in 1871.

This is what used to be the cafeteria.  Riots in the early ’70s burned and destroyed some of the buildings.

The roses there were beautiful and have been there for a long time.  The prisoners tended to them while it was still a functioning prison.  Ironically, most of the hangings (7 of the 10) took place in the middle of the rose garden, and by time they actually constructed an official gallows, all but one of the hangings had occurred.

A more “modern” cell.

Prison has certainly changed.  The isolation rooms were extreme.

There was no light source except what could come through the bottom of the door and through a little soup can size hole in the ceiling.

The space was narrow enough to brace our backs against one side and reach the other side with our legs.  They weren’t any too deep either.  I was standing at the back taking the picture of Sunita in the doorway.

The next step in solitary only had a little door which, if closed, was the kind of dark where you can’t see your hand in front of your face.  Sunita doesn’t mind the dark at all.  She would go in cell all by herself and shut the door.  The prisoners often went crazy after spending much time in solitary.  It wasn’t hard to imagine.

Levers for operating the cell blocks.

The old cells were tight.  Four to a cell and when the bunks were down there wouldn’t be much room to move.  They also had a chamber pot just tucked in the corner.  I’m not sure if those historical prisons were more of a deterrent to crime than today’s prisons, but I bet the gallows (and the isolation cells) on site might have helped decrease prison violence.  It was an interesting place to visit and the stories they had throughout the spaces were morbidly fascinating.  Fun fact, it’s supposedly one of the most haunted sites in America.

Visit to Idaho

We had a great time visiting my folks in Idaho.  We played outside a lot and enjoyed the sunshine.  Our summer has been so cool, it was nice to get some 80+ degree days.

Sunita had a great time in the kiddo pool.

She loves G’ma’s & G’pa’s swing.

Looking at quails.

Doing somersaults with the exercise ball.

And, of course, playing with the dogs.  She loves the dogs!

Sunita loved to see the garter snakes sunning themselves on Grandma’s fountain.

When inside, she played legos or read books and she ALWAYS had a willing playmate or 2…or 3.

This is where Husband and my dad went 4 wheeling.  A whole lotta nothin.

Jared had a good time.

And was a dirt ball when he got back.