Shots!

On Friday we decamped from Shenyang and had a leisurely 4 hour flight south to Guangzhou. Emerged from the airport into the first rain we've seen here, and it was worth the wait! Torrential downpours and rush hour traffic turned our commute to the White Swan Hotel from an expected 45 minutes into 2 hours. Once here, however, the hotel was gracious enough to upgrade us to a suite, so we're living large over here. 2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a living room with a nice view of the Pearl River (the hotel is on an island). Slept soundly.

This morning was Jed's physical appointment. The clinic is within walking distance of the hotel, so Rebekah, Jed, and I along with our guide Connie and apparently EVERY CHILD IN THE PROVINCE went over there to get poked, prodded, and measured. They truly have it down to an science over there; despite all the kids, we were in and out in about an hour. I elected to be the bad guy, so I held him while he got his chest listened to (he has a pulse!), his ears examined (he can hear!), his height and weight measured (91 cm! 13 kg!), and 6 shots and a TB test administered (boo!). Every arm and leg got a needle or two. Jed took the shots like a champ, though. Didn't enjoy it at all, but he got over it quickly, and so far no ill effects.

Free day the rest of today and tomorrow, so we're going to go do some exploring. Later!

Headin' south

Tomorrow we hop on another China Southern flight to go to Guangzhou, our last major stop on this little adventure. We'll be there for a week. We go there because that's where the US has decided to keep their embassy. I'm sure there's a long story behind that decision, but I don't know it, and if you get right down to it I don't really care. (Man, I gotta stop writing these things right before bed.)

After the 2 days of punishing paperwork in a smoky 6th floor conference room (seriously, on a clear day the visibility is only about a quarter mile. Have you checked out the Shenyang scenery pictures? That ain't fog), the boys were about ready to jump out of their skin. So yesterday our guide Maggie took us to a local Shenyang amusement park. It was pretty dingy and run-down, like something out of Scooby Doo ("Let's find out who this ghost really is! Why, it's Old Man Murray, who runs the old amusement park on the edge of town!" "And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for you meddling kids!"), but it had this crazy indoor playground that the kids just adored. We spent 3 hours in there. It was a bunch of playground equipment stretched across 3 floors, with ladders, stairs, and slides connecting them all. Two trampolines, swings, and a ball pit. It was creaky, and I would have liked to see a safety inspection certificate, but it was just what the doctor ordered. The boys just had a blast in there.

That afternoon, Rebekah and Jed went to the local children's hospital to get an official reading on Jed's oxygen saturation level, which is something we needed to know to find out if he could fly without supplementary oxygen. It was good enough to fly to Guangzhou on, and there we'll confer with the pediatrician who's traveling in our group about the rest of the journey. The test ended up costing 11 yuan, or about 2 bucks. Not bad.

Today was a free day, with nothing official planned. So we took a taxi to the Shenyang Botanical Garden, which is a ridiculously beautiful fun place. Definitely a must-see for anyone traveling to Liaoning province. I really don't know how to describe it. Lots of small gardens with brooks and pagodas, lots of public artwork, a 2o0-foot observation tower shaped like a giant lily, oh and a really nice theme park. The theme park included something they called an "amusement bridge area", which is probably the best way to describe it. Take a river, and then come up with as many absurd and challenging ways to cross that river as you can think of, and then throw them all into the river. There were rope bridges, a line of rotating barrels, a zip line, a bunch of Tarzan-style ropes to swing across on, a giant hamster ball, etc. It was truly awesome, and if I were there without any kids, I would stay there all day. Gus was really disappointed he wasn't allowed to do much.

We got Jed's Chinese passport tonight, so we're all set to go. More to come from southern China, so stay tuned.

Put down the slinkies, boys, it's time for bed

We're now 4 days into our stay in Shenyang, and all is well. We're installed in a lovely hotel called the Trader's Hotel. We're still going to bed at 8:30, but now for a different reason. Jed is all ours now. We spent 2 long mornings in a stuffy smoke-filled 6th floor office of the China Civic Affairs office, filling out paperwork along with 4 other families with similar business in Shenyang. Jed spent the first day clinging to Rebekah for dear life. He neither cried nor smiled. By now, however, he's much more free with the emotions. He spends a lot of time playing with his gege (Chinese for big brother), and I think he thinks Gus is the coolest guy on the planet. Gus is really patient with him as well. He calls Jed "my little one", which is cute.

When he's not playing, he's eating. The kid's tossing back food like you wouldn't believe. And he's not picky, either. He must be putting on 5 pounds a day.

Wow. I just fell asleep in my chair. Time for bed. More later.

Two Whirlwind Days in Beijing

We all crashed in the hotel and slept fairly reasonably. I seem to be the only one still jetlagging (or maybe that's just nervousness). In the morning we had breakfast and met Rose and two travel companions (Mark and Anne, adopting a little girl in Guangdong). We took a private bus to a section of the Great Wall that
protects a strategic pass through the mountains.
We tied Gus onto Jim's back and hiked up the first sets of stairs. I didn't expect that the stairs would be a) so steep and b) so uneven. Some are very shallow, and then there are stairs that you practically have to hoist yourself up. The men who manned this wall must've been some of the fittest in China.
We got up to the first tower, and decided to walk a little of the way around the loop. Gus wanted to get down and hiked some of the wall himself. Eventually we did the entire loop. My calves are still mad at me, but it was really neat. You look back and think "I climbed THAT!?"
We discovered a new Chinese hobby: taking pictures with random tourists. We all got stopped at one point or another to take pictures with other climbers. Jim got stopped most often (tall white man with a toddler tied to him).
After that we went to an amazing lunch on top of a cloisonne factory, and did a little shopping there (we like to collect Christmas ornaments from interesting places, and although I was surprised to find them in a Communist state-run store, there they were). We came home with a hummingbird (beautiful), an armadillo (because really, an armadillo?), and did not come home with a burnt-orange Longhorn Dad ornament. The arm of the Longhorns is long indeed.
Then we drove back to Beijing and saw the Water Cube (which is way cooler in person) and the Bird's Nest. Gus was losing it at this point, so we skipped a tea ceremony to go take a nap. We barely woke up for dinner, and then went back to bed. Discovered that a lot of the milk in China may be rice milk, which Gus doesn't like. It put him pretty off-kilter to be milk-less for a few days; maybe we'll find some more like home when we get to Guangzhou.
The next day we took a walk to the Temple of Heaven. Only got to see the Temple through the trees, because the real purpose was to let Gus climb all over the Seven Mountain Stones (everyone else's kids were climbing all over them, so we figured we weren't desecrating too much). We saw a neat game with balls and rackets and bought a couple sets to play with later, then headed to the Hong Qiao Pearl Market for some quick shopping. Jim and Dad grabbed a couple of things that they needed, and I did some necklace shopping. You're supposed to haggle, but it's hard when they say, "Best offer, $40." And you're supposed to say, "No, $4!" but you're thinking "$40 is awfully reasonable!" So I bargained down to about $30 and felt fine with that.
Then we had another amazing lunch and went to Tiananmen Square. Not fun for Gus. At the end of it is the Forbidden City, and he could run around a bit more there. Super-hot. Apparently there are 15 layers of bricks underlying the whole place to discouraging tunnelling assassins. It is humongous.
We were told that the hawkers there are relentless, so to tell them right off that you aren't interested. Reb said, "I don't want any, thank you" with such great sincerity, big smile, and apparently murderous pronunciation that one hawker actually stopped to give her a big smile and pat on the arm in the universal sign of "It's okay, dear, at least you're trying."
Then back to the airport, where Gus and Reb slept the whole flight, into the next hotel (which is WOW). Gotta stop typing to go meet Jed!

A Long Series of Flights

The Amazing James dropped us off at the airport at around 4 a.m. Gus was up late picking up Dad from the airport, so no one slept more than 5 hours (and I only slept around 3). Then we flew to Minneapolis, sleeping on the way. Ate breakfast in Minneapolis and had a six-hour layover. Unluckily, Minneapolis has only one interesting thing for children. Luckily, it was right on our concourse, and it was a pretty good playplace. We managed to spend 3.5 hours there, with some effort. Then had some lunch and got on the LOOOONG flight.

Which wasn't too bad, actually. We all slept a few hours here and there, nothing too long. Gus was hysterical twice when he woke up and found himself still on a plane, but overall he did well. He was amused by the first bit of turbulence and scared as it got worse. I barely missed throwing my glass of water all over my husband (he woke up not from the turbulence but from the gasps from the passengers).

We landed in Tokyo and took Gus to a playplace. He was NOT in the mood to play, so we headed to the next gate instead. We were afraid that the next flight would be a diasaster, but Gus settled down to watch some movies and was fine. He lost it again as we waited in Immigration and Customs lines, but we all survived (and moved a little faster through Customs as the lady took pity on the family with the freaking-out kid). At 10:30 p.m. we exited the secure area and waited for our Beijing guide, Rose. Gus has a huge crush on Miss Rose.

Leaving tomorrow!

Just realized I didn't announce this on the blog (been posting about the packing process over at Facebook). Once the excited grandfather arrives, we will have everything we need to go.

We will meet Jed on Monday (Sunday evening over here). We would appreciate prayers for the transition for everyone, extra patience for us, and relief from jetlag.

We'll post when we can!

Call to Action Tuesday

I was hoping for LOA yesterday (a lot of them come on Mondays). Nope. We've now been waiting 75 days.

But in the meantime, there's something important we'd like to ask your help with.

Background: A few years ago, the US government approved the Hague Treaty that deals with international adoption. Our first adoption took place under the old rules, this adoption will take place under the new ones. In our last adoption, we signed a paper promising to get Gus's immunizations up to date as fast as reasonably possible, and we did. However, when the new legislation was typed up, a clerk accidentally left out the paragraph that allows for that to happen. OOOPS!!! But now it's US law. The result is that no child can come home under the new rules without being completely up to date on shots.

That means that after approximately a week with Little Dragon, just as he's starting to trust us, we will have to take him to the Embassy doctor and give him up to 8 shots in one day. That is BAD for a few reasons.

1) Attachment. Terrible! He will just be starting to trust us and then this happens. And then a few days later we will enclose him in a tube for 18 hours. Terrible.

2) Health. I am a big fan of immunizations (I am an immunologist, after all), but 8 shots in a day is too much stress for a little system. ESPECIALLY for a child with KNOWN special needs. ESPECIALLY for a child in less than the best of health (like one who has been in an institution). There was a recent case in which a little girl became very sick after her shots.

I am very concerned about Little Dragon's shots. I could apply for a medical waiver, but the Embassy has a history of not honoring them. I cannot apply for an exemption, because I would have to prove that I am categorically against shots (which I am not, just against shots done dangerously).

And to add insult to injury, several children have needed their shots redone anyway when they arrive home, because the shots given at the Embassy didn't "take".

I would like to have my child's immunizations performed under the supervision of the doctors we trust in the US, under a reasonable schedule. And there is a way. Unfortunately it will take an act of Congress! The Senate has finally cleared a bill through the Judiciary Committee and the State Department to deal with the typing oops. The bill is 1376, the International Adoption Simplification Act. But it is number 330 on their to-do list.

Please call your Senators today and ask them for quick and favorable resolution on this bill. Little Dragon would thank you.