Latest Trip Photos Update

Here is a drive-by of the memorial to Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Chinese Republic in 1912.



Typical traffic in Guangzhou, China.




Here is a good inside view of the Chen Ancestral Hall (Jan. 23).

Here is a good picture of a Year of the Rabbit display near the Chen Ancestral Hall

(Jan. 23).

Here are a couple pictures of the Guangzhou Zoo from Jan. 25th, the day after the US Consulate.

Chen Ancestral Hall

This picture is of the Chen Ancestral Hall from Jan. 23rd. The "Spicy Hunaners Club" may recognize it.

Wednesday, March 2, 2010

Haifeng started school today at Orange Park Jr High, where there is a mandarin speaking student to show her around and get her acclimated,
while she works with the ESOL teacher.

This picture is also from Jan 21st on the trip to Zhuhai. It is of the Zhuhai Sam's Club.

Trip Photos Update

Here is the Fishing Girl statue in the Pearl River, the symbol of Zhuhai city (Jan. 21).

Jan. 21st, Zhuhai orphanage, the assembly hall, 

looks to be prepared for Chinese New Year celebration.

Miss Zoe "undercover" at the Victory Hotel in Guangzhou.

This photo was taken on Jan 20th. I and a Chinese comedian irritating mom by shutting the eyes, are waiting in the Immigration Clinic for Haifeng to finish.

This photo was taken on Jan. 20th, for the trip to the Immigration Clinic for Haifeng's physical.

Here is a picture of the lobby of the Victory Hotel.

This second photo was taken on Jan. 19th and represents the government building in downtown Guangzhou where we applied for the expedited passport.

This is a picture of Carrefour, the large French grocery store, where Haifeng got food she likes. It was taken on Wed, Jan. 19th, when we went there and applied for her expedited passport.

This picture was taken on Jan. 18th as we went back to the Guangdong Civil Affairs office to finish our paperwork.

The lady in front is the nanny who brought Haifeng from Zhuhai
and the lady behind her is Helen, our guide

The above photo was taken on the day we met Hai Feng.

Zoe and Me at the China Coast race in the Lion's Club in Hong Kong, which served as the gym and restroom for the starting area.

This picture of Zoe and me was taken by Julie outside the Comfort Inn by Detroit airport on the morning of Jan. 14, when we were delayed one day by our late flight from Jacksonville on the 13th.

This picture shows Haifeng with her teacher and Zoe 

at the Zhuhai orphanage.

Friday, February 18, 2011

We've been home three weeks now and Haifeng has made amazing strides.  

The first two weeks she was very depressed and missing her friends in Zhuhai orphanage.  Since then, we have had a wonderful interpreter over who has helped her immensely.  A vietnamese grandmother, friends of us, has also done some "teensitting" for us.  We have set up her computer and she is talking with her friends now.  

Today, she got a clean physical on her first visit to the doctor.  Perhaps China's signing of the Hague Convention was the reason our doctor here accepted her vaccinations she got at the International Immigration Clinic on Shamian Island, Guangzhou.  She got four shots there and thankfully, they were accepted as valid and she's good to go for school.  We plan to start her on February 28th.  We had resolved ourself to the fact that at 13, her adjustment would probably be very slow.  While her acquiring of english is still ahead of us, we are very thankful for the great strides she has made in the last week and the enormous number of people who have helped.  

Our local chapter of adoptive families also held their Chinese New Year's celebration last saturday night, Feb. 12th.  They very thoughtfully seated us with a family whose 18 yr old daughter had come over at 13.  She talked with Haifeng throughout the night.  Haifeng was also able to see all the adopted kids smiling and enjoying themselves.  This also had a very positive impact.  

We are looking forward now to the Spicy Hunan Reunion in June and continuing to make progress in the intervening months.  We feel so blessed at her progress, but the credit goes to Haifeng who has gone through a month that the rest of us can only marvel at and done remarkably well.

 

 

Saturday, January 29, 2011

We boarded our Hong Kong-Detroit flight on time and zipped back over Taiwan and Japan, then the Russian coast, south of Anchorage and down across Canada into Detroit.  Haifeng was probably "lost" in her own mind, but she did admirably and caused no problems.  This was especially commendable because we had found out she had some motion sickness, not being used to even riding in cars.  The pilot got us to Detroit 10 minutes early.  After 15 hours, you appreciate every minute.  

We could see the difference versus Chicago in 2007.  We had immigration to ourselves.  A few minutes later we heard the announcement for the flight from Tokyo to come to baggage claim.  Maybe that 10 minutes did it and got us ahead of them.   We remembered hustling nonstop in 2007 and barely making our Jacksonville flight.  This time we had an easier time of it.  In Jacksonville our daughter Jenicka picked us up, even though she had a bad cold.  

It's so nice to be home!

Thursday and Friday Update

Thursday, January 27, 2011

 

We departed the Victory Hotel in Guangzhou at 7am.  Helen and Mr Chu, our driver, took us to the airport and got us checked in.  We hated to say goodbye to them, but we are looking forward to a couple days in Hong Kong where enough people speak english you can do your own thing like in europe much easier.  

We flew Dragonair, a subsidiary of Cathay Pacific, to Hong Kong, with an Australian pilot.  We were glad we had already gotten flights over the fast train, because Chinese New Year or Spring Festival travel has already began big time in China, resulting in a extremely packed Guangzhou train station as many workers leave there for other parts of China.  Even our flight was slow to take off.  

Zoe meant to sit by mom but we had two pairs of seats in front of each other and Haifeng sit by her.  Zoe dropped an instant tear, but by takeoff, she was encouraging Haifeng, who was on her first flight, with "I love you" in Chinese.  

When we got to Hong Kong, we knew where to go to catch the hotel shuttle from our experience on the 16th, so it was a quick transit.  Both of them watched cartoons together Thursday night after we had dinner.

 

Friday, January 28, 2011

 

We started out the day apprehensive that Haifeng would go anywhere and I can't think of a city I would hate staying in the hotel room more than Hong Kong.  

Well, we first strolled into the Citygate Outlet Mall, adjacent to the Novotel Hotel and they got a few things.  There was a big grocery store there called 'Taste'.   Haifeng and Zoe picked out some snacks they wanted and that seemed to pave the way for going to the cable car for a neat excursion just outside the mall.   We didn't plan it that way but it worked out great.  

It's called "Ngong Ping 360".  It's a cable car ride across the bay and up over the very steep mountains above Lantau island.  We took the cable car and she rode it just fine.  Meanwhile, Zoe's mouth is nonstop, she jaws about the incredible scenery with her classic, "oh my God" and the chinese family with us in the cable car, laughed and repeated her phrase "oh my God", just like Helen our Guangzhou guide did for the last 10 days.  

When we got off the cable car, we walked through Ngong Ping Village, the souvenir shops, and on to the Tian Tan Buddha, supposedly the largest free standing buddha in the world.  Both girls got cotton candy walking back through the village.  Yes they had cotton candy.  

Back at the hotel, we got Zoe her McDonalds and Haifeng got wonton soup from room service.  I had a nice hour run around the bay by the hotel.  

Tonight we'll make one more trip into the outlet mall.  We are ecstatic our "guideless time" in Hong Kong has went off so well.  Hong Kong is such a neat, international city.  We had for tv the BBC, France24, russian, chinese, portuguese, espn asia, just about everything.  There were hong kong school kids in plad skirts, perhaps residual evidence of the British system. 

Tomorrow we endure the long flight to Detroit, then the more reasonable flight to Jacksonville.  

We'll get pictures posted in the next few days.  We have plenty.

Wednesday Update

I did my last workout in the Victory exercise room this morning and crossed the highway one more time up to the shopping area to get Zoe one more order of chicken nuggets.

In the afternoon we went on one more tour to a park and to a museum. The museum was about the Mausoleum of the Nanyue King, an emperor of the small Nanyue kingdom around Guangzhou that was eventually overrun by the Han Chinese, the majority. The website is http://www.gznywmuseum.com. I think it roughly covered the period around 200 BC. It was very educational and Haifeng started asking a lot of questions about if from the guide Helen, so maybe she's a future history major.

When we returned to Shamian Island, we received the brown envelope at the White Swan, which we must deliver unopened to US Immigration in Detroit. We go to the Guangzhou airport early tomorrow to fly to Hong Kong where we will be Thursday and Friday, before we fly out on Saturday.

We're going to miss our guide Helen who has been such a great support and escort.

Visit to the Zoo

Today we went to the Guangzhou Zoo in the morning, another chilly, cloudy day. Haifeng saw her first zoo animals because there is no zoo in Zhuhai. Ha. Zoe campaigned until she rode the merry go round. We saw the pandas, tibetan yaks and camels and the rest. There was also a gator pool with a water ride that circled the gators and plunged off into the splash at the bottom.

Would you believe the old dude running the ride was hawking loudly for us to take the ride just to make a yuan even though we would have froze once we hit the bottom of the slide and got drenched in the water.

After that we went to a tea house for some tea, dim sum, etc. It was another enjoyable time learning about the way the Chinese enjoy their tea time. Haifeng and I both enjoyed the chili sauce but I let her take care of the chicken feet again. More power to her.

When we got back, I trudged through the herbal market to the pedestrian street by Holiday Inn to get Zoe some more McDonalds chicken nuggets. They are both happy campers now.

We have an afternoon tour tomorrow and Helen our guide picks up the visa packet at the Consulate.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Today we took the 45 minute ride to the US Consulate. The lady from the consulate made a speech at the beginning, telling how she was transferring to Helsinki, Finland soon and how many adoptions they processed last year and this year. She also said the consulate is also moving into it's own building in March 2012. The room was packed and I could imagine some mother with a restless baby muttering, "Who cares lady if you're transferring to Helsinki, just get on with it." Ha.

Haifeng sat there nicely and when we went to the window to sign the DS 230 for her visa, instead of us signing as we did for Zoe, she signed with the chinese characters. It was a neat sight! The consulate officer complemented her on her neatness. While we were on the way there, Zoe yells to the guide in the front of the van that she knows everything. Helen (the guide) asked Zoe, "OK Zoe, how do we get to the Consulate?" Zoe replied, " Well, I know everything except how to get to the Consulate."

We went to Lucy's tonight and when we came back through the lobby of the Victory, they were hanging up the Chinese New Year decorations for the Year of the Rabbit. It makes it feel like it's still Christmas. Tomorrow, we go to the Guangzhou Zoo.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Today we went to the Chen Ancestral Hall in Guangzhou built during the Qing Dynasty (1888-1894).  I remember thinking it was another Buddhist temple like the one in Changsha when Michelle, our previous guide, brought us to it in 2007, but although it is an ancient structure, it is for the worship of ancestors, the form of religion most common among the chinese people.  Since it was only us and our guide Helen, we spent more time there and learned more about it.  

After that, we walked through some side streets where some very poor people lived.  It was such a contrast to the main thoroughfares with the high rises.  

When we got back to the Victory, Zoe wanted some McDonald's chicken nuggets.  Luckily, I knew where I could find one off the island near the Holiday Inn.  She was a 'happy camper'.  

Tomorrow is our trip to the US Consulate.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday Update

Thursday, January 20, 2011

 

Today we went to the clinic on Shamian Island for Haifeng's physical.  We saw the "Keep Quiet" sign and remembered sitting there 3 1/2 years ago with Zoe and our friends.  With the new Hague agreement requiring vaccinations and the exemption applying only to kids under 11 yrs, we were apprehensive about how many shots Haifeng would have to get.  She got only four and we got her first smile when she was measured for her height and weight.  We got some more to go food from Lucy's because Haifeng is not big on public appearances, which was not a surprise as we knew she was an introvert.  Ha.

 

Friday, January 21, 2011

 

Today, after getting permission, we traveled with the guide down to Zhuhai to see the orphanage at Haifeng's request, so she could see her friends one more time and bring them some gifts.  This is one way a trip for an older child is different.  You just embrace it and go with the flow and you get rewarded too.  The director, staff and her teacher were all glad to see her again and we got some pictures which we will get posted at least by the time we get back. 

 

Saturday, January 22, 2011

 

Halfway through our time in China.  Today we went back to the clinic to pick up Haifeng's sealed physical which the guide will turn in to the US Consulate for our appointment on Monday, January 24th.  The guide then took us shopping off the island.  We took the bridge over the city street in front of the Victory, winding through some narrow streets mostly selling herbs in small shops.  It looked like it might have looked for many years, even centuries, because selling herbs is something the chinese have always done.  We then walked through an open area under the Holiday Inn into a nice pedestrian street of shops.  We were on a mission to "arm" the new american Haifeng with her choice of clothes, shoes, watch, suitcase, etc.  Thankfully, the shops were open to bargaining and had some good deals becaus you can't leave out the Zoe Zoe either.  We got her some good things, got the internet fixed and our instant teen is a happy camper.  We finished up by hitting McDonalds, a favorite of Zoe and we discovered, also a favorite with Haifeng.  Sunday, the guide is taking us on a tour. 

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Today we went downtown to the government office that processes passports and put in the expedited order for Haifeng's passport.

On the way back to Shamian Island, we stopped at Carrefour, a large French grocery store that had a little of everything like Super Walmart. Haifeng stocked up on her favorite food like chicken feet, hard candy, chips, music CD's, skittles, chicken jerky sticks, two hard boiled eggs for tea, Nemo orange drink, jello fruit cups and chips. We got a quick and informative education on what she really likes and that's good, because she wasn't eating much to this point.

Tonight, we picked up some pizza and fries for Zoe from Lucy's. I don't see how you could ever get tired of that place. It has so much character (Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Audrey Hepburn, License plates and all the other stuff that covers the walls). Cutting across the island with the Lucy's to go order, I passed a couple of chinese dressed up like the three muskateers. There is always something to see coming across the island. Someone is being photographed.

Tomorrow is Haifeng's physical and whatever shots she has to get. Congress passed a new law exempting adoptees from most of the immigration shots, but only for kids under 11 years old.

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

In the morning we returned to Guandong Civil Affairs and completed the interview, got our picture taken and paid the remaining fees to the province.

We made some more strides as the guide Helen took us to a Chinese restaurant on Shamian that only cost us about $21 US and she discovered some food that Hai Feng would eat. Helen has been a great asset in gradually getting through to her because she is a shy person.

Hai Feng is very good on the computer. We are reacquainting ourselves with the location of the shops on the island. Many of the ones we remember are still there. Wednesday we will pay the fee to expedite Hai Feng's chinese passport and go to a large grocery store.

Today we met Hai Feng

Monday, January 17, 2011

Today we met Hai Feng at the Civil Affairs office. She was very nervous and somewhat stressed because of all the change in one day and no doubt she is missing her friends. The woman from the orphanage and Helen our guide were great at trying to help her relax. She got on the computer as soon as we got back to the room and talked to her friends. She has handled it as well as we can expect, especially since our communication is limited. I think it will help that we will be in the same hotel for several days so some familiarity and routine can take hold.

We meet Helen again at 9am to go back to Civil Affairs and go through the forms and pay the rest of the fees. God is our foundation. We miss our Zhuzhou friends so we could make the rounds of Shamian Island. We found the 7-11 again and Lucy's and got some good food to go from the restaurant here in the Victory Hotel tonight. The Victory is about 100 years old and used to be the Victoria Hotel under the British, but it is a nice hotel. We have a Japanese style suite and it sure looks Japanese. We will try to add some pictures in a few days when we get into a flow.

Thanks to everyone for all your support! I'm still a little sore from those steep grades in the half marathon Sunday. We will see you all tomorrow. Hi Mom!

We are in China!!!

It's Sunday night, 16th.  We're exhausted and finally in the Victory Hotel on Shamian Island.  We'll try to get pictures rolling as soon as possible. 

 

Thursday, we began the trip in Jacksonville with a 2 hour flight delay, which stranded us in Detroit Thursday night until we could get out Friday afternoon.  Delta did cover our hotel in Detroit.  Zoe also took advantage by playing in the snow that morning.  Taking off at 3:25pm,we flew north over Canada, west across Alaska, then south down the Russian coast.  I saw our flight path would cross the northern edge of North Korea, so that really perked my interest, but when we passed over Beijing, we made an abrupt turn to the west to avoid NK airspace.  

We landed in Hong Kong on schedule Saturday night.  Sunday, I woke up at 4 am involuntarily and at 6:30, off we were off by speeding taxi to the far side of Hong Kong for the China Coast Half Marathon.  After picking up my number and prior to the race, I asked the race director, Stuart Leonard, a very warm and friendly old Englishman, where I could pick up my race t-shirt.  In America, you always pick it up before the race if not a couple days before.  Not so in Hong Kong.  Stuart smiled and quipped in his best King's english, "Lad, you can't get your shirt until after the race.  You have to earn it."   I replied, "Stuart, I think you have the better method."  As a lifetime runner, I reveled in every minute of the 13.1 miles, despite the fact the mountain roads around High Island Reservoir were very steep and I run in flat Florida.  Also, it was very windy and cold.  I still loved it because it was obviously a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  

On the long way back to the hotel to check out and nervous to get to Hong Kong airport in plenty of time for our flight to Guangzhou, we had to take a green taxi halfway.  He let us out in front of a transportation hub because green taxis were not allowed to enter red taxi territory.  So after we paid the driver of the green taxi, we started to look for a red taxi to come by.  In less than two minutes, a red taxi started speeding past us.   Zoe, knowing we wanted a red taxi and before we could react, began waving excitedly at the red taxi to get his attention.   He circled out of sight but came back by soon after.  What an amazing five year old this kid is! We expected her main contribution to be bonding with Hai Feng, but that prior to meeting her sister, she would be a typical five year old on an obviously arduous journey.  Not so!  She is truly an asset, not just beautiful "window dressing". We are so blessed.

Christmas Picture Update

Here are pictures of Hai Feng's Christmas! She is so happy she will see her parents very soon. Here we can see she has her own cubicle, which we thought was a very thoughtful thing for the SWI to do.  The note she wrote us wishes us, her forever family, to be happy and healthy. 

                   We bought our international tickets today.  Going through Detroit to Hong Kong.  Here's wishing for a dry runway in Detroit next month.  Happy Holidays to everyone!

 

 

CHRISTMAS DAY UPDATE

Wow! Thursday, Dec. 23rd. We called our agency contact, Xiaoqing, when we read a message that they would be closed until New Year's. We asked what if our TA came in while they were closed? She contacted the Consulate and CCAA and got the TA and the Consulate appointment and got right back to us that afternoon!

We are flying to Hong Kong on Jan. 13th, see some sights, hopefully I get to run the China Coast Half Marathon with the British running club, Athletic Veterans of Hong Kong, on the morning of Jan. 16th, then fly to Guangzhou that afternoon. Monday, Jan. 17th we meet Haif Feng! Our US Consulate appointment is Monday, Jan. 24th. We return to Hong Kong Wednesday evening. Thursday, Jan 27th we plan on taking both girls to Hong Kong Disney and we'll fly back on Friday or Saturday.

It will be nine months since we claimed her off the shared list last April. Unless things change, our next update will be from Hong Kong next month. If we receive any Hai Feng pictures before we go, we will post them.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

December 14, 2010 Update

 

       The remaining Hague Convention requirements are in place, clearing the way for our Travel Approval from CCAA in Beijing, which should come in about 2-3 weeks.  Our I800 made it to the US Consulate in Guangzhou on Nov. 19th.  After the Consulate did it's thing, the Article 5 ("Hague talk" for our Letter of Acceptance of Hai Feng) was sent on to the CCAA on Monday, Dec. 13th. 

       Based on her experience, our agency coordinator, Xiaoqing, estimates that we will be in Guangzhou on Jan. 16th and meet Hai Feng on Jan. 17th, pending CCAA's timing and the Consulate appointment being confirmed. 

       We sent Hai Feng a small Christmas package and a letter to let her know she can expect us in January.    We currently have just these picture of the Santa and the letter we wrote in the package.