Hello everyone, We have not been able to accsess this site until now. So I'm going to make one big post to get you caught up.
This was our last day in Hong Kong. We had up to 2:00 on Sunday before we had to check out of our rooms and leave for the airport.
We decided to go over to the New Town Shopping mall. WOW!!!! I have never seen a mall so big. I think we got lost 2 or 3 times. I did find a music store inside. It was so cool. It was loaded with USA Gibson and Fender guitars, lots of them. (Only $18999.00 H.K. for a new fender American strat) (It wouldn't fit in my suite case so I had to pass)
It was a nice walk along the river and through the city. We passed an open market that had live chickens for sale, a fresh meat stand, and very interesting people. We also watch some people doing martial arts with swords in the park. They have a nice park and what is really strange is, they have different kinds of birds in cages hanging though-out the garden it was pretty, they were singing to one another. (Or calling for help?)
All the apartment buildings (high rise) in Hong Kong have poles hanging off the windows of the apartments; they use these to dry their clothes. They do not have dryers like we do in the US. They use clothes line or if you are lucky you get a long pole and hang it out from your window.
Well we check out of our hotel, Took our bus to the H.K. airport. And Mathew helped us get our flights taken care of and we said goodbye to him and went through customs. He was a very good guide in H.K. very knowledgeable and actually very funny. (Oh we did get to drive past Jackie Chan's house and office building)
We took our China Southern fight to Nanning. It was a very good flight. A man that sat next to me was very helpful, our entry paper they have you fill out before landing was just a little bit confusing. (He was very nice)
We are now staying at the Wharton International Hotel. This is a true 5 star hotel. Very nice. We did have a problem with our door keys not working and then the safe was not working write but they took care of that write away. Jennie was tired last night when we settled in. She lay down and I met some of the families at the western restaurant in the hotel. I order a Cheese burger and fries. To my surprise the cheese burger came with a fried egg on it! And the meet part of the burger, well it tastes like a cross between meatloaf and sausage. I had 2 bites and just ate the crinkle cut fries.
Today is the big day. It is Monday morning around 7:30 and we finally receive Karsen today at 3:00. We are going to go down for breakfast and then we have a lot of paper work to do.
Nanning,
Well we filled out all of our paperwork at 10:00 today. That was fun.
Then at 12:00 we walked to a shopping plaza. It was a really weird shopping experience. It was kind of like a Wal-Mart? We had to get a few more baby things and wanted to get some snack food for our room. Most of the labels are all in Chinese. So I pick up some lays stackers (potato crisps) And Jennie happen to see in small letters the flavor. One was shrimp and the other, I had no Idea. It took me a while but I found some that was plain flavored. We got some cookies that I hope are Oreo and a few things like Pepsi and stuff we knew what it was.
After that Jennie and I along with Dennis and Karin decided to try KFC! It was great. It tastes just like home. Just make sure you point to the right picture on the menu because they do have weird combinations. It was a good lunch and the cheapest so far. It cost $42.50 Yuan which is $7.00 us for both of us! Then we caught shared a cab back to the hotel. ($8.51 Yuan or $1.10 us) When we walk to the store they said it was a block or two, well they did not say it was a Vegas block. It was a good walk though. We got to see allot of how the local people get around. And with the stuff we bought at the store it was just easier to get a cab.
And finally we took a picture of the group without babies write before we left to get Karsen. It was such a fast but incredible experience. (It reminded me of when you were little and was waiting for Christmas and when it came it was over.)
All the kids were great. The oldest girl (20 months) started to cry when we were leavening but when the bus started she settled down. Karson was great. She was very alert and she lets us both hold her and she likes to play with the toys we gave her. I think we need to get a teething ring tomorrow, she is cutting teeth.
We are trying to rest now, at 5:30 we are getting a professional group picture done. Then going to dinner.
Well it is official; we have our daughter leagaly,
We got up this morning and took a bus ride back over to the Lottery Hotel where we got Karsen yesterday. That is where we were interviewed and signed all the documents to make her ours. We also met the nannies and the orphanage director. We were able to ask questions of the nannies. We really did not have too much to ask. By the time we got to ask questions most of them were already answered.
After the ceremony, we then traveled to the notary. That was a quick stop. Just a few questions and then we signed some papers and went back to the hotel.
Karsen finally drank some of her formula. She had 2 bottles and she really likes the sweet potatoes puffs we brought for her. For some reason she does not like to use a spoon. They scare her.
We took another adventurous walk to the store today. We had to get some smaller diapers. She only weighes 12 lbs. The store is underground, and to our surprise, it is a large underground market/mall. We started to walk around and we got lost. We came out from the store and we were a few blocks away from where we started. But luckily we found our way back and we had a nice walk.
We did get to see a doctor today. He said she looked good and everything seems fine. That was good. (This was a regular CCAI scedualed appointment!)
I hope to get a good night sleep tonight. Last night we all fell asleep at 9:00 and got up at 4:00. We are hoping to get a small nap in before we go to dinner.
Well, we are pretty much done here in Nanning. The reason we have to stay longer is there is a new holiday this year in China. The sweeping of the grave? So we are going to go on a bus ride to a shopping center and market tomorrow. That should be fun? It has been cool here in Nanning. (Around65-70 degrees) I think it is going to warm by the weekend.
We had a good night last night. We all went to bed around 9:30 and got up at 6:30. Well that was not solid sleep. Karsen would wake up about every hour to hour and half. We think she wanted to make sure we were still here. Jennie would pick her up for a minute and then lay her back down in the crib. She did take a bottle at 3:30 in the morning. She loves to get a bath. She is very happy today. Full of giggles, smiles and laughter.
It is so funny, it is raining here and these people still ride there scooters and bikes with rain coats and umbrellas. (special rain coats that cover you and your scooter with slits for your mirrors. We saw a guy riding a bike holding an umbrella and talking on a cell phone. (Now that is multi tasking)
We had a group shopping day today. We went to the Nanning Wal-Mart. (not your typical Wall-mart) it had 4 or 5 floors and just about anything you wanted. We bought Karsen some new clothes. We only brought a few out fits because we did not know exactly what size to buy. Besides how expensive could it be all the clothes in wall-mart at home are made in China right?
We also went to a department store called Parkson; we related this store to Dillard’s. (Very much so) Top brand stuff with top brand prices. We did buy Karsen some nice squeaky sandals. And a dress. Well thanks to one of our guides (Hanna) if not for her it would have been so hard to buy anything. Unlike the stores back home, you tell the girls working the floor what you want and what size and they write out a ticket for you. (They do not speak English) Then you take your ticket and go to a checkout desk on that floor, you pay for the item and they give you 2 copies of the ticket to take back to the same sales person and she gives you the item and a bag. (How strange is that?)
We decided to try McDonalds for lunch. I don't care for McD's when we are in Ohio, but I thought it would be a change from all the Chinese food we have been eating. It tastes pretty much like McD's back home. (That’s the bad part!)
We are back in our room now, Karsen is taking a nap and Jennie is reading a book. Not much to do today. We are just waiting on Karsen’s passport. And thanks to the Sweeping of the graves holiday the offices are closed on Friday so we have to wait until Monday to get her passport and leave for our next stop on this tour. Tomorrow we are going to go to a museum. And I think Friday we might catch a cab and go see there Buddhist temple?
I hope everyone is doing well, Things are good here. IF it stops raining we are going to take a walk along the river. It is very pretty at night. Kind of like a little Las Vegas, with all the lights and neon.
We took a tour to the Museum of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It was allot of fun. We learned that this part of China is famous for large bronze drums; Families who had more wealth had larger drums. The people would have these bronzes pots for cooking also. They came in different sizes. We also learned allot about the local culture. How they dressed and there local customs. I never knew there were so many different nationalities of Chinese people. Our guide Hanna says there are 17 different minorities in Guangxi. And there are different rules for the different minorities. An example she gave was her nationality is one of the rarest so the government pushes them to have more children. She is allowed to have as many children as she can afford. But people of more populous minorities can only have 1. That was very interesting.
After the museum tour we went to the gift shop and we bought Karsen a Wedding ball. It is a tradition where the boys and girls would be brought together once a year and the girls through out the year would make an ornate ball; she would throw the ball at a boy of her choosing. If it hit a boy the boy had to marry her or if he did not want to marry her he would have to go work for her family for 3 years free labor. It is very neat tradition. (In the country they still have these traditions)
Outside the museum there is a beautiful garden and pond. There is also a restaurant with the shape of the copper drums. I think there was a wedding going on, we saw the bride and groom. We had the chance to see some boys playing traditional long pipe like instruments. And we saw 3 girls practicing a traditional dance.
We had probably the best dinner of the whole trip today at lunch. Michel and Hanna took us to a traditional Chinese restaurant next to the museum. They put us all at 2 large tables with a big lazy Susan. On that they would place all our food and you would just spin it around until you came to what you want. This is what we had. Sizzling beef, very good but spicy green beans, A funny looking fish, Chicken, Duck, dumplings, fruits, snow peas, broccoli, rice with pork ribs, 4 big bottles of beer, pop, herbal tea, noodles and sprouts, some kind of plump fried dough with a glaze dipping sauce. We had a ton of food. It was only $110 Yuan (just under $16 US) per couple. It was incredible. The food was great, the atmosphere was neat. There were chickens outside the window. And not one person spoke English. Some of us said we would like to go back for dinner or lunch some time but we would have to have our guides write out what we wanted to eat. We might try it later this week.
Well it is supposed to get really hot the next few days; upper 80's with a real feel of 101 degrees. I plan on hitting the pool. We are planning a trip tomorrow to the Buddhist temple and pagodas, and a new restaurant. So more pictures and more to come from Nanning...
Today we went to Green Hill Park. It was so huge that our guides choose a few specific sites for us to visit. To continue with the bronze drum theme of yesterday you can see the importance of this item extended into their art. The frog seen on the top of many statues in the park also continues to be a very important theme to the locals since they believe they descended from them.
The bridge we crossed was beautiful. It was built completely of bamboo and crossed through the park about 1/2 mile. We then caught the bus that took us up the mountain to the budhist temple. We wern't supposed to take pictures of the statues but we casually caught some rogue shots. They gave everyone the opportunity to have their baby blessed by a monk for a nominal fee of course. We passed on the offer. The smell of incense was everywhere and I felt somewhat intrusive touring this place while some many others were there worshipping. They didn't seem to mind though. Many of the women fawned of the babies. They kept saying things like "lucky baby" "beautiful baby." I really can't say enough about how gracious the Chinese people really are.
After the temple we then went across the park to the pagoda. We climbed all 9 levels- VERY high! The original pagoda was built during the Ming Dynasty but the Chinese destroyed it themselves during WWII when it was discovered that it was a target of Japans. It was rebuilt to its original standard in 1987. The view from the top made me a little weak in the knees but it was beautiful and well worth the climb.
Several of us in the adoption group have decided to write a book called "Eight days in Nanning." While the trip has been good so far we are all starting to feel a little homesick and tired of living out of a suitcase. Most of us decided to forego the guided tour for the day and experience the city itself. It really is beautiful and as you can see they love their neon lights. It almost looks like the Las Vegas strip in the evening with a little bit of South Beach mixed in.
Scott and I ventured out on our own without anyone in the group including our guide/interpreter. This was an adventure. We were hounded by two buddhist nuns who wanted to bless Karsen for money of course. They kept bowing over her and tapping Scott's pockets. The people who passed by kept pointing and laughing. They knew what was going on. The Nuns figured that we would eventually just give them money so we would be left alone but they were wrong and left pretty angry. Later our guide Michael explained that the nuns were persistant and crazy people. Several other people approached us on the street, many people just wanting the opportunity to practice their English. Again, I can't say enough about how nice the locals are. They keep saying how pretty Karsen is and how lucky she is. I think we're the lucky ones.
I bought 4 childrens books for her today that tell Chinese children's stories and the writing is in booth Chinese and English. It's a shame she's so young and won't be able to remember her time here. It really is a beautiful country with wonderful people. I hope we can bring enough of China back for her so that when she's old enough she'll know what a kind, proud and amazing country she came from.
This was our last full day in Nanning. We got up early (6:30) and we got ready for breakfast. The breakfast’s here are very good. The Chinese people have a different idea of what they eat for breakfast. They like to eat foods that we would normally eat for lunch and dinner. But they also have a chef that will make you a western omelet or whatever type of egg you would like. We also like to eat in the Chinese restaurant in the hotel. It is very good.
After breakfast we took group photos in front of the hotel. Then Michael and Hanna walked us up to the local book store. You can get books and movies and music cd. It was fun; Jennie found a set of children books in the hotel book store. They have both Chinese and English translation. They are very nice.
Jennie and I ventured out on our own; we went for a walk and then decided to have lunch back at the hotel.
I think we might try the pool in a little while. It is very warm here. Such a nice change from the Ohio weather.
Tomorrow we will checkout our room at 8:30 and then we should be at the White Swan by 1:00 tomorrow afternoon. (So looking forward to it!) Only 6 more days. We are really enjoying our time hear in China. (A once in a life time opportunity) But I am looking forward to coming home and seeing all of you and sleep in my own bed. But until then we will enjoy every minute with our new daughter karsen and learn and take in all we can from her country.
We left for Guangzhou today. We had to get up early and get everything ready, and eat breakfast. Then we checked out of the hotel and we boarded the bus to go to the air port. While on the bus I noticed the Guide Michael had a Notre Dame shirt on. (Yes I gave him a hard time) That is his favorite college team. He also likes the Detroit Lions. (that is his favorit pro team)
Well we are finally in the White Swan hotel. And like a good friend told us, (conations with Asians everywhere) this comment is meant to be all in good fun. It is a lot different than in Nanning. Nanning was a lot cleaner and it just had a different feel to it. We walked around and bought an umbrella stroller today. We also found a very nice outfit for Karsen. It is kind of fun to barter with the local people. You just have to go into it with the I don’t care attitude. And be willing to walk away. So far so good.
Another couple in our group (who are also from Ohio, Columbus) and us walked to a place called Lucy’s bar and grill to have dinner tonight. It was not all that great. Tomorrow we will explore more options tomorrow. I hope to find some good restaurants like we had in Nanning.
On another note, this is our 1 week anniversary of getting Karsen, and tomorrow will be our 1 week of our official adoption. We could not be happier. She is so good. She had her first airplane ride today. She had fun on the plane. We took off and after about 10 or 15 minutes she took a bottle and then took a half an hour nap. When she woke she was smiling and laughing and we landed in Guangzhou and met our new guides Jason and Kathy. We are adjusting well to our new hotel, but we are looking forward to coming home. (Only 5 more days)
Well that is all for today, I will add more tomorrow…
