Trip to China
All Days  |  Previous Day  |  Next Day

Sunday, August 24, 2008 Greetings to family and friends from our first full day back in Guangzhou! Today was a free day and we spent much of the day touring some of the most historic and cultural sites around Guangzhou and our photos document some of that. Unfortunately, our camera battery ran out toward the end of the Six Banyan Temple site so our photos from Sunday are somewhat limited. We do have lots of video though. Luckily we do have rechargeable batteries so tomorrow should be a better photo day. Before I tell you about the rich cultural history of southern China, I must give you an update on Miss Eva. She is doing wonderfully. Happy baby, really, really happy. Now that does not mean she is a totally compliant baby. She has very mixed opinions about high chairs and really does not see why one would go to crowded and noisy restaurants. After all she still prefers all of her meals in a bottle in a quiet room. Plus what is the point of sitting around eating Thai and Chinese food when one can be well, moving!! As in, toddling along with parents hunched over holding her in a walk (we did that around the hotel room 50 times last night, easily), also climbing is good, trying to climb up and down the bed and up and over pillows, crawling is fun and investigating everything. If Daniel and I had any question before we came whether we would need to toddler-proof the house, there really is no question. Every drawer has been opened in the hotel room, she has found every crevice to stick her fingers, legs and arms especially through the death trap crib (with all of the lead based paint chewed off by previous adoptees), she likes every surface so the carpet is fine but practicing your standing and dancing on the marble floors is also good, laptops are interesting and so are blackberries, cell phones and cameras. So while Eva is very much a baby, she is also in mind, body and spirit also a toddler --inquisitive, full of laughs and giggles and smiles, and opinionated. Also we think she is gifted. Truly, I know parents are always thinking about their kids. But it is not as though we are claiming any credit. We have been on the scene less than a week. But to us she seems like the most physically agile and intelligent baby girl. We are thinking gymnastics, dance, ice skating ... the works, I also have a theory that it is her love for physical movement and activity that got her into a little bit of trouble the last couple months in the orphanage, My guess is that she was being handed her bottles in her crib but that after she finished them and tossed them aside she was allowed to play outside of her crib, as we received quite a few snapshots on our disposable camera from the orphanage of her crawling on the wooden floor. Her interest in movement outweighed her interest in food and so she may have been tossing those bottles pretty quickly (before they were empty) to get to play time. Hence why the orphanage nannies conceded she had not been eating nearly as much as the schedule said she had. So her weight fell off. I have other theories too about the weight drop -- that babies that are not held will not thrive, but I prefer not to go there because she is bouncing back so quickly and she is clearly thriving now - thriving and booming forward and acting like she is on the adventure of her lifetime. My other theory relates to skin. All of the girls had some skin issues, bites, etc. and hers was worse than everyone elses as of July, much worse so much so that our agency intervened to get her medical care weeks before we met her. The causes of her troubles are very, very common issues in south China and Vietnam but my theory is she had it worse because she is so on the go and so inquisitive that she was on the ground a lot, especially as more and more babies, probably of younger ages, were coming into the orphanage. And she is not a complainer so she could have gotten pretty itchy and not made too big of a fuss over it. On the issue of asking for what she needs, we have been thrilled to see that she is starting to demand from us now especially food -- last week she seemed to wait and hope we might feed her and now she smacks her lips, gives little cries says bababa and looks toward where the bottles are being made (which happens to be the hotel mini bar, with a swizzle stick for mixing- in the rice cereal). Smart plus a bit more trusting that food is plentiful, available on off hours and on demand, and that she can ask for it and receive as much as she wants and can even leave some behind in her bottle and come back for those two ounces after checking out something interesting like oatmeal packets or wrapping paper. But more about China. Our CCAI guide Jocelyn took us first to Six Banyan Temple which is a temple built around the year 500. My impression is it is a very famous and certainly is a very beautiful temple with a nine story pagoda right in the center of a series of shrines, and it is very much an active temple today with monks in residence and petitioners coming by to pray, petition, make offerings and reflect. The Liurong Temple, for those up on their ancient history, was founded in the Da Tong 3rd year of the Liang Dynasty during the Southern Dynasty (537 AD). The Emperor had ordered that a Temple of Solemnity be built and that a pagoda be built under which bones of the Buddha be buried. As the pictures show, we took Eva for her second of two Buddhist blessing and she listened solemnly to the intonations of the bell and then squirmed when she and Colette were anointed with water. One would need to be there to appreciate the beauty and the mix of business and tranquility. Next stop was the Guangdong Folk Art Museum and when I say this was fascinating I am understating it significantly. Originally built as the Chen Clan Academy and named locally as the Chen Ancestral Hall located outside the west gate of Guangzhou City and built during the late 19th century, the Academy was originally a hall for the Chen family to gather, educate their young and come together from seventy-two counties of Guangdong to discuss family affairs. In 1959 it was turned over to the Chinese government as a Folk Art Museum and was saved from destruction during the Cultural Revolution by not only hanging a large likeness of Chairman Mao on the door but also turning the Academy into a center for writing down Mao's famous quotations. Now it is preserved by the government as an important historical and cultural site. Without pictures we cannot do the architecture, the brick and wood carvings, the courtyards, the ceramic sculptures, displays of lime sculpture, ivory carvings, painting and embroidery justice but suffice it to say that we can understand why it is one of the most important, largest, best preserved and gorgeously decorated traditional buildings in Guangdong Province. We invite anyone with more interest to view it on line at www.cjc-museum.com. And let's just say that Daniel and I are now converts to traditional southern Chinese folk arts. Last stop of the morning was a beautiful store for shopping where Eva got to know all about credit cards as well as get a warmed up bottle from a woman serving hot water for tea. And back to the hotel for play time, bath time, bottle time ... tomorrow begins our official round of visits to the US consulate, medical exams, etc. but all of that pales to the growth and joy in our little girl. And, to Louis and Nathaniel, we love and miss you and we are in the home stretch now!!

Website by myadoptionwebsite.com