Tuesday, February 21, 2006
DOWN-TIME IN CHANGSHA

Well it would be impossible to top the events of yesterday so we won't even try. Today we slept in (WenYan and Michael slept past 9 am and Susan was up first which is not the norm). WenYan helped Michael negotiate a great price on laundry services at a place down the street which is one of Michael's great passions here in China.. trying to find the best price on laundry. He just loves to walk around in the neighborhoods and meet people I think.

The Dolton has a beautiful playroom on our floor for all the adoptive families and there we happened to meet a new family that lives about 1/2 hour away from us with their beautiful new daughter. WenYan had a great time playing with Hope and again we could see a bit of her personality coming out. It was obvious that she has spent much time with the babies at the orphanage. Both parents speak Chinese as they lived here for a few years so she also liked them as they talked to her and I could tell it made her feel comfortable to be around them.

For lunch we took a taxi over to the Gold Source Hotel where we stayed in August 2003 while adopting Sophie. One of our best memories of this hotel is the restaurant. They have Brazilian bbq where they bring out huge skewers of different kinds of meat and serve it at your table. The chef is from Brazil and we became friends with him as Michael speaks Portugese.. he and his wife even took us shopping on his day off and we found all kinds of bargains. He is still here in China and we hoped to see him again but unfortunately he is on vacation right now. While we were disappointed, it was fun to eat there again and see the place where we spent our first days with Sophie. It seemed like we were just back at the US visiting a favorite restaurant in a place we used to live or something. WenYan seemed excited to be there too as we showed her pictures of us from that time and she wanted us to take her photo in the lobby. An amazing thing is that when we were here originally, they were in the process of building a huge stadium. Now that stadium is complete and includes an enormous ferris wheel directly in front of the hotel. Progress!

Back in the room the first thing WenYan asked for was "computer" so she spent a few hours surfing Chinese google and looking at People magazine type photos of Chinese rock stars and actors just like any other teenager would do probably!
 
Dinner was an adventure. We ate at a small local restaurant on a small street a few blocks away. The type of restaurant that most of us adoptive families don't get to see much of while here when we are shuffled off to big group dinners at the hotel which are great, but this entire dinner only cost $10 US! I would like to say we braved it on our own but we went with our new friends who speak Mandarin and they did all the ordering. Again, WenYan was looking out for her mama. She almost immediately started looking for a fork for her poor chopstick challenged parent but I waved her off and did okay with the chopsticks. It was slow going but I managed to get the food in my mouth even if my form is still not the best.

We appreciate all the kind messages and good wishes that we have been receiving. Today I feel like I should pinch myself almost as it really is going as well as it sounds. Our only issue is the language barrier. We are muddling through with lots of hugs, smiles, gestures, dictionary, babelfish and when in a real bind, we call our guide or he is with us. We only had to call him once today to explain a more complicated thing than we could express using our tools that we have but we were okay on our own all day. I was a little nervous about it at first last night when we told him we wanted to just relax today and give him a day off after our long day but it was really okay. Now, it is easier probably since we aren't doing much here but eating out and playing but each day gives me a little more confidence that we will be okay at home too. We could also be in what many call the honeymoon period as we still haven't had to tell her "no" about anything yet but it continues to just feel "right" to be her parents. It doesn't feel weird to be alone in the hotel room with her in our pj's which was a worry I had, it is easy to hug her and hold her hand as we walk around and each day she seems to be more comfortable with us too. It is different than a baby adoption but while the issues are different, the rewards so far are similar... the love of a child and the creation of a family. Being so far away from everything, it is easy to recognize what matters most and for us that is our family. We miss our other girls very much and can't wait for us to be together and complete. We continue to look at each other in amazement and wonder what in the world we have done to deserve 3 beautiful, wonderful children.

Love,
Susan, Michael and WenYan