Wednesday, March 1, 2006

What a great and busy day and we have two more ahead of us. I think we will fall off the plane but there are too many wonderful things to do and see here in Beijing. Today we took WenYan to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. I think she is most excited to see the Great Wall but she was also very interested in what we saw today. We finally had a sunny day and it was making her eyes hurt so luckily I had an extra pair of sunglasses... my favorite photo of the day is one of her taking photos. I think she looks like a real tourist decked out in her signature color of pink.

We spent much more time in these two places than we did back in 2003 and we learned a lot more having a guide who studied Chinese and World History in University who was right there with us answering questions instead of as part of a large group. I was surprised that WenYan wanted to see everything and she took a lot of photos but as she reviewed them in the car later, she announced that out of all of them, only one was a good one. I think she was also excited to finally have a young, fun Chinese speaking girl to hang out with (no offense to Jacky.. he just isn't a female).

Tonight we got to see a lot more of WenYan's personality and what she may be like when we are able to communicate with each other. We had a special dinner at the Yun Long restaurant that claims to be the largest restaurant in Asia with Ming, who is the China director of our adoption agency and a friend of hers who used to work at the CCAA and their daughter along with our guide Rose. I have seen Michael hold the attention of a large group of people for a long dinner and WenYan could give him a run for his money. It was so good to see her so genuinely happy and laughing.. telling stories that made the others laugh too. We just sat back and watched her in action. It made me feel sad that this happy outgoing girl has had to contain her enthusiasm for almost two weeks due to this temporary language barrier. The sweetest thing she said was that she liked to listen to Michael and I talk to each other and even though she couldn't understand anything we say, it was like music to her and she could just follow along. I think we may be in trouble as Sophie is about the biggest talker around and once WenYan learns English and is outgoing like tonight and considering that Shea is no wall-flower herself, we may never get a word in again around the dinner table.

We continue to be grateful for the good people along the way in her life and ours who have held out their hand to us in friendship and helped bring us closer together with our daughter. We feel a bit closer to her tonight after this dinner and I think she feels the same. After we got back to our hotel room, I put lotion on her wind and sunburned cheeks and she immediately asked if she could do the same for her baba as he is very red after being in the sun all morning.

She is now eagerly reading a special book that was presented to her as a gift that has photos and stories about many children adopted from China. I think all of these experiences are helping her to feel more secure about this whole adoption thing. While she was ready for a family, today she mentioned to our guide the fact that she had been stared at by so many Chinese in Changsha, and Guangzhou, and here in Beijing. Our guide had to point out to her that it was because we are foreigners and they are wondering what we are all doing together.

Tomorrow is the Great Wall! Only 2 more days here and we get to come home!!

Hooray!

Love, Susan, Michael and WenYan