Farewell Zhengzhou!

We've had a relaxing few days here in Zhengzhou and in a few hours we will fly to Guangzhou for the final leg of our trip.  We are loving our time with Leah, but I am getting anxious to be home and see the boys soon.  I miss them like crazy! Skype has been a lifesaver.  I do have to admit though it's kind of nice to have no dishes, laundry, cleaning...but I've really come to appreciate all of the simple pleasures we have at home.  Cold drinks, clean water, ice, refills, good food, and blue skies just to name a few!  It has been really weird to just have free time with really nothing to do but just hang out in our room and tour around the city.  This is definitely not a tourist destination in China, but we've had a good time here. Our group is just about the only westerners here that I've seen.  We have walked everywhere and we get lots of looks now that we have Leah with us.  Staring is not considered rude in China, nor is violating one's personal space, and we've had quite a bit of both!  Many people smile and our guides tell us that the local people are happy we are adopting these kids and giving them families.  Others are not smiling and seem to disapprove but maybe I'm misreading them.  The second night we had Leah we walked to the McDonalds with her (only twice this trip so far so that's not bad).  There was a very nice Chinese lady there who came right over to our table and was talking to us about Leah.  We couldn't understand most of it but the general idea was that she really appreciated what we were doing.  She was smiling a lot and gave us thumbs up and was patting Leah on the back.  Our local guides here have been great.  We have Yisha and her assistants Vivian and Cindy.  They really know how to do their job and have been extremely efficient with getting us everywhere we need to be and getting all of our paperwork in order.  Just a few hours ago they delivered the final thing we need to move on which is Leah's passport.  For the rest of this trip she will be traveling as Dang Mei on a Chinese passport, but as soon as we touch down in Chicago she is automatically a US citizen!  I did want to buy Leah something from Henan province so today we hit a few local shops.  We bought her a really pretty yellow tea set.  It has these delicate, intricate designs painted on it and came in a beautiful box.  It's not one she would play with but a keepsake she can set out and take with her when she gets married someday.  I've heard they have cute inexpensive sets in Guangzhou that we could get her for a toy set.

We have had some interesting outings here in Guangzhou.  The night we walked to McDonalds we stopped at the city park on the way back.  It was dark, but they had the trees lit up with Christmas lights.  There were hundreds of people there doing some sort of group exercising that involved slapping their legs over and over again.  There are also lots of little "outdoor gyms" here with exercise equipment.  Jer of course has tried it out.  We'll have to get some pictures in Guangzhou--they are everywhere.  On Wednesday lots of people traveled back to visit their children's orphanages.  We were the only family from Nanyang.  It really wasn't offered as an option because it's a 4.5 hour drive each way, so it would have been quite the trip to make in a day with Leah.  I would have really liked to see it.  Leah's schedule we got from the orphanage mentioned a little friend she had there and then our guide Vivian remembered seeing Leah there and meeting an American mother Mia who adopted one of Leah's orphanage friends.  She said Mia took pictures of her daughter and Leah together.  I would love to see those someday.  Last night we were given some new information about Leah we'd never seen before.  It was her finding ad that was published in the newspaper.  A question I have received from people is how do these kids come to be in Chinese orphanages.  The sad answer is that they are all abandoned and that is why they are available for adoption.  In China it is illegal to relinquish your child so children are abandoned without a trace of their biological parents.  I have heard of kids being left with a note pinned to them but for most of them there is nothing.  Leah's picture is in this newspaper along with eight other children.  In the picture she looks like a tiny, skinny face with ears.  Our guides wrote the translation on the back which stated her name (given by the orphanage), her dob (guesstimated by the orphange), her finding date and place, and a description.  It described her as having an "oval face, large eyes, and a skinny body with a missing left arm."  As I read it I thought for like the millionth time of Leah's birthmother and what must have been going on in her mind as she left her beautiful girl behind.  I do know that she left Leah at a safe place--on the steps of a hospital in Nanyang.  I'm so grateful to have this little piece of Leah's history especially as she is entering this new phase of her life and is orphaned no more!  She is ours forever, and we are so grateful.

Eating here is interesting.  I have yet to eat what I'd call a delicious meal, but it has been okay.  The drinking part is the worst.  You either have to drink soda or bottled water warm.  They bring you a glass of water to your table, but it's really hot--that's because they have to boil all the water here before you can drink it.  A cup of super hot water just doesn't do it for me.  We had a bowl of hand pulled noodles at the hotel next door that was pretty good.  Neither Jer or I really knew how to eat it.  Several people in our group have come down with bad stomach bugs and been puking, but I'm so hoping we can avoid that!  Our first night with Leah we ate at a little coffee shop that's also near our hotel.  We had several cute teenage girls waiting on us.  They brought us one menu then stood like two inches from us while we tried to decide what to order.  All ordering is done by pointing at the pictures in the menu.  They came back and had questions about our order that we had no clue how to answer.  They carried Leah's high chair out to us together and then helped us get her in and buckle her.  They started to gradually bring out a drink, a fork, a napkin (huge shortage on those here), a placemat...when they brought something we ordered they would pick up our bill and mark it off.  Like an hour later we finally had everything, and I was starting to realize why they marked it off....it took so long they would probably forget otherwise!  They do have good fresh squeezed juices here. 

Our biggest adventure in eating was last night.  We headed out in taxis (totally crazy driving) to go to some Chicago Western Buffet a guy in our group had found online.  We were with three other families from our group.  It quickly became obvious that our drivers had no clue where this place was (should have been a clue), but after serious winding and side streets we finally got there.  It was not as advertised!  The whole place was decorated in really tacky Christmas decor. The first thing that hit you when you walked through the door was the really bad smell!  Needless to say after checking out the buffet we did not eat there.  We ended up at a nice place across the street that was pretty good.  The English on the menus and the signs in English we've seen everywhere are quite funny--lots of stuff gets lost in translation.  Our ride home was very direct and took about 1/4 the time.  We had Leah out partying until almost 10, but she was so good and ate everything we put in front of her in the restaurant.  She was such a cute girl!

I'm boring even myself now, but I'll quickly finish my last few thoughts.  Thursday morning we went on a group outing to the local aquarium.  Let's just say it was not Sea World!  It was entertaining if you could get past the overpowering fishy smell.  Yesterday morning Jer had an interesting experience.  I'm officially about to give too much information on the blog so feel free to stop reading now.  When Leah is older she may appreciate this story.  Yesterday morning I woke up to find an unexpected visitor on our trip---several weeks early--I guess induced by stress, emotion, something.  Well, I was completely unprepared so I sent Jer on a mad dash to the Walmart.  He literally wore shorts and ran so we could be ready for our aquarium trip.  I'm pretty sure the people of Zhengzhou have never seen a burly redhead running down the street.  On the way back he had his Walmart shopping bag with him and he said people were parting to the side to let him through--they may have thought he stole it!  He made it back with all sorts of pads (yes I'm back in 7th grade because that's all they have in China), and he now wins husband of the year award!  

Well, we are off soon.  The weather here is much warmer than Beijing, and as we head south it will get even warmer.  We've abandoned the thick, bulky coats.  You have to beware the older Chinese women though. The other day we took Leah on a walk through the park and a woman came up and pulled her pants up to her knee.  When she found only socks underneath (instead of a couple more layers) we got a scolding complete with finger wagging.  That's how it's done in China!  I'm out.