Birthday Boy and Adoption Day Boy

Yesterday was Jeff's birthday! We celebrated with dinner at Chili's. He was born just down the road in Tachikawa.

Today is Ralph's adoption day. This day 6 years ago we brought him home in Cheyenne, Wyoming to meet his new brother Ted.

Happy days to both boys!! We love you.

Once again, mysterious delays

Where are the referrals? There's lots of discussion on Rumor Queen about the delay. Possible reasons are tossed about:

• New CCAA director wanting to delay and look at how things are done
• President Obama's visit to China
• Concerns about H1N1
• Trying to delay so March 2006 referrals are dragged out over all of 2009

We don't know, and there's nothing we can do. I was surprised by the lack of H1N1 concern during my China trip, but maybe other China regions are more concerned.

So now we just wait, play with the cats, enjoy the holidays, and wonder each day if Rumor Queen (or anyone on China Adopt Talk or Todo Adopcion - the "Spanish Rumor Queen") will throw us a bone.

On Saturday at 4 AM, we'll be in a conference call with our agency about what happens at referral time. At least that's something, or just more preparation to wait, wait, and wait, enjoy Japan, etc. By the way, the Japanese have amazing "winter illuminations" all around for nighttime sightseeing. Christmas music and decorations, too!

We don't have to update our home study after all. In networking all over the globe to find that answer, we've made some new friends, including other adoptive families here in Japan and Asia. All we can do at this point is help each other!

Packages in the air

First, a few sweet moments with Ralph and Doraemon:

Rumor is that packages are in the air. No one knows what the packages are, and probably nothing for us. But some families will no doubt be celebrating!


No matter who joins our family, Ralph will always be our tiny baby.

First rumor

There's a vague rumor that all of March is assigned.

I uploaded all my China photos on Flickr, but haven't finished the descriptions yet. Now I have to email the friends I met there. That's Hai Ou (her name means seagull) by the camel in Nanjing. She spoke English well, and was very smart. She taught me all about the Ming Tomb and helped me ride the bus and find my hostel.



We've been busy figuring out our next home study update. This will be our fourth and hopefully final one!

Notes on Nanchang

This is for past, present, and future Jiangxi Province adoptive families. I recently traveled to Nanchang as a pre-adoption tourist (our agency gets lots of NSN Jiangxi referrals lately.) Thought I would check it out. Meeting adoptive families there made it all worthwhile!

My Nanchang photos are now up on Flickr (click link to see them.)

Airport
It was clean, but bathrooms were dirty. Be assertive to get into a stall.

Taxis
Overall, cheap and drivers nice. My ride from the airport to Galactic Peace (GP) Hotel, however, was long and terrifying. In the front seat, I only had a metal headrest behind my head. My driver was fast, reckless, and the ride was long. Traffic can be chaotic: lanes are a "loose guideline"; pedestrians, bikes, motorbikes, cars everywhere. Have your destination written down in Chinese, or show the driver a photo/map of the place. Fare is about $1 between GP hotel and Wal-Mart Supercenter. Some taxis have seatbelts, some don't. The hotel bellman always gives you a little card with your taxi # written on it, in case you leave anything in it or need to report the driver. The card also has a list of "Take me to...." (places written in Chinese to show the driver.)

Hotel
I chose the Galactic Peace International Hotel (I'll abbreviate it "GP.") I know lots of adoptive families are staying there now. Indeed, I met a group from my agency the first morning at the breakfast buffet! They were so welcoming to me, despite being in shock from receiving their children in the lobby the previous day, before checking in. There were some other agencies' groups there, too. It was a nice hotel. A bit smoky in places. Staff were very young and polite. But be prepared with your phrase book and a few Mandarin words. Don't expect fluent English from them (I don't think they get much practice, but they try!) Bed slightly hard, but I got used to it. No Wi-fi in room, but a place to hookup to internet by cable. 2 small bottles of drinking water free everyday, and a little fruit basket each afternoon. TV had some American movie channels, Discovery, National Geographic channels. A hot water kettle was provided - I boiled tapwater in it for coffee and tea. I also brushed my teeth with the tapwater, and was fine. Laundry service cheap and good. Nice pool, gym, and business center. The "kiosk" (hotel gift shop) didn't have a lot, and no English reading material. China Daily (in English) delivered to room each day - nice. My room was non-smoking, but I could still smell cigarette smoke. Guess I got used to it after the first night. Adoptive families got cribs + bedding, baby bathtubs & potties. They said the hotel was very baby-friendly.

Hotel buffet
The Western Restaurant was open 24 hours. Breakfast buffet was 50 RMB (about $7.) Dinner 98 RMB (about $14.) Delicious, healthy, good mix of western and Chinese food. Cute high chairs, wait staff good with babies. Good idea to bring your own bottled water, as drinking water refills are scarce. There's a little shop across the street with bottled water, drinks, beer, and dried noodles. It's right by the sex toy shop.

Wal-Mart Supercenter
Had plenty of wipes & diapers in familiar brands (also Chinese brands.) I went twice, and couldn't find Cheerios, Gerber Puffs, or simliar baby snacks (so pack them!) Plenty of other baby supplies: bottles, nipples, clothes, toys, even front carriers. Cheap prices. Plenty of formula in grocery area (I saw Enfamil.) Get other good snacks & drinks there for your room - I couldn't find much near the hotel. "Pumpkin seed crunch" and yogurt drinks were my favorite snacks there. Pay for medicines and makeup in their respective departments on 3rd floor; otherwise take everything else to the main checkout on floor 2 (grocery floor.) Have produce weighed & labeled in produce section before taking it to checkout. Be assertive in line, or someone may cut in front of you. Now I see why RQ parents say bring what you need for first 48 hours w/ baby. You can get lots at Wal-Mart, but it might be a rushed, overwhelming trip there. It can be hot & crowded inside. The families I met were still in shock from having babies the day before. Later, some families went to "RT Mart", which they said was good.

ATMs
I had success with ATMs in China. There was one below Wal-Mart (outside on street level) that worked fine - I forgot the name. ICBC always worked for me. Maybe some of the more local bank ATMs rejected my card, but it was easy to find another ATM. If one doesn't work, try again. If "default account" is an option, select that over "chequing." 1000 RMB = ~$150, 2000RMB = ~$300. All my ATM transactions turned out fine.

Tengwang Pavilion
Nice, relaxing trip. The cab ride there was a little scary with traffic. You can take stairs or an elevator to the different levels for views of the city and river. Top level has a show throughout the day. Ground level has tranquil ponds and bonsai gardens.

People's Park
Another nice trip, not far from the GP hotel and Wal-Mart. Enjoy gardens, playgrounds, pedal boats, and a small amusement park. Try the running bubbles on the lake. Watch people playing Mah Jongg and drinking tea. I think there are a few food stands if you're hungry, but I didn't see drink machines. I didn't see any squirrels. Be prepared for "Hello!" from friendly people wanting to try their English.

Shengli Shopping Street
(Near Tengwang Pavilion & Gloria Hotel.) I don't think adoption groups generally go here, but I enjoyed it. It's a big pedestrian area with clothing stores, and fast food restaurants. Good place to get away from the scary traffic. I especially liked the Sanfu store, with its teeny-bopper goods (at this point, I needed acne medicine and a good facial!)

Toilets

Carry your own tissue for the toilets. Otherwise, sometimes there's a TP dispenser outside the stalls, but rarely inside. Put used TP in the trash can, not the toilet - it will clog the pipes, except in the nice hotels. Travel packs of tissues and wet wipes are easy to find in drugstores like Watson's and Mannings, as well as convenient stores.

H1N1

I didn't think they seemed too concerned about H1N1. Only a few people wore masks. A few locals I met weren't personally concerned and didn't care about getting the vaccine. A friend in China recommended bringing our own facemasks on the adoption trip (in case flu is a problem.) She said last spring when they adopted, facemasks were sold out.

Happy travels!

Any day now

We expect to see rumors on the next batch and cut-off date any day now. We'll be checking Rumor Queen a lot! It'd be nice if CCAA at least gets through March 31, 2006 (our LID is 4/6/06.) I'm still catching my breath from my China trip, and will definitely get my photos up on Flickr soon. For now, here are a few pics from Nanchang, Jiangxi Province.

Cereal selection at Wal-Mart Supercenter in Nanchang: mostly hot grain cereal, and 4 varieties of cold cereal (see top row)! No Cheerios, Gerber Puffs, or similar baby snacks to be found. And I spent a lot of time studying that Wal-Mart. Plenty of wipes and other non-food baby supplies, though.

Me at TengWeng Pavilion. I climbed to the top for a view of a somewhat ugly river & skyline (sorry, Nanchang.) There was a jovial group of businessmen who wanted pictures with the foreigner. The gardens and fish-turtle ponds were nice. It had an elaborate bonsai (miniature tree) garden. As I arrived, the America World group was leaving, so I got to see the families & babies briefly before they headed "home" for their naps. Afterwards, I explored the Gloria Hotel, and Shengli shopping street for teeny-bopper fashions and a shrimp sandwich at KFC.

I'm back!

I just got back from China. I think Jeff did a good job with his blog post, don't you?
My trip was eye-opening. I especially enjoyed meeting Shirley, Bridget, and the gang in Shanghai; meeting some wonderful adoptive families at the Galactic Peace Hotel in Nanchang; meeting Hai Ou, my friend & impromptu tour guide in Nanjing; and my super-fun roommates at Hangzhou Youth Hostel. This is Hangzhou's West Lake at sunset.

My roomies in Hangzhou: Nancy, Winnie, Nadia, Echo, and me. We were all solo travelers bunking in the same room. Had lots of fun talking and laughing and doing some touring together.

It'll take a while, but I'll load many photos on Flickr (our photo link is on right.) I'm so glad to be home to Jeff, Ralph, and Doraemon (who's on my lap now!)

Hanging in Nanjing with the Xie Zhi

Jeff reporting in. Just wanted everyone know that Heather is safe and having an good trip in China. After spending a few days in Shanghai where she visited her new friends (Shirley, Bridget, and the Chairman), she took the train to Nanjing where she is getting to know all the animals that hang around the Ming Xiaoling Tomb (see Xie Zhi below). Today she will fly to Nanchang where she will scout out the Galactic Peace Hotel (see post below).

On the home front, the new Mini-P fence is complete. Ralph and Doremon checked it out some yesterday. Doremon quickly demonstrating that even though the fence is over six feet tall, he will have no problem getting over it. Pretty sure that Mini-P will enjoy her time in the safety of the new yard. Hope she doesn't learn to escape from her brother.

China trip

In two days, I (Heather) leave for China. I'll be there about 10 days, touring the Yangtze River region. This is for education and exploring only, not to adopt - that will be later, hopefully! On the map below, can you find Shanghai? I'll start there. Then I'll take the train west to Suzhou, then northwest to Nanjing. Then I'll fly southwest to Nanchang (can you see it south near the big lake?) We think Nanchang might be where we meet our child later, so I really want to check it out. After Nanchang, I might explore Jiangxi province some more before heading toward Hangzhou (slightly southwest of Shanghai.) You can find more details of my trip under this post: Galactic Peace Hotel.

Fence

Good news today! Workers are here removing one tree and some bushes to prepare for our fence (photos show cat pen, not soon-to-be fence.) Although we didn't want to disrupt our beautiful backyard, we think the fence will help corral our kid! Not to mention our bebos:
Right now, Doraemon and Ralph have this pen. It's enclosed by wire mesh on top, so they can't climb out. We'll keep it, but with the fence, we'll probably let them roam around the backyard (supervised, of course!)

As you can see, they've become close buddies during my time away. Jeff let them fight it out in the beginning. Now they just play-wrestle.

Projections and Latest Referrals

If none of this makes sense, please see FAQs on the right side of the blog.

Referrals are finally arriving for families logged in through March 28, 2006! See "Babies!" post below.

Rumor Queen just posted her latest projections.

For our LID of April 6, 2006, she predicts Nov/Dec for our referral. However, it might be later than that, but we're getting close (maybe!)

Our agency announced they received "12 referrals today-- 11 healthy girl referrals and 1 healthy boy referral! (family receiving a boy requested either gender) All referrals were from the Jiangxi province and the children ranged in age from 7 to 21 months old."

Aside from all that, I am glad to be home! Jeff just left for Hawaii for work, but will be back Sunday. Then I leave Tuesday again for my sightseeing trip to China (Oct 22-Nov 1.) Ralph and Doraemon are getting along well, often grooming each other, playing, and wrestling. We'll show you new photos of them soon!

Babies!

Referrals are arriving, and the cut-off is March 28th.

See Rumor Queen's Babies! post.

Congratulations to these families!

Victoria, British Columbia

I'm in Victoria, BC, today. Just sightseeing until I can hopefully catch the Space-A flight back home Saturday. Victoria is lovely - clean air and bright sunshine, fancy old buildings on the waterfront, and mountains in the distance. Yesterday I took a public bus to Butchart Gardens. My favorite parts were the Sunken Gardens and Japanese Gardens. There were lots of Chinese tourists there, and I was surprised to understand a few of their words! Today I head back to Washington state. Can't wait to get home to Jeff, Ralph, and Doraemon.


On the rumor front, they say CCAA came back to work Friday the 9th, so maybe we'll see referrals (not ours yet) trickle in.

Nothing until after Oct. 13th

Chinese National Day holiday week started October 1st, so the CCAA will be off until October 8th. They will probably return to work October 13th (after the weekend.)


So, as was rumored, it looks like "September" referrals won't be mailed until after the holiday.


Also, there's talk that CCAA might be delaying these referrals to wait & see what happens with H1N1 flu as flu season starts.


All we can do is enjoy the here and now! I hope they have a good holiday. Yesterday I saw some news photos of the holiday celebrations in China. I understand this and Chinese New Year are their biggest holidays.

Rumor Roundup

A friend tonight had a very intelligent question: what have we heard this month? Well, it's a slightly topsy-turvy month for rumors. Here's what we've heard:

• March 29th may be in (remember, we're April 6th.)


• Referrals may not be mailed until after Oct. 8th due to Chinese National Day holiday.


• Packages are in the air


• But we don't know what these packages are (from CCAA)


• Somebody says they're matching all of March in this batch. We've heard these silly things before, and they are never true.

So we're just holding tight and enjoying the ride. I found some nifty things at Batesville Wal-Mart: travel changing pad (pink!), scented diaper bags with dispenser, Triple Cream exczema cream.

If none of this makes sense, see FAQs and Terms & Acronymns on the right side of this blog.

Batesville

I (Heather) am in Batesville enjoying some relaxation time with Mom and her four cats. We plan to watch some movies (Totoro, The Changeling, Sunshine Cleaning.) I've been in the mood for something scary!

Jeff is home working and taking care of the cats. I miss them all!

Nothing new on the rumor front. We thought referrals might arrive this week, but it looks like CCAA might hold off until just before or just after their upcoming holiday week (Oct. 1-8, China National Day.) I heard this holiday week and Chinese New Year are really their only holidays from work. So I say, enjoy!

Vancouver

Mom & I toured Vancouver, BC. It was beautiful! I had a couple good runs on the waterfront and Stanley Park. We had a nice cab driver take us on a night tour of the city lights and water views. He also drove us through Stanley Park to see totem poles and raccoons. Supposedly there are bears in the park, but we didn't see any (darn!) Vancouver is where my dad grew up, so we drove around some residential areas to imagine his childhood there.

Nothing new on the rumor front. We expect (other people's) referral calls any day, then we might know the latest cut-off date (March 27? 28? 29?) Everyone's thinking the 29th.

I miss Jeff & the cats. I will Skype with them soon!

Seattle

Since nothing's new on the rumor front, I went to Seattle! Mom met me here, and we toured around the Pike Place Market and waterfront yesterday. Today we'll drive to Vancouver!

Doraemon Ashes Parks

With great joy, we introduce Doraemon as the newest member of our family!

He was at Yokota's Pet Care center since June 20. He was found abandoned in base housing. He's microchipped, though, so the base knows who did it (that family moved away.) Apparently they left another cat, too (microchip traced back to same family), but we don't know what happened to that cat. Hopefully he/she got adopted. Whoever this family is, despite what they did, must be okay, because Doraemon is sweet, gentle, and healthy.

Doraemon is 12, and in good health and spirits. He's calm, likes to eat, is somewhat playful, and is a sometimes snuggler.

He and Ralph are getting to know each other. They are taking it slowly!

Ashes is the name he came with. We couldn't help but notice a resemblance to the cartoon cat Doraemon. Welcome Doraemon!

Holy cow

The rumor is March 29th is in. This may or may not be true. If true it would surpass all of RQ's last 3 months of predictions (well, horrid case, anyway. That's the only column I look at anymore.) This probably makes no sense if you haven't been following the blog or have never looked at Rumor Queen.




But the really big news is Doraemon. He is on a 1-week trial period in our house. So far it's going well, although Ralph is a bit spun-up. After 3 months in the shelter, Doraemon isn't phased by any of Ralph's growling or hissing. Tomorrow I'll get them some new toys, catnip, and a big cardboard box to cut holes in. Wish us luck!!