29
Jul

And so it hits me

We were able to visit the Mutianyu portion of the Great Wall today.  It was cooler there (we still sweat buckets!).  The sky was overcast and the mountains were shrouded in haze.  I truly love those mountains and today i got to see a side of them that I’d only seen in photos.  Absolutely majestic.

Samuel walked much of the way from the gondola to the slideway.  He truly impressed Stephen and I.  We are so fortunate to see his strength each day and then days like today show us how much farther he can push himself.  It honestly inspires us as much as all the other folks who stop and salute him with their praise. God has made him with an inner determination that will prove him so well.

Isaiah was honestly quite amazing too!  He is not yet two and yet he braves new situations really well.  Tucking into us rather than fawning for others attention. IT’s been so hot and we’ve been on the move so much and it really amazes us that he has chosen (yes – chosen, at his age) to make us his new trusted people.  He will learn to love us with time but for now this is so big.  Trust is so valuable and he has let us in.

Here’s where it hit me.

Without betraying the trust of others in the story.  We had the friend of a friend guide us at the wall today.  Our friend had asked this woman to take us in spite of the fact that her English is quite rusty and she doesn’t get out much anymore.  You see, she had lost her daughter awhile back and we were told that it had sent her into depression.  When we met her, she was pleasant but quiet.  As we arrived at the wall, she was unsure, but pushed through to help us and we really appreciated it.  She was obviously drawn to Isaiah and he was happily smiling and chirping at her from my arms.  And then she asked to hold him.  I held her off for a time, but he was happy and I wondered if it would help her heart a little, and so I broke our one cardinal rule.  We never, never hand off our new kids to others outside our family trust circle for many, many months until the attachment bond has begun to take root.  That rule has been firm from Garnet, to Grace, to Samuel.  It was even something we held fairly fast to with James and Faith as babies.

But it felt right and when we took a break he continued to sit on her lap while I fed him snacks.  I held his hand and played peek a boo with him as we walked.  And then I took him back into the baby carrier and slid down the mountain on the bobsled ride.  He was quiet and seemed pretty happy afterwards. Stephen and I had a couple items that we knew we wanted to buy from the vendors while we were there and so with my parents helping Samuel farther up the hill and both our hands full, I handed Isaiah back to the woman. We carried on our shopping and she was with us to help.  Finished, we started towards the van. Stephen and I were chatting and she was right next to me.  I turned away for what felt like a second and then looked back and she was gone.

Like GONE gone.

I called out his name in the sing-songy voice we’d been using all week and no response.  I whirled around and started dodging around vehicles looking, looking for them.  No sign. I could feel the panic rising and I called out to Stephen that he was gone.  He started looking.  He ran ahead.  No sign.  My parents and Samuel came up behind us and asked.  No sign.  I ran back to the vendors and from the panicked look on my face and my voice as I loudly called and called out Isaiah’s name in that sing-songy voice, they came out of their booths calling to each other in Chinese, “Where is her baby?  Where is her baby?”  I ran back to the parking lot and Stephen called down from the vehicle in the upper lot, she’s not here… oh wait!  There she is!  Behind you and to your left!  I looked and looked and finally I saw them.  I ran to her and grabbed my baby out of her arms.  Oh my heart!

And then it hits me.  I love him.  Like REALLY, REALLY love him!  I am Mama Bear.  And nothing will get in my way.

Did she intend harm?  No.  But in her own way she did as she wanted and wandered off with my son.

MY son.

I know I hurt her.  And it was never my intent to do so.  In fact, my intent had been so good towards her, I had reached out to her, breaking our family rule.

And all afternoon I was so close to tears.  I was really aware that something had changed in me.

I had bonded to Isaiah.

 

{The photo today is not the one I thought I’d be posting today, but it is one Stephen took from the upper parking lot just after I had reclaimed Isaiah and started the walk back to the vehicle.  Maybe I can catch up on the other part of our day at the wall, tomorrow.}

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28
Jul

Feels like coming home

We’ve been in Beijing for a couple days and our internet has been sketchy at best.  I’ve been fairly wiped out, as well, and I needed some extra sleep the past couple of days.

Our final day in Hunan was spent sifting and sorting luggage.  We had picked up a fair bit during the past two weeks and needed to get rid of a bit too.  We had lunch in the second floor Cantonese restaurant before getting in the van and heading to the airport.  My Mom teased the driver and told Vicky, our guide, to let him know we were heading to the forest in the Western region – a four hour drive one way.  His face spoke of his shock!  We got him good.  🙂

We had a really great group of tour staff for those two weeks in Hunan.  Stacy was helpful and could roll with our questions.  Matthew had such an understanding way about him and really understood our sarcastic Canadian wit from his two years in Canada.  Vicky was wonderful to see again and was helpful with our new baby.  And as illustrated above, even though we couldn’t exchange conversation with our driver, we did a fair bit of bantering and conversing anyway!  He was very kind with Samuel and a big help to each of us over our time there.

During our last trip to Hunan, it was one of many, many stops and it felt like a blur.  Returning there and driving back roads and seeing so much more of the region has given Stephen and I an equal appreciation for Hunan along with Ningxia and Guangdong.  We are so thankful to have had the opportunity and were left with a list of things we’d like to attempt to experience the next time we visit.  Honestly, the very best part of China is the people.  The longer we spend here the more we love the fact that people are people wherever they live. Having the chance to truly appreciate the areas that our kids are from and learn to love them, speaks to them that we love not only where they are from, but who they are.  They will always be Chinese and Canadian.  Being here and then pouring over the pictures and reliving it all at home with them long after the memories have faded into their childhoods, helps them plant roots.  Sounds pretty big for a couple weeks time, but we have seen the benefit to our kids again and again.

We arrived at the airport and began the check in process.  Unfortunately, we were told that although Air Canada had booked us all the appropriate tickets, Air China had booked us into lap tickets?!  Crazy!  A visit to the supervisor cleared that up and our bags were checked in.  However, when it came to the paper voucher for Isaiah’s lap ticket, we were told that it was invalid and so off Stephen went to another desk and then back to the supervisor.  In the end, a new one was issued for a fee and we had about 20 minutes to not only get through security, but get to the other end of the airport for our gate.  And let me tell you, while we have had  nothing but courtesy at each of the airports we’ve travelled in Canada, the USA and China, it takes a bit of extra time for them to scan Samuel’s prosthetics and crutches!  Add in the stroller, baby carrier and infant, and all of our electronics, well, it was a mad rush to the gate!

We galloped up to the gate (the last one – 50 of 50!) and found that the airplane had been fully boarded, save us, but they called the plane and they held it.  Then because of the gate checked stroller, they called for another bus and escorted us with two pilot cars and a handful of staff to the plane.  We made it and got our bags stowed just in time for Isaiah to decide that maybe skipping his nap was a bad idea.  LOL!  Ah well, he settled after awhile and as we were getting ready to de-plane, the people around us were kind.  The whole thing makes for a good story.  🙂

And this is where it feels like coming home.  We got our luggage and around the corner we say one of our familiar Beijing guides, Faye (who is married now, for anyone reading this from our other trips) and the familiar “Panada” flag.  She had a van waiting for us and we headed to the hotel.  Yulin (our agency director) was there waiting for us and as usual, she had everything more than sorted out for us.  We headed out for a quick meal and when we returned she had us booked into bigger rooms.  We are totally spoiled here.  No, really.

The next morning we ran into a few families from our group and Yulin and Faye (and Mr. Lee) had Isaiah’s Visa photo taken and his citizenship part 2 paperwork filled out for the Canadian Embassy.  Everything is streamlined here.  We also had our adoption group photo taken on the stairs (fourth time for us, so it’ll be fun to have one for Isaiah too).  The families seem nice.  Everyone seems to have little ones this trip (born 2011 and 2012) so it’s quite a different group.  I guess we do too this time.  🙂

We have completed the official process now and we just wait in Beijing for his Chinese passport with the Canadian entrance visa in it to be returned to us this week.  Once home, we send off for his Care card (he’s already got access to BC medical officially now as he is our son), Citizenship card (he’s already a citizen once the part 2 paperwork is finished, but we are trying to expedite the printing of the official card so he’ll be able to leave the country with us for Samuel’s surgery in October), his passport, and his SIN card (so he can get a job, of course).   😉

Later that day we braved the Hong Qiao Pearl Market.  I really “needed” a new purse and have been hanging on until I could get here.  Mom seemed to “need” one too.  The men and boys headed to the Toy Market.  And that’s all I’ll say about that.  Oh, except, as usual, we one of the vendors not only trioed to rip off Mom’s thumb, break my wrist and then proceeded to tell us she hates us.  🙂  All in a day’s trip to the pearl market.  LOL

Last night we walked across the street and had supper in the food court and the shopping centre and bought a couple more electric fans.  We left our apple fans in Changsha.  It had rained the night we arrived and the pollution was caught up in all that evaporation.  Blech…cough…cough  Today was gloriously clear and HOT!  But it lacked the humidity, making it a lot more like home.

This morning we went to the Panjianyuan Market aka the Dirt Market.  At its best early Sunday morning, it was busy.  Can’t say a lot about this either (somebody might be reading – haha).  It was a successful hunt though.

And I think that pretty much covers the past couple days!  DSC_8965 DSC_8969 DSC_8970 DSC_8978 DSC_8982 DSC_8984 DSC_8987 DSC_8988 DSC_8990 DSC_8996 DSC_9003 DSC_9007 DSC_9011 DSC_9013 DSC_9014 DSC_9021 DSC_9030 DSC_9033 DSC_9037 DSC_9041 DSC_9043 DSC_9048 DSC_9053 DSC_9056 DSC_9057 IMG_1113 IMG_1115 IMG_1117 IMG_1119 IMG_1123 IMG_1124 IMG_1746 IMG_2742 IMG_2747 IMG_2751 IMG_2753 IMG_2757 IMG_2759 IMG_2760 IMG_2766 IMG_2767

 

 

 

25
Jul

A walk on the wild side… and the finer side of life

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This morning Isaiah woke up and rolled over.  Before his eyes had fully opened, I leaned over his crib and he dreamily smiled up at me.  Melt my heart, why don’t ya’ son?  He’s feeling a lot better today, but he’s definitely learning to let us know when he is unimpressed too.  Think, arch your back and yell.  Ah well, I’d say he’s earned the right this week!

We took the boys to the Civil Affairs building one last time for a special ceremony that has been implemented here.  Both ourselves and the other family that had their adoption co-incide with ours this week (from OK, USA), were seated in the central meeting room.  The registrar read a message from the official government edict regarding our promise to adopt our sons, our acceptance of the process as China has outlined it and our commitment to raise our sons as promised.  We agreed verbally and then were called to the front of the room in front of a large Chinese flag hanging on the wall.  She then officially congratulated us and handed us our red booklet/adoption certificate.  It was actually a nice touch and again it hit home the significance of this week’s events.

We spent the remainder of the morning at Martyr’s Park, so named after the many Chinese soldiers who died in the “Japanese Aggression”.  There is a memorial tower there.  For us, though, we enjoyed the cool walk on shady paths winding through the park around a picturesque lake.  People out doing the kinds of things being done in hundreds of parks across China, music, exercise, dancing, napping, chatting, strolling and game playing.  We took time to rent an 8 person boat and let the wind blow through our hair, until, Isaiah decided it was hot and he felt insecure with his new parents out in the middle of the water (can you blame him?  At one point we were being pursued by a young boy and his father who chose to fire at us with his water gun.  The Dad not the boy, who happened to be the driver.  LOL)  It had really interesting controls and Stephen managed to only nick the roof on the way under the bridge.  He aced it coming back through though, in spite of Isaiah’s crying.  Nerves of steel, that husband of mine.

After the park we headed back to the hotel, where my Mom and Vicky, our guide strolled down the alley next to the hotel to buy the guys’ lunch.  The restaurant is literally behind the hotel with access via the alley.  It is apparently beautiful and extremely hard to get reservations there.  And lunch for six of us with a pile of leftovers?  100 Yuan ($14 Cdn)  Our guide will try to get us table for lunch tomorrow, but she doesn’t hold out much hope.

On our way out with her, Vicky took Mom and I in a taxi to a local fast food place.  Big bowl of rice and spicy bamboo shoots with preserved vegetables, and a canned sweet herbal tea was less than $1.50 Cdn each.  Yum!  We asked what type of oil they cook with there are apparently it is tea seed oil. With Mom’s legume allergy (soy, beans, peanuts), she has had an easier time of it this trip to Hunan, perhaps that’s why (less soy and peanut oil).  Interesting.  Mom though Vicky had said it was the seed of a Camellia flower).  We’ll have to look it up, as she also claimed it is supposed to be healthier than many other types of oils.

Mom and I had Vicky take us to the Provincial Embroidery Museum this afternoon during the boys nap time.  The specialize in a unique two sided embroidery technique that features a different but complete picture on both the front and back sides of the cloth, with absolutely no sign of a “back side” to the design.  THe designs are incredibly life like and often feature copies of master works of art.  The detail is phenomenal.  I purchased a design with four characters on it for Isaiah. The layman’s meaning is that the more peaceful you are in the inside, the farther or more successful you will be.  Good words.

This evening we walked around the corner to the convenience store for a chocolate bar run.  Don’t ask.  I’ve been avoiding it for a number of months now and Stephen doesn’t even like chocolate.  Somehow though, on holidays, we eat Snickers bars daily.  Weird.

Anyway, while we were there, I bought another wooden comb.  I had bought one for Samuel there 2 years ago and he loves that it’s from “his China”, so with all Isaiah’s hair, I felt it was a good purchase for him.  He was so proud – like sit up straight and looked himself in the mirror proud, when I combed his hair tonight.  Too cute!

We also found the shop where Dad bought the hack saw blade to break into the safe in their hotel room last time.  It was a good memory.  Would you believe they had safe trouble again this trip (in Yueyang City)?  Fortunately, we know where to get the tools for the family safecracker, if the need should arise again.

Dinner tonight was again on the second floor.  Seems to be where we have settled in for both trips.

Tomorrow? Beijing.  And, Isaiah’s first flight.  He seems to enjoy the airplane rides I give him laying on his back in the hotel room on the 31st floor. Hopefully the much higher variety will be a hit too.

P.S. We’ve picked up on a few bits of mandarin that Isaiah says: Good (Hao), I know! (jie dai le  – or something similar), Good bye, and “Aye Yah!” said just like a Chinese grandmother.  LOL

24
Jul

Loudi

We had the privilege of driving out to Isaiah’s home area, Loudi, Hunan.

We drove south out of Changsha, over the river Chairman Mao tried to swim across in his youth. I say tried, because apparently he would swim as far as a large inhabited island to rest before setting off for the far bank once again. A number of years ago, the inhabitants were removed from the island and it was closed to the public.  I recent years, a 100 metre high bust of the Chairman, himself, was erected there and orange groves and parkland were revitalized there.   It is now referred to as the “Orange Island” and viewing it form the bridge as we crossed the river, it indeed seemed like a lush Mt. Rushmore.

Heading southwest we again came across the tall farmer’s homes, and the rural fields backed up against reddish-orange earthen hillsides.  But this time, the hills became rolling mountains covered with thick forests.  Logging trucks passed us on the freeway and in the distance long used rice paddy terraces covered the mountain sides.  And the crazy horn honking, long distance city to city bus drivers.  Whooooeeee!  Hang onto your hats boys and girls!

Our driver knows we don’t mind detours by now, but today, a wrong turn led us along some deeply pot hole ridden roads.  Bang!  Thud!  There went the suspension.  Or so we thought.  Nope.  On we went.

Suddenly, we drove into the city of Lou Di.  Four and a half million people and an obviously large investment into constructing a beautiful new government headquarters.  If our hotel is palatial in an aging, yet charming way, the new government headquarters are leaning towards the palaces of Europe.  Quite spectacular.

We pulled off a side road to the new orphanage building and were greeted by the staff we’d met earlier at the adoption proceedings.  We paused for photos under a scrolling billboard sign, welcoming Isaiah home.  Ironically, he’d only stayed in that building for a few short nights before we met him.

After the requisite official refreshment and Q&A time in the meeting room, we toured the upstairs wing where the roughly twenty children lived.  Now, at first that may sound a small number, but we were told that there were another 80-100 in foster care, and a number at boarding school for high school.

I have so much on my heart regarding our visit with the children.  It was very difficult.  I just want to leave you with a thought.

We were graciously given access to those precious little souls for only a few minutes of their lives.  Around the world many, many people waited days outdoors just for the moment that the new royal prince would be born.  What do those two things have in common?  Well, the prince lives locked up because of media scrutiny and by the protection of his parents.  One day he will step into the royal limelight and move into his earthly role as heir to the throne.  Those children I met today?  They also live literally behind lock and key.  But not by a doting public or a watchful parent.  They are hidden from the public now, but they will not see the light of freedom.  Not unless they are pursued, relentlessly, like a parent for their child.

We pursued our Isaiah.  Will you consider pursuing your own precious son or daughter?

After our time with the children, we were invited to a lunch with the staff and officials.  It was a beautiful lunch in an interesting restaurant with a giant drum and a fountain of water that flowed next to the staircase that led to our private room.  Many Hunanese delicacies were served including local eel, cow stomach and frogs legs, alongside sweet potato greens, custard and desert balls, among many, many other dishes.  I ended up holding a very upset Isaiah and they kindly packed up a box of watermelon and buns for me to take with me.  I wasn’t sad to miss out, this time, but I appreciated their kind hospitality!

We followed our lunch with a quick photo op at his finding location, before heading back onto the expressway and driving the 2.5 hours back into Changsha.

Isaiah woke with a temperature and a nasty diaper.  He has continued to fight the fever and tummy bug all day.  It was a rough day heading back to Lou Di compounded with not feeling well.  Stephen and I took turns trying to comfort him and he’s moaning a lot in his sleep.  We felt terrible for dragging him to the SWI today, but we’ve learned that sometimes we have to do hard things with our kids for the long range goal of their grow and development.  Having these photos from today will help him hang one more piece of his past in the correct sequence.  Such an important thing as kids ask the deeper identity questions about themselves.  I just wish I could explain that to his sad little self!

 

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23
Jul

The post in which I tell you…

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We all slept at least eight hours and had a two hour nap this afternoon.  Isaiah was pleasant and smiled and even laughed at times.  He took his bottle (hated it last night, I think it needed tweaking; more milk powder and less warm) this morning and ate really well at his meals.  He’s even had two baths and done all the right things in the diaper department.  Whew!  Somehow I waste more hours on these sorts of things before we meet our kids and yet they seem to know how to do what they are going to do and off we go!

I put out the infamous stacking cups this afternoon and he worked really hard at pulling them out of their nesting spots and then putting them back in.  He either pinches and locks his fingers to grasp them or he puts his hand inside one and splays his fingers to gain a grip on them.  Either way, he’s innovative.

He works so hard on whatever task he is at that he has an ever present drip of drool hanging from his bottom lip. Not the yucky gooey kind, but the kind that just sits there because he is so focused that he doesn’t even notice.  I will say, that he’s not a fan of having his face wiped (not many kids are!).  🙂

Oh, and we know he is leaning towards a vegetable-arian, like Samuel.  It’s not hard to tell.  Stick in a piece of meat and next thing you know he makes a really disturbing face and out it pops.

Samuel is doing much better than we expected, but still in the normal range for a five year old who’s didi position has been usurped.  He shows him tenderness, but there is lots of grumpiness and sass mixed with attention getting.  The tender times are there though and so there’s hope.  🙂  Isaiah is a very tall boy and so when the two boys are sitting together, while Samuel is a bit taller in a seated position, at first glance it’s like seeing twins.  A bit awe inspiring for this Mom who never dreamed she’d be the matriarch (whoa – can’t believe I just wrote that word down!) of this many children!

Oh, and Samuel is fascinated by Isaiah’s long hair!  He’s always loved long hair and he strokes his hair all the time.  Until, at least, Isaiah, lets him know, thanks but no thanks, pal.

The little photo album that we sent to the orphanage is still a hit.  He enjoys turning those pages.  Stephen added a simple game with it.  It’s a little rythymic retelling of the names in the book.  He chats it without help now and looks for approval.

As for today’s agenda, we headed to the civil affairs office to complete Isaiah’s adoption!  After we had our photo taken with him and had our thumbs/his hand printed with the red ink, the registrar said, “Congratulations! You are his parents now!”.  My heart stopped for just a moment with the reality that – Wow! We made it!  He’s really, finally our son! It was really quite nice as I don’t think that we were afforded that moment during the other kids’ registrations.  It can be a bit of a blur of paperwork on the finalization day!

On the way to lunch, we stopped at a store called Metro to pick up a couple pieces of luggage for Isaiah’s belongings.  He came to us with quite a bit and we’ll be shopping some in the next week.  It was interesting.  A lot like Costco (membership card, multi-pack format products) and yet the stores colours were Ikea blue and yellow.  They even had a backyard swimming pool for sale (1,300 or 13,000 Yuan – couldn’t be 13,000 could it?) and our guide shook her head.  Even if a person had the money for it, where would they put it?  And she’s right.  Everywhere you look there are skyscrapers and apartments.  It was her neighbourhood that we shopped in.  Afterwards, we took a short cut through through a fruit wholesalers market.  Apparently watermelon (pink and yellow fleshed) is in season.  Traffic was gridlocked on that street and people kept hopping in and out of cars and off and on the backs of trucks to buy them.  It seemed to be great fun, by the smiling faces!

For lunch, we went to the Guinness Book of World Records award winning Largest Restaurant in the World!  They have a 17 acre piece of land that is essentially a compound with many many buildings.  We ate in the Hunanese one and they had a stage with dancers performing minority dances from the 7 minority people groups in Hunan.  Delicious food and a nice show.  We enjoyed really enjoyed it, especially the funny Chinese grandmother dance performed by strapping young men.  LOL  On a more serious note, we have been focusing our attentions on our sons and connecting with the family at home.  The giant screens at the pre-show, showed the rescue efforts in Gansu after the terrible earthquake there. We are praying for everyone impacted.  It’s especially horrifying after driving through rural villages, to see the devastation to the rural farming area in Gansu.

Overall, it was a really good day!  Tomorrow we have been offered the chance to drive southwest to Loudi.  This is Isaiah’s hometown.  We will visit his orphanage and finding location.  We feel honoured that they will allow us this chance as we have been told that it is fairly uncommon.

Off to join the others in bed!

 

 

21
Jul

Back to the Capital

We drove back to Hunan’s capital city, Changsha, today. We woke up to rain and were thankful to head out before the water cycle could resume its evaporation!

We arrived at the hotel, ate a late lunch and have spent the past few hours preparing for the day we’ve been waiting for. We are so anxious/excited/thrilled to be meeting Isaiah. I have to keep reminding myself that we really know nothing about this little guy. We’ve pored over his referral pictures for so long that I think we half think that he has remained in stasis. No. Rather, he’s been living, loving, learning, growing these past two years. It will be an adventure as we figure each other out, that much is for sure!

Two cribs in the room, the backpack is ready to go for the morning, Samuel has picked out which of the two toy cars we brought us for him and which he’ll give to his Didi (little brother).

Ready or not, here we are. We will be welcoming our sixth child with open arms and even wider hearts, thankful for the One who has brought all of us together.

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20
Jul

Junshan Island Tea Plantation

DSC_7795 DSC_7806 DSC_7812 DSC_7817 DSC_7824 DSC_7826 DSC_7829 DSC_7831 DSC_7835 DSC_7836 DSC_7840 DSC_7841 DSC_7842 DSC_7844 DSC_7845 DSC_7854 DSC_7863 DSC_7865 DSC_7872 DSC_7874 DSC_7876 DSC_7882 DSC_7888 DSC_7891 DSC_7900 DSC_7939 DSC_7940You know it’s hot when you can literally see sweat droplets rising and forming on the back of your hand. I sweat in places I never knew existed today! More than 40 degrees and high, high humidity. We spent the day running from shade patch to shade patch!

Stephen woke up with a cold and so the rest of us took the 30 passenger ferry to the island in the middle of Dong Ting Lake. Dong Ting Lake lies as a natural border between Hunan and Hubei provinces, and Yueyang City is on its southern banks. Once again, we were the only visible foreigners to visit the island today and it was really enjoyable to take in the sights with the other Chinese tourists.

While the lake is said to have its own monster (just like our own local lake), it was the site of the original dragon boat races. In fact the original legend began here. Dong Ting is essentially a resevoir basin for the Yangtze River and is really a rather shallow lake with many freighters carrying rice from port to port and up and down the river. There are also a plethora of fishing vessels. Trawlers and shrimp boats. We’ve been eating the bony fish and hard shelled shrimp all week, bathed in their spicy sauces. Both are local delicacies. The shrimp is eaten with beer much like chicken wings back home. I think it is partly because they are hand peeled and it becomes a slow snack rather than a meal.

There is also a legend about an ancient king and two princesses. The tale tells much like a Romeo and Juliet story, as the king loved the princesses and apparently they loved him too (yes both). The king was going to meet them and they him when he died. When they arrived and found he had died in the lake, the died of broken hearts and there is a tomb on the island where they are said to be buried. We skirted the tomb area, as Matthew let us know that it is not certain how much truth there is to the tale. We weren’t terribly surprised. 🙂

There are two temples on the island. The first one is the buddhist temple and we watched as Matthew burned incense and genuflected before an angry looking statue. I felt bad as I had told him that our religion wouldn’t allow for us to burn incense there and asked him to explain the process to us. He took it to mean that he should show us, and that was not the intention. Oh well. It was interesting and it didn’t hold much meaning for him, but he is versed in how to go about it. The temple has a circitous route around the main worship hall holding 300(!) bronze buddhas, each depicting a different attribute of buddha. It reminded me of the Catholic saints in a way. I asked if buddhists would focus their worship on the buddha with the characteristic they felt they needed and he agreed that that was the purpose behind them. Such an empty place. China really isn’t a very religious place if you consider the masses, but it reflected the feeling that all people are really looking for hope when they struggle. If faced with insurmountable difficulties in life, as we all are at times, we look for answers and hope whereever we think we can find it.

As we left to walk down the stone staircase, one of the temple guides set off firecrackers to the side of the stairs and we all jumped out of our skin! It was good for a laugh and shook off some of the gloom of the place. 🙂

The next temple was the temple in worship of the god of the lake. There the worshippers focused on wishing and then hanging their prayer banners in two trees that were growing in the courtyard of the temple. At this point I asked if we could turn around. It was incredibly hot and Matthew had stepped in to take Stephen’s role of carrying the stroller up and down stairways while I carried Samuel.

Next up we crossed a stone bridge with exquisite pink lotus blooms on either side. It was really breathtaking. If I ever get to return to the island, I hope I can come in the spring with everything blooming and a more moderate temperature. Because of the heat, we pushed on.

Around a bend, we came up on an enclosed inlet with a large stone bridge crossing it. People were paddling paddle boats around and giant Koi fish were following them for a feeding. There was a treed walkway and a landscaped dragon cut into the dam that enclosed the inlet from the main lake. We walked up Monkey Hill, passed the drooling dragon in front of a well, and came to the terraced tea growing up the mountainside. They bushes were protected from the searing sun by tall trees over head and they were lush and green. I tried a nibble of a sprout and it tasted a lot like black tea. These were Silver Needle Tea bushes. The finest Silver Needle tea grows here and I was so excited to see it first hand as it is a regular item in my tea cabinet.

Facing heat exhaustion by this point and with sweat literally running down my nose and dripping off the end, we stopped for a couple of cold waters and headed to the tea tasting room and the drying factory. The tea leaves are picked as lush, flat, green leaves in the springtime and then brought to the factory area to be fried in dry cookers. They are then sifted and sorted and dried on giant round screens. The hostess showed us how the tea can be reused five times and how the flavour changes (and does not weaken) with each new hot water bath. The fifth time, the leaves themselves are eaten too. The special visual aspect of this tea is in its cartesian diver type dance that it does. Those flat lush leaves are dried into a pine needle type appearance. When the hot water is poured over them, they steep until they open just enough to float vertically in the water. They then bob up and down in that position as they steep. It’s really quite neat to watch. And believe it or not, but the Chinese once again proved themselves genius, as that hot tea was a srefreshing a that cold water we had been drinking!

Samuel was offered the chance to touch a golden turtle that they had brought out of the lake and onward we went. On the path leading away from the tea house, we looked down at the inlet and there were two long-necked, black swans being crowded around by a huge group of Koi. We soon realized that when the swans ate form their floating feeding platform, the koi were gaining a meal too. It was striking seeing the black swans surrounded by the frothing orange fish!

We had taken our time getting back and ended up missing our boat back and narrowly missed the next one as well. I think it was a combination of Matthew’s persuasiveness and the foreigners red faces that caught us a ride on that ferry! We were so happy to get in our air conditioned van at the other shore.

It was a scorching hot day, but soooo worth it to go on our last adventure here in Yueyang. It’s been a tremendous blessing to get to know “Samuel’s China”. Tomorrow we drive back to Changsha and reconnect with our guide, Vicky, who aided us during Samuel’s adoption trip. Less than 48 hours and we meet Isaiah!

Please be praying for Stephen and my Mom’s health, for Samuel’s heart as a new big brother and of course, our little Isaiah. His world is about to change dramatically. Lord, please grow all our hearts just the right amount to be what he needs.

19
Jul

Old & New

We played tourist again today, this time at Yueyang Tower.

(Photos at bottom of post today.)

Dong Ting Lake is the second largest lake in China.  Situated on its banks is the tower.  Three stories high (probably taller due to its highest peak), it was once used to signal war ships in the lake.  We were told it was built 600 years ago, during the Ching dynasty.  The breeze off the lake was very, very welcome today!  We took the opportunity to saunter through the park area leading to and from the tower and took plenty of photos.  Samuel really enjoyed playing with the Koi fish in the tower’s moat.  He loved that when he’d wave his arms or put his hands in the water they would come or flee depending on his motions.  Stephen almost had Samuel convinced that he had control of “the force” ala Star Wars.

We followed up our visit to the tower with a quick stop at a shop for a paper fan for myself (NEED MORE AIR MOVEMENT!) and a few trinkets for Samuel from Grandma, to be doled out on our drive back to Changsha in a couple days.

Lunch was at a local restaurant where we shared a private room with a local family.  They had cuuuute twin boys dressed exactly alike. Such good food!  Apparently hot soup and tea with a side of spicy, spicy peppers is just the thing when you are in the height of a hot humid summer!  Good for us and truly mouthwatering too.

After a long nap in the a/c of the hotel (totally spoiled, I know!), we drove out to the shopping area near the lake.  We walked the side street market areas, exchanged hellos with several local motorcycle taxi drivers, had our picture taken with a woman in an inflatable Lego costume, and ended up asking the guide (“Matthew” who is studying pharmacology in Toronto during the school year) to see if we could see inside a KTV (karaoke) bar.  Yes, we could have gone to one in Vancouver, but what’s the fun in that?  After a quick permission from the guards at the door of an alley side KTV entrance, we took an elevator up to the 3rd floor.  Hosts lined the entrance, a cashier desk and liquor/snack shop were off the opulent foyer.  Down a long hallway with numbered rooms, the hosts showed us to a private room.  There were two booths to sit in, a computer to choose your songs and a flat screen to view your videos.  The corner featured a tambourine and dice for drinking games.  We didn’t take them up on their offer to try it out, but we did take a picture with one of the young hosts.  Dare, excitement?  She seemed pleased and didn’t even ask to have a picture taken on her own phone, but on our camera?!  We survived the experience, but I thought our young guide might have wished that the floor would open up an swallow him when he realized the video being shown above the elevator was a tad explicit! When we finally all piled into the van, he let out a deep sigh and a nervous laugh.  I think we gave him more than he had bargained for!  LOL

He dropped us at our hotel and Mom and Dad walked me down the block to where they had seen the older ladies dancing in the parking lot of the shopping centre.  Something different than what we had seen before though, as there were inflatable pools filled with goldfish that could be caught with dough balls, other pools filled with toy fish for the catching and a giant inflatable sandbox filled with seed for the children to dig in with sand toys.  Nearby there were pottery painting stations where children could have their very own “Color Me Mine” experience right there.  We swapped hellos with a few people, witnessed some naughty boys and enjoyed watching the kids in their element in the hot, dark evening lit up by the parking lot lighting.  The backdrop to it all was the pop music blaring from giant speakers that the women were dancing to all led by groups of dance leaders in coordinating dance costumes.

Like Stephen has said throughout our time here, we are enjoying going where the locals are.  It’s so much better to be where they like to be.DSC_7489 DSC_7522 DSC_7559 DSC_7564 DSC_7616 DSC_7647 DSC_7654 DSC_7715 DSC_7716 DSC_7743 DSC_7745 DSC_7776 DSC_7788

 

18
Jul

Zhangguying Village

Today we drove up the narrow, curving, bumpy roads into the mountains surrounding Yueyang to visit the Zhangguying Ancient Village.  Built originally around the Ming to Ching eras some 600 years ago, by a fellow named Zhang.  Zhang was a high ranking military officer who wanted to avoid a cleansing of the ranks by the emperor of the time.  He built a village for his family  and servants up in the mountains where he could be sheltered from the unrest and trade his war horse for a plowman’s life.  Well, not exactly, but he was wanting to pursue the beauty of nature and preserve his head!

DSC_7058 DSC_7079 DSC_7096 DSC_7123 DSC_7161 DSC_7072 DSC_7280 DSC_7265 DSC_7245 DSC_7224 DSC_7302Many generations later, there are still families living there, all with the sir name “Zhang”.  We wandered through the village, much like a giant maze-like Houhai houtang.  One room might be for display and the next, someone’s kitchen.  Then an open meeting room, and oh look! Someone is napping on their bed in the next room!  I felt uncomfortable taking photos at first, but it is their livelihood and so I felt more at ease after awhile.

Samuel’s highlights were the chickens roaming through the rooms and the ducks floating down the moats that run between the buildings.  There are narrow alleys between the rooms and it was quite cool and refreshing with the mountain breeze that would blow through them.  The outdoor passageways were lined with board benches that leaned way out over the flowing creek moats.  Apparently it was on a postal route (probably a courier route) and people wold have to lean out and off the narrow passageways in order to let the  couriers pass quickly.  The Chinese are apparently called a “people who lean together” and it comes form this way of leaning out of the way of the couriers.

The people living in this mountainous region grow rice, lotus, grapes, chilies and many many types of herbs, spices, sweet potatoes, corn, squashes and melons.  What they lack in land, they maximize to the nth degree.  It pays off with their twice yearly growing season and the bountiful produce on display for sale and use.

It was a 40 degree C day plus high humidity. My face was purple as usual and everyone was very excited to enjoy the a/c in the van on the way home, but it was an amazing, once in a lifetime experience, with incredible scenic views on both on the trip up and down the mountain and in the nooks and crannies of the village itself.

18
Jul

Returning Home, part 2

DSC_6507 DSC_6508 DSC_6584 DSC_6618 DSC_6623When we arrived in at the Yueyang County SWI, we were let into the gate and pulled up in front of a shiny, new, several stories high building.  The old orphanage had been only used for offices for some time, as the children had all been fostered in the neighbouring area.  The new building was designed to house the offices and the children.  We were told that the children’s home was still being furnished and completed, but that the children would be returning soon.  They had begun building it shortly after we’d visited in February 2011 and had only moved in recently.

We took the elevator upstairs and were warmly welcomed by the staff, one of whom we had spent time with during our initial visit, as she’d come to process Samuel’s adoption.  We were ushered down the hall into a meeting room.  Samuel was much fawned over and we shared stories of his progress, as well as the photo book we had brought.  There were many framed photos waiting to be hung on the walls of the new meeting room.  They each featured returning families on homeland tour visits.  It was fun to see all those photos of tweens and teens returning to visit their roots.

Samuel’s file was brought out without us asking and we were able to see original photos of him as an infant.  The youngest photos we have of him to date.  (He has hardly changed!)  We appreciated the information we were offered and took photos of everything.

There was much laughter and smiling over Samuel’s attempts at showing off his new walking skills. There were also many gasps as he tried many stunts near the glass topped coffee table.  We all were trying to protect his noggin’ from the tile floor and table! But, I think he got his point across.  It had been a good idea to send him to Beijing and to have his paperwork processed for international adoption.  We were happy to have them see him so full of little boy spunk and strength!

All of a sudden his foster grandmother came in holding a small boy’s hand.  She was exclaiming in excitement to see us all again and we her!  Big smiles, handshakes, hugs and happiness to see each other!  The little boy (in split pants, much to Samuel’s amazement) was her grandson (25 months old).  The last time we had visited, her son had just been married and this was his son.

Much laughter, showing off, snacking, and kisses ensued.  Samuel was less than impressed with the kissing, but he was rescued by his Dad and all was well in the end.

We then headed off around the corner for a relaxed lunch.  Samuel and his “cousin” faced off across the turntable at the table and had that food spinning.  By the end of the meal, the little guy was fast asleep and Samuel was in a trance like state in the stroller.  Both had full tummies and were surrounded by happy chatter and smiling faces.

Joining us at lunch was another staff member and her two “nephews” (according to our guide, “Stacy”), which were in actual fact nieces.  The nieces had studied English in school and while they could understand much of what we said, much like myself with Chinese, they were too shy to use much of their English on us.  I did manage to get the one girl to tell me that her English name in school was “Vivienne”.  She blushed mightily and laughed behind her hand when I told her that Vivienne is considered a name for beautiful girls.  She took the teasing well.

After a few photos at the orphanage gate, we headed to the foster grandparents home.  Samuel enjoyed handing out his hand drawn pictures for them, as well as the photos and other gifts we had brought.  He warmed up to his foster grandpa and shared the fact that his tooth is wiggly (he is convinced that it is a sign that he is growing up).  He sat on his knee for a bit.  They served us the best watermelon I have had in my entire life.  It grows here in the south prolifically and really, as with all food, is best eaten close to its source!  Samuel and his “cousin” played with the boy’s plasma car and other ride on toys.  The family’s daughter came home and we found that she has also been married and is expecting.  The son and daughter live at their parent’s home with their families.  The little guy really warmed up to us by the end.

Samuel did not want to leave.  I was so pleased that he enjoyed his time there.  I did say to him as we left, “Can you believe you lived in this house when you were a baby?”

“No”, he said.

I understand.  It’s a bit much for me to take in, let alone a 5 year old.  After all, sometimes, it’s hard to imagine a time without him.  And I suppose that is why these trips back to visit our kid’s homeland areas are so very valuable.  It’s so important to not forget what is so integral to who they are.  Not Chinese.  Not Canadian.  Not even, Chinese-Canadian.  Rather, they are Chinese + Canadian.

Samuel’s foster grandma and cousin joined us for a quick photo op at the finding spot.  And then off we went back to the city, exhausted and emotionally spent.

Was it too early for a return visit for Samuel?  It all depends on what the goal was.  Did he gain value and meaning of his past?  Yes, but not at the same level as if he had been older.  Will it provide continuity for his next few years as the questions get wider in scope and deeper in meaning?  Absolutely.  As I posted on Facebook, he has a deeper sense that this is his wider, global extended family.  Because really, that is what they are.  They are no less related than we are.  The legacy of love they gave him from his infancy lives on in the way he has opened his heart to us.