Move to Guangzhou

Good Night Nanchang

Thank you Sissi for all of your history lessons!

Thank you Evelyn for taking good care of us!

Twelve Families - thirteen new babies

Wow! Today was much harder than I even expected! Before leaving Nanchang, I checked my email and had an acknowledgment from a friend that, yes it is hard to take your child away from their birthplace. I started to cry right away! I cried on the elevator as we said goodbye to the room we got to know Gracie Lin in. I cried on the bus as we drove away from the hotel where we met her and then I cried on the plane as we flew away from her city and now I’m crying again as I rethink the day! As we drove to the airport, Evelyn was telling us that the people of Nanchang think that these girls have been dropped into a honey pot and that they will speak English perfectly, which is obviously a big deal. As I sat there with my feelings of inadequacy to raise a China daughter to know her heritage and feel like we made the best choices for her over her lifetime, those two things made me feel some better!

Again, WOW! After flying for the first time and not having a lot of nap time today, Gracie Lin got to Guangzhou and wanted down! She has been playing a little more each day but she wanted down and just crawled away from me as quickly as possible. Maybe she was just tired of me because she had been physically attached to my body since 10AM. Either way, I’m thrilled to see that after this crazy day, she is feeling so confident about exploring the new room!

John and Parker are out bringing us McDonalds for dinner. Should be interesting to say the least but it will be a nice change from what we’ve been eating and it will feel somewhat like home, although we only eat there about 2 times a year. J

Last Day in Gracie Lin's Home Province

This is our last full day in Nanchang. Gracie Lin’s passport will be here at five o’clock today! Yeah!! Tomorrow morning we leave our luggage outside our doors at 9:30AM and then depart for the airport at 10:30. In a way it feels like we’ve been here for months but our nine days really has flown by so quickly! I think I could visit different cultures for months just to soak it all in! I love the people in China! They are always so friendly to us. We have had terrific service everywhere. The main downside to me is that so many people smoke. We were really fortunate until the last two days that there weren’t smokers on our hall.

Today we went for a walk by the river and then to the zoo for a couple of hours. It was great to be outdoors again and the weather is terrific! Carter has a great friend next door, Victoria, who is seven and she has a little brother who is three. She is good at chasing him around and is a huge help to us! We were warned that the zoo wasn’t very good but we thought it was actually pretty nice. Not as many trees and landscape that we are used to but it was much nicer than I expected.

When we got back from the zoo, the Turner’s suggested that we go out for lunch to a great restaurant we had eaten at a few days ago. Dave & Cary Williams joined in as well. Evelyn hailed cabs for us and called a head to order the meal for us. We had a great time eating the pepper steak one last time before leaving this town. Jenna is an amazing pepper eating woman!!! It was such a fun time and such great food. Our meal as a family cost 100 yuan which is about $16. It will be hard to go home and head Chinese food in the states! The meals are so inexpensive (except for the hotel) especially compared to our $130 laundry bill for the week!

I think tomorrow will be very emotional considering we are leaving behind our babies home province. This country is so beautiful! The climate is very much like Atlanta, GA. The ground is red clay and much of the vegetation is the same as we have at home. Gracie Lin should feel right at home in that sense. She is already a Southern girl! Sissi told us today that Southern girls are beautiful and that some of the signs of beauty are a watermelon seed shaped face and a small mouth.

There's our beautiful girl!

Victoria and Carter

Too cute not to share.

Zoo entrance

Gorgeous Jaguar

I think this was the best part of Mr. P's day!

Quiet Day

A great view of the lake in the Park

Nanchang is home to many varieties of Orchids - this wall tile represents just one of them. They had these tiles all over the park. This is for you Mimi.

Looking up at me from her sling.

This gentleman was painting calligraphy on the ground with water and a sponge on the end of this stick.

Peoples Park

I am so amazed at how well all of these babies are transitioning and settling in with their new families! Sweet little Gracie Lin is very busy today. She has decided that it’s ok to explore the entire room. We are now on ‘little pieces’ watch. She immediately found a coin when she began her exploration. Fortunately, it didn’t make it into her mouth. She has been so busy the last couple of days that it’s hard to get her to sit still for a meal. Since we only have high chairs at breakfast, I try to fill her up as much as possible then.

Jiangxi is known for rice, tea and porcelain. We were fortunate enough to visit some porcelain stores today to purchase the ‘dowry’ for our daughter! J Things like chopsticks and teapots are purchased for girl’s dowry traditionally here. Also on the veil of the bride, they put watermelon seed, peanuts, and two fruits. We have seen and heard lots of fireworks this weekend. Usually they say the fireworks are going off for a wedding. We actually had a wedding party on our floor Friday night and it was very lively. They had a cage out in front of the hotel that looked like a phone both and that was used to set off fireworks inside. Parker LOVED it! Inside the cage makes the sound much more fun.

As a group, we took a walk in a huge city park. There were very peaceful areas, a children’s playground and then a carnival like area. They were even making cotton candy. We have seen lots of men on the streets, playing card games and a game that reminds me of domino’s made from what looks like porcelain pieces. In the park there was a huge stone chess set on the ground. Parks are huge in this city for keeping people active. The government put in outdoor exercise equipment that can be used by kids and adults.

Saturday??

I have photos to upload but it takes forever so I'm leaving it at words tonight; I'll add them later.

What a different day today in Nanchang! What day is it anyway? Tonight the moon is close to being full and we see it from our room. We can see all the way across the city and there isn’t any smog hanging in the air! We can breath freely (most of the time). Out in front of the hotel, there are different light colors that race across the railing of the river bridge and buildings are lit up all over the city. This morning we toured a pavilion that was built in 639 by a Prince who was coming down river for an important dinner – I have not idea what for because I wasn’t good at history and obviously I’m still not. Anyway, he got stuck on the river in this area – it sounded like he hit a sand bar. He met a couple of men who were like self proclaimed gods who helped him make the meeting in an impossible time frame. He built the temple here as a commemoration. It was a beautiful place and something that I counted on seeing in China because of the history I do remember. J

The boys are almost over being celebrities here. They are trying to be sweet when people want a photo with them.

We had another amazing lunch ordered by our hosts. Not only are the meals amazing food but each day we pay about 150 yuan for lunch which is around $23 for the three of us – babies eat free everywhere. We tried passion fruit today, It wasn’t that tasty considering its name. (Not my best photo moment - the little grape like pieces on the plate are the part you eat if you've never had one like me).

After a terrific naptime, the five of us ventured out of the hotel to see what’s around us. John and Parker had scoped it out earlier this week and discovered a market. They took me back there to see. It is a local community market where people were passing thru to pick up the evening meal or just hanging out with their neighbors. It was also very much what expected to see in China and was not disappointed! We saw live chickens and ducks, fresh fruits and vegetables as well as watched a gentleman working on a feather bed. The farmers bring their goods into the markets daily. We have seen a several shops where people have fabric hanging all around the store and they sew custom orders for clothing or bedding. Their sewing machine is right there in the store and they are working on projects. I love seeing these ways of commerce! I want one of these bike they use to transport goods:

Every day we see Gracie Lin come out of her shell a little more. She loves to giggle. She is ticklish on her tummy. She is starting to explore a little bit around the room and check out our mess (with five people in a small space, it’s a mess). She's getting much better with John as well. Tonight, when we were putting little ones down to bed, Carter would say ‘Gwacie’ from across the room and she would say something I didn’t understand. He would then say “Mama’ and she would respond ‘Na-na.’ They went back and fort like this for a couple of minutes. Very sweet!

How do you earn money to live in China

Construction workers - for Papa & Uncle Greg. These men build the bamboo scaffolding for construction/renovations. It is amazing to walk around the city and see this bamboo tied together with what looks like black string and formed into scaffolding. Bamboo has many uses here in China. Not just for feeding Panda's. :) We did find out that the country is thinking of moving some of the Panda bear population to Jiangxi because of the abundance of bamboo.
Taxi/tour boat driver. We had an interesting experience on her boat. She stopped to give someone on another boat a water bottle filled with brownish liquid and not quite full. The other woman tried to give her money but she clearly didn't want it. She threw the money back and then a very strong but obviously fun too argument ensued. It was pretty funny for everyone including the two of them.

Fishing... used to be huge here but has decreased drastically! In Nanchang, there are river fishers who bring their live fish directly to local markets for sale. They are swimming around in shallow tubs.
Jewelry crafters.
Marchants in the market -

This lady peals fruit at Walmart. I have no idea what this is but it looks pretty neat.

This lady is skinning bamboo and selling it in the local street market.

See the person with the with the Chinese hat - he or she is sweeping hundreds of stairs with a bamboo broom. There were people all over this national forest sweeping leaves with bamboo. I think they must sweet day in and day out.

Lu Shan Mountain Trip

Gracie Lin is adjusting amazingly well I think. She continues to surprise me with how well she is doing. She loves her Mama and especially loves her brother Parker. We have had great nights of sleep and just easy days as far as how Gracie and Carter handle the outings.

Today we went to Mt. Lu as they call it here. It was the most beautiful place! It's their vacation spot like Highlands and places like that for us except that there is so much history there! There have been many major political meetings on the mountain. When I say on the mountain, I mean we hiked for 45 minutes to get to the site of their meetings and built into the side of the Mountain is a small building with a courtyard where they met. It is possibly now a tea room but it wasn't open. There was an older gentleman there who just looked wise. He wrote poetry on fans in calligraphy based on meaning to their names. When they read the fan to Parker he just stared with huge eyes (I think he was wondering if we planned this in advance). His fan said that he is very smart and needs to study, he will be very successful if he has ambition. :)

Tea fields - Mt. Lu is a very good climate for .tea growing

Fish Hatchery

Happy family photo!!!

Gracie's cousin Aubrey Mei - well, we've decided they are cousins. These babies were born four days apart in the same city and look like they 'could be' cousins. She is a sweetie!

When our bus stopped, we couldn't even see that there was a house in the middle of this lake because of the clouds that move across the mountain. The clouds moved so quickly across the lake that we saw it vanish and reappear several times during our short walk around.

Floral Path

Every where we go, people want to take pictures with Parker like he is a celebrity!

No subtleties here!

Lone lotus flower

Zen - this is an ancient natural Buddhist temple spot by the lake

There is so much more to this day that I'll add later.

Fun Video