group49

Visit to a local park

February 1st, 2007

A short walk from our hotel in Nanchang is a wonderful city park complete with amusement rides and a lake. On Thursday, a bunch of us took advantage of the beautiful weather to visit it.

According to a sign by the entrance, Bayi park sits on the site of a battlefield where “a regiment of enemies” was killed during the August first Nancheng uprising in 1927.

Many locals are very interested in these groups of foreigners with Chinese adopted babies and will stop to smile and/or stare. Older women, in particular, are not shy about aproaching the babies and cooing at them. Often if the weather is cold and the child’s clothing does not meet their approval they will let you know in spite of having no English that they should be bindled up more. In this case, though, the woman pulled Kaylie’s hat back and let her mom know that she should let her head get some sun.

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More paperwork

February 1st, 2007

Tuesday afternoon the group also finished up some paperwork at the local notary office. We had some time off for lunch then got back on the bus for the trip to the notary.

The lady in the yellow coat is Wu Jia, our Chinese facilitator. She has led many of these trips and has lots of experience with fixing the many little (and big!) things that can go wrong. (See next caption!)

A surprise policy change meant that the notary office would no longer accept the fees in US dollars as we had expected. So Wu Jia and Cindy Wong, (our FRC facilitator) had to find a bank to convert the money to Chinese RMB. Then they had to take the money to another office to deposit it. So we all had a nice, long time to get to know each other as well as our new daughters.

“I don’t mind the wait…as long as you don’t run out of these biscuits!”

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The big day at last!

January 30th, 2007

It’s been a long day. It’s about 10pm on Tuesday night here which means that Tuesday is just starting for most of you back home. Here are some pictures of what we did today.

I think this picture pretty much sums up how most of us were feeling today.

Some of the girls have red, irritated cheeks. It’s not as bad as this picture makes it look.

That’s all for now. It’s time for some sleep. (Hopefully!) When time permits I’ll try to add some more explanations about these pictures, and add the families not pictured here yet.

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Itinerary details

January 25th, 2007

At our final travel meeting on Wednesday, we received more details on our itinerary. Bear in mind that things don’t always go exactly as planned and there may be some minor changes.

Monday, Jan. 28. Arrive in Beijing, 4 pm after 13 plus hour flight. Additional flight to Nanchang at 7 pm, arrive by 9:30, at hotel around 11 pm. (This could be a rather long day!)

Tuesday, Jan. 30. Morning appointment at Adoption Ministry to meet the girls . Everyone returns to hotel for lunch and to get to know each other. Return to Center of Adoption Affairs in afternoon to complete paperwork and finalize adoption.

Wednesday, Jan. 31 to Sunday, Feb. 4. Time to see the sights in Nanchang, including the world’s largest Ferris wheel and the largest dancing water fountain in Asia. May also be able to visit the orphanage.

Monday, Feb. 5. Pick up the children’s passports in the morning. Afternoon flight to Gaungzhou.

Tuesday, Feb. 6. Get visa photos taken, walk to clinic for immigration physical.

Wednesday, Feb. 7. Another quiet day although we need to stay in our rooms in case there are any questions about the paperwork at the US Consulate.

Thursday, Feb. 8. Trip to US Consulate for “swearing in” and to pick up visas. Farewell banquet in the evening as well as the obligatory “red couch” photo. (Just about every group take a picture of the girls on one of the red couches in the lobby of the White Swan. Check out the Group 35 link to see an example.)

Friday, Feb. 9. Depart Guangzhou for Chicago!

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