Friday, January 16, 2009
"Yes, he's ours."
A couple of people have asked, and yes! Tommy's with us all the time! We've had him since the day we met him, at Civil Affairs. He's doing really well.
Day 8 - visit to the orphanage and Day 7 photos
Here are some photos from yesterday and today. Wednesday we visited the tiger park and today we went to the orphanage.
Feeding time, live chicken is dangled to the tigers!
The winner! Mmmmm! Live raw chicken!
White Siberian Tiger
Day 8...In the hotel lobby before the orphanage visit...
Harbin Children's Welfare Institute:
They would not let us photograph inside the orphanage classrooms and they only showed us two. They were nice rooms, bright and clean. Most of the kids were special needs and sooo cute! As soon as they saw us they were so happy, coming to us for hugs and asking to be picked up. I really wish we had pictures of them. I picked up a little boy and he hugged me so tight, Lis had a little girl and a couple others. It was heartbreaking. It's hard to believe these kids have only each other. I hope their parents find them soon.
Left to Right: Madame Chen, DIrector, Asst Deputy Dir. and Tommy's caregiver and teacher.
Tommy in the orphanage conference room with his caregiver.
Harbin isn't far from Russia, and we saw this old Russian Church in a square on the way back from the orphanage.
Ice Sculptures everywhere!
Us with Bill, our Sunny Ridge guide.
Can't believe that we leave for Guangzhou tomorrow morning (Friday) at 7AM here. Looking forward to the last leg before coming home, where the weather will be warmer (we're expecting it to be in the 70's there)! To the moon....
Feeding time, live chicken is dangled to the tigers!
The winner! Mmmmm! Live raw chicken!
White Siberian Tiger
Day 8...In the hotel lobby before the orphanage visit...
Harbin Children's Welfare Institute:
They would not let us photograph inside the orphanage classrooms and they only showed us two. They were nice rooms, bright and clean. Most of the kids were special needs and sooo cute! As soon as they saw us they were so happy, coming to us for hugs and asking to be picked up. I really wish we had pictures of them. I picked up a little boy and he hugged me so tight, Lis had a little girl and a couple others. It was heartbreaking. It's hard to believe these kids have only each other. I hope their parents find them soon.
Left to Right: Madame Chen, DIrector, Asst Deputy Dir. and Tommy's caregiver and teacher.
Tommy in the orphanage conference room with his caregiver.
Harbin isn't far from Russia, and we saw this old Russian Church in a square on the way back from the orphanage.
Ice Sculptures everywhere!
Us with Bill, our Sunny Ridge guide.
Can't believe that we leave for Guangzhou tomorrow morning (Friday) at 7AM here. Looking forward to the last leg before coming home, where the weather will be warmer (we're expecting it to be in the 70's there)! To the moon....
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Day 7
(This is Lisa's note on Day 7, Wednesday January 14th.)
When we are out with Tommy its just amazing. I can't believe we are really here in China, and adopting a toddler. He's adorable. The restaurant in the hotel gives you one little paper napkin for lunch and you can imagine how well that works for Tommy. Yesterday he decided he needed a new one after every bite of rice (some would stick to his fingers). The staff just thought it was soooo cute and kept getting him a new one. Of course now he thinks that he needs a new napkin throughout every meal! Everyone is super nice and takes really good care of him. When we don't know what he's saying they always do -- but they can't translate so they just do what he wants, and we'll have a harder time when we don't have anyone who understands him completely. He's very smart and picking things up really fast, and we're learning key words in Mandarin, but I don't think we'll be going out to eat with Tommy and Aidan for a LONG time.
It's incredibly cold here. I thought we were used to the cold in Chicago but when it gets this cold at home no one goes out. It was 15 below zero yesterday and today. Even colder at night. We decided to take Tommy to the Disney Ice Sculpture park (Tom put the photos up in the post below) and it was FREEZING!! Probably too cold, but we really wanted some pictures of Tommy in Harbin for his scrap book, and he was getting a little bored. It was worth it - the ice sculptures are unbelievable. They are as big as a real house and all made out of ice and all of them have lights inside.
At one point we were so cold we decided to go inside a large tent and warm up. They had hot drinks and a little store to buy souvenirs. Bill (our guide) went over to the store and left us for a bit. It was of course then that a young woman came up to us and started talking very quickly in Mandarin. We had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, but I finally realized she was asking if she could take a picture. We, of course, obliged. But once she had taken a couple about 10 other people ran up to take pictures of us too! It was pretty funny, both men and women running up with cameras to take pictures of complete strangers. Not WITH us, just OF us. I asked Bill if it was because we had Tommy with us and he explained that they don't see many foreigners here. Tom said some of them just took a picture of him alone. I guess we do look strange. We're getting used to being the only non-Asians everywhere we go.
Love and miss you all! Lis
When we are out with Tommy its just amazing. I can't believe we are really here in China, and adopting a toddler. He's adorable. The restaurant in the hotel gives you one little paper napkin for lunch and you can imagine how well that works for Tommy. Yesterday he decided he needed a new one after every bite of rice (some would stick to his fingers). The staff just thought it was soooo cute and kept getting him a new one. Of course now he thinks that he needs a new napkin throughout every meal! Everyone is super nice and takes really good care of him. When we don't know what he's saying they always do -- but they can't translate so they just do what he wants, and we'll have a harder time when we don't have anyone who understands him completely. He's very smart and picking things up really fast, and we're learning key words in Mandarin, but I don't think we'll be going out to eat with Tommy and Aidan for a LONG time.
It's incredibly cold here. I thought we were used to the cold in Chicago but when it gets this cold at home no one goes out. It was 15 below zero yesterday and today. Even colder at night. We decided to take Tommy to the Disney Ice Sculpture park (Tom put the photos up in the post below) and it was FREEZING!! Probably too cold, but we really wanted some pictures of Tommy in Harbin for his scrap book, and he was getting a little bored. It was worth it - the ice sculptures are unbelievable. They are as big as a real house and all made out of ice and all of them have lights inside.
At one point we were so cold we decided to go inside a large tent and warm up. They had hot drinks and a little store to buy souvenirs. Bill (our guide) went over to the store and left us for a bit. It was of course then that a young woman came up to us and started talking very quickly in Mandarin. We had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, but I finally realized she was asking if she could take a picture. We, of course, obliged. But once she had taken a couple about 10 other people ran up to take pictures of us too! It was pretty funny, both men and women running up with cameras to take pictures of complete strangers. Not WITH us, just OF us. I asked Bill if it was because we had Tommy with us and he explained that they don't see many foreigners here. Tom said some of them just took a picture of him alone. I guess we do look strange. We're getting used to being the only non-Asians everywhere we go.
Love and miss you all! Lis
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Day 6 Photos
Here come today's pictures from the official registration day at Civil Affairs.
This is the the view from the Civil Affairs window Tommy likes to look out. They are doing some construction, out with the old and in with the new.
This is Lynn, the translator with civil affairs. She explains all the paperwork in English - she is awesome and we really like her. She helped a lot with some key Chinese words to use with Tommy.
A lot of reading and paperwork today.
A couple of other people with Civil Affairs - all very nice!
Tommy hand prints some paperwork.
The Notary has arrived.
Madame Chen, the orphanage director, joins us, feeling better today.
Tommy checks out Aidan in the photo album.
Certificate of donation to the orphanage with Madame Chen.
Certificate of registration with Susan, the Provincial Director of Civil Affairs and CCAA.
Car ride home through Harbin.
More streets of Harbin - this is a shot of one of the modes of transportation we see a lot.
Nap time back at the hotel.
Tonight we went to a park that had more ice sculptures based on Disney. It was pretty neat but very cold - 15 below! - so we didn't stay long.
Shrek!
Danny should like this one!
The scarves we picked up in Beijing aren't warm enough.
A long, good day. Lisa wrote more about it in the entry below. Tomorrow we were supposed to go to the orphanage but it looks like that will be Thursday now, so we may go to the tiger park. More to come!
This is the the view from the Civil Affairs window Tommy likes to look out. They are doing some construction, out with the old and in with the new.
This is Lynn, the translator with civil affairs. She explains all the paperwork in English - she is awesome and we really like her. She helped a lot with some key Chinese words to use with Tommy.
A lot of reading and paperwork today.
A couple of other people with Civil Affairs - all very nice!
Tommy hand prints some paperwork.
The Notary has arrived.
Madame Chen, the orphanage director, joins us, feeling better today.
Tommy checks out Aidan in the photo album.
Certificate of donation to the orphanage with Madame Chen.
Certificate of registration with Susan, the Provincial Director of Civil Affairs and CCAA.
Car ride home through Harbin.
More streets of Harbin - this is a shot of one of the modes of transportation we see a lot.
Nap time back at the hotel.
Tonight we went to a park that had more ice sculptures based on Disney. It was pretty neat but very cold - 15 below! - so we didn't stay long.
Shrek!
Danny should like this one!
The scarves we picked up in Beijing aren't warm enough.
A long, good day. Lisa wrote more about it in the entry below. Tomorrow we were supposed to go to the orphanage but it looks like that will be Thursday now, so we may go to the tiger park. More to come!
Day 6
Tommy has been wonderful! We've heard so many horror stories about toddlers not wanting anything to do with their parents (and why should they? We look funny and we are strangers) but so far he hasn't had much of a problem. The orphanage did a lot of talking and explaining to him about us - they got the pictures we sent just today. Tommy loved looking at them and was very interested in Aidan! He calls us "Mama" and "Baba" already and says "bobo" (hold me) all the time, which is great except he is HEAVY!
He's talking all the time, which is a little bit of a problem because we of course have no idea what he is saying. Luckily Bill (our guide) is with us most of the time and can translate, but there are so many times Bill is not there at the moment or we are in our room and we have no idea what he's saying. At the store yesterday Tom and Bill were off looking for crackers and he started yelling something. A lady tried helping me by telling me what he wanted but she was also speaking in Chinese! Later Bill explained he was saying "Let me out, I want to get down," and I was basically just oblivious.
He just woke up from his nap (3 hours!) so I'm off.
He's talking all the time, which is a little bit of a problem because we of course have no idea what he is saying. Luckily Bill (our guide) is with us most of the time and can translate, but there are so many times Bill is not there at the moment or we are in our room and we have no idea what he's saying. At the store yesterday Tom and Bill were off looking for crackers and he started yelling something. A lady tried helping me by telling me what he wanted but she was also speaking in Chinese! Later Bill explained he was saying "Let me out, I want to get down," and I was basically just oblivious.
He just woke up from his nap (3 hours!) so I'm off.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Day 5: Meeting Tommy
We met Tommy today! His teacher from the orphanage brought him. Here he is!
The plan was to meet the director of the orphanage at Civil Affairs, but we waited more than two hours because she got sick and had to be taken to the hospital. She desperately wanted to introduce Tommy to us and it was only after they put her on an IV that they convinced her to stay.
He was fascinated with everything - the key board, the fridge and the little hot wheel cars!
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We went to the market to get a few things that he would like and it was definitely an adventure. He loves liquid yogurt and has a ton of energy. Everyone was great. This one is in the van ride back to the hotel. He's sitting next to Lis, eating the little teddy grahams we brought.
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We gave him a bath before bed time and he loved it, laughing a lot, and read a little book. We're all exhausted-Tommy and Lis are already asleep. Incredible.
The plan was to meet the director of the orphanage at Civil Affairs, but we waited more than two hours because she got sick and had to be taken to the hospital. She desperately wanted to introduce Tommy to us and it was only after they put her on an IV that they convinced her to stay.
He was fascinated with everything - the key board, the fridge and the little hot wheel cars!.JPG)
We went to the market to get a few things that he would like and it was definitely an adventure. He loves liquid yogurt and has a ton of energy. Everyone was great. This one is in the van ride back to the hotel. He's sitting next to Lis, eating the little teddy grahams we brought.
.JPG)
We gave him a bath before bed time and he loved it, laughing a lot, and read a little book. We're all exhausted-Tommy and Lis are already asleep. Incredible.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Day 4
We're finally here!! Arrived in Harbin today, very cold!
It turns out we're here the same time as the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival.
The sculptures are unbelievable! Made with both lasers and more traditional means. Isn't it amazing? This staircase is carved out of ice!
We meet Tommy in the morning. The director of the orphanage will bring him to our hotel. We can't wait. There aren't words to describe the anticipation.
It turns out we're here the same time as the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival.
The sculptures are unbelievable! Made with both lasers and more traditional means. Isn't it amazing? This staircase is carved out of ice!
We meet Tommy in the morning. The director of the orphanage will bring him to our hotel. We can't wait. There aren't words to describe the anticipation.
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