Backpack: Direct from China Blog

Happy Ba Ba Day! 19 Jun 2006

Today was Ba Ba Day (Father’s Day).
Rou Rou had a great time…Jason did too.

Einstein bagels for breakfast and then Best Buy…to window shop. Rou Rou loves this store as much as Jason. She got Mulan (which we had to buy when I realized it had a Mandarin language track and I could watch the subtitles in English.

Mulan is said to have been born in Hubei.

The fun filled day continued at the Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport. This Museum opened a year ago and houses airplanes throughout history and the Enterprise Space Shuttle.
Rou Rou LOVES planes and today she was in heaven!
DA FAYGI (Big Airplanes)

Wow…wow…wow…rang out for over an hour. She would point to certain space suit or plane and announe Rou Rou’s….or Ba Ba’s.
She has learned the English ’s’ to make something possesive but she still uses “da” at the end to make it possesive in Chinese as well. She is truly 3.5!

Jason and I were marveling this evening at how well her and I communicate, even though she speaks Chinese and I speak English. Our comprehension is amazing, we understand each other, almost fully.

Tomorrow (the 19th) will be our 2 month Anniversary with her.

We napped…we went swimming (SHE IS A FISH- san shway). I take her almost daily and today Ba Ba joined us. She is a natural in he water. She wears her goggles so she can go under the water. She loves jumping off the side and puting her head under.

She always reads the “no diving sign” to me in the 3 feet area…she demonstrates with sign language that she can jump but she can not dive…because she will bump her head.

Swimming was followed by dinner at Charlie Changs. They love to see her…she actually spoke to the waiter today. He explained Ba Ba day to her in Chinese.

She is a great eater…tofu, mushrooms, green beans, noodles, egg roll and lots of Xie Gua (Watermelon)!

Engish words she knows and loves: She speaks them with the following Chinese tones:
Horse-es
Win dow
Ple ease
Tab le
C’um on
This way
Thank You
Ball
Baby
Dan ce
NOPE (new today)
Counting to 10 (often skips six) (learned 2 days ago)
Stinky
Tickle
Yum my

She loves to sing the alphabet

Her favorite CD: Julie Silver – Love That Grows Album
Track 1 “The Piggy Song” She knows all the words

Tommorow is the 1st day of Princess Ballerina Camp. She is so excited!

Night Night.

Week ending Friday, May 26 26 May 2006

So many little interesting insights into her world have happened this week!

She has received many books as gifts (many gently used favorites from friends) ...she is very theatrical and enjoys making up her own story to the pictures.

One night this week we were changing her sheets and she decided that her baby dolls clothes were also dirty… she took them off and started to wash them on a pretend washboard and hung them on the side of her bed to dry. No washing machines or dryers.

We knew she had not been exposed to Western toilets but rather “squat pots”. This week she has really taken to her Asian Cabbage Patch doll and when her Wa-wa (baby) had to go potty she held her legs over a “pretend ” squat pot.

While playing at a friend’s sand and water table. She found plastic fish (resembling real fish) and a plastic knife in the sand. She took the fish out, washed it and put it on the table. She likes to say the word ‘table’ in ENGLISH and she cut the head and tail off the fish to prepare it for dinner.

She now regularly says Hi, Goodbye; I love you, Water, Swing, and Table in English. Every time she sees a sign or truck with English words she breaks into the alphabet song.

Her favorite toys this week are balls, bubbles and Spiderman. At target she saw Spiderman paper plates and she just could not live without them.

She is very athletic…she is enjoying a “hot pink” soccer ball that she picked out. She also has a whistle and she has a game that she likes to play where she blows the whistle and then I kick the ball. She brings me the ball back and then she blows the whistle again.

We also just found out that she can throw a tennis ball effortlessly overhand …like a baseball pitcher.

On Tuesday night I came home to a dance concert. She decided with Jason that she needed to wear her ballet leotard and with each song on the new Julie Silver cd she danced and danced. Slow songs were very soft and thoughtful…fast songs required a lot of jumping and energy.

She is really beginning to understand “sharing” and taking turns. We understand that at 3 this is a hard concept in any language. That said, it has been an additional struggle with the language barrier and not knowing her experiences to explain that if she lets her friends use her toys that she will get them back.

This week she has had many play dates and each time she has shown me that she knows how to share.

Last night, we had the best play date! She played along side our friend’s 5 year old. He is such a cool kid and he was so great with her. He let her play with all his toys and worked hard to communicate with her. She really likes machines with numbers. She has a Hello Kitty calculator but he had an electric cash register, she really enjoyed.

In his room he had her hide under a sheet and then called me upstairs…she jumped out from under the sheet and they laughed and laughed. She really liked his bunk beds (up the ladder, down the ladder).
We had not planned to stay for dinner but we were treated to tofu stir-fry…she really likes tofu and enjoyed the baby corn.

Outside we played with the air rocket…when it wasn’t being used as a rocket it was used as a microphone to sing into (the red form ball at the end made it look like a microphone). We all heard the “shabatu” song…a song about a bunny taught to all Chinese children in the whole country. They learn to sing about eating their vegtables. Not a bad idea!

Ice cream sundae making followed and we found out that it is universal to want to put your mouth on the end of the ready whip cream squirt bottle.

This weekend we have a wedding that is taking place over 3 days. Lots of dressing-up. Rou Rou loves dresses and looking pretty in pink.
More next week….

1 Month Anniversary-Weekly Highlights-5/14-18 19 May 2006

Jason is posting pics to the Fliker system, slowly but they are coming.

Mother’s Day was GREAT! I was at Whole Foods on Saturday and they were giving free breakfasts to ‘Moms’...they didn’t ask to see a picture but I was so thrilled to say ‘I’m a mom’!

Rou Rou picked out -2- beautiful cards and helped her daddy put some pictures in a frame for me. I also got a ‘spa’ gift certificate…Jason was right on. Dinner at our favorite restaurant the Vegetable Garden with Jas, Rou Rou and good friend topped off a great day!

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been reading our blog and e-mailing us. Your support has been so helpful to us in this transition.

Jason and Rou Rou are well…I am still recouperating…my cough will not go away.

I have not quite figured out how to multi-task and get healthy as a new mom….so I think although I would like to write more often… I am probably only going to be able to post weekly highlights around 5:00 am…Rou Rou keeps me very busy and I am very tired!

That said, it is 5:00 am and I can’t sleep. I hear her breathing heavy on the baby monitor. This week she has decided that napping is not in her plans!

Unfortunately with no nap…we have what my friend Danielle affectionately coined “The Witching Hour”.

She is tired enough to take a nap…but she just can’t close her eyes until we get in the car and need to go somewhere! Which means no rest for MaMa.

One would think that with no nap…bedtime would be easier and earlier…not the case. For the last 2 nights she has been in and out of bed up until around 11:00 pm. Very sad for me because I’d like to be in bed at 9:00 pm.

Yes…in and out of bed…you heard me correctly. She has now gotten brave (yangawn-brave in Chinese) enough to venture out of bed without calling for me first. Progress?Hmmm?

Ah my Chinese, is not as good as Rou’s English comprehension but I am working on it. I am in a race with time to try and keep her Mandarin while she learns English.

We continue to play daily with an informal group that meets at the Cabot’s Cove playground …just about a 1/2 mile from our house.

I was introduced to the group by a woman Jas and I met at Target on our first outing with Rou Rou. Jill has a 2 year old from a Canton province and she has been so sweet in sharing resources.

She connected me to Wen. Wen and her family are from Taiwan (here in VA for the past 6 years) and her oldest daughter MeMe is 3 days younger than Rou Rou. Rou Rou calls Wen, IE (aunti). She loves seeing Wen, and baby Suya…MeMe spoke Mandarin to Rou for the first time today…and shared her baby buggy…Rou was very happy.

It is so great to have her be able to communicate with Mandarin speakers. I know it must be very validating for her to hear what in her head make sense…since all day long she hears her Mama and other people talk
in a strange language.

Jas and Rou speak often on the phone but this week Jason felt they really connected in their conversation.
This was very exciting for Jason.

Rou Rou loves the telephone…and she loves talking to her Baba. The other day she said Hi in English (she now says this quite often). He asked how she was doing. She answered in Chinese. He asked what she did today and she said she played with Logan and Owen. Then in English she said Goodbye and Tiechen.

It was GREAT!!!!!

She loves to say all the words she knows in Chinese and English. She is singing the alphabet almost as regularly as she sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in Chinese.

For the next 6 weeks she will go to the Hope School on Saturday for a Mandarin only kindergarten for 1 hour. I am thrilled that they are allowing her to participate. Last week, they had her in a bilingual class with 8-9 year olds. She and the teacher had a great time teaching the kids the parts of the body…but this was not the class for her.

Yesterday, I drove her to Maryland to meet with Professor Xu at her home. She is a Mandarin and Russian professor at American University and she has a part time school program for 5-6 year olds. Rou Rou’s language abilities are so unique that it is quite difficult to find her the right situation.
Professor Xu was AMAZING, smart and kind. She showered Rou Rou with gifts from China and let her pick books and videos to take with us. Rou Rou called her Seu lou su (Teacher) and was excited to tell her Baba about her time with Svetlana.

After talking to Rou, Svetlana felt like regular Mandarin conversation with someone who could come to our home in conjunction with the Hope School’s 1 day a week program would be the most helpful. I am still looking for that person but she gave me a lead.

This week we also had BALLET class. Rou Rou beamed the entire class. We know she must have had dance in China because when she puts on the ballet slippers she asks me to sit at the piano and play so she can do her dance routine. (I don’t play the piano…but that doesn’t seem to matter).

The teacher was impressed that she was one of the only children following along completely. She has definitely been schooled in China. We have signed her up for Princess Ballerina Camp for 1 week at the end of June.

I have her signed-up for several 1-2 week camps this summer. She really craves structure, learning and playing with other kids. I am excited for her!

A few other highlights with friends:

Rou enjoyed Wyatt’s 2nd birthday party, especially the bubbles!!

She also enjoyed her play date with Morgan and Haylee..Mama enjoyed her time with Danielle.
She hugged both girls when she left. She has never done this before.

Rou Rou continues to amaze Jason and me. She is so resilient, smart, and adorable. She tries so hard to maintain her identity and adapt to her surroundings. She is wise well beyond her years.

It is hard to believe we have only been blessed with her for 1 month today!

Sorry-I have been sick 14 May 2006

It’s Wed. morning and I am feeling a bit better. I finally got what Jason and Rou Rou had in China.

She is still GREAT! Jason was remarking this morning how amazed he is that she is so excited by every new thing.
Yesterday, I had to get a tooth repaired that I had chipped and she stood next to me and stared at the procedure the entire time. She wasn’t alarmed by the drill noise, the laser, the masked dentist…it was amazing.

Her favorite new ‘Baba and me’ activity is to go down the big slide on Jason’s lap. She counts in English 1,2,3 and then he goes down really fast with her. She howls with laughter. It is the cutest thing ever!

Yesterday she created a new game…she said my name ‘mama’ in a really funny voice…she wanted me to say her name is a funny voice…then she did another voice…and so on. She got such a kick out of saying our names in different voices.

She is still quite taken with Fagia’s (airplanes). She has great hearing and vision. She can see them in the sky long before I can.

Oh…I hear her stirring….more later….if I am feeling better.

Saturday, May 6-Jas posted some new pics 14 May 2006

Good morning,
(There is a a few links above with pics from our final days in China and our first few days home.
Hopefully this weekend we will be able to post all the pics to flickr photo sharing…we don’t have another way to post a large amount of pictures at one time.)

It is Shabbat morning. Last night we took Rou Rou to our Temple (Temple Rodef Shalom) in Fallschurch. Everyone was so pleased to see her and she seemed to love the experience.

She picked out a dress and matching coat to wear and on the way she pointed out all the airplanes she saw.
This is her favorite game in the car.

She could not wait to get into the building (we have a very pretty Temple building). Marcus our friend and one of the Rabbi’s wanted so much to hug and kiss her but she is shy with new faces.

She sat on my lap, entranced with the music and the activity. She wanted to see everything and follow along in the prayer book. She kept checking with Baba’s prayer book to make sure she was on the right page.

Our friend Eric and his daughter Sandra (she is in 3rd grade) sat behind us. Rou Rou was intrigued by Sandra and kept staring at her. Sandra is a very beautiful little girl with long blondish hair, she was wearing a blue sweater and a white skirt. She came and sat next to us and Rou Rou compared her skirt with Sandra’s.

Jason and I were so amazed at how attentive and interested she was. She is so inquisitive and such a risk taker…I love that about her!

Around 9:30 we needed to leave because all of Rou Rou’s cues said she was getting too tired and needed to go to bed.

The minute…we stood up we were all called to the beama for a special blessing. This was a nice surprise. Jason and I were so touched by the blessing for the adoption of an older child in the Rabbi’s prayer book.

We are so blessed to be a part of a caring and welcoming spiritual community. This fall, Shu Rou will have a naming ceremony at the Temple followed by a big celebration!

Thursday, May 4 14 May 2006

My little ‘Utraman daredevil’ is now proficient at riding her bike! Tomorrow, I need to buy her a helmet…she insists on riding on her own, and she likes crashing into things. She has also completely mastered the climbing wall on the playground and the big slide is boring her. We are going to check out a new playground this weekend.

She continues to receive an unbelievable amount of new toys and clothes from friends and family. She loves everything she opens and does not have enough hours in the day to play! She always gasps the minutes she rips open the paper and opens the box inside. It is absolutely precious.

Her comprehension of what Jason and I say is incredible…much better than our comprehension of her Chinese…
I have a good grasp of the words she uses most often but then today she started singing 2 new songs and unless I have a Mandarin speaker with me I don’t know what she is saying. Jae just happened to come over today so I lucked-out. Jae is a graduate student at American University and she happens to be a native of Wuhan, Hubei. Prior to us leaving for China, she translated all the gifts, letters and photo books I sent to China. She will go back to visit her parent in Wuhan from 5/16-7/11.

After an initial “warming-up period”...Rou Rou had lots of fun playing with Jae (She tod her she was her 3rd IE (auntie) ...the others she is refering to are Kathy and Judy (our facilitators in China). Jae told me that one song she sings is about the great Red Flag. We believe she is singing about the Chinese Flag. Another song she sings about the Spring Rain goes pitter-patter. She also sang a very widely known song to get kids to eat their vegetables…the white little bunny eats his vegetables…she sang this often in China but it is the first time I have heard her sing it here.

We also had an incredible surprise in our parking lot. We were visited by a Oogway Da (a large snapping turtle). I had never seen anything like it…but apparenty they live in the pond on the golf course and they come out to lay eggs. Rou Rou loves turtles but even she was confused…it was so out of context in the parking lot.

Today she picked black beans in a can…right out of the cupboard to eat…followed by pudding. Watermelon is still her favorite.

I really enjoy watching her explore her world. She told Jae that she loves her house and her room and her toys. I can hardly get over her level of retention. She is constantly and consistently amazing Jason and me.

Today is the first day she has been back on a regular “ish” schedule. This morning she awoke at 6:00 am, napped at noon-up at 2:30, asleep at 9:00 pm after an episode of …you guessed it “Ultraman”
Jason is still sick so he went to bed at 7:30…I am off to sleep myself…
Sorry…we have not posted more pics…Jas has been sick all week. Hopefully, new pics will be up this weekend.

Wednesday…up at 3:00 am 14 May 2006

Well….it looks as if this time zone issue may take longer than we had hoped!

She slept from 1:30 pm yesterday until 3:00 am this morning. She decided she wanted to put her new bike together. Jason and I are practically comatose. I bought her a bicycle with training wheels ( I really wanted to get her a tricycle or a big wheel but when she saw the purple and pink bike that was the one she had to have!

It took a lot of convincing to get her to wait inside with us until the sun came up. She really wanted to ride the new bike. She has absolutely no fear and she is such a huge risk-taker. Jason continues to say, “she really is my daughter” I, of course can take no credit and owe a world of gratitude to her foster family.

She has mastered the climbing wall on the playground…I am not kidding. I still stand behind her because it terrifies me but she won’t let me hold her. This is a climbing wall for a 7 or 8-year-old child. She also jumps for the “fire pole” off a platform and shimmies down it.

She is very musical and loves our piano (we are babysitting the piano for a friend for the next 5 years while she is in Rabbinic school). We bought Rou Rou a hot pink (she picked it out) piano that plays prerecorded songs as well as allows her to make-up her own. She loves to sing and now we know that she also loves to dance. She is very rhythmic and dances to the beat of the song that is playing. I am going to sign her up for a creative dance class for 3-4 year olds through the local community center, I just got our 3 weeks of mail yesterday and saw it in the catalog. I think she will really enjoyed it and it doesn’t require her knowing English.

It’s 9:00 am and she is having quite time in her room watching one of the Chinese videos Jason and I bought for her in China. I hope to be able to nap with her soon….wish me luck.

Tuesday, 5/1/06- morning and evening 14 May 2006

Sorry…for the delay…I thought I posted this, this morning….

It is early Tuesday morning…ah gotta love jet lag!

Rou Rou is doing much better than Jason or I. She was up yesterday from 7:00 am-1:00 p.m. and then we woke her up around 4:00…unfortunately she had a very scary meltdown. It seemed as though she did not recognize us at all. She kicked and thrashed and wanted nothing to do with us. Jason picked her up and held her tight. We sang her favorite song and continued to repeat mey shu (its alright) ...finally she cried for mama.

We had some quite time with the Monkey King video…she just loves this story.

Yesterday morning was filled with some needed errands…groceries, Target for baby gates and monitors (she won’t get out of bed without calling first so I need to make sure I can hear her)... several hundred dollars later we felt we got most of what we needed. Jason is still not feeing well so he stayed home but is busily getting ready for work today as I write. Tonight I will teach…I hope I am still awake.

We found another food Rou will eat. She like the soy chicken Jason bought and the zone bars he eats. I am thrilled we finally have a food with some protein for my “little watermelon eating noodle”.

She loves the swing at the playground in our community. It is a baby swing so it surrounds her completely. She feels like she is flying! She is also so thrilled that every time she looks up in the sky there is an airplane.

Jay, Jason’s brother who lives in CA came over last night. He was in town for the wedding. Rou instantly took to him with no fear…this has not been the case with other men. She payed ball with him in her room. At Target we got her a hot pink (she picked the color) kids ball. She loves throwing and kicking it. She kicks as if she has played soccer before. We were all impressed!

She is mimicking much more of our English and she does seem to understand what we ask and or tell her. She is a sponge…oh…she just finished breakfast…gotta run!

10:30 p.m.- Today was Rou Rou and my first day alone together. Baba had to go to work. We played outside on the swings around 7:00 am and then she decided we need to go in the car. She is too funny and as I mentioned loves a schedule. We have been eating, going outside and then going somewhere to run errands…so naturally she thought this was the case.

more tomorrow…I need to get some sleep…Rou Rou has been asleep since 1:30 pm when she fell asleep on the swing as I was pushing her. I am sure she will be up by midnight.

I was wrong…she was up at 1:30 am for lunch! 14 May 2006

Just a quick note to say its 4:30 am and I am just off to bed again. Jason went to sleep about an hour ago and Rou Rou just decided after an episode of Ultraman that she was tired enough to try to go back to sleep. She is such an angel.

We shut the computer (this is what we play her videos on…they are Chinese format…I think they are called VCD’s…and Jas said they can not be played on a dvd player…)
...she lied down…hugged her Wawa (baby doll) and said Wo Eye Knee Mama, chin chin (I love you mommy, kiss, kiss).

I hope she sleeps until at least 8:00 am

She is the BEST!!!!

First day back in the US! 14 May 2006

It is 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast…
As I mentioned in my earlier post Shoshana woke up around 6:00 am. She is such a happy little girl. But like most of us she really likes her schedule.

She played with Baba, ate breakfast and then Baba took her outside to play on the swing-set in our community. She is so fearless. There is a rope ladder…Jason showed her once and then she wanted to go on it by herself.

She has really enjoyed opening presents. We have continued to receive an outpouring of loving gifts for her. She knows what to do with a gift bag but we had to show her how to unwrap a paper present. She thought the wrapped box was the present. She has a sweet tooth and loved the Hello Kitty candy our friends Rebecca and Shawn gave her.

Yesterday, as most of you already know, we missed Jason’s brothers wedding. This morning we all packed into the car (after a bit of trouble getting the car seat to fit her just right). for breakfast with the newlyweds and some of Jason’s family.

Rou Rou (pronounced Row, Row) was shy at first and wanted to only talk to and be held by me. But once Mariam (the new bride) started playing with her with the toys Marybeth (Jason’s dad’s wife) got her. She really warmed-up. Marybeth bought her a Minnie Mouse stuffed animal with a talking bird and Nemo bath toys. Rou recognized the toys because she watched part of ‘Finding Nemo’ last night before going to bed.

She played with her new airplane with her Grandma Connie and new Auntie Jenny. She loves planes! They fly over our home regularly and she saw a few this morning. She screams Faya Faya Faya at the top of her lungs.

She then got her 2nd wind and needed to run around. The Courtyard Marriott where we were a eating actually has a Courtyard. She went outside with Morgan (Marybeth’s daughter, Jenny (her new IE’s and Baba and Grandpa (Yaya). She showed off her Ultraman skills!

Auntie (IE) Mariam bought her some really fabulous stuffed animals and some pretty glass figurines for keepsake. She has enjoyed playing with her Oogway Da the most. The big turtle hand puppet.

We all took a nap at noon (Jas and I got up at 9:00 pm)and she is still sleeping. We hope she is tired enough to sleep through the night. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Tomorrow, I hope to find some Chinese speaking help for her. She is so vocal and I don’t want her to become frustrated with not being able to fully communicate with us.

Still can’t find my phone. I am going to finish unpacking in hopes it is in one of the suitcases.

We Are Back!!!! 14 May 2006

My phone is missing…if you would like to reach us please e-mail me or call Jason’s phone at 703-303-8400.

It is 5:00 am (5:00 pm according to my body) Sorry for the lack of posts since Thursday evening. The past 3 days (4 days to us) have been a blur. Our US Consulate oath appointment was changed to Friday at 11:00. We checked out of the “compound” and were excited to have Rou’s Visa to leave China.

Rou is such a smart girl…once inside the building she became very upset. We believe she thought we were giving her to someone else. Judy could not convince her in Chinese that she was going home with Mama and Baba. As she saw the other Asian babies (all 6-maybe 14 months old) she became more upset.

The US Consulate looks like any other government building, fortunately there was a wide beam ( a support beam in the ceiling that I could wedge us between…it made a barrier to the other families and she could look out the window. I sang her favorite song (twinkle twinkle little star in Chinese and Jason and Judy provided side barriers so we were in our own space.

Fortunately, the process went very quickly. A woman with the US Consulate came out with a bunch of children (it was take your chid to work day). She quizzed them about the office…we learned that the Consulate assigned 7000 Visas to families adopting children from China last year.

Immediately after the ceremony we received the packet required for her to enter the US. (this was fortunate but our fight was not until 6:40 pm and it was now noon). The minute we left the building Rou Rou was fine. Her happy, giggly self. She told us in Chinese that she never wanted to go back there again. I can’t imagine how scary it must have been for her thinking she was going to lose us.

Judy said our tickets could not be changed. We unfortunately were having to fly 3 hours to Beijing to then fly home to the states the next day (Saturday for Us) Friday evening for most of you reading.

We lunched and went to the Banyan Buddhist Temple. Judy wanted Rou to be blessed by the monks at the Temple. But Rou was in melt down because the schedule did not include her usual nap.

We discerned from this trip that Rou was being raised as a Buddhist in her foster home. Prior to the moment of melt down when we passed one of the female Buddha’s (I think the mercy buddha) She put her hands in a prayer pose. Everything at the Temple was very familiar to her.

We arrived at the airport at 3:00 pm. Need I say more…our flight was then delayed and we did not leave until after 8:00 pm.

The poor overtired baby played a lot in the airport…and kept her mama and baba on their toes.

We arrived in Beijing around 11:30 pm…at that point I had thought it had been the longest most exhausting day…mama was in meltdown.

David greeted us at the airport. It was nice to see a familiar face. If anyone is traveling to China for adoption or fun, I will be happy to give you his contact information for touring and travel with his company. He is wonderful and very caring.

He surprised us with a suite at a very nice hotel called The Capital Hotel. We were scheduled to stay at the AVIC again (a very smelly, unclean, not friendly hotel) I had even prepared myself, by saying it is only one more night…but this was so nice and the bit of pampering we desperately needed. We both took 2 showers in the 7 hours we were there.

The funniest part was that it was the nicest place we stayed (our individual trip to Shanghai …seems like eons ago …also was a very nice hotel) but it had no internet… in the suite…I only mention this because knew you were all wanting to see new pics! Jason is still sleeping but he promised to post today.

Saturday came very quickly…and David was so kind to take us to Sid’s to introduce Shoshana. We were so excited to see him again! In all our experiences in China…Jason and I discussed that we feel so blessed to have met and gotten to know Sid Shapiro a bit. We are going to keep him posted about our new journeys with Rou.

Sid was so kind…he bought Shoshana many gifts (cute shoes, a beautiful red outfit, a pillow that looks like a doll (tiger or cat) and a smaller stuffed animal)

Our time with him was brief but we will treasure his kindness. He was so sweet to Rou Rou…he pulled a pinwheel out of his garden for her to play with. She like to blow on pinwheels …we got her one at the Wuhan zoo and she would hold it up to the window or the air conditioning in the hotel to make it go.

He also let her pay with a rickshaw model…she thought she could ride it…it will never be the same even-though Baba tried to fix it before we left.
Rou Rou loves to be outside and very active, she thought Sid’s screen door was tons of fun.

The following is note I wrote to myself and never posted…I wrote it 4/20 (the day before Gotcha Day…on our trip to Beijing …the first time) Beijing from 9:00-9:00

We ended our day with what for me has been the high-point of our experience here… so far.. and until tomorrow (Gotcha Day)
David- our guide in English said it the most eloquently. We “experienced living Chinese history”.

He is referring to a part of our trip that I have spent months hoping for and only early yesterday morning became reality.

We traveled by taxi to a small community on a lake just outside the walls of the Winter Palace (part of the Forbidden City). At gate number 53 we all met Sid Shapiro. Sid Shapiro is 90 years old. He has lived in China since 1947. In 1960, he became a Chinese citizen. Sid Shapiro is Jewish and wrote the Jews of China. Sid lived the history of the Jews of China. He believes the Chinese people are the ‘lost tribe’. He briefly sited many of our similar customs and traditions.

I was reminded of a comment I made to Jason earlier in the day as we were touring the Temple of Heaven.

Let me take a minute to provide a picture of this area. All temple areas were walled. All had many rituals, sacrifices, and fasting areas. The Temple of Heaven an area 5 times the size of the Forbidden City sole purpose was to celebrate the Harvest. Most importantly to pray for a good Harvest.

Walking this massive area … filled with local (mostly elderly Chinese) playing Chinese Chess, dancing, singing, exercising…

On the Omar approaches, (the days between Pesach and Shavuot)…I felt our mirrored histories. The “counting of the Omar” in Judaism leads us to the Harvest holiday of Shavuot.

As we sat down, he played some klezmer music for us. He told us he wanted us to feel at home.

Sid Shapiro married a Chinese actress in 1948. He was so proud to pull out his photo album. They had 1 daughter and she in turn had 1 daughter. His granddaughter was educated in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She married a man she met in college (a boy from Tennessee) They all live together. His daughter just retired, she is a doctor.

He showed us the pictures from the movies she was in and the movies he and other local Jews of the Time were in. He pointed to a picture of a man named Tannenbaum.

His home was adorned with famous paper scrolls paintings of artists he and his wife were friends. David was most impressed by the number of Chinese leaders throughout history that Sid has met, worked with and celebrated in China. Little snapshots of these experiences are on a few shelves.

It is not polite in any culture to show-up empty handed. Just in the hopes that we might get to meet Sid I packed Passover macaroons and coconut covered marshmallows. He remarked at the appropriateness of the gift. He had not had these treats in many years.

As we were leaving he taught us a greeting that also spanned the cultures. ‘Have you eaten?” This is fact means how are you?

He had asked this of us when we arrived but the phrase in English loses a bit in the translation.

He invited us back to visit anytime with our daughter. He personalized a copy of his memoirs for us. His autobiography ‘My China’ could be found on Amazon.

Back to yesterday 4/29

Our trip to the airport was bitter sweet…happy to come home…sad to leave.
Prior to getting on the plane to the US Rou had been on 2 flights (she loved them both)...(now 4 flights)
She is quite enamored with the airport and can’t tell us enough about the (faya, faya, faya ) The flying things in the sky …the planes

We are so glad to be home!
United was horrible and we will never ( I mean never)fly them again…Jason asked that I not use the blog as my draft letter to the President of United…
The highlights: we were almost not able to leave China because the travel agent in the states through our agency spelled Rou’s name wrong, we had the rudest flight attendants and the oldest plane in history, they gave away Rou’s meal (an Asian Vegetarian specially ordered for her) because they didn’t know who she was and did not make an announcement…and finally after 24 hours in the air between 2 planes they lost 1 piece of our luggage…we are supposed to get it today.

We fly all over China and no one lost our luggage. We deplane in San Fran and move our luggage from one conveyor belt to the next and United can’t get them all to the plane. There is so much more that happened but I did promise Jason I would save it for the letter.

Tami picked us us at the airport and Shawn, Rebecca and Noah met us at home with gifts, dinner and a refrigerator filled with food.

Shoshana (we are warming up to calling her the English name we gave her) awoke about 30 minutes ago. She really enjoyed the Asian tofu and noodles Rebecca and Shawn bought her.

She loves her room, she loves Purim (our kitty), I am listening to her play the piano with Jason downstairs. She is very musical (as I have written she sings all the time) We will definitely be getting her piano lessons…she also loves anything that makes noise.

Tami brought her a ‘toy plane’ and the minute she found the button that made it sound like it was taking off and made the lights flash…she was in heaven!

She slept 7 hours…this is AMAZING…it is now 6:00 a.m. but on her clock is 6:00 p.m. We hope her body adjust quickly…I can tell mine is not.

We all watched an episode of the Monkey King and Ultraman prior to her going to sleep last night. She decided she was not taking her clothes off (although this morning I got her to give me her jacket) and she went to bed hugging the pink plastic purse (shaped like a butterfly) her Aunt Debi bought her.

She slept through the night and woke up the same as every other day….mama I have to go potty. It is so great that she feels at home.

I have to run…she has had Jason go up and down the stairs with her 10 times so far…I need to rescue him!

We will post pics later.

Day 9 14 May 2006

So sorry that you can’t see new pics. Our internet connection is too slow to upload them. Jason will try again when we arrive is Beijing late this evening if he is feeling better.

It is 6:00 am in Guangzhou. I can’t recall if I mentioned how hot it is here…95 degrees with 95 percent humidity and this is spring! We found out yesterday that Rou Rou does not like the heat and she is from an area in Hubei that is considered to be the furnace of China from May-September.

Everyone is sleeping. Jason’s body succumbed to the new germs…and he got very sick last evening (a touch of the flu maybe)...I only really anticipated gastrointestinal related illnesses with us so I had to give him children’s Tylenol. He is sleeping comfortably now in our other room.

We leave tonight to go back to Beijing and then catch a flight home. Yesterday we shopped and I was up to the wee hours packing all our souvenirs and dirty clothes (dirty clothes always take up more space than clean ones…this always surprises me).

Yesterday Judy had a successful trip to the Consulate and all the papers were processed. We are excited today to take the oath and receive Rou Rou’s Visa to the states. I thought we received a US passport for her…but we don’t. Jason reminded me that Kathy told us that she is a US citizen once we land in San-Francisco.

Rou was as cute as ever yesterday. She spent much of the day singing. We asked Judy if she knew what song she was singing…we thought it might be a traditional Chinese tune…to our surprise it is the Universal Children’s Song “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. Judy called it “Sparkle, Sparkle Little Star”. Rou loves to sing and we know now that she makes-up her own words to the same melody…usually they have her (wo), mama or baba in them. Last night on our taxi ride to the compound she made up an entire song with just the words mama and baba.

Judy is very kind, she offered to take us shopping and sight-seeing yesterday. Traveling solo has some incredible perks…Jason and I like to immerse ourselves as much as possible in whatever culture or area we are in. Traveling solo has allowed us to experience a much more authentic China and our facilitators, as I have written before, have really been willing to take us to the non-touristy area’s to shop, eat, and play. Yesterday was no exception. Judy took us to the store she and other Chinese shop at when buying Jade. As Westerners (with no experience in buying Jade) we would not know if what we are being sold is Jade or a just a green stone.

Judy taught me how to look for the clarity in the Jade. We bought Rou a Jade bracelet to wear on special occasions and for next year’s Chinese New Year Celebration. It will fit her for probably the next two years. They taught me how to put it on and take it off of her with cream (It’s a tight fit so it that it doesn’t fall off). She enjoyed this because she likes having cream rubbed all over her. We also bought small circular (discs of Jade), one for me and 2 for Rou (one for now and one for later). Wearing these on red thread is very traditional and symbolizes family. Judy said it is part of every baby ceremony in China. I have seen many Chinese wearing them but I did not know the meaning, until yesterday.

(As an aside, we know many families reading our posts are going to China in the next year to adopt…if you would like the information about this store…or any other stores, restaurants etc. in Shanghai, Beijing, Wuhan or Guangzhou, please feel free to e-mail me).

Judy also took us to a place frequented by most adoptive families, a store called Jennifer’s. This store is located right behind the White Swan amongst many other souvenir shops supported by the guests of the White Swan primarily. We found it interesting that Jennifer also has a location in Seattle Washington. Jennifer’s sister runs the one here and Jennifer is in the states. Another great thing about having Judy is she bargained for us while I tended to the hot, sweaty, and tired baby. We bought Rou some pretty silk dresses…one pretty purple one, in particular for Jordyn’s bat mitzvah this August! Rou picked out the colors she liked (you guessed it HOT PINK, pink and purple). I also bought her 3 larger dresses (children’s size 6, 8, and 10) in different colors for special occasions in the future.

We found out that Rou LOVES butterflies

this was a great sign because we did her whole room in butterflies! She actually squealed with joy when she saw the silk butterflies kites on the ceiling of the store. Our friend’s the Danielle, Sam, Haylee and Morgan bought Rou Rou a similiar silk butterfly kite prior to us leaving for China. She is going to be so delighted when we get home and see that we have one for her!
Judy surprised us and bought Rou a children’s CD of Chinese Songs. Number 7 is “Sparkle Sparkle Little Star”. Judy has a 4 year old son. We were deeply touched by her thoughtfulness.

We then went to an outdoor/indoor museum, (China’s Ancestrial Lineage Hall), the buildings were really exquisite. I think Judy said it took over 30 years to complete the carvings on the roofs. The interior space was a garden and Rou enjoyed petting the porcelain elephants. I snapped a few cute shots! Each pagoda area depicted a different Chinese art form or photographic history…it is really hard to explain because I have not seen anything like this in the states. At this point, Rou was a few hours past nap time and we needed to go!

We had BATHING SUCCESS! Mama got smart and we took a both sitting on the bathroom counter with our feet in the water. We played with the running water with our mini rubber duckies and a cup. We got all squeaky clean with no tears.

Tomorrow we really hope to be able to run over to Sid’s house in Beijing and introduce Rou Rou. He invited us and at 90, sadly we may not see him again. We arrive in Beijing after 10:00 p.m this evening. If we are unable to post again, we will be back in VA on Saturday night. Again, a HUGE Mazel Tov and Congratulations to Jacob and Mariam on there wedding tomorrow!!!! We love you and we will see you soon.

gghjmmmmmmmmmmmmgfffffffffffeeeeeeeeeeee888888888444444444 eeeee33 b33333333hgkkkkkkkkkkkuuujklllllhhhh

kkkk3gggbbbbbbbbzzzzzzzzzzaaaaaaaxcvvvvvvvvvvvvv jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj44444444444444qqqqqqqqwertyuiop
fhchhffgfffffdddddddeeeeeeegnnnnnnnnnnnnn33333 3 c3

[]\ (A FEW WORDS FROM ROU… (now 8:00 am) this morning. Her favorite is the number 4 (Sei), she is thrilled to have have found it on the keyboard.)

Day 8 14 May 2006

It has been a very long 2 days…

The highlight of today for Jason was when Rou Rou gave him an unsolicited (chinchin – kisses)! He beamed!!

The highlight of Rou’s day was the plane ride. She is quite a little dare devil. We were seated right on the wing so she really thought she was ultra man. She has also spent most of the day imitating a (Laowhu- Tiger) which is really funny to us because if asked she will tell you she is a little bunny (tuzui). She really enjoys all modes of transportation and talks about them at length. She squealed (she squeals often) when she saw the luggage cart take the luggage to the plane. We needed to take a bus to the plane and she wanted to get on each one…we needed to waited an hour to get on ours and by that time she had had it.

A very kind Chinese family that spoke English and Chinese were sitting by us with their twins…they kindly translated to her that we had to wait until 8:10 to board our bus. Did she understand (haba ha).... she replied (ha) she understood and was fine from that point on. She is as Judy or new facilitator put it ( a very easy chid…we are very lucky). We snapped several pics of her on her first plane ride. By the end of our trip she will have flown 4 times.

We are staying at a government installation on its own island (Ersha island next to the Shamian Island) We were not able to stay at the White Swan (coined the White Stork) ...home to most adoptive parents on the last leg of their journey. We were not able to stay there due to the Trade Show that occurs every year the last week in April (has existed since 1956) all hotels are exhorbinantly priced and booked!

Prior to leaving the states we were not able to find this hotel(Zhu Dao) on the internet…we only found out yesterday that the reason is that this was previously the “vacation-spot” for the Chinese military. It was probably a nice place to stay in the 70’s, Judy told us that it does not cater to an international clientele so they had room. It has fallen into complete disrepair. It is completely desolate. The buildings are spread out over the property and we are sure we are the only ones here.

The original room they gave us …we believe had not been cleaned or aired out since the end of the cultural revolution. We agreed to pay an additional $55 US a night for a room that did not smell and had internet access. The grounds are beautiful and our building is over the lake. This sounds nice but our crib has mosquito netting around it and we have one stray in the room we can’t find long enough to kill.

The weather here is very humid and in the mid 80’s. Rou Rou is used to it and feels that she can never be too warm. She loves wearing her sweatjackets…even to bed. I think because she likes the pockets….and it is familiar. Tonight she folded her clothes very meticulously when we took them off to change into her pjs. I am sure this was what she used to do…but it was the first time we had seen it.

Our day began at 5:00 am …we were on the road by 6:00 and arrived in Guangzhou (Canton) in just enough time for the 45 minute ride to have Shu Rous’s picture taken and for her medical exam. I can’t write about this process in a diplomatic way at this point so suffice it to say all went fine.

We were told that we would be going to the consulate tomorrow (Jason just ran in to tell me he found and killed a mosquito on the netting while checking on Rou)...as I was saying, we thought we were going to the consulate tomorrow but Judy is taking al the paperwork and insists that we not go. We will go on Friday at 2:30 to receive all the official documents and take an oath…part of the US immigration regulations.

Rou only got a 20 minute nap today on my lap between the medical appointment and the hotel…this did not dampen her high spirits and she was funnier, braver and more assertive than we have seen in all week. She crashed promptly at 8:00 when we returned from dinner.

Ahhh….dinner was an adventure this evening. Judy recommended a restaurant and wrote it in Chinese for us so that the taxi driver would take us there. We explained to her that we eat fish (no shell fish) and if we are not eating fish we eat only vegetarian. This has not been a big problem since being in China. We have had many people write in Chinese what we can and can’t eat and it usually works out.
The hotel we are staying at has no taxi’s that come to it. We were told…very roughly that the security guard at the gate at the bottom of the hill might be able to get one if he see’s one…. Fortunately, someone arrived in a taxi as we were reeling with this information…oh…and it was pouring rain.

We arrived at a very large restaurant and we were seated. I am not kidding when I say at least six waiters came over to speak to Rou. She will not talk to strangers and was not happy with the attention. Appetizers came…we were unsure of what they were so we did not eat it. Rou new exactly what one of them was and she is so quick with her chopsticks that she dug right in. We never got menus and when we asked all 6 waiters looked at us strangley. Finally one waitress motioned to me to come with her.

Oh…I am so tired I am digressing…the waitress took me to anther part of the restaurant and there it looked like an aquarium. So many LIVE fish! She wanted me to pick my dinner!

We left … and took a taxi to the White Swan…this was a feat because as I mentioned in other posts, English is not spoken in most provinces…this is true here in Guangzhou…even though an entire community is created and solely supported by the White Swan…the staff at the restaurant did not know what we were asking and neither did the taxi driver. We got a map at the airport and I happen to have it with me….it was all in Chinese and Jason accurately guessed which Chinese word on the map was The White Swan Hotel.
I was incredibly impressed. For those of you out there waiting for your TA (travel approval) I think you will really like the White Swan. By the time you reach this point in your journey it is nice to have a bit of luxury.

The White Swan has many restaurant choices. We ate at the Northern Chinese Cuisine Restaurant. We like Northern Cuisine over the Southern. Rou Rou seems to find more things that she likes to eat when we eat in this style. For dessert she had watermelon and she was in heaven. This hotel caters to kids so they even had apple juice (pinguo) another favorite!

The atmosphere was great. A woman next to our table was playing a tradition Chinese instrument and we almost had the whole restaurant to ourselves. This seemed strange to us because we were told the hotel was booked. We will eat there again tomorrow.

We are really ready to be home and now that we have been through the process we are sure this process could have gone faster. Our flight home is cumbersome. I was recently told that most families take the train from here to Hong Kong and then to the US. Hong Kong is close to Guangzhou. We unfortunately have to take Rou Rou back to Beijing (over 3 hour flight)...overnight in Beijing and then fly out on Saturday morning. Our flight takes us to the West Coast and then we spend 4 hours in San Fran prior to flying cross country.)

Looking forward to seeing everyone soon!

More pics tomorrow.

Day 7 14 May 2006

Just finished packing…we leave at 6:00 am tomorrow for an 8:00 am flight to Guangzhou. It is amazing the amount of extra goodies… we have accrued in the past 7 days. We hope to buy an additional suitcase is Guangzhou… so we can do some shopping. I am a bit concerned about waking Rou…and taking her to the airport. She was upset watching me pack…Kathy explained to her that we were all going on a plane but she was definitely sad watching me. Jason drew her a picture of the 3 of us getting on a plane and going to a new place and getting off the plane, but this did not allay the look of fear in in face. I waited to finish until after she fell asleep.

It rained all day…Early this morning Rou showed me how to make dumplings with the play-dough. I knew by the way she kneaded the dough that she really knew how to make something and when I asked Kathy she told me it was dumplings that she was making. I had asked in a list of questions to the foster mother for a favorite recipe but she did not write one. I will have to learn to make dumplings when I get home.

Our morning ritual often begins with me fixing Rou Rou’s hair. She is very particular and wants certain clips, ponytails and today a few barrettes. She decided that she also wanted to do my hair so Jason snapped a few shots of her brushing my hair and then she decided I needed to wear a blue mini ponytail….I was quite fashionable today!

We spent the morning completing paperwork for our consulate appointment. Jason found a mistake in one of the notarized documents so Kathy had CCAA correct it. At 4:30 we all went back to the CCAA to receive the official approval of adoption from China. We received Shu Rou’s Chinese passport and a very official looking document verifying our ‘donation’, the registrar said some very kind words and we went to dinner to celebrate!

Between filling out paperwork, the rain and the CCAA meeting we went back to the Carrefoure to play in the indoor playground. Rou Rou loves to play. She had so much fun with baba on the toddler zip-line. She is quite the dare-devil.

After playing we ran into the store to pick up a few last minute items for Rou and she had to have her ‘ultraman’ fix! She loves the Japanese sci-fi show. I wanted to get her another drawing book and you guessed it it had to be Ultraman. I wanted to get her another pair of shoes and you guessed it …they had to be Ultraman sandals…We got to the hotel from dinner early and you guessed it she wanted baba to play the Ultraman video on the computer. Here is a picture of her posing as Ultraman. Ultraman is the same word in English and in Chinese so it is very easy to understand what she wants. Rou Rou is very girly, she loves pink and she loves to look pretty but she also loves to be strong and fearless like Ultraman. I am very impressed by her.

Bath time is quite a struggle. Tonight was the 3rd time we bathed her. She tries to be very brave but the minute she gets in the water she begins to sob and call for us (we are right there in the room) but she in so upset she can do nothing else. We quickly wash and rinse…but it can never be too quick. Jason believes bathing was done by her grandma and that she is overwhelmed with grief when we bath her. I think he might be right. We wanted to clean out and cut her (very long) finger nails but she began to sob so we stopped. Kathy asked her about it and she told her that grandma cut her nails. I am crying as I write this because I would like her to have a relationship with her ‘grandma’ ...but I know this is not possible.

Our little bunny (tuzui)...is so fabulous we can’t wait to share her with all of you! If you’d like to be her friend forever you will greet her with watermelon. She was overjoyed at dinner this evening when they brought an entire plate. She thought it was all for her but agreed to share with us. She ate 4 pieces.

We hope to be able to write in Guangzhou, if not, we will write as soon as we are able.

Day 6 14 May 2006

Actually…it is 1:30 am here..so technically it is day 7. She is sleeping peacefully right now. She insists on sleeping in the crib the hotel set-up(blue metal infant hospital crib).
She has been restless…I think because of her cough and usually one arm and one leg are hanging out or over the crib bars. I’d love to get a picture but you never wake a seeping baby…so the saying goes.

Jason asked me to share that it is extremely difficult to upload pics because our connection is so sporadic. The quality and resolution of the picture is the lowest…just to get them posted. We will happily provide high quality pics on the site and to anyone who requests, when we return. We have thousands of pictures. We will post all when back in the states.

Also, on Wednesday (our time) we fly to Guangzhou in Canton to finalize the paperwork with the US Consulate. We may have no internet connection. If you do not hear from us please do not be alarmed. We return to Beijing late Friday evening and leave for the US on Saturday morning the 29th. We arrive back home also on the 29th (due to the time change).

We want to take this time to wish Jacob (Jason’s brother) and Mariam (our good friend) CONGRATULATIONS on their wedding, April 29, 2006! We are so sorry we will not be there to celebrate with you. We will be thinking of you!!

As you can see from the pictures we visited the most beautiful area yesterday. What is funny to Jason, is that I really thought all of China would look this picturesque. The photos are of the sprawling grounds of the Yellow Crane Tower high above the city and over looking the Yangze River.

From travelchina.com:

Legend has it that in Wuchang, there used to be a wine shop opened by a young man named Xin. One day, a Taoist priest, in gratitude for free wine, drew a magic crane on the wall of the shop and instructed it to dance whenever it heard clapping. Thousands of people came to see the spectacle and the wine shop was always full of guests. After 10 years, the Taoist priest revisited the wine shop. He played the flute and then rode on the crane to the sky. In memory of the supernatural encounter and the priest, the Xins built a tower and named it Yellow Crane Tower.

According to records, the tower was first built in 223 A.D during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280). After completion, the tower served as a gathering place for celebrities and poets to party and compose poetry. It was estimated that up to the Tongzhi Reign of the Qing dynasty, as many as 300 poems about the tower had been found in historical literature. Cui Hao, a famous poet during the Tang dynasty (618-907), made the tower well known throughout China with his poem “Yellow Crane Tower”.

Destroyed many times in successive dynasties, the tower was rebuilt time and again until 100 years ago when it was, for the last time, reduced to ashes. The present tower is a complete reconstruction and is the result of four years of work beginning in 1981. Where the old tower was only 15 meters wide, the ground floor of the new structure was increased to 20 meters wide. The tower, 51.4 meters high, is five-storied with yellow tiles and red pillars, overlapping ridges and interlocking eaves, more magnificent than the old one.

Rou Rou was having a rough morning and was kind of cranky. She has been in such high spirits this past week but I think her cold finally got the best of her. She wanted baba to carry her all morning…boy was he tired!

Her and baba had fun ringing a giant bell…for good luck!

She really enjoys singing and she serenaded us all morning. I even got some of it recorded. Usually when I turn on the video camera she stops singing. The song goes something like this….jinga, jinga, di, di da…and then she sings another one with hand motions …pointing to herself and then to us. This one is much more complicated and I do not have it down yet. Even when she is upset if I sing jinga jinga di, di da she will begin to sing along.

We all napped long and hard after our adventure.

Walmart was another adventure. There are 2 in Wuhan (on either side of the River) I was rather tickled that in our US Walmart everything is made in China…and it is here too. Some striking differences…Walmart here is mostly a grocery store, butcher and fish market.
She was very excited to buy Ultra Man socks (this is a Japanese tv show she enjoys watching). We find it rather violent, Kathy agrees, but all the kids here love it.

Also, we found an entire box of straws (even hot pink) her favorite!

We strolled up and down the aisles letting her pick things that looked familiar to her. Two new snacks (to Jason and I, not her). She likes fruit gummy’s and small vegetable crackers (goldfish cracker size).

We did not see Kathy today because she spent the day at CCAA retrieving the 3 documents we need to take to Guangzhou (her ‘birth-certificate’ of sorts, the document on ‘abandonment’ and our official adoption papers listing us as her parents) We are relieved to have these in hand. One step closer!

At dinner Rou noticed the English alphabet on her high chair. She has the sweetest, tiniest voice and hearing her repeat the alphabet after me is incredible. I also brought alphabet stickers so she recognizes them as the same. On the cover of her book of paper I spelled Shoshana Ruth. Everytime she picks it up she says Shoshana Ruth. Jason thinks she thinks it is the name of the pad of paper. We are not pressing her English name with her at this time but it is very sweet to hear her say it.

Rou Rou spoke to Kathy on the phone tonight and she told her she had a fun day and that she bought new food at the store.

First day back in the US! 14 May 2006

It is 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast…
As I mentioned in my earlier post Shoshana woke up around 6:00 am. She is such a happy little girl. But like most of us she really likes her schedule.

Auntie (IE) Mariam bought her some really fabulous stuffed animals and some pretty glass figurines for keepsake. She has enjoyed playing with her Oogway Da the most. The big turtle hand puppet.

We all took a nap at noon (Jas and I got up at 9:00 pm)and she is still sleeping. We hope she is tired enough to sleep through the night. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Tomorrow, I hope to find some Chinese speaking help for her. She is so vocal and I don’t want her to become frustrated with not being able to fully communicate with us.

Still can’t find my phone. I am going to finish unpacking in hopes it is in one of the suitcases.

More tomorrow….

Day 5 Sunday 14 May 2006

Today has been a very active day. Rou is still awake in the crib next to me. It is 9:15 pm and she is singing a song and reading a picture book. We just finished watching the DVD we brought called “Big Bird Goes to China”. Big Big wants to find the Phoenix Bird of China so he a Barkly the dog go to China. They are led through the story by a little Chinese girl named Shou Fu (Little Lotus), Rou pointed to the picture of Dora the Explorer and said Shou Fu…they did look similar. Shou Fu helps Big Bird (Da-neow) with the clues to finding the bird…along the way the Monkey King appears with riddles. There is a good amount of Chinese spoken in the movie. This Sesame Street production was created 35 years ago in partnership with the Chinese government. It is a fabulous story and Shu Rou enjoyed it very much. She talked to the screen and interacted with Sho Fu and her baby (wawa) and her little yellow bird (not a da-neow…but mama can’t remember the Chinese for little yellow bird). For all of you out there with preschoolers this is a must have video. It is extremely educational and really fun to watch as a child or adult. Jas and I have now seen it 3 times.

She is still coughing quite bit at night so she did not sleep well last night. She woke up at 6:00 am to peepee and then went back to sleep in our bed until 8:00. At breakfast we added a few more items. She now like hash browns and since she ate congee for dinner last night she was willing to try it again this morning. She is also a fan of Ping guo (apple juice) with a straw of course.

We had so much fun at the puppet show this morning. Kathy decided her son would not be able to sit for an hour so he did not join us. She told us he was sad to not see his mei mei (little sister). He wanted to make sure she told us ‘knee how’ (hi). The puppet show was in a neighborhood and was quite similar to Imagination Stage in Bethesda. There were 5 different performances in the hour and Shu sat spell-bound in her seat. There were about 40 other children and parents between the ages of 3 and 7. We get lots of stares, mothers in Chinese asked if she was mine.

One if the stories was an adoption story. A mama yellow bird finds an egg. The egg hatches and out comes a baby eagle. The mama yellow bird feeds and teaches the baby bird to fly and then the mama finds an eagle mama for the baby. The baby gives the mama yellow bird flowers. This was all in Chinese although we could clearly follow the story. Coincidentally the only toy we brought to the performance was her little yellow bird.

At the end, the performers and their puppets came out to shake hands and have the puppets give kisses to the children. She really enjoyed the show. Kathy was shocked that she could sit for such a long time….frankly so were we. Outside they were selling hand puppets and you guessed it our “little bunny” wanted a little pink bunny to match he pink bunny balloon. I am still amazed at how strong the US dollar is here. The entire morning cost us $5.

.........She is chatting away in the dark to herself, next to me. She loves to tell stories and sing. She is not so sleepy because she slept for 3 hours today (noon-3:00), but she knows it is bed time and to play quietly on her own.

It is now 5:40 here and I’m back…
Last night, Rou Rou had a bout with diarrhea…while I was writing, and well you can imagine that kept us occupied for a bit. She is fine, she is sound asleep now.

Back to our fun day, yesterday. We all napped and then we headed off to the Wuhan Zoo. Unlike most zoos in the US we knew the cages and conditions here would make us a bit sad. To our surprise the zoo was very large. It was a zoo amusement park. The animals were segregated on an island surrounded by water. The paths leading to different areas were lined with grass, trees and lakes and unlike the city it provided Shu a lot of room for running and jumping.

We taught her that when she is holding both our hands and we count 1,2,3 that we lift her into the air. She loves this game and laughs and laughs. I have really wanted to see a Panda before leaving China…we were in luck, by the time we reached the Panda area the baby Panda was being fed. Rou Rou was excited to tell us in Chinese all about the Panda. Jason got video and I took pictures.

We also saw 2 lions and a tiger, up close, they were Roaring and she mimicked the sound…we all roared. Along a path were a gathering of stone rhinos, ripe for little girls to sit on and get their picture taken. Jas put her on a big rhino and asked her to wave and say hi. To our surprise she did (in English)!

We also found out yesterday that she loves looking at roller coasters. We think she really wanted to ride on the roller coaster making all the noise. Jas and I were intrigued by the Chinese fighter pilot with ‘mig’ ride… but we passed and just ‘looked’. Instead we picked a pink horse on the merry-go-round.

For dinner, we ate at the ‘Chinese’ restaurant in the hotel. All the large hotel chains have Western and Chinese Restaurants. Our picky eater wanted to only grab the spicy nuts with her chopsticks. She did finally eat corn and a pancake-egg-chive dim som. She is so expressive. We always bring paper and crayons with us and last night we drew the animals we saw at the zoo. She copied my animals. I drew a panda, she drew a panda, I drew a tiger and a monkey and she drew a scene around them. She really likes to draw the sun ‘tye jan’ and of course everything must have a number 4 on it. This is her favorite number. She now says it in Chinese and English. We count in Chinese and English…baba is much better at remembering the Chinese than mama.

Saturday, Day 4 14 May 2006

Hi from Wuhan….we are still here.

We have established quite a good daily ritual.
Awake around 7:45…Mama way … (mommy I have to pee pee)
Breakfast…she picks many items but only ever eats the watermelon… She told Kathy that she ate Watermelon (still can’t remember the chinese for this…I need to write it down…but then DA (big)...she ate BIG Watermelon for breakfast.
Kathy picked us up in the van Rou Rou knows and the driver she knows….and likes very much. Kathy tells me they refer to him as big man…he is about 1.5 x the size (ht) of all the Chinese men here. Rou Rou actually let him pick her up today.

We went to a very famous Buddhist Temple it has existed in the same manner since the Qing Dynasty (1600). The Temple and the monks were protected during the Cultural Revolution by the leader of the Hubei Province at the time. He was friends with Chairman Mao.

Rou Rou’s favorite part was the large man-made pond with hundreds and hundreds of turtles. Turtles are a symbol of longevity. The pond was created because when the Yangze River floods the fish are washed onto the street. The monks are vegetarian and they collect the fish as fast as possible and put them in the pond to keep them alive.
She loves fish ( the large red ones and turtles) Tonight at dinner she drew a picture of the the baba oogway da (The big daddy turtle and the baby). It was quite a good picture. We knew exactly what it was before she told us.

While at the Temple, we saw a building with 500 gilded life size monks representing monks over the many decades. We learned about the female mercy buddha and the mercy buddha with many hands and the laughing buddha. The laughing buddha is my favorite.

Across the street is a museum of Pansai (bonsai trees) and large rocks and crystals from all over China. It was quite fascinating. In Hubei, the Yangze River produces a local rock that is called the “Chrysanthemum Stone” because the black obsidian has crystalized white rocks which have formed in a star-burst pattern, it looks like the chrysanthemum flower. We bought a small rock carved in the shape of a turtle for Rou Rou.

Then…it was lunch and nap. Today she took a 2 hour nap. She was up coughing last night so I don’t think she got a restful sleep. She got up from her nap rearing to go. When we were coming back from the Temple in the van she saw a park with a bouncy (big carnival like trampoline moon bounce)...my sister had one for my nephew’s birthday this year. Kids love them. She squealed with joy when she saw it. Kathy said that all squares in Wuhan have them…so she wrote directions in Chinese for a taxi driver to take us to one closer to the hotel after nap time. No-one speaks English here…not even in the hotel. The managers of the hotel speak better than they actually comprehend…so it has been somewhat of a challenge. Everyone is surprised when Rou Rou opens her mouth and out comes Chinese. But she can’t tell us in English either.

The Square had a bouncy, some electric children’s cars, balloons and very dirty diseased pigeons…it was quite a combination. We kept her away from the pigeons…obviously…
She loved the bouncy and the electric car once she figured out that she could put her foot on the pedal and make it go. Then she noticed the balloons and you guessed it she had to have the hot pink one…it was a bunny. Tonight at dinner Kathy asked about her day and she said she had a room full of balloons. She told Kathy she played ‘badminton’ ...which meant she bopped the balloon and it came back to her. Kathy commented to her that she is a little cute tiger and she said no she is a bunny. The balloon was in the shape of a bunny’s face.

After she tired of the activities in the square we walked down the street. We are in a very dirty, crowded, city…and through an alley way I saw another square area…I coaxed Jason and we explored. The ally opened into another square in the middle of a bunch of apt. buildings. Since it is Saturday here the “park-of-sorts” was filed with kids and families and the elderly. The metal play equipment was very much from the 50’s . Shu Rou needed to play on each one. She laughed and bounded around like all other 3.5 year olds!

For the first time since being here, I saw a group of people (elderly) playing Mahj. They were playing right on the street and they thought it was funny that I wanted to take their picture. I have had my eye out for a set but still no luck…and they did not speak English.

We came back to the hotel for some down time. She took her 2nd bath…this time she got in the bath with no fuss…but she cried when I washed her hair. Kathy had told her this morning that she always needed to wash after play and she needed to bath when mama asked her to and she did.

Each afternoon, Baba plays a cartoon for her on the computer. She knows that is is cartoon time. I can’t remember if I mentioned that the Monkey King is truly her favorite. She sings the theme song to it. Today I learned from Kathy while we were at the Temple that the “Monkey King goes to the West” is based on a Qing Dynasty story about a monk going West and that ‘the spirits’ protected him. The spirits are the Monkey King who protects the Monk during his travels.

During cartoon time, I went to the hair salon and had them wash and dry my hair…I told her I was leaving and I would be back …she needed to stay and play with Baba…Haba ha…do you understand…she shook her head …ha (she understood) ...this was a first that she was ok staying alone with Jason. He was thrilled!
For me, this was such a treat…which is why I am writing about it. After the cartoons…baba brought Rou Rou down to the salon with her jingly barrettes…she needed mama to put them in just right. She sat on my lap and I did her hair while the lady in the shop did mine. This decadence cost me $5 US, what a treat! I tipped her $10 US and she did not understand, but she took it.

Kathy took us to another local restaurant this evening, she is so sweet. We enjoyed last nights meal better but it is an amazing treat to watch Rou Rou eat. She slurped-up the congi (soup porridge stuff) but she mostly enjoyed the appetizer …I am sort of at a loss to describe it but it is made out of egg and sugar and formed into a biscotti like cookie. She loves all things sweet.

After dinner she ran in the the room and took out her hair jingles. She now knows that they will be there every morning and so she is ok about taking them out when she goes to sleep.
Kathy keeps telling her that she will never be separated from Mama and Baba. We will go to other hotels, travel in other buses (she thinks all taxis, vans etc are buses) and fly on a big plane but we will never be separated and all her toys and clothes are hers. It has been so wonderful that in such a short time and in such a little act … taking out her hair barrettes and putting them on the table or taking off her jacket rather than sleeping in it …that we can see how much she trusts us.

We could not be happier, more exhausted than ever but so, so happy!

Tomorrow is Sunday. Kathy is taking us to a puppet show in the morning. I am sure she will enjoy it as long as she doesn’t have to sit too long. She is a very active girl and loves to entertain and be entertained. It is 10:00 pm here…I am off to bed.

p.s.- several of you have kindly asked…we did buy a car seat a few days before we left and gave it to our friend’s Shawn and Rebecca…they have a Honda Pilot and can fit themselves, their new baby, us, Shu Rou and all our luggage. We are very appreciatiative of the thoughtful offers. Just as a side note. There are NO carseats in China. Shu Rou is used to having the window rolled down and her hands out the window. If I’d let her she’d hang completely out the window. She was used to riding a bus with the window open…The area where she is from is normally 100+ degree from May to September with NO air conditioning.

Friday, Day 3 14 May 2006

Our little girl is doing very, very well…we continue to be amazed by her. She is happy, sweet, and independent. Jason asked me today how we make sure she grows up that way?

She still suffers from a bad chest cold. For all the “moms” out there…it is still ‘clear’ from her nose and loose in her chest. She does not have a fever and we are now giving her over the counter cough medicine. Kathy (Jing) took us to the pharmacy and read all the labels for me. All over the counter meds here are sold in the pharmacy. Medicine by mouth here is used infrequently in children. Kathy’s son had a fever yesterday and she took him to get an iv with penicilian in it…she must have seen the look on my face…I didn’t mean to give her a look but she let me know that she knew that is the US this was not done.

Tonight we ventured out of the hotel-
Kathy (and her son Lei Lu 4.5 yrs old) took us to a local resturaunt. She says it is one of the most popuar in Wuhan. It was huge (3 floors) and tables of mostly 6 or more people. We needed to wait for a table but they served us watermelon while we waited.

This is by far Rou Rou’s favorite food. She had it for breakfast, lunch and now dinner. When Kathy asked her in Chinese what she wanted to eat for dinner, she said “watermellon” in chinese.

Kathy ordered for us. She was able to order based on our diet…which is even hard in English. We had a great meal. Her son and and Shu Rou had a nice time coloring together.

Shu Rou is AMAZING with chop sticks. Jason and I have been feeding her finger food and food with a fork and spoon but our eyes just about popped out of our heads when she picked up the chopsticks and served herself from every plate on the table she could reach. She even knew to blow on the food before she put it in her mouth.

So much to say…
Today it has rained all day, poured most of the day. With a drop in temperture from 80 to 50ish. She is a great sleeper, she tells us at 8:00 pm that it is time for bed and then she sleeps until 7:45. This morning she called Mama…she had to go peepee.

We took her to breakfast in the hotel… she really likes to be out with people. She is an extreme extrovert.
She pointed at all the items on the buffet she wanted. We sat down with her plate but all she ate was the watermellon.

The shopping mall we went to yesterday has an indoor kids play area. Kathy suggested we take her there to play. It was by far the dirtyist …but she loved it. We were there for a full hour.

She especially loved the trampauline-of-sorts. She kept yelling for Baba to chase her and follow her on all the toys. Jason was so happy that she called for him so many times. She now knows he is the one to run around on the playground with and the one who puts cartoons in the computer.

We have bought many Chinese cartoons (she picked out all her favorites) including the 52 pack series of the Monkey King. It is true that this is her favorite. She sings the theme song.

Actually she sings alot. Tonight, Kathy asked her in Chinese what is she singing? She responded that she did not know? She just likes it. We are going to video tape her singing. We are sure her “grandma” sang to her all the time.

Kathy also asked her about her day and she in the most exaggerated tones let Kathy know all about her day. She told Kathy that Baba and Mama bought her a new jacket and new shoes and she loves us very much. Jason showed Kathy the pictures on the camera from the playground and Rou Rou narrated for everyone. She loves to see pictures of herself.

I made her a “name badge id necklace” prior to leaving VA. It has a card in it that says in English and Mandarin. My name is…if I am lost…I am an American Citizen…my mommy and daddy are…and the hotel card for each hotel. Also in the front pocket is a picture of her. and in the pocket there are 2 more pictures of her. Today she found the secret comartment with the pictures and squeaed with joy. She took out the pictures and made the pictures kiss each other. It was so cute. Then she put them back and zipped it up. She likes zippers.

I brought paper and crayons to the resturant tonight and Kathy was again extremely impressed by how Rou Rou held the crayon. She said her son at age 4.5 can’t hold the crayon in the proper writing position.

We had another breakthrough…she let us take her old shoes and jacket. We will save her clothes, but they are very dirty right now. When we were at the store today we asked her what shoes she liked and from the entire wall she picked out a pair (hot pink ones) she also picked out a new sweatshirt jacket (pink). She immediatly took off the old and put on her own new clothes. I think she may think that the clothes I bought her are not hers because she did not pick them out. She definately likes hot pink! She also thinks I should wear red. She likes me in red.

As we walked through the store she saw 10 or so large fish tanks…she started sqealing with joy at the fish. Jason took her behind one of the tanks and as she peered through the glass she was the little girl on the greeting card. “ Ah…the red thread.

She mimicks feverishly. She now says hello- ni how, goodbye- tie-chin, i love you. who eye knee….the baby Ling doll taught her these. We also bought chinese flash cards and she teaches us…she holds up a card and says …Cha for ball and Jason and I say cha, ball…and she says ball, cha…and so on. We are getting pretty good:)

I also learned today that if I say please in Chinese when I ask her something in English…she will do it.
Please…ch-eung.

Other random Shu Rou info….for inquiring minds:

She loves straws and I can get her to drink anything if it has a straw. She also is fond of the water bottle.

She loves to press the button to go up or down on the elevator. She knows breakfat is button #2 and the lobby to go outside is #1 and our floor is number #16.

We got her another small plastic dolly today to play with when she in building with the legos.

She is very particular about her hair and her dolly’s hair. I needed to do her hair several times today….with the barrettes that jingle…and then she asked that I do her new dolly’s hair. She got a pony tail and a barrette. Shu Rou was quite pleased.

She is very artisic and continues to be thrilled with the stickers and drawing the number 4.

She would spend every moment of the day outside if we let her.

She really, really likes milk cookies (they are kind of like an animal cracker wih frosting on the top…but only in the center. She takes her teeth and scraps the frosting off and then bites the cookie. I think she may be a fan of oreos.

Tomorrow, Kathy is picking us up to take us touring a bit. If the weather is nice we are going to an ancient Temple. It is not the job of the facilitator to take us out or tour us but she has continued to insist. On Sunday, she is taking Shu Rou (and her parents) to a puppet show that she is taking her son to. She really thinks Rou Rou will like it. We are thrilled that Kathy is so sweet and loving with Rou Rou. She has been a huge help!

We really want to come home. We wish our appointment at the consulate was early next week. It is hard to live in a hotel…even a nice one. We are definately the focus of attention on the street and by hotel guests and English is not spoken in this province.

Jas and Rou Rou are asleep…I am also off to bed…more tomorrow.

Second Day – April 20 (update) 14 May 2006

he awoke with a smile. We ate breakfast in the room and went back to the CCAA government office to complete the paperwork.
Rou Rou was happy to show everyone the “travel backpack” that I (her MaMa) gave her. It is filled with a doll that speaks 4 Mandarin and 4 English phrases (thanks to her “Aunt and Uncle” Laurel and Brent, crayons, stickers, a barbie cell phone that makes lots of noise, playdough, travel etcha-sketch and hand cream)

She loves stickers (especially the puffy ones) and toys that speak or make noise.

She is an amazing girl, with an amazing vocabulary. She has been raised by a woman and the woman’s mother so she has warmed-up to me…everything is MaMa and then a whole string of words I can’t understand…but we are managing and she is very patient with Jason and my ignorance.

This evening we went for a walk outside. She loves being outside! Tomorrow we will find a park to play in. She let Jason and I hold her hands ( we skipped, and jumped and made funny noises with our mouths…she laughed and laughed) and then she let Jason carry her when she was tired. This was a first and he was thrilled.

She is great at mimicking – she can recite the English alphabet after me and numbers up to 20. I finally understood my first Chinese sentence today when we went to the store (like a Target) and we bought some Chinese cartoons that she likes to watch…she turned to me and said Xie Xie (shay shay) Mama …..Thank you Mommy! We also bought all her favorite food and some really cool legos that have wheels. She really likes buses and apparently vroom vroom is the same in any language.

Yesterday she refused to bathe and she would not take off the clothes she came in…this was all very understandable and we let her sleep in them. Today bath time was a struggle…but we got through it…we put back on her ‘own’ jacket to make her feel comfortable (it was so dirty …but I knew it was the best thing to do) .

Tonight when I put her to bed she took off her jacket and hung it next to her dolly’s jacket which she also took off. This was AMAZING progress!!! She pressed her dolly and it said ” I love you- Wo Eye Knee”...she looked at me and said I love you, Wo Eye Knee.

We all had a great day today. We know that there wiil be ups and downs but we will take each day as it comes.

Shoshana’s Second Day 14 May 2006

It’s the end of our second day with Rou Rou. We are all happy and having fun but also mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted. Shu still had moments of sadness but lots of playing and smiling.

Sorry for the problems with the site. It seems that uploading lots of data from this part of China all the way back to the US still has a few bugs. We will figure out a way to get pictures out so keep checking here for news and links.

Thanks for all of your notes on our comments page. We love hearing from you all and knowing that there is so much love and support waiting for us back home.

Love,
Jason and Shelli

Direct from China Blog

24 Jul 2007

Happy Ba Ba Day! 19 Jun 2006

PICTURES POSTED! www.flickr.com/photos/red_thread 19 Jun 2006

Week ending Friday, May 26 26 May 2006

1 Month Anniversary-Weekly Highlights-5/14-18 19 May 2006

It’s Mother’s Day!!!!! 14 May 2006

Sorry-I have been sick 14 May 2006

Saturday, May 6-Jas posted some new pics 14 May 2006

Thursday, May 4 14 May 2006

New picture Pages!! 14 May 2006

Wednesday…up at 3:00 am 14 May 2006

Tuesday, 5/1/06- morning and evening 14 May 2006

I was wrong…she was up at 1:30 am for lunch! 14 May 2006

We’re Back!! 14 May 2006

First day back in the US! 14 May 2006

On Our Way Home 14 May 2006

We Are Back!!!! 14 May 2006

Guangzhou Day 2 Pics! 14 May 2006

Day 9 14 May 2006

Guangzhou Day 1 Pics 14 May 2006

Day 8 14 May 2006

New Day 7 Pictures!! 14 May 2006

Day 7 14 May 2006

More Day 6 Pictures!! 14 May 2006

Day 6 14 May 2006

First day back in the US! 14 May 2006

Sunday Day 5 Pictures! 14 May 2006

Day 5 Sunday 14 May 2006

New Day 4 Pictures!! 14 May 2006

Saturday, Day 4 14 May 2006

Friday, Day 3 14 May 2006

Pictures of Rou Rou first few days with us! 14 May 2006

Second Day – April 20 (update) 14 May 2006

Shoshana’s Second Day 14 May 2006

Post your Message!!