Thursday, June 29, 2006
Hello! We are leaving for
Guangzhou tomorrow and are hoping things improve. Thank you for
posting messages to our guest book. We are having a great time
getting your notes and we look forward to reading them everyday.
Have we mentioned that we are totally in love with Annabel?
Since we completed our paperwork on Tuesday we have not been
doing much as we wait for Annabel's passport. Usually during
this period in the Province of our daughters, the families go to
the orphanage/foster families, see the finding spot, etc. But
our daughters live 8 hours from where we received them so we are
not doing any of those things. Our group is unique in that the
entire group of children in our traveling group were in foster
care. So, they have all been very sad, but really healthy. It is
day 3 today with them and already they are really coming around
and we are seeing a lot more laughter, smiles and personality.
The girls from Hunan are called "spicy girls" (the cuisine here
is famously spicy) and they are living up to their reputations.
A few facts about Annabel:
Andrea can not leave her line of vision without her falling to
pieces
She has a smile that lights up the room.
She thinks Mia is incredibly funny and entertaining
She blows raspberries and says dada
She is somewhat close to walking, but does not seem to know how
to crawl
She has Mongolian spots on her fanny that are really common in
Asian children, and our group of babies and they outgrow them
around 9-10 yrs. old
Apparently she has not seen many white haired bearded men before
and, based on her reactions, seems to think Popie is a ghost
(she is warming up a little)
A few facts about Changsha and Hunan:
Changsha is the biggest city you have never heard of. Depending
on which guide you believe, its population is somewhere between
2 and 4 million people. As is true of everywhere we have been in
China, the people are extraordinarily friendly. It is Mao's
birthplace and home to a very large university. There are few
English language signs to be found and not very many English
speakers. People do dress in western style and the shops in the
hotel arcade would be very recognizable on Rodeo Drive.
Otherwise, it is a very Chinese city with little apparent impact
from other cultures, except that it is working very hard at
becoming modernized. There are buildings going up everywhere,
and sometimes it is difficult to tell whether a structure is
being demolished or newly built. A telltale example of how near,
yet remote, Changsha is can be found in Popie's efforts to find
a good western restaurant. When Popie asked the Concierge, he
was directed to Pizza Hut.
Hunan is a very large province with a population of almost 70
million people. It is known for its very spicy food and fine
embroidery. We have noticed that the women here are very
beautiful - including Annabel and our entire group.
Today we visited a small farming village in the countryside. The
countryside is very green with seemingly every square foot
available being farmed. The village we visited is typical of the
type of village where Annabel was born. The farms are small and
very rustic, to say the least. We noticed several oxen. The
homes are very humble. Again, the people were very friendly and
quite curious about the large bus parked on the single lane dirt
road that disgorged a lot of gringos with Chinese baby girls. It
was good to get a sense of Annabel's roots.
More to come,
Steve, Andrea, Annabel, Mia, Kathy, Bob, and Yippo (sorry Yippo,
I left you out of the last message!) |
Our baby girl sleeping
Shopping at the Super
Wal-Mart in Changsha
Our travelling group of eight families
Mom stealing a few kisses
Countryside farmer in rice fields
|
