Adopting Anna-Li from China

more from Hong Kong

2006-05-28T00:37:00.000-07:00

This may well be our last post from this trip. The weather has been absolutely awful today. We were saying that we are usually incredibly lucky with weather and have not had a whole days rain in Asia before. But we have now. Think mum and dad brought it over from Britain. So we did a bus tip to the South of the island this morning then sat having a coffee looking at the thunderstorm. Yesterday was rainy too, but it cleared up enough to have a bit of a walk out, when we met up with mum and dad later. Posting a couple of photos.

Oh to be in Hong Kong

2006-05-25T22:25:00.000-07:00

Main point of this blog entry is photos as we have a good fast internet connection. So.... one of Anna-li asleep (blessarr). Mai looking out over the Yangzti. ONe of the girls at the zoo posing. Finally on of daughter No2 and dad in the play room at the Holiday Inn, Chongqing (it was raining).

Been out this morning on one of the old trams in HK to a couple of streeets selling toys and clothes and bought some chinese dresses for Li-li. Going round the pool this afternoon doing the holiday thing (first day that has really felt like a holiday when we haven't had disscussions about visas, documents, consulates and stuff) Getting some lunch round the pool (dead relaxing) and then off to Kowloon to meet Lorna's mum and dad.

In Hong Kong

2006-05-25T05:43:00.000-07:00

Sitting in the Pacific Coffee Company adjacent to our hotel in Hong Kong. It's good being able to pop in here, have a coffee and use the internet free. Having said that Gary's letter to the manager at the Marriott in Chongqing to complain about not being able to access certain sites on their broadband system and also that the download speed was slow, did result in them not charging us for using it at all - so that was a real bonus.

Said a farewell to our friends today and set off for the airport. We couldn't fit our luggage in a normal taxi, so had to hire the hotel car. Anna-li was quite good on the plane - especially when topped up with milk. Loads of the passengers were playing with her. One man wanted to pick her up and carry her off for a walk. Think that it was the first flight for a group of passengers, as they were all so excited coming into land, they got out of their seats to have a look out of the window., totally ignoring the seatbelt signs. In some ways they ignore rules, in other ways they have so many silly ones. Like Gary and Mai being told to get up when they were sitting down in a shopping centre so Mai could eat her ice cream. We've learnt to laugh in disbelief, as arguing doesn't get us anywhere.

Think we entertained the staff at the airport as Mai gave her crusts from her ham sandwich in to go through to be screened at the luggage check. They took a photocopy of Anna-li's British visa page - think it was the first they had seen from an adopted child.

Text mum and dad and got a text back to say that they were having a drink at the airport waiting to fly out.

Off to finish my coffee now.

leaving tomorrow

2006-05-24T09:01:00.000-07:00

Just packed a lot of the things to see if we need to go out and buy another bag toorrow morning. Think we will just manage. Doesn't matter how long we stay somewhere we could always do with another day or two. There is so much more to see and do, but it will have to wait for our return visit. The aim is to come back and visit Anna-li's orphanage in a few years. The director said we would be very welcome. We spent much of the day buying bits and pieces like Chinese books and CDs / DVDs, and a few clothes. Bought Anna-li, who we call Li-Li now, a Chinese New Year year special edition barbie doll for when she's a bit older (we'll have to hide it from Mai).

Looking forward to having a decent cafe latte in Hong Kong. Despite ordering a few here they haven't seemed to be lattes. In fact the one today didn't even have milk in it. (I'm sure by the time we come back here there wil be several Starbucks here. One has just opened but it'sin a different part of the city.)

So it's time to test out Anna-li's passport and visa and hope they let her into Hong Kong. (As a Chinese citizen she should be able to stay up to 7 days in Hong kong without a visa. ) Bye for now from mainland China.

last but one day in China

2006-05-23T07:53:00.000-07:00

Just a short one tonight. Had a really busy day, spending most of it with friends who are out here adopting too. It's fantastic to be able to support each other and compare notes, and Mai has had a really good session or two playing. Been shopping and bought a few chinese kids books - oh and more barbie clothes. Went out to an interesting Chinese restaurant tonight, one of those where you picked your own poor fish. You can tell who is writing this as Gary ate it!

Only one more whole day left before we leave. Thought we wouldn't find enough to keep us occupied but it's been quite the opposite. Would be perfectly happier staying longer. Oh well, at least we have our short stopover in Hong Kong before we get back to reality.

second week

2006-05-22T07:18:00.000-07:00

writing this listening to a lullaby CD we used for Mai (it never worked) Seems Mai might have had a quiet word with Anna-Li on how to try and get picked up out of the cot. Seriously she now seems not to want to be on her own. She will go to sleep on the bed but scream when put down into the cot. It is the only time she does cry like this. Maybe she doesn't want to be left incase we aren't there when she wakes up- Maybe she's just playing the system. who knows.

We're had an interesting weekend. Yesterday we went for a long walk down to the harbour to where the two rivers meet, picking up a tiny cheap pushchair from Carrefour on the way. We got even more stares than usual when Mai decided it was her turn-she squeezed into it and got pushed up some very steep hills. one lady ran up with a camera, stopped us and took a photo of her as she thought it looked so funny, Mai decided she'd like some flowers - there is a street opposite the hotel which is full of flower shops and stalls. We managed to choose various roses-Mai holding her fingers up as to has many of each and us practising saying our Chinese numbers. It was more difficult understanding the price as we can't remember past ten. She was chuffed with them as she got a lot more for her money than she gets at home. I was only reading 2 days ago a book I'm reading called Hanoi stories, about all Vietnamese loving flowers, and Mai is certainly no exception.

It's nice that the 3 other families have arrived. Mai ran straight into Yasmin's arms (one of her new friends) last might and they we dancing round the lobby lounge till gone 11pm.

Today we decided to try out the public transport of Chongqing for ourselves. We got a Light Railway train - a monorail which follows one of the rivers - great views of the city. We took it to the end, intending to get off and come back, but found the z00. We're not really keen on many zoos and were expecting small enclosures etc.but it looked quite nice so we went in. We were very pleasantly surprised. There were several pandas in really decent enclosures.

We always get "done" once when we're away and we managed to get ripped off buying 100 grams of rather expensive jasmine and green tea. And for once it was Gary more than me getting ripped off!

It was great to come back in tonight and see the others with their new babies. Anna-Li is a lot chubbier than the rest. She's pretty much eaten whatever he's been given. Her and Mai are like chalk and cheese!

2006-05-20T06:47:00.000-07:00

We have managed to get more photos on with a good internet connection so here's a few we have picked. Most are taken at the Ci Qi Kou Ancient town. The river is the Jia Ling River. Mai had ago at an old Chinese game for children. she spun an arrow, which landed on a fish, and the man made a fish made of sugar cane for her (which she is holding)

2006-05-19T21:01:00.000-07:00

Mai already in love with her little sister and little sister already attached to Mai. She will watch her when she comes into the room and will cry when she leaves already. ....takes an age to upload so I will write more as I wait.

Well done to everyone at Hagley Park, especially young Mr T for stepping up to do battle with the ofsted inspector in my place, I owe you a beer or two sir which I will arrange on my return. And a big thankyou to anyone who has had to cover any of my classes. I am very much in your debt. The last of the 3 photos I have to post is ready to paste so tata for now. This last one is of the view from the garden roof of our hotel. China has a real mix of old and new.

2006-05-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

This entry comes to you from an internet cafe on the 3rd floor of a building just 5 min from the hotel. I have left the girls to pack ready to move to the Holiday Inn for a night (they have an outside pool and we need a change).
This is why I find Asia fasinating...I have come up in a lift to the third floor which has had the inside and some of the outside of the lift removed (standing in a lift shaft with just the floor and a bit of wooded cladding round it). Anyway I still can't get onto the webblog even from here so I assume the Chinese government must feel that it is a sensitive site and the population of China must be protected from our site - bizzare.
I am trying not to go on about my new daughter too much (I think we have stayed off her progress all together so far, but time for an update). Day 1 Anna-li did not take much interest in the world around her - no point as for 10 months it hasn't really reacted to her, sadly not even when she cried. This has meant obvious development problems like she could only just role over, could'nt push up on her arms, couldn't sit up or support her weight in any way apart from her head. She did not have any real grabbing technique or depth perception - so she will go to grab a toy and not be able to judge when or where to grap. We were having dinner last night and I noticed her trying to grab a toy we had given her to play with. It was rather pathetic as she tried to grab it but fell too short or ended up with a foot (she got increasingly frustrated).
In 4 days she has become so much better at all of these things. She can sit up for a minute or two and is looking to see what is around her that she can interact with. All of this is exhausting and she sleeps often, but wakes with a smile as she is realizing that every waking moment is filled with a new learning experience not just the bars of her cot. I am going to break this now post it and try to post some photos....so they may appear they may not. Bye for now..we go for a well earned rest from the paperwork.

Friday

2006-05-19T08:02:00.000-07:00

It takes a little time to feel at home in a place, and today we've both said that we really like Chongqing. It really comes alive in the evening. We went a walk to Carrefour tonight - bigger than any of the French hypermarkets I've been in, and came back with a loaded pushchair. Had some nice clothes and bought a really pretty child's dress for less than 2 pounds. Had a chat with a nice man who works on the Yangzi cruise ships and have got his details for when we come back! Managed to order what looked like a veggie meal to find it had prawns and ham in it. Always do it once. Forgot to ask our guide the phrase for has it got meat in it, and the waitress hadn't a clue what I was asking.

Had our last day with Jane our guide who saw us through all of the chinese part of the adoption today. A bit sad as she's become a friend in a way. So we're on our own for a few days now, and we are looking forward to getting out a bit more, and to the other families arriving here to adopt. We did our first trip out today, to the ancient town which was absolutely fantastic. We had a drink in a tea house. Love to go back. The taxi drive was a little hot, and rough going - rather reminded us of Vietnam.

We are off to a different hotel for a night tomorrow which is in a different part of the city and the other side of the Yangzi - just for a change. It has an outdoor pool. Mai is getting braver in the water now. Who knows - the internet connection may be a bit better there!

Day four

2006-05-18T07:18:00.000-07:00

Paperwork proceeding as planned. Anna-li is getting really attached to Mai, and tries to make sure that she can see her all of the time. Took her swimming for the first time tonight and she didn't seem phased by this at all - even when she was hit diectly in her face by a load of water from a squirty duck Mai has. She's also figured out the idea of being picked up and has got gradually worse at going to bed every night. She is now sitting up - only took 3 days of practising (and quite a bit of pushing from us - she was so used to lying down she preferred to do this as it was easier).
Found our way to the intrnet cafe finally but then ran out of time to sit and use a computer so will try again tomorrow.

No Photo

2006-05-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have tried for several nights to upload photos. The hotel internet service is poor. Although we can post, we can't view the blog or your comments. We will try to find an internet cafe tomorrow as we have more free time and perhaps we will have more luck.

First full day as a familly of four

2006-05-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

Had a busy day. Up early to start the paperwork trail. First had to get across chongqing to the centre for adoptions (which is in the same office as the marrage office). We signed to say that the 24 hr get out clause was up and we had decided to keep Anna-li! Had our pictures taken with Anna-li for the official paperwork (without Mai, which upset her so we did our own round of photo shoot using their office to let Mai know she is still our treasure. She has been feeling the loss of no longer being the only daughter and I think a little insecurity has crept in). Received a very nice certificate of adoption and what looks like a big medal! That was it. Chongqing have it sorted, there was no need to visit the other services like police and such for the passport they did it all in one office. Great we think all we have to wait for now is the passport to come through on Friday (fingers crossed this might be Thur) and it over to our own governement services at the consulate to issue the entry clearance and visa and home we come. Ah a cruel world. Lorna visited the consulate today and they say ooooo could be a while...lots of paperwork there..oooo could be 3 days or more. So we'll see what happens.
On a more happy note I will try to upload some photos and had a nice experience in the supermarket. Knowing how curious Chinese are before we left UK I had a translation company do some little business cards explaining who we where and how we came to have two oriental looking children. Tonight at the market 3 woman where looking at me with Anna-li and talking doing the look that all intercountry adopters will know. Ah I thought and produced the card in chinese for them to read. Smiles spread across their faces. By the time I came to pay I had over half a dozen woman (this is where I went wrong at 18) fussing over both the girls and them on the verge of hugging me (I really should have had daughters at 18). It was very touching. We may not write tomorrow as internet access is getting harder to find. Tomorrow we have to get passport photos of Anna and then the day should be our own. Opportunity for more use of my magic business card.

...and the afternoon

2006-05-15T06:51:00.000-07:00

went like this. Jane helped us sort the paperwork out for tomorrow. Lots of passport photos and declerations of intent. Anna-li went for her first outing aroud the city centre with us this afternoon. The hotel actually had a pushchair to lend us for the time we're here (what stars) and Anna-li seemed quite at home watching the people go by, dozed a bit and got grumpy at 6pm when she figured it was bottle time. Mai has really been a star... she has taken to the big sister routine fantastically. She's read Anna-li stories (well remembered the words to her books), played baby games with her and tollerated her crying fits. Did shout at her to "shut up" when she had a crying fit 30min after being put down to bed at 9pm. Quite understand it as Mai was half way through her tea and thought she had given enough for the day! and she was having to have her tea late. (re-read this I stress Mai shouted not us!) Although its 11pm now and Anna-li has woken every 15min since 9pm doing that 'I've been dreaming, where the hell am I, who the hell are your three and where did all the other babies go, not sure about this' kinda distressed howl. So we're getting ready for a night of walking the floor boards. So there you are we are a family of 4 and knitting together as I write. Photos just now could be a problem. We have tried to post them, but failed. We will try again and again unt vil never giv up.

this morning

2006-05-15T00:15:00.000-07:00

The orphanage director, the doctor, the doctor's mum and a carer brought Anna-li over this morning. She's smiling and laughing a bit now. She's about four month behind, development wise, can't sit upon her own etc. But apart from the lack of attention play wise she seems very well cared for and fed. She has had everything fed to her through a bottle though, including egg yolk in her milk. So feeding times will be interesting.

The day before

2006-05-14T09:13:00.000-07:00

Had a really full and interesting day. Trust these are getting through, but for some reason when we type in the adress from our laptop in our room it comes up as page not found. All of the other website addresses seem to work.
We went investigating the hotel, then the town. Mai was delighted to find some children's climbing equipment on the 10th floor roof garden, but 10 minutes later she had half of the dust and dirt from the air of Chongqing on her dress, knees and knickers. We have politely suggested it could do with a bit of a clean. We found where to by slushes and ice lollies from- the most important thing. And got a few bits and pieces such as nappies and a blanket. Then Mai fell asleep so we went into Pizza Hut to let her have half an hour's sleep then some food (it was the nearest place, honest).We tried out the pool (really nice heath club although the water is a bit chilly and I could only just touch the bottom so Mai needed several flotation devices to entice her in).
We met Jane, our guide, who is amazing. She greeted us with a hug, and picked Mai up straight away. She took charge, said the orphanage director had said they would rather have an air conditioning unit than a fridge (to buy with the donations which some family and friends have given us so far - we asked people to do this rather than give presents for Anna-li)), and within an hour she had organised him to come shopping with us! t was quite bizarre going round Chongqing city cntre at 9pm on a Sunday evening shopping with an orhange director. It is quite unusual to get to meet the director before the child I think, and also to do this on your own. He came back to the lobby lounge for a drink, so we had chance to ask him loads of questions. There are 5 children from the orphanage who have arrived in Chongqing tonight, and they are bringing Anna-li to our hotel tomorrow morning at 9am. A bit of a shock, as we were expecting the afternoon. So that's in 8 1/2 hours!

One step closer

2006-05-13T08:06:00.000-07:00

Arrived at Chongqing this evening. The Air Hostess on the plane from Hong Kong were very helpful in translating the hotel (Marriot) address into Chinese script (getting past the fact that they seemed bemused by the Western script). This was useful when the only taxi (unmetered)waiting outside the airport was owned by a nice chap who spoke no English. There were metered taxis, but they all seemed to be taken up in the city centre of 30 million ferrying people about. Seemed a decent chap and I don't think he over charged us at RMB120. We haven't yet explored anywhere as its now 11pm. The fast! internet connection in the room is not fast or reliable so how many postings we'll do and photos remains to be seen. So we're here..tired. We have been told that we will meet Anna-li on Monday afternoon. Thankyou to those who have written comments, its nice to hear of your support. AND happy birthday Gary's mum.

first leg complete

2006-05-12T08:19:00.000-07:00

We have arrived at Hong Kong. Hotel is great with 2 double beds and a pool. Important features considering Mai loves the water and.... we got to the hotel at 5.30pm all went to bed at 10pm and slept! until 2am. Mai was wide awake, bright eyed bushy tailed and wanting to play with no intention of returning to sleep. Can't blame her as her body was saying she had had a nice 6 hour afternoon nap on the plane she didn't need a sleep so...........we all watched Disney channel until 4am then Lorna and Mai had a bath and got ready for the day. We all fell asleep again at 5am and we had to force Mai out of bed at 9am this morning (see pic) for her day in Hong Kong Disneyland. Dropping down for a couple of nights in Hong Kong was such a good idea. So jet lag tackled (hopefully) we travel tomorrow to Chongqing and one step closer to meeting Anna-li.

2006-05-09T14:38:00.000-07:00

Last full day at home. Lots of last minute stuff like charging the camcorder and camera batteries. Do we really need all these bags and can we carry them plus two children? 11pm and not yet packed the handluggage. Going through the paperwork one last time (that's a lie actually because I know we will do it again tomorrow just before we leave and then get 10minutes down the M6 and turn back because we forgot the Invitation to Travel!)
Mai is oblivious. She is excited because she is going on a 'holiday' and a plane as much as meeting her little sister.
I don't think the bags are enough..we need that big case lent to us from mum and dad. So I leave now to unpack and repack that way we can take Mai's blow up travel bed. A bit of home that goes everywhere with her. We have heard back from our guide in Beijing. She has said that it will be ok to buy a fridge in Chongqing and have it delivered to the orphanage.
Next message really will be from China.

Itinerary

2006-05-08T14:55:00.000-07:00

We're due to leave in 2 days now. Here's a short itinerary of our trip.

Wednesday 10th May evening : fly to Hong Kong
Thursday 11th evening : arrive in Hong Kong
Saturday 13th : fly to Chongqing, China
Sunday 14th : lots of shopping to buy baby things we need and meet our guides
Monday 15th : adoption day
Thursday 25th May : depart for UK, with a few days stopover in Hong Kong.

The next time we post, we hope to be in China

2006-04-22T14:42:00.000-07:00

Hi,
We've decided to create a weblog of our trip to adopt our new daughter Xiu Mei Hua (soon to become Anna-Li Mei), so that friends and family can follow our journey.
We're still a couple of weeks away from travelling yet.
Here's a photo of Mei Hua / Anna Li. And one of us (Lorna, Gary and Mai)