4th of July trip to Seattle

Sue,  Ali, and I took off early Friday afternoon for Seattle to visit Kyler and Becca.  It was a long but uneventful trip.  We arrived around 9:30 Seattle time and Kyler, Becca, and his friend, Tim, were just coming back from a bike ride.  We got all our stuff unloaded and stayed up talking until around midnight and then Sue, Ali, and I all slept soundly on our air mattresses in the living room.

Saturday we had a late breakfast at Louissa's and all had a big breakfast.







 We took off on our bikes to Ballard and the Saturday market but apparantly it was canceled for the Holiday weekend.  We ended up shopping at some stores and then took the long steep ride up to the Woodland Park Zoo.  I got a flat tire on way up and I had left my pump back at Kyler's house.  Fortunately we walked by some guys that were starting their 4th celebration early on their front porch and gladly loaned us a pump.  (I did have a spare tire and tire iron).  When we got to the zoo there was a long line to get in and it was very crowded.  We decided to brave the crowds and go on it.  It was an enjoyable afternoon at the zoo and we saw almost the whole thing.  We stopped at the supermarket on the way home and got stuff to make tacos.  After we got back Ali, Kyler and I went back to the bike store and got some parts to work on Ali's bike a little.  Becca fixed wonderful tacos and we sat outside in  the courtyard and ate.  It is a really nice evening.  We are just going to hang out around here tonight and relax.

Epilogue

It is Friday morning and we are all still adjusting to our time change.  We have been up at 3:30 in the morning every morning since returning.  Hopefully over the weekend we will be able to recover fully.

We have been reflecting on our travels a lot. The time spent in China will never be forgotten in our lifetime and, I believe has changed all three of us. Several times throughout the week Sue and I said to each other that it was hard to get our thoughts around all that was happening.  How do we understand the Chinese culture, what they are thinking, why all the abandon children, how did we get so fortunate to get our daughter, what do all the people there think of us and how we are raising our daughter.  In the end I think we cannot answer any of those questions completely.  We cannot understand the Chinese culture with one visit in one location no more than we can understand American culture.  It is vastly different depending upon regions, and, individual families.  What we can and did do was to explore a few of the customs and get to know a few individuals from that culture.  Jean, Vivian, Alysson,  our guides were easier to get to know because they could speak English.  The nannies, children, and workers at the orphanage were more difficult because we could not speak their language but, there were moments of understanding, especially when it came to expressing the love for the children.  I think that is what was the best for us and a goal for the future.  To try and get to know better the people we have met to give us a better understanding of China.  Several times throughout the trip the words from one of my favorite songs from the Innocence Mission came to my mind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr25sF18DZY  I hope you enjoy it too.


And, finally, here are a few of my favorite pics that did no make it into the previous blogs:

Jasmine and Lilli-Mae

One of the Orphanage workers who traveled a lot with us and her son.

The girls played in the Bamboo field in the scenic gardens.

Ali Pointing to her referral picture at the orphanage

Ali and Andie stopped at every toy shop along the street.

The entrance to the Yangzhou Old City

Friends

Entrance to Narrow Lake Park in Yangzhou

In Amusement park at shopping Center

Jean and Maggie

The Mothers

Jean and Ali.  Jean was tremendous!

Vivian and the Girls from Boise.  Vivian was tremendous as well!

Returned Home To Boise

Just a quick update to let everyone know we arrived back home to Boise.  We left Chengdu at 5:45 AM on Tuesday morning and arrived home in Boise at 3:00 the same day.  Counting the time change we were traveling around 22 hours so we are quite tired.  In and out of buses, security, airplanes then waiting on benches reminds us of why we cannot do this trip so often.  Ali was a trooper though and actually got some sleep on  a couple of the flights.  Mofus, our dog, was very glad to see us and our house was well taken care of and a very welcome site.  We had Subway sandwiches for lunch/dinner and I had a bowl of frosted mini wheats.   Seems a bit hard to believe that we were just in China less than a day ago.


Sue and I have said many times that we have a lot to reflect upon about this trip and it will take several days and maybe weeks to wind down.  We hope to hear from our new friends in the travel group and look forward to sharing all the details verbally with anyone who will listen.  I plan on putting a wrap-up entry in a few days with, hopefully some favorite pictures that did not get published yet so you might want to check back in a few days in you are interested.  Until then we have lots of catching up and resting up to do.

Panda Breeding Center

We got a good nights sleep and and good breakfast at the hotel and headed for the Panda Breeding Center about 9:30 this morning.  A beautiful day in Chengdu and we quickly shed our coats as we began the walk around the trails at the Park.  The setup is much like a zoo with several areas of Pandas at various ages.  The Pandas were very active today and we were able to spend lots of time watching them close up eating their bamboo.  Much better than I expected.   Sue and Ali paid the donation amount to allow them special membership  to hold a panda on their lap.

We strolled around looking at all the different Pandas and enjoyed the sunny morning.  It was amazing to see, and hear, them crunching on their bamboo shoots.

We watched a video and then headed back via the pond to feed the fish.    They were swimming on top of each other to get the food. 

We headed out for lunch about 1:30 and another Chinese lunch.  We are anxious to share with our other travel companions that our food here has been the best on the trip so far, but the traffic and driving does seem to be worse.  After lunch we went to a large park and had a very relaxing stroll in which we saw many activities.  Some nice ladies in the park were kind enough to let us try their toys that were a mixture of a top and a yo-yo (I forgot the name) and we had lots of fun getting them to spin.  Ali was the best at it.

We headed back to the hotel around 4:30 in hopes of a short swim before dinner but were disappointed to find the pool is an outdoor pool and is not ope for the season yet.

This will be my last blog entry before taking the last trek home.  We have to leave for the airport at 5:30 in the morning and fly from Chengdu to Beijing to San Francisco to Boise.  It will be very long and tiresome.  I will talk to you all back in the states!
Signing off from China.

Arrival In Chengdu

We all got up early yesterday to catch the bus up to Nanjing for our next flights.

Yangtze River on the Way to Nanjing

The Clements family and us were headed to Chengdu while the rest of the families were going back to Beijing to flights back home.  It was sad good-byes with promises to keep in touch and exchange pictures, etc.
Our flight to Chengdu was delayed due to fog so we ended up sitting in the airport waiting for about 3 more hours before finally taking off.  It is about a 2.5 hour flight  so we were all pretty tired when we arrived.  Our guide, Sylvia, was there to greet us.  We did not have enough time to go to the Hotel before our dinner reservations so we headed directly to the restaurant.  We had our own private room and were a bit disappointed that Sylvia did not join us.  The food was much more like the Chinese food we were used to at home so that plus the relatively quiet and smoke free meal was an enjoyable change for all of us.  After the meal we rushed off to the Chinese Opera House.  We are near the center of the city and we were all impressed with how modern and interesting the streets and alley ways were.  Dave commented that it would have been much more fun roaming around these streets rather than sitting in the airport but, at least we made it.

We arrived at the Opera house and were a bit concerned that it was an open air theater and the weather was windy and cool.  That combined with the fact that we were all very tired and did not have all our heavy coats made me think it was going to be too cold.  I was able to grab the last guest robe though for Ali to wrap up in and I had my down vest in my backpack so we stayed relatively comfortable during the show.  It was a great show with Chinese Dancing instruments, acts, and face changing.  We all enjoyed it and were impressed.

We arrived to our Hotel around 10:00 all very tired.  Our rooms are in central Chengdu (a city of over 11 million people) on the 16th floor.  We have a beautiful view of the city.  We all went to sleep very quickly but we are looking forward to visiting the Pandas today.

Farewell To Yangzhou

A beautiful day in Yangzhou with lots of sunshine.  We loaded the bus at 9:30 and headed for the shopping mall in the new section of town.  We started off at the little amusement park next to the mall with a few simple rides and lots of people watching.

After an hour outside we headed inside to take a walk around the mall.  Even though this is a brand new mall it still has a Chinese flavor to it in that there are lots of little shops with a bit of a maze to go through.  The area around this shopping mall has several new high rise apartments.  It is amazing how many of these there are.

We headed closer to town to another Chinese style restaurant for lunch.  We are all starting to recognize most of the dishes now and are all getting better at using chopsticks.




After lunch we went back to the Hotel and had the afternoon for free time.  We, the Clements, and the Deans decided to head to the Town Center for a walk.  We ended up seeing some sort of festival going on with dancers and music and lots of people gathered about.  Almost like a fair.  It might have been a typical Saturday afternoon there but we had no one to ask.  We dropped the kids off back at the Hotel to play in our room while Sue, Dave, Monica, Alyse, and I walked to Walmart to try and find one more suitcase to stuff all the gifts and stuff we have bought.  Walmart is a lot different and a lot the same as in the states.  Made it back to the hotel in time for a little rest and then preparation for the Farewell dinner.  This ended up being not quite as big of a celebration as the Welcoming banquet but much more emotional.  It was attended only by the guides, the adoptive families, and the orphanage workers.  A few speeches were given and Sue was asked to give a speech representing the two families from Yangzhou.  It was a tearful speech  followed by hugs from the Nannies and other mothers.  I think we all understood what these girls have meant to their families.

We had to say good bye to several of the orphanage workers.  We all said that we hope we see each other soon but realistically we know that it is a long and expensive journey so it maybe the last time they see each other.
We leave for Nanjing airport early in the morning so that is all for tonight.

Yangzhou Shopping and Sites

Yesterday started off a little more relaxing.  We did not have to meet until 10:00 AM again so a leisurely morning and Ali and the twins had some more playing time with their bears and forts.  Our first stop was at the equivalent of the Yangzhou Old Town.  A 2 kilometer block of small shops, restaurants and alley ways.  Of course the first store was a small shoe store and Sue and Ali bought a pair of shoes.  We strolled along this narrow street for 2 hours just taking in the local sites and people watching and stopping in stores.  We sampled some local dessert treats including a candy dragon made of caramel.  We watched the guy make it and it was impressive.  I heard a guy playing a harmonica and stopped at his stand and bought a small key chain harmonica   for $1.50.  I started playing a few tunes with him in his store and drew a little crowd.  Of course Sue and Ali were embarrassed but the owner was very impressed and happy that I brought more attention to his stand. :-)  Dave Clements and I even went back in a few of the alley ways.  It is very interesting how far back they go and the little houses and courtyards that are back there.  I also experienced my first Chinese squattie potty.  Hmmm.

 

We reached the end of the strip at the original City gates and took several pictures before going to another traditional Chinese lunch.  The oddity at this lunch was goose feet complete with the claws.  I was not brave enough to try them this time.

After lunch we headed to a West Lake or Slender Lake as they call it and a reunion with our other group from Gaoyou.  There was so much to catch up on and the girls greeted each other like they were long lost friends.  The experience the group had over in Gaoyou was incredible.  They had a large celebration in the City Park with dances and lots of people from the town coming out.  They also played with the school children there and had lots of other festivities.  The guides let us have plenty of time to talk but then hustled us into the park for a guided tour.  The Park is very beautiful with a lake running through it and lots of flowers and trees.  Part of our tour was on a large boat along the lake.

I did not catch all of the guides comments but I believe that this park was visited by one of the emperors many times.  It also had many Gingko trees which my brother Tim I know would have been interested in seeing.

We spent two or three hours strolling through this park and talking and taking pictures and just generally enjoying the nice sunny day. 

We went back to the hotel for some rest then we met at the Hotel restaurant for the Italian Buffet.  Everyone in our group was happy for some pizza and pasta.  The Deans (from Britain), the Clements, and us stayed in the restaurant until 9:30 or 10 just talking some more while the girls played.  It was a nice evening.