In one of my lost posts, I mentioned that all but one of the Holt families we are traveling with met first in Beijing. Then on Sunday, we all split up to go to the respective provinces where our children were waiting for us. Elliott is from Changchun, in the Jilin province....in NE China. As in, close to Russia. As in, still quite cold. So while the other families are doing more sight-seeing, we sit.
Our first 2 full days here were spent running around--finalizing adoption paperwork, applying for Elliott's passport. Yesterday was a free day. July, our guide, suggested we walk to a park in the afternoon. (We suggested the morning, but the paperwork we received with Elliott stated that he naps at 9:30a...and with July aware of this, there was no way we were going out in the morning....regardless of the fact that he actually took a nap at 3:00p on Monday.)
So, we took Elliott to the pool in the morning. This is as far as he got.
The poor kid was terrified.
Then in the afternoon with our guide leading, we dodged cars and walked about 15 minutes in 80mph wind gusts to one park (which probably is beautiful in the summer),
and then a little further to another one (where several people were somehow flying kites in the 80mph wind gusts).
Matt and Elliott with July
We stopped at the laundry place on the way back and actually received all the clothes that Matt had dropped off on Monday....to ladies who took his money and clothes, but spoke not a word of English and gave him no receipt. It was a miracle.
This morning, I talked Matt into going back to Walmart so I could take photos to share with you. This is all I got before a kind Walmart employee rushed over and told me something about the 'local police' being in the store, or something like that. I took that as my cue not to take any more photos, so you'll unfortunately have to imagine the raw seafood sitting out in similar cases.
This afternoon, July took us to Elliott's finding spot. (At least, we think this is his finding spot. His finding ad states that he was found on the front lawn of No. 12 Middle School of the FAW. At the moment there is no No. 12 Middle School, but there is a No. 12 Primary School. July spoke with the police yesterday, and they decided that it was either a typo or that the middle school became the primary school between then and now.) July gave us Elliott's finding ad, which she had translated for us. These are photos of where Elliott's mother wrapped her precious son in an orange blanket and kissed him good-bye. He was found around 11:00 a.m. on September 3rd, 2009.
Tomorrow we pack up finally and head to the warm Guangzhou. We will reunite with the other Holt families, and the company will be welcomed. Since Guangzhou is about the same latitude as Florida, we are also hoping for nice weather and the opportunity to explore a bit more outside of the hotel room while we wait for Elliott's visa and our consulate appointment to have him granted American citizenship.
(Oh, and after the 30-minute cab ride to this finding spot and back again, I am no longer complaining about not getting out of our hotel more. Seriously! How do you make 3 lanes of traffic when the road only has lines for 2??)
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