Stir-Crazy In Changchun

I didn't write a new post yesterday because there is only so much I can tell you all about the inside of our hotel room.

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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To Future Changchun Families

This post probably won't interest most of you (except maybe the photos of our hotel). It is intended more for the people following the blog who will be traveling to Changchun in the coming months.

We are a Holt family, and Holt uses the Shangi-La hotel in Changchun. I've heard some people complain a bit because it is on the pricier side (US $220/night for a standard room). However.....it is a very nice hotel, and we've enjoyed staying here. The standard room is plenty big enough with a king-sized bed, desk, dresser, t.v., little refrigerator, safe, nice bathroom, and a love seat and chair. We had a crib in here for the first 2 nights, but it looked to be adjusted for a newborn. We were afraid Elliott was going to fall over and crack his head open, so we didn't even try it. He's been sleeping in the bed with us....which I also like because I am literally right there when he wakes up in the middle of the night.

The Shangri-La has a laundry service, but July, our guide, showed us another place right around the corner. We thought it would be a laundromat-sort-of-place where we could do our own laundry, but that wasn't the case. The ladies don't speak any English....Matt ended up handing over our load of clothes and $500 RMB (the exchange rate is about 6.2, so about US $80). We had July go with us to help pick up the laundry since there was the language barrier. Everything looked good, folded nicely, bright colors in individually-wrapped cellophane bags. We were informed that Matt had actually purchased a laundry card for the $500, and we were getting some sort of discount and should bring all our other dirty clothes because it was a better deal to use up the card value. So we dropped off another load yesterday. You can pick up your clean clothes 2 days after you drop them off, so you need to plan accordingly. We did have the hotel clean Matt's coat, and even though we were told it would be ready the next day, we had it hanging in our closet a few hours later. The hotel laundry is much more expensive than the place around the corner.

Food...
You get 2 free breakfasts/room/day in the hotel restaurant...and they haven't charged us anything for Elliott to eat (I think....unless it shows up on our bill at check-out tomorrow). It's a very nice restaurant with both traditional Chinese food items, as well as Western things (eggs in all forms, pancakes, waffles, French toast, breads, pastries, cereal....).

Matt and I haven't been that hungry for lunch, so we just picked up a few instant noodle cups and boxes of milk from Walmart for Elliott to eat in the room. We have been frequenting Chinese places for dinner, but there is also a KFC and a Pizza Hut across the street. Our first afternoon here, July took us for a walk around the hotel and showed us good places to eat. The Eastern Hot Pot place next to Walmart is excellent, but easier to do (I think) without a kid in tow. (Hot Pot is a Chinese take on fondu....so pots with flames underneath and boiling broth on top....). There is a King Steak place, also next to the Walmart, which has both Chinese and some Western offerings. There is a good (and very inexpensive) noodle place next door to the laundromat place.

I had read in someone else's blog that they were having potty issues with their child while staying here, so the Shangi-La had purchased a couple different potty seats for them. While we haven't had potty issues with Elliott, I called the front desk and asked about a potty seat (or 'child toilet'....I forget what I called it), and they brought one right up. Elliott much prefers using it because otherwise he looks like he might fall in.

The CWI is about an hour's drive from here. We had asked about visiting, but July looked at us like she didn't know why we would want to go. I was under the assumption that even the children with foster families spend a certain amount of time at the CWI each week....but now it sounds like Elliott had just been going to Half the Sky in the mornings, and then was with his foster family the rest of the time. We asked about visiting Half the Sky or meeting the foster family, but July said that doing that is generally very upsetting for the children. We had actually heard that in Beijing from a Holt staff member who is an adoptee herself. So we didn't push the issue. I had begged for a photo of Elliott with his foster parents before we left, and we received one with our last update. So I am happy with that. I'm assuming I could probably ask Half the Sky for photos of their facility when we get back. (We were given a huge packet from Half the Sky with all these photos and progress notes about him....all in Mandarin.)

You may have read this elsewhere, but if you want to access either Facebook or a blog while over here, you need to set up a VPN before you leave the States. (China blocks a lot of the Internet from its people.) We downloaded a VPN app for our iPad, but there are other ways to subscribe.

It seems that children commonly drink from straws over here.  Of the two different sippy cups we brought for Elliott, he MUCH prefers the child Camelbak cup, with the thing that approximates a straw with a valve.

That's all for now. If you have any questions, feel free to ask....

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Plea

I'm new to this blogging business. I thought there was a way to subscribe to blogs and receive emails with the full text. If anyone has done this with our blog and has emails with the content for any of the first 6 posts, I would love to have them emailed to me. Sort of messed up. :). Thanks!


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He's A Natural

We were witness to Elliott eating with chopsticks tonight.

He's three.

He can eat noodles with chopsticks. He can pick up a peanut with chopsticks. He can pick up a single piece of julienned carrot with chopsticks.

That's all. ;)


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Getting To Know Each Other

So, I somehow managed to (hopefully temporarily) lose the content of all but the last two posts. I'm working on getting those posts back. In the meantime....

Things seem to be going really well with Elliott. When we got back to the hotel yesterday after running from the Civil Affairs Office to the notary to the photo shop (so Elliott could get passport photos taken), Elliott snacked again. He colored and played a bit, then I laid back on the bed with him on my lap, and he fell asleep. No struggling, no crying. He just laid there and fell asleep. He took a good nap, and even though we were both right there when he woke up, he just laid there for some time and cried....big crocodile silent tears. The poor thing.

We got ready and ventured out to dinner, this time to a King Steak place which has both Chinese and some Western offerings. Ordering was easy with a menu with photos and English subtitles. Many people walked by our table and took notice of us. Our waitress must have assumed we don't eat with chopsticks....and that extended to Elliott, as he was given a child-sized spoon/fork/knife set. He loved it. It was the first time we didn't see him eating right away. He spent some time trying out the new utensils by playing in his fruit salad. When he finally started eating, he had some bananas, lots of fried noodles, lots of rice, a few bites of steak and pizza.

I wasn't going to push the bath issue at all, but I did point to the bath tub to see what his reaction would be.  He seemed to want to get in, so he had his first bath under our care last night.  At first Elliott seemed intrigued by the water filling up around him . . . but then he started getting chilled (yes, I used warm water!) . . . and he did not like the water running down his face when we rinsed his hair.  So maybe it wasn't such a good idea for our first night.  But he warmed up quickly in his footed pajamas and doesn't seem to be holding a grudge.

This morning we had some time before needing to go to the police station to apply for Elliott's passport.  After we woke up and got ready . . .

. . . we were able to Skype with my parents and Reagan, Benjamin, and Maura at home.  How I miss my kids!  They were great and immediately signed a few things to Elliott (especially Reagan) . . . though, we have just gotten down 'more' and 'all done' over here at this point.  (I think he is recognizing a few more signs, but we found that we need to actually help his hands at first so he knows to actually sign himself.)

We ate breakfast in our hotel and still had some time before needing to meet our guide.

Have I mentioned he loves to draw and color?

He also loves changing the channels on t.v.  :)  In these photos, he is playing around with Matt (out of the photo), teasing with the remote and his banana.

Today we are starting to see lots of smiles and laughing from him.  Elliott waves to just about everyone he sees, but he looks for our hands to hold.  He understands the camera and is quick with a smile and a 'peace' sign that his foster family taught him.

Did I mention that Changchun is in NE China?

This is his cue to fall asleep.  We had a few more silent tears when I transferred him to the spot on the bed next to me, but he was okay waking up this time.

Baby steps.

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One Fewer Orphan, One More Labert

Today there is one fewer orphan.

One fewer child with no family.

This is the reason for our trek to China.

This morning, our guide brought us to the Civil Affairs Office.

The director of the Children's Welfare Institute (orphanage) met us there with Elliott.

(Although Elliott has been living with a foster family,
he still fell under the jurisdiction of the CWI.)                         

He has been so easy going the entire time!

As long as he has food, he is happy.

And whoever is holding the food, he is comfortable with.

For now at least.

I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.  And now that we are back at the hotel, he

seems to keep expecting us to take him somewhere . . . I imagine to his foster home.

Tonight may be rough, but we are enjoying the bonding time for now.

with the director of the CWI

at the hotel with his photo book from us

(which he very much seemed to recognize)

Thank you to all who have helped make this a reality for us.

Looking forward to bringing him home and having him meet his brother and sisters!

Elliott Zhiwei

Many of you have not yet seen a photo of Elliott, as it is against the laws in place to protect orphans before their families find them. Here are a few photos of the little prince who will be joining our family tomorrow.

the first photo we received of him

taken within the past couple months

He was abandoned around 6 months of age, most likely when his parents began to realize he was deaf. It is a complicated situation here within the Chinese culture. There is such a strong sense of custom, and the country, although great, is not set up for the education and flourishment of children with special needs.

His parents made such an incredibly difficult decision to give up their son....one that, no doubt, haunts them to this day. They wonder about their son, praying that a kind family has taken him in and given him a life that they would have been unable to provide. I pray for peace in their hearts and for a sense that he is with a family who will love him everyday, for always.

When found, Elliott spent a few months in an orphanage before being transferred to a foster family. Several months later, he was transferred once more to a Holt-sponsored foster family.

Elliott's Chinese first and middle names are Zhi Wei. Zhi means 'intelligence' or 'wisdom'. Wei means 'strength' or 'power'. When he receives his American first name from us, he will maintain 'Zhiwei' as his middle name, as a tie to his Chinese heritage and identity.

Tomorrow he will be an orphan no more.


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