Gotcha!!!!

Today was a very busy day for us.  After our flights were cancelled yesterday we were booked on the train for this morning.  It was a very nice ride and fast.  The highest I saw us going was 236 kilometers per hour, which translates to just over 146 mph.  As we would say in Vermont, wicked quick!.  I can tell that me talking engineering stuff is just driving someof you nuts cause you want to hear about our beautiful daughter.  Keep your drawers on, I'll get there.  So we got to Taiyuan about 10:30 and were met by our new guide Emily.  She promptly told us that we would head out to "gotcha" at 2:30.  Wheew!  we had some time.  So we made it to the hotel despite the 10 different drivers that tried to kill us on the way.  Oh, by the way, other that the Norwegian couple we came her with on the train, I think we are the only caucasions among the 1 million plus chinese here in Taiyuan.  Stare, stare, stare.  Pretty funny.  No one has stopped to practice english yet, but it is only a matter of time.  So we got to the hotel and had lunch.  Pretty darn good.  Shanxi province noodles are excellent as is their vinager.  So, after lunch we noticed our guide hanging out in the lobby area, so we went to talk to her and make sure we didn't mess up the schedule.  We decided it was a good time to to go to the bank and exchange the bulk of the cash.  So we did that and it was it's own mini ordeal.  It then threw us a little late.  No problem though.  So we got everything together and headed out for gotcha.  Of course the bank ordeal kept us from getting nervous and now we got very nervous in a very short period of time.  So we jumped in the van and let our driver brave the death match style traffic of Taiyuan once more.  It only took about 20 minutes to get there and we made it before the children so that was good.  That gave us some time to get ready and do some paperwork.  We also took the blankets that my mother and her friends hand made for the orphanage.  They were very well received and appreciated.  So, we had some paperwork to do and since I was shaking i was nearly worthless for that and Jo hip checked me off the couch so she could tackle the paperwork.  Soon enough that part was done, and in marched the two children.  Ally was looking pretty confused and scared.  She was brought to us and put in Jo's arms and Ally was just so confused.  Jo went into mom/teacher mode and got out the stickers.  Soon we had a smile on her face and she was laughing a bit.  That however, was all about to change.  as soon as she saw the orphanage worker who brought her leave, the tears began and the crying was very real.  She didn't melt down at this time and she did ok when we went shopping for some food next door to the Civil Affairs office.  In the car though the whimpering started.  We got back to the hotel and once in the room the full impact of the grief hit her and hit her hard.  We learned that she had a foster mother, father, grandmother, grandfather and older brother.  So she has lost a lot, everything she's known.  She cried for about an hour.  During this time she would not let us take any clothes off, not one of the three layers of pants or one of the six layers on top.  It got to a point though that it was not going to get any worse so Jo went for it.  That oddly didn't go too bad.  Next was an attempt at a bath.  Not for cleaning, but for calming in case she was used to baths and this might calm her.  No such luck.  So, she has finally cried herself to sleep, naked, laying on her jacket and covered with one of the blankets my mother and her friends made.  Yeah, we couldn't let go of the ladybug one.  So that is our day.  I've got to go and get some things done for tomorrow, so I am signing off.  I'll leave you with some pictures of the worlds most beautiful daughter.  Oh, and as we had hoped, if there was to be one of the parents she is rejecting it would be me.  This is very normal, but I have yet to hold her in my arms.  It will come and sooner if I don't push it.  Later, Jim

Snow, snow, and more snow!

For those of you that know our itinerary you would expect that we are sitting in our hotel room in Taiyuan City preparing to meet our daughter tomorrow.  Well, you'd be wrong.  We are instead sitting in our hotel room in Beijing riding out one of the worst snow storms in memory for Beijing.  It has shut down the airport for today and also they say tomorrow.  Sooooo, instead of flying out tonight, instead we will take the high speed train tomorrow morning.  We will awake at 5am and be at the train station for the 7:30am train which will get us to Taiyuan City in plenty of time to get our daughter.  We will have very little if any time to get to the hotel and prepare and it is certainly possible that we will get her on the way to the hotel.  The train takes 3 hours, so not bad and quite honestly it will give us a good view of the countryside.  That's the quick and dirty, so know I will talk about our day.  We started out by heading down to breakfast knowing that our cyber friends Peggy, Patrick, and their beautiful daughter queen Lilly McCole had arrived that night and may be at breakfast already.  Sure enough they were and we went to introduce ourselves.  There was also one more couple there with a little daughter too, but we weren't sure who they were and did not introduce ourselves.  Little did we know that couple would come into our lives a bit later in the day.  So, it was snowing at a pretty good clip and on the schedule today was a trip to the forbidden city and then on to the airport.  We talked with our friends the McColes and decide that despite the weather we were going to give the forbidden city a shot.  So at noon we were checked out and waiting for our guide to come and get us.  So off we went, with our guide Reagan explaining how rare this snow is and that she was actually very excited to go because it is very rare to see the forbidden city with snow like this.  She said in her near 25 yrs she has never seen it like this.  I needed no prodding and was super geeked to check it out.  We were all a little nervous about how queen Lilly would do, but to her credit she did amazing.  The forbidden city has a magic about it as soon as you walk thru the entrance, but when you see it covered in new white snow it was even more amazing.  Clearly though, the emperor who commissioned it was not thinking "snow" when he built the walkways and stairs out of polished marble.  This was evident by how many found themselves on their rear ends as we strolled thru the grounds.  We were all very careful and made it safely about 1/3 the way thru before we decide that we should get to the airport.  I could write forever about the forbidden city and how it was built before our country was even discovered, but I shall spare you all.  Suffice to say, it is magnificent, majestic, and overwhelming.  If it is not on your bucket list, add it and add it near the top.  I will have to say the same about the great wall too.  So onward to the airport we went with the McColes.  It took us a long time to get there as traffic was very slow and our driver even had to stop at one point to get the ice off the wipers.  Clearly he did not know the trick of rolling down your window and reaching out and timing the wiper stroke so you can grab it and lift it and let it snap back down thus freeing itself from the ice.  It is important to note that while this was only about 6 inches of snow, Beijing has no significant plowing capability, so it just builds up on the road into a big pile of slushy mess.  It does not however stop people from riding mopeds and bicycles.  So we get to the airport and our guide Reagan goes to check on our flights.  Of course we are all now thawed out from the forbidden city and queen Lilly has fallen asleep in her parents arms.  It took a while but our guide came back with the news that flights were no longer running and that the guide company was looking at alternate transport for us.  It wasn't long after that we learned we would be taking a train.  For us it is only 3 hours by high speed rail.  For the McColes it was 10 hours and probably overnight.  Unhappy!  However, in true McCole fashion they brushed it off as no biggie.  We also are just fine with this as the train is an opportunity to see more of China.  It is at this point that our lives have crossed with the other couple that was at breakfast.  They are from Norway and are also adopting out of Shanxi province and will pick their child up in Taiyuan too.  So we will part company with McColes tomorrow and then meet again in Guangzhou.  So, there you have it.  We are going to have an early dinner and then an early bedtime and be up and rolling tomorrow early.  This is very crazy, but strangely not stressful, probably because our guide has handled this soooooooo well.   Enjoy a few pics from the forbidden city under a rare blanket of snow, it was truly stunning.  Next time we post, we hope to either have our daughter or be on our way out the door to meet her.

The Great Wall and Summer Palace - Jan 2 2010

Hello to you all from Beijing, China.  Today we went with our guide Reagan, who is fantastic by the way, to the Great Wall at JuYongGuan Pass.  It was an awesome experience.  It was not crowded at all which made it seem like a more personal experience.  We also toured the Summer Palace but a shortened version as it was getting a bit chilly, even for us Vermonters.  I am attaching some photos from today so hopefully this all comes thru ok as I can't see the blog site from in China.  Tomorrow we tour the Forbidden City and then fly out to Shanxi province at 4:30.  We will try and update again either tonight or sometime tomorrow.  I think the jet lag is getting to Jo since she has fallen asleep as I've been writing this.  Bye for now, Jim & Jo.

We are here!!!

After a small delay in New York's JFK and a warm flight over, we have landed and are in our hotel.  We landed at night so we don't know what Beijing looks like during the day yet but the night skyline is pretty cool.  Well, it's 9:40 pm here on the 1st and we have been up for over 24hrs straight. So we are going to bed!  I'm posting via email and hoping it comes out ok.

Catch you tomorrow after we tour the Great Wall and Summer Palace.

J&J

 

A test for posting via email!

Just testing to see if this is working. I might as well add that finally, the Platypi have won the fantasy football league. After so many times as the bridesmaid its good to be the bride......well groom I guess. Who are the Paltypi you ask????? Why it's me!! Jim Who did i defeat in the final you ask???? Why it was Jo!!! Ok, enough gloating!

CA and travel booked!

Here we go folks and fun seekers!!!! Keep all arms and legs inside the ride at all times!

We have our consulate appointment on Jan 12. This date pretty much dictates our trip as we back it out from there. So, we leave on Dec31 for Beijing. We land on the 1st. We tour the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, and the Forbidden City. All very cool. We then travel to Taiyuan City in the Shanxi province on the 3rd. We have not decided whether we want to take the train or fly. The next morning, Jan4th, we will get up, attempt to have breakfast and then go meet our daughter for the first time!! She will then come with us for a bonding period, about 24 hours. Assuming all is good, we will go back and meet with the officials on the 5th and complete the adoption and application for her passport. We then will do some touring of her home province for the next few days and shop and just start trying to develop a bond. On the 8th we will fly to Guangzhou. This is where all of the immigration related things will happen as well as a medical checkup, TB test, consulate appointment, etc. It is also where all adopting families will be as well. Her visa should be ready on the 14th. We will then take a late night flight to Beijing and stay at a hotel near the airport. Our flight home is on the 15th and we connect to Jetblue at JFK and then should be arriving Burlington just after 6pm. That's it in a nut shell. We are over the moon and pretty darn freaked out. Thanks to all for the support shown us thru this process.

Jim

TA TA TA!

We have our travel approval! We are really excited and more than a bit freaked out. So we are hoping to get our consulate appointment on the 12th and that puts us departing on Dec 31st. We should know by tomorrow.

Jim