Yesterday was the longest day of the year. No, really. I’ll begin with the end of the day– we were returned to our hotel, where we stumbled out of the car to our room. We didn’t even make it to dinner– apparently I passed out on the bed in my bathrobe with the television remote in my hand. So yes, it was a long day. A good day, but a long one! Continue reading
After a long and mostly uneventful 13 hour flight, we arrived in Beijing around mid-afternoon China time. Our fellow seatmate was a kind gentleman from Montreal also headed to China for the first time. We got to catch up on many, many movies with private in-seat screens– finally, we go to see Argo! The only hiccup on the flight was a gentleman who got sick right when we were flying over the Bering Strait. It seemed as though a quarter of the flight were doctors, as a bunch of folks were hunched over him for the rest of the flight.
Immigration was uneventful, and customs was a breeze. Seriously, the bag check is more thorough at Six Flags! We rolled our suitcases out of customs to be greeted by absolute chaos. I can’t really put it into words, but Brian and I agreed that the crowds of people waiting with signs was a little overwhelming. We found a young man holding a sign with our name, and suddenly we were whisked off in a sedan to our hotel. Chen, our guide, is a history student who will be our guide and interpreter while we’re in Beijing. He’s about our age, and within a few minutes, we struck up a conversation about about international travel and beer! We were briefed on our touring plan for the next two days– which sounds like a whole lot in just a few days.
After he checked us into our hotel for the evening (near China World Place, a high end mall), we were on our own for the evening. We exchanged money into RMB and ventured out to find dinner. Currency is an adventure here, as it’s pretty common to find counterfeit money in circulation. Chen taught us a few ways to identify legit bills, but it’s still a little daunting to think you might be getting back “play” money as change from a purchase!
Dinner was our first real “Wow, we’re not from here!” moment. We chose a Malaysian restaurant in China World Center, and began our first of what I’m sure will be many meals through hand-gestures. We both were excited to find “draft” beer– which just turned out to mean that it came in a large bottle (but stupid cheap and still very refreshing after a long day). Our waitress wasn’t happy with what Brian tried to order, and finally helped him settle on a dish after a lot of pointing and nodding. We were definitely the only non-Asian folks there, which was intimidating but also vindicating that we chose a good spot.
We decided to call it a night after dinner, and after a fair bit of playing around with cables and our computers, passed out for the night. We both woke up in the darkness feeling pretty refreshed– only to find out it was only 10 pm! Arghhh jet lag!
We woke up this morning around 4 am, which considering the 13 hour difference, isn’t too bad for our first night of adjusting our internal clocks. We’re looking forward to a day of hiking a segment of the Great Wall and seeing more of the city with Chen. My first impression of Beijing is that it’s like any other large, cosmopolitan city. The distinct haze of smog/air-pollution is fairly depressing, but we look forward to seeing more of this bustling and beautiful city.
48 hours from now, we’ll be in the homestretch of our flight to Beijing. Wow, we’re almost there! Suitcases are out, lists have been made, and clothing is being packed.
Today, I embarked on a cleaning tornado to whip the house into some sense of order before we leave. I won’t tell you how many vacuum canisters of cat hair I dumped, but I think that I might have enough for something here. Just kidding! Although I still have a bit to wrap up tomorrow, I promised myself a little quiet time before the craziness begins.
In packing-land, I’ve managed to organize our suitcases using really large ziplock bags. Since our entire time in Beijing will be pre-Alexander, I wanted a way to differentiate between our stuff and his gear without totally wrecking each suitcase. We’ve accepted the fact that we’ll have laundry done at some point (which I’ve never done before when traveling), but I also packed some travel packets of handwash detergent for small things. We made our umpteenth trip to Target in the last 5 days. I think the cashiers are starting to recognize us…
I met with our neighbors today who will assume “Cat Command” while we’re gone, and Brian dropped off car keys with our good friends for our eventual pickup on July 4th.
The long, long list of things to accomplish is getting shorter. The end is in sight!
After a lovely weekend away visiting with family in Kentucky, we’ve returned to the reality waiting back at home– specifically that we’re traveling to China in about a week to get Alexander!
Brian is much calmer than me at this point– I keep throwing more and more “stuff” onto the pile-o-packing. Let the insanity begin!
Recognize anything from the pile? Many thanks to all of our friends and family who have contributed to our baby gear!
It’s the final countdown! (*insert music as appropriate*).
Wow, our departure is getting close–we’ll be on a very long flight two weeks from today. Our flights and hotels are booked, we’re installing car seats, and we’re waiting for our passports to be returned to us with China visas. Late last week, we also received our itinerary for our trip. Just in case you’re interested, here’s where we’ll be, and when:
Aside from big things (like flights and formal appointments), our schedule is fairly flexible. We can’t wait to explore these cities with our new son!
The countdown has begun. In less than 30 days, we’re going to become parents to a 15 month little boy in a foreign country. Are we excited? Absolutely. Are we a little terrified? As if you have to ask!
We recently received an update on our little Alexander which has given us a lot of comfort. He’s gained a fair amount of weight and is now the height and weight appropriate for a 6 month old– a tremendous gain for our little guy. Armed with this update, we hit the stores to make sure we’ll be able to clothe our new son once we gain custody on the 24th. Brian spearheaded the efforts this weekend, and the photo above is indicative that no one will mistake Alexander for being anyone’s son except for my loving husband!
In the paperchase news, we drove our passports and visa applications to a courier this afternoon after much drama. Three trips to Office Max, two different UPS stores, and one FedEx later, our passports will soon be in the hands of the Chinese Consulate in order to be issued visas.
Though the time will clearly be flying by, we are blessed to spend the next two weekends gaining new Godchildren. Brian will be the Godfather for our dear friends’ daughter Allison Claire tomorrow afternoon, and we’re both blessed to be able to travel to Kentucky to be Godparents for our cousins Bart and Catherine’s newest daughter Aoife Frances next weekend. I know life tends to be a series of ebb and flow… I’m grateful to be in a period of such joy in new life!
Late last week, I had a text from Brian that read “Baby shower today!” When he came into work that day, he was greeted with the following:
Apparently, they also glitter-bombed his desk, too. We’re still finding glitter in our house!
There was cake (really, really good cake!), snacks, and a lot of gifts and well-wishes from Brian’s generous co-workers. Brian also got to share in the fun experience of the amazing clothespin gift bag.
Here’s Brian beginning to open his surprise bag from shower-gifting ninja Sheryll (at right).
And to wrap up the event, Brian’s programming team took a “family photo” holding the baby clothes line gift. Everyone is quite excited about the arrival of our son.
The Computershare Programming Family– let’s hope Alexander is a Perl man, too!
In other exciting news, our flights are booked for China! Our agency is wrapping up our itinerary and hotel reservations, but things are continuing to roll along.
Great news yet again today! Our agency secured our first choice for a consulate appointment, so it’s time to book our flights and apply for our visas. We leave Chicago for Beijing on June 19th (less than a month!) and fly home with our newest little citizen on July 4th– how appropriate! Our son will be greeted to a nation waving American flags and watching fireworks! Not too shabby!
We received the news we’ve been eagerly anticipating…. our Travel Approval (TA) arrived today! As we’ve said many, many times on A Wide Sea, things are starting to happen FAST! We are so very grateful that our approval arrived today, as next week the CCCWA is completely shut down to upgrade their computer system.
So back to our travels to China to get Alexander! Our agency thinks that if we can get our consulate date confirmed (which usually takes a day or so), that we can be on a plane in a little less than a month. We still need to confirm travel logistics with our agency, but it looks good to us. In less than a month’s time, we’ll be on our way to our little boy! And to think, I’ll spend my birthday with OUR SON!
Wow, it’s been a while since we’ve posted any updates for you all. As we reach the final phase of paperwork and preparations, the reality that we’ll be bringing our little man home soon is sinking in!
Last Thursday (May 9th), we received an email from the American Consulate in Guangzhou indicating that all of our paperwork was ready for pickup. This paperwork, called the Article 5 letter is Our Government’s official stamp of approval for our adoption application. It states that we’re suitable adoptive parents and that Alexander will be allowed to enter the US and become a citizen. This letter is delivered to the Chinese government in Beijing, at which time they basically say “Come on over!” through a formal Travel Approval (TA) invitation. We are wrapping up day 8 of our wait for this TA; most families wait around 2 weeks, more or less. As soon as this letter arrives, we can book our consulate appointment (which is at the end of our trip), then count backwards to plan our flights to and from China. Unless a major delay occurs, we should have our TA before the end of May, and we’ll be traveling at some point in June.