Trip to China
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Wednesday, November 1, 2006 Hi everyone!!! We are still having a great time getting to know Miyah and learning all about not only Chinese culture but about the community in which she spent the first year of her life. We are staying in Nanchang, which is the capital of the Jiangxi province. The hotel we are staying in has quite a few other adoptive families. Many of the other families’ girls are from the same city as Miyah -- Fengcheng. We had the opportunity to go to the city of Fengcheng today. We were not allowed to go inside the new orphanage, but we were allowed to take a few pictures from outside. Miyah went to this new orphanage about twice a week for the last several months for check ups. The orphanage where Miyah was initially found and where she spent her first few days has been demolished. We were able to visit the site and took many pictures for Miyah to have when she gets older. We also took many pictures of the city of Fengcheng and of the rural outskirts. The outlying areas are all farms. Miyah was most likely born in one of these farmhouses (they are all very similar). Today we just drove past them but tomorrow we have been invited to go visit one. Will post pictures then. The trip today was 1 ½ hours each way. This is a very short drive compared with the drive some adoptive parents make to visit the orphanages. Some drive 10+ hours each way and stay in hotels just to have a few moments inside the place where their daughter spent so much time. Miyah was such a trooper on the trip. She slept most of the way there and back. It would have been a tough trip for a healthy girl, but Miyah is teething, has a terrible cold, an ear infection, and up through this afternoon hadn’t had a #2 yet (I know, too much information, but it is considered somewhat of a milestone in the adoption community). At any rate, that problem has since rectified itself. (sorry!) Carrigan has been a huge help in difficult situations. Her Chinese classes have definitely started to pay off! Today we even went out and about on our own walking through the downtown Nanchang area. We actually even went grocery shopping and into a separate candy store and, with Carrigan’s help and a lot of sign language, were able to accomplish what we wanted. I want to rap up so I can hit the hay (and this is getting rather voluminous) so I’ll hit the highlights: -- We all agree that we like Nanchang better than Beijing. Both are dirty and extremely crowded, but Nanchang has a more welcoming feel. -- The weather here has been in the upper 70’s and sunny (a rarity, I’m told due to smog). -- Sounds like our luck may run out as a typhoon may be on its way – if it stays on it’s present course, it may cause us some trouble in getting to Guangzhou on Saturday, or some problems with meetings and ultimately some problems in leaving on time. Everyone please send some good vibes our way! -- We are all adjusting pretty well. Carrigan even said today that she can’t believe Miyah hasn’t been with us a lot longer. -- Miyah is still fond of hanging out with Mom in the middle of the night. Last night it was at 1:45, 2:30 and 3:15, but only for about 15 minutes each time. I think the combination of all she’s going through with grieving and illness is to blame and hope it ends (soon!)

Miyah on bus Mom and Kids on streets of Fengcheng Miyah's finding site (recently demolished) Downtown Nanchang DJ is regressing!

-- We are getting pretty homesick for American food. Tonight we actually walked 25 minutes to eat at a McDonalds! -- I miss my Diet Pepsi. It’s very hard to find around here (haven’t yet) as the Chinese people don’t need to diet (seriously). -- We do stick out but have mainly been greeted warmly. Little Chinese children love to run up and practice their English. They run in front of us, stop, and say “heelloo” then they giggle and run away. We think its funny to answer them in Chinese. There are about 9,000 other things I think about posting during the day, but of course I am mostly brain dead at this point and cannot recall any of them. I’ll try to remember to include them in tomorrow’s post. Going to bed now. Another big day tomorrow. Meg P.S. Please keep the comments in the guest book coming – reading the comments in the morning really is our favorite part of the day.

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