Friday,
October
29, 2010
More official business today. We needed to make a short stop at
the photo shop for the kids' visa photos and then continued
walking along to the international clinic to get their checkups
and shots. April and I are wholly annoyed that the Hague
Convention now requires all shots to be taken care of on the
China side. For those of you who don't know us, we are very much
against so many vaccinations taken at once because we believe it
leads to serious developmental issues. In addition to that, you
now have to pay out of pocket for these shots in China, which
can be up to about 2,000 Yuan, or about $300 USD. We were
silently seething at the notion of having to do this, but rules
are rules I guess and we're not leaving the country unless we
follow them.
After a review of Gemma's medical records, it turned out that
she needed four shots and an oral polio booster administered the
old school way. The four she needed included some of the nasty
combined shots (MMR, Varicella, Flu, Tetanus) so it was
something like 7 or 8 doses altogether. This is on top of an
upper respiratory thing she's had going on too so it's quite
risky to be doing them. We were infuriated to say the least. She
also had to be tested for TB, which they did in her forearm.
Total cost for all of these was 500 Yuan, about $75 USD.
Thankfully, we were able to do this before the other Holt
families came in from the outlying provinces so there was still
just the four of us families. As it was, it took a little over
an hour. I couldn't imagine doing this with 30 families since
the clinic was packed wall to wall with locals already too.
Gemma was quite apprehensive about having to get shots but she
and Faith were trying not to show weakness to each other about
them. Privately via the translator, Gemma was telling us she was
afraid. When she actually got her shots, she sat there and
laughed as the needles went in one by one - the same way her
brother Keaton does.
We waited our obligatory 1/2 hour for the TB reaction test and
since we had promised her ice cream in trade for bravery, it was
off to the Deli Shop for some ice cream cones.
As the afternoon came around, we felt the need to get out in the
sunshine and walk around a bit. We took the girls back to
Shamian Park to play on the playground for a while. Pretty soon
the Shamian elementary school kids got out of school and overran
the playground so it was time to retreat to quieter ground.
Figuring Jordon was probably in his shop, we headed over to
visit and look for a few silk dresses and souvenirs for the kids
back home. One of the things that makes Jordon so great is that
he's one of the few Chinese Christians in the country. He's
careful to say that in a low-key sort of way, but he's pretty
strong in his faith. We've been wondering if we could find a
Chinese-English Bible to get Gemma started on the right foot
even if it wasn't a Douay-Rheims version and figured if anybody
knew how to get one it would be Jordon. As it turns out, he
actually had one in his shop. He struck up a little conversation
with Gemma in Cantonese which is when we found out about a sheer
miracle. Her foster parents had been taking her to a Christian
church for the better part of a year! What are the odds? In a
country in which religious freedom, especially Christianity, is
stifled, she happens to belong to foster parents that believe in
Christ and take her to church. She already has a basic
understanding of who Yeh So (Jesus) is and seemed to take
delight in reading the Bible. We're beginning to see the reward
we so hoped for in persevering like we have for many long
months. First we get a healthy child that seems to be compliant,
reasonably well-behaved, and free of major grieving; then we
find out she has a Christian background. Pinch me.
Gemma and Faith took turns adding up all the goods on Jordon's
calculator and laughed at him for writing out the order for his
inventory. They told him "it's so simple, you don't need to
write it all out!". I took a picture of Gemma with her Bible and
she made a comment in Chinese that made Jordon crack up. I asked
what she had said and he didn't want to tell me at first. He
gave in and told me that she said I was stupid. I guess I had
that coming since I've been her personal paparazzi for days now,
but he also explained that in Cantonese that was just an
expression that I was silly, or crazy, not actually "stupid" as
said with any animosity. That made me feel a little better and
we were all cracking up. He said Cantonese people, unlike people
from the bigger cities like Beijing, will tend to speak exactly
what's on their mind without holding back. I gathered that this
can put off other Chinese people when they deal with Cantonese
speaking Chinese. They wonder why they are so direct.
April really wanted to get Gemma's hair trimmed to look a little
more cleaned up, so for 40 Yuan ($6 USD) we stopped in at the
barber shop at the youth hostel and had it cut. You DON'T want
to do this at the White Swan because it will be way too
expensive. The gal at the hostel does a fine job for cheap.
We lingered in a couple more stores without buying anything and
then went back to the room for a bit to regroup.
For dinner we thought we'd try the new Orient Express that had
taken over the Station One restaurant in the far northeast
corner of the island. The ownership is now French and it's
supposed to be much better than the Station One had been.
Unfortunately we looked at the menu AFTER we had sat down. The
prices are fairly high - about 150 Yuan on the high side of an
entree (~$22 USD per plate) and that's ala carte. You could do a
preset menu for something like 100 Yuan, but we weren't sure
we'd get the bang for the buck and decided to try something
else. Heading back toward the hotel we stopped at the Thai place
along the waterfront. This is not the Cow and Bridge, it's a
different one. For whatever reason we've never stopped there so
we decided to give it a chance. While it looked good and the
prices were semi-reasonable, our boys were wanting something
more American-like which meant we just needed to head to Lucy's.
Once at Lucy's we got the usual American-ish fare of pizza, fish
and chips, and chicken quesadillas. The weather was perfect for
patio eating and we laughed while sharing tales of the girls'
assimilation into our families. The best part is that I got to
carry her again a couple of times tonight. One of those times
she kissed me on the cheek and then she also held my hand a
little. Slowly but surely she's warming up. If it's this early
and she's doing so, we're probably not going to have to worry
about attachment issues too much.
The shots from earlier in the day seemed to be taking their toll
on Gemma as we started to settle in for the night. She'd had her
bath (which we do NOT miss giving her now) and she started to
get a little lethargic. When she slows down you know something's
not right. Gavin and I put some puzzles together with her before
she finally gave up the ghost and crashed out. April had given
her some Tylenol because her arms were hurting and she seems to
be sleeping soundly now. Hopefully she won't have any adverse
reactions to the shots either short or long term.
Well it's almost midnight now since I'm able to finally stay up
a little later. Better hit the rack. I'm sure we'll keep
ourselves plenty busy again tomorrow. |
Queueing up to head to the international clinic
Getting Gemma's visa photo
A little Photoshop to clean up the photos.
The girls were intrigued.
The picture makes it look like a happier place than it is.
Last time around this room was packed. Thankfully we had made it
in before the rest of the families arrived.
The eye check station
The ENT station
We are notified about the quantity of shots Gemma would need
Gemma scribbles Chinese characters to be translated by Jibbigo
Time for shots!
One of the myriads of lanterns along the sidewalks |
