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Thursday, March 9, 2006
LAST FULL DAY IN NANCHANG

Today we received Zoe’s Birth Certificate, Abandonment Notice, and a notarized copy of our official adoption finalization paperwork. We also went to Tiffanie’s Place, within a block of the hotel, and asked for a copy of Zoe’s finding ad, which Tiffanie translated as we waited and, of course, shopped. Fairly emotional paperwork as it stirred up feelings of the abandonment of this precious little child after seeing her blossom over the last few days. It’s just so hard to imagine Zoe’s mother placing her at her finding place. Now I’m starting to tear up. For those of you who haven’t figured it out yet, Amy and I are now trading off on the journal each night. She’s packing right now for our trip to Guangzhou tomorrow. Yeah, finally get to spend some time at the White Swan and the last leg of our journey before we return home. Let me tell you about some of what happened today…

The last couple of days we really didn’t have anything we needed to do other than wait, which we are getting quite good (okay so we’re still not quite there) at since starting the process back in September 2004. Zoe slept a little later today, but somehow we made it down to breakfast a little earlier than yesterday. The first picture is of Amy feeding Zoe her bottle of formula before heading down to the never-ending buffet where Zoe rejected the Rice Congee in favor of the steamed eggs. Thanks to Dino for supplying Amy and I with the recipe to make steamed eggs by way of the microwave. I finally have the routine down – first get Zoe her breakfast, then Amy, then myself so I get to make three or four trips to the buffet and usually by the time I get my food Zoe’s ready for a refill of something. I have to admit that I’d rather be sharing the full feeding duties with Amy, but as you’ll read about when we get to dinner she is actually getting a chance to eat.

We all boarded the bus around 10 a.m. and Jack took us to a local village to see what a suburb of Nanchang looked like. You’ll see two photos of the village; one is a representative street and the other are of the farmland. As we walked through the village we were very aware of the local animals – chickens, ducks, and pigs – and steered well clear of them so as to be able to answer in the negative the question about being in close contact with farm animals on the entry paperwork in the U.S. We did get a really cute shot of three little piglets trying to escape their pen, but the pictures of Zoe won out. The people of the village were very curious and I can’t help but relaying a comment from Heather, one of our travel group members, paraphrased and expanded a little by me of course: “Imagine if you will being back home in the United States and having a group of Chinese tourists drive a bus up your driveway and disembark. Then wander around the outside of your house snapping photographs.” Again, the differences are incredible as the villagers came out to meet us curious as to what a group of Americans were doing in their midst. Mostly they just went about their day-to-day business of living without much notice of “their guests.” I won’t really comment on their specific living conditions as you can make your own inferences from the pictures.

From the village we had a bumpy bus ride to a porcelain shop. Jiangxi Province is known for its porcelain and we can see why, the porcelain was incredible. I liked some of the large pieces that were black etched in gold. Unfortunately the bus ride had left me a little queasy, and as I don’t really enjoy shopping anyway wasn’t in a good mood. Amy, I’m sure, could have spent several more hours shopping. I guess it’s good that we only had 30 minutes or so because we left the shop with a few porcelain gifts, a tea set, a set of his and her cups and a complete set of bamboo paintings, one for each season. Since it appears that I will be carrying this tomorrow, I weighed it in at 9 kg – heavier than Zoe! Knowing myself, I’m sure I’ll complain a lot about carrying this package through airports, on airplanes, etc. but know that I’ll be happy I did once we get these items home. Here I was thinking that our luggage would get lighter as we use the diapers, formula, etc. I don’t think I planned on the shopping factor.

Then it was back to hotel and the lunch buffet. It was the same old same old as far as our eating routine. Zoe did get to try a blend of mixed vegetables for lunch and downed almost the whole jar in addition to food off the buffet. We are having a lot of trouble with some of the formula bottles we’re making as the nipples seem to get clogged easily. So we tried a cup and Zoe took another several ounces of formula this way. Obviously she has used a cup or glass in the past. (The pre-bed feeding switch from a Playtex bottle with drop in liners to a Gerber bottle worked much better.)

After lunch we played with Zoe a little before setting off to Tiffanie’s Place and back to the Tengwang Pavilion by ourselves for an afternoon stroll in the park. Tiffanie’s Place caters to the adoptive family by providing finding ads and translations free of charge. Of course while we were waiting Zoe found a toy drum and a pair of shoes she just had to have; and Amy found an embroidered wall hanging she wanted for Zoe with Zoe’s name in Chinese and English with her birth date and Jiangxi Province sewn on. At some point on the walk to the pavilion Zoe fell asleep and the transfer to my arms gave Amy a much needed rest.

Breakfast Appetizer (bottle of formula)

Local Suburb of Nanchang

In the Fields

Zoe at Play

Impending Doom
(aka Crawling towards Amy’s tower of stacking cups)

Aftermath of Zoe

We walked around the gardens at Tengwang Pavilion happy to be out of the hotel and taking in the springtime. The Sun also made a brief appearance in the midst of all the haze. On our way to the fish pond, we met Mary Kate and Jack who were out for an afternoon run. I understand they also ran the stairs up to the top of the pagoda and back, but only once. Who needs a Stairmaster? At the fish pond Zoe awoke to the sounds of some Chinese people talking about the fish. Once they moved on, or she lost interest (not quite sure which), she looked up at me. For a moment she appeared to still be sleepy, but then I could see the realization creep over Zoe that I wasn’t her Mommy. She had gone to sleep in Amy’s arms and Zoe really was not happy about waking up and staring up at her Dad especially when Mom wasn’t within view. As soon as I moved her so that she could see Amy she immediately felt calm, but also immediately reached out and pushed off wanting to jump into Mom’s arms. Mom’s break was over. We sat and watched the fish for a while and strolled through a bonsai garden before going back to the hotel and the dinner buffet.

At dinner Zoe ate steamed eggs, Rice Congee (we both learned that the pickled tofu addition wasn’t good for children and a second bowl was required.), Black Chicken Broth and banana in addition to her rice crackers and cheerios. Amy finally got a chance to eat as I fed Zoe pieces of banana while she sat on Amy’s lap – thanks for that suggestion Mary Kate! After dinner, it was time for the playdate in the hallway again. Sorry, no pictures this time, but we have some video. Zoe, of course, was the last to leave the party. Amy ended the day much as it began by feeding Zoe her bottle. Then she walked Zoe until I came into the room because as Amy says, “Zoe was looking for you; she wouldn’t get in her crib until she knew you were in the room!” I don’t remember Zoe even being put in the crib tonight as Amy asked me to lay down on the bed so Zoe wouldn’t keep watching my every movement. Unfortunately, I almost immediately fell asleep and missed Zoe being put to bed.

As I write this most of me just wants to be home. All of me wants to be out of Nanchang even though the experience has been incredible the last few days. I’m just tired of the hotel, the buffet, and the general dirt of the city. I think, though, that I would probably feel the same way about most cities. I am excited about tomorrow, not only because we fly to Guangzhou, but also because I get to go get Zoe’s Chinese Passport that will allow us to travel with her. We have six days left in China before getting on the long flight home. It’s been a marvelous experience to start to know our daughter and that part just keeps getting better. It’s quite easy to forget about everything else when Zoe smiles and giggles, laughs or flirts (we’re considering locking her up at age 14; okay I’m just kidding but not so sure about Amy!) My advice to all the waiting families out there when you’re in the travel phase is to remember to stay focused on the entire purpose of the trip – bringing your daughter home. Whatever it takes to do this will be worth it.

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