Guides

Our guides, van drivers and accommodations were just wonderful in China and Hong Kong. We had a guide in each city we visited. They would pick us up at the airports and drive with us almost everywhere. Grace was our guide in Beijing. She gave us brochures of the city, traveled with us to the Great Wall and was a wealth of knowledge about China’s history and the adoption process. She loved the girls and gave Dana an early birthday present. It was a little bell that had the Great Wall painted on it. She gave Clara a bracelet that had a tiny gourd on it which means good luck and she gave us a tiny Chinese flag for Nora. She explained that the stars on the flag mean different things. The large star is for the Chinese Republic Founding Father Mao. The smaller starts are for the workers (laborers), farmers, soldiers and knowledge (doctors, lawyers, teachers, professors).

Our next guide was Sherry in the city of Xi’an. She helped us pick up Nora. Sherry really took care of a lot of paperwork for us. She knew everything to do for Nora’s passport. She helped us buy baby supplies. She knew the routines of the orphanage and was able to tell us Nora’s schedule and what she should eat. Sherry took us for a tour of the orphanage and for a tour of the Terracotta Soldiers. She drew us a great map of the city so we could walk around and find food, parks and shopping areas.

Our final guide was Cathy in the city of Guangzhou. She was wonderful in helping us translate things that Nora was saying. She gave us some short Chinese words that would help us communicate or reprimand Nora. For example, boo means don’t in Mandarin. This was an easy way for us to stop Nora in her tracks if said in the right tone. We also realized that playing peek a boo with Nora had a different meaning for her! Cathy helped us with tons of paperwork too. She traveled to many appointments including doctors, x-rays and the US consulate.

Our van drivers were amazing and would talk to Nora and our driver in Guangzhou came into the Zoo/Safari and helped us buy our tickets. (We later found out from our guide Cathy that our driver argued with the zoo ticket taker because they wanted to charge Clara for an adult because she was right at the line to be charged for an adult. He said that Clara had her shoes on and that was why she was that tall. So he got us a discount and we didn’t even know (He could only speak Mandarin so we didn’t know what was going on until Cathy told us the next day.)

Our hotels were great. We had a jointing rooms in Xi’an and Guangzhou. This was great because Nora went to bed at 8 pm and we could migrate to the other room and watch tv (Discovery in Xi’an and National Geographic in Guangzhou were the only two channels in English other than the news.) or work on the blog or journal. The girls worked hard at writing down all their experiences while in China.

Dana and Clara loved their own room. They played lava monster by jumping from bed to bed to couch to pillows trying not to touch the floor. Nora loved the windows. The windows in Xi’an had a window seat that she could walk across. In Guangzhou she loved looking for birds and people out the window. There were windows in the orphanage but they were up high and she wouldn’t have been able to see out of them. The hotel breakfast buffets were delicious. We got to try all kinds of new food. Everyone liked trying new fruits and freshly squeezed fruit juices each morning. We were reminiscing today about our yummy breakfasts in China and how we miss them. One hotel even had heated mirrors so they didn’t fog up in the bathrooms!

The hotel staff was great. In Xi’an when the cleaning ladies found out we had adopted, they were so excited. That evening they came knocking on our door and gave us a pink teddy bear for Nora. Then the next evening they brought five packages of M&M’s, an extra one for Nora. 🙂

In China, people would see us walking and they would say, “Big family! Big family!” In 2016 China allowed families to have two children, before that families were only allowed one child. So, seeing us with three kids was a big family. Our guide said it is difficult for families to support two children on their incomes. So even though two children are permitted it is challenging to raise two.

It is illegal to abandon children in China. But because of the limit of children placed upon families many children are left. Children who are sick, in need of surgery or have special needs are often abandoned. Health care is very expensive for people in China and if a newborn needs extra care it is a huge concern for the family. If the child needs a surgery the family doesn’t know how they will find the provision for the first surgery and there is always a fear of additional surgeries needed.

The orphanage realized there was a big need for a safe place to drop off babies. Even though it is illegal, people would drop off babies in the night at the front gates and the little ones would be outside all night until someone found them in the morning. So, the orphanage built a little safe house that has a crib in it and an alarm system. If the door is opened an alarm buzzes three times in the orphanage. The three buzzes gives the mother a little more time to change her mind. Then someone from the orphanage goes to the little house to get the baby.