Saturday, Feb 24, 2007 - Train to Guangzhou and Arriving at the China Hotel

After having our last afternoon tea at the Pen, we left with our numerous bags in tow with the help of a wonderful man from the Pen who took us to the train station and got our bags checked in. We got there so early that we were able to take an earlier train. We had purchased our train tickets online which were waiting for us at the ticket station--originally for the 5:15 pm Hong Hom to Guangzhou arriving at 6:52 pm. We changed to the 4:38 pm arriving at 6:25 pm. I was somehow imagining chickens and livestock on the train (obviously from old descriptions of earlier pioneer's adventures on Chinese trains with farmers brining their animals aboard to barter in the city)--was pleasingly surprised to see how modern it was (and no chickens anywhere!) And yes, they do serve marinated chicken drumsticks from a cart on the train. Now starting to hear a lot more Mandarin speakers as we're heading into Guangzhou (was mostly Cantonese up to this point). Coming down the escalator we were so happy to see the big USAA sign held by Sarah. Sarah is wonderful--she is tri-lingual (speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, and very good English). She has a 6 year old daughter named Kitty (Chinese name Ci Ci--no meaning--just liked the way it sounded). She let her daughter pick her English name and I guessed right--her daughter loved "Hello Kitty" hence her name! (I digress here--it's true that no card carrying Asian girl can resist the lure of Hello Kitty!)

Sarah helped us check in at the China Hotel, gave us a tour of the facilities, and most importantly, showed us where we could do laundry. There's a very convenient laundry service (has "Valet Service" sign on a little kiosk that's located down a long row of boutiques and stores on the main floor. If you drop off your laundry before 10 am you can get it back by 6 pm same day. Sarah told us to feel free to try foot and body massages in the basement (will probably take her up on that later!) There's also another laundry service available outside the hotel and next door called Susie's Laundry. We found the hotel laundry service very convenient and reasonably priced. There's a 7-11 just outside the front door of the China Hotel open 24-7 (all right!) and a Starbuck's to the left. There's free internet access from Starbuck's (which according to Cindy works great!) We paid about $10-15 U.S. dollars to have it in our room.

We ate in the American type restaurant called the Veranda. On our way there we got to peek in at a large wedding banquet being held in their ballroom. A large picture of the bride and groom covered the entire wall next to the entrance. The young lady was very beautiful and the wedding was quite a sight to see. They were all obviously having a grand time. Lots and lots of pink and blinking lights everywhere!! (the Hello Kitty influence again)

The question was a la carte or buffet. We cruised along the buffet to see what they offered. We got just a little queazy seeing the "snakehead soup" and "pig knuckle salad" and "beef and pork kidney appetizer" amongst many other similar tantalizing dishes. We just kept thinking "indian Jones and the Temple of Doom" dinner with Indie and Kate Capshaw with the monkey heads. Aaaahhhh, we're really in China now! We decided to go a la carte. My husband and I are not into anything with organs. I am probably the least Chinese Chinese person ever because I won't try any of the so-called delicacies that most other Chinese rave about. In fact, I don't even drink tea (Chinese tea that is--I have found over time that I actually really enjoy English tea).

A nice surprise was the Chinese mariachi trio that came to each table serenading. I call them Chinese but they were more likely Filippino. Interesting because the musical act at the 5-star French restaurant called Gaddi's at the Pen also employed a Filippino singer with band (who were absolutely superb--wish we could book them back home!) We were told by the staff at Gaddi's that many of the musical talent in Hong Kong come from the Philippines. And I do have to mention the Filippino guy on the cello who did an amazing Barry White impersonation. Imagine hearing Barry White in Guangzhou!

Should mention that the height of the ceilings feels like Alice in Wonderland. My husband is 5-11 and he keeps hitting the ceiling of the bathroom with his hand with combing his hair. Someone over 6-5 would definitely have to stoop over while walking. The bedroom slippers are also made for small people (perfect for me but my husband's size 12 feet would never fit in even 2 them strung together!) I'm actually surprised because as we get more into the interior of China, it's more common to see taller people whereas in Hong Kong the size is definitely diminuitive overall.

The best thing we could ever have done for ourselves was to do the pre-trip to Hong Kong. And we spent the perfect amount of time there--really nice relaxed pace and totally into the groove. We are totally rested and adjusted to the time change. We wake up automatically at 6:30 am and are raring to go! Should be no problem to keep up with the China Team!

A few of the other couples were arriving tonight as well. Can't wait to see the entire group at dim sum tomorrow! We're meeting in the lobby at 11 am with our bells on!

Tuesday, Feb 20 to Saturday, Feb 24, 2007 - Photos from Hong Kong trip

Everyday was a little misty and foggy and intermittent spurts of drizzling. Thursday morning there was a torrential downpour which caused the weirdest steamroom effect--could not see a thing!! Then amazingly the weather cleared and the rest of the afternoon was the clearest it's been for the whole week. Friday, Feb 23rd was actually clear and sunny. Actually, we really loved the weather when it was overcast (except not so great for photos).

Monday, Feb 19, 2007 - Happy Chinese New Year from Hong Kong

We left from SFO on United around 12 noon on Sunday, Feb 18 with greetings of "Gong xie fa tsai" from the United crew. Our adventure was officially underway! 15 hours later (and several movies, meals, and sleeping in few hour spurts thru out) we arrived in Hong Kong exactly on time at 6:50 pm, Mon, Feb 19. It was dark upon landing, misty, comfortable temperature with tangible humidity. We got chauffeured in one of the legendary Rolls (part of a fleet of 16) from the Peninsula hotel. Arriving in the midst of Chinese New Year celebrations and fireworks taking place along the Kowloon harbor causing that entire part of the city to be shut off to cars and traffic posed a challenge for transporting our luggage to the Pen. Some initial anxiety was quickly allayed but the all-so-efficient staff from the Pen. They had it all worked out. The ride in the Rolls itself was an experience (my husband is quite worried now that I may never want to ride in anything other than a Rolls!) The smoothness of the ride and British carmaker's attention to the finest detail was in a class that cannot be rivaled. The Rolls took us to the outer perimeter of the roped off areas--we were then escorted by a most pleasant young man named Chris Wong, valet extraordinaire, who skillfully walked us thru the utter chaos that is Chinese New Year in Kowloon. We somehow made it completely unscathed thru an over 300,000 people mob scene to arrive at the sanctuary that is the Pen. And somehow the very abled bodied porters were able to transport our luggage without us even seeing them so that the luggage arrived in our room about the same time we did. We saw glimpses of the fireworks being fired from boats along the Victoria Harbor that started at 8 pm and ended at 8:30 pm. We got to our room soon after the fireworks ended--our room has an astounding front and center view of the the entire Victoria Harbor--would have been the best seat in the house to watch the fireworks from if only we had gotten there in time! Never mind, we would have plenty of other chances to see the fireworks that would repeat themselves every night this week. The lighted skyline of the Hong Kong harbor was in a white foggy haze. Wonderful weather--more humid than SF with foggy mists created from sprinkling rain hitting the warmer temperatures.

Saturday, Feb 17, 2007 - Less than 24 hours to Blastoff!

We are finishing our packing for our big adventure! We cannot believe that we are actually taking off tomorrow. We fly out of SFO on United direct to Hong Kong tomorrow (which is also the first day of Chinese New Year--what an auspicious day to travel!) We will be staying at the Peninsula hotel in HK (something I've always wanted to do). This is much needed alone time for me and Steve (our babymoon) prior to welcoming Emileen into our home and lives forever. It will be amazing to be in HK during Chinese New Year--should be an experience in of itself. We'll be staying there until Saturday, Feb 24th when we'll be taking the 5:15 pm train from Hung Hom station in Kowloon, HK, to Guangzhou. It arrives at 6:52 pm in Guangzhou where the USAA team will be meeting us to take us to the China Hotel. The next day, Sunday, Feb 25th, the USAA team will be arriving with the rest of the families from LAX and we'll have a great big reunion. The next day we'll be leaving in 3 separate groups to go to the different provinces to pick up our babies. Steve and I will be going to Changsha (the capital city of Hunan) and staying at the Dolton Hotel. They'll be bringing our baby directly to us in our hotel room. Knock, knock--special delivery (indeed!) "Can't wait" does not adequately express our feelings, anticipation, and anxiety about finally holding Emileen in our arms. Bon voyage everyone!!!

Monday, January 15, 2007 - Development Report

We received an updated development report from Yiyang CWI on Yi Ru Ge. It states the following:
Name: Yi Ruge Sex: Female DOB: 01/26/2006 Date of Placement: 02/06/2006 Personality: quiet
Interest: Listening to music Height: 65 cm Weight: 6.5 Kg Head circumference: 41 cm
Head circumference: 41 cm Chest circumference: 40.5 cm Feet: 10 cm Teeth: None

Yi Ruge was abandoned near Jinhua Lake Community, Ziyang District, Yiyang city. A resident, Xiaochan Wu picked her up and sent her to our institute. there was a nursing bottle, two outfits and some diaper with her. She has a slim face, wore a pink hat and wrapped in a pink sleeping bag. They estimated her birthday based on her development status to be 01/26/2006, and named her "Yi, Ruge". They named her "Ruge" hoping that she could fly freely in the sky like a bird.

She was raised in the Yiyang institute and well cared for by their caretakers.

2 months--can open her hands; plays with her hands; smiles if you tickle her.
3 months--turns her head around in her cradle; looks around; doesn't always make a fist; touches her clothes and face.
4 months--can locate sounds; she is happy when the caretaker takes a musical toy to play with her.
5 months--can hold a toy; knows her name; sounds "Ou, Ah".
6 months--can hold a toy in each of her hands; can roll over her body; can sit well with leaning on the support.
7 months--understands adult's facial expression; can distinguish familiar people or strangers; can sit alone very well; bangs the table with a toy.

At the time of this report, she was 8 months old. Her fingers are agile and can feed herself cookies and pick up small stuff. She can stand with her hands holding onto support, transfer a toy from one hand to another and bags two blocks together. She smiles when she feels happy. She enjoys listening to the music. Ruge is a lovely baby, according to the report.

Her daily routine is as follows: wakes up at 5:30 am, takes naps at 7:00 am-8:30 am and 11:30 am-2:00 pm, and goes to bed at 7:30 pm. Feeding time: 5:30 am, 9:30 am, 2:30 pm and 6:30 pm - milk mixed with rice powder; 10:00 pm - milk; 11:00 - fruits, soymilk, steamed egg; 3:00 pm - fish, ground meat and vegetable soup.

Sunday, January 28, 2007 - Finding Ad for Yi Ru Ge

We received the finding ad for Yi Ru Ge that was published May 17, 2006 in the "Hunan Daily" newspaper located on the fourth ad in the second column of that edition. This was courtesy of Brian at www.research-china.org.




The finding ad states that Yi Ru Ge is female, found on 2/6/06 near Jinhuahu area, Ziyang District, Yiyang City. She was about 10 days old. She has an oval face. She had a red cap on, and she was wrapped in a pink flowered sleeping bag. She had a feeding bottle, clothing and diapers along with her.

It was something for us to see such an early photo of Emileen--squashed little "old man" face and all. I wish I had been able to know her and hold her then--to have been there for her from the beginning. The worst thing about this whole process for us has been thinking about all the time that has passed that we were not with her. I pray and hope that she was well cared for.

It made my heart ache to see all those cute little abandoned babies in the finding ad--I hope they all found good homes and loving parents like I know we're going to provide for our precious one.