Thursday began by going back to the Civil Affairs office to complete the formal adoption stuff. Benjamin hates that place, and as soon as we walked in, he shut right down again. The officials give you the final adoption paperwork, and you should then be all set. Of course, ours was messed up. When we were filling out the paperwork, I had asked our guide about whether to use our mailing address or home address. I think that something got lost in translation - I put our PO Box address, but when she got the paperwork back, said that it had to be redone to have our actual street address. It won't make us stay any longer, but just involved more paperwork.
You can see from the look on Christopher's faced just how much he is enjoying this..... Angry Birds was required to keep him happy for the whole adoption ceremony stuff.
We left Civil Affairs, and went to the Hunan Provincial Museum. It was kind of a long day, and I think all of us were pretty tired by then. The museum is from a series of tombs that were excavated about 40 years ago, and is all the relics from about 2000 years ago that were in there. It might have been more interesting if it weren't so crowded and loud. We kind of rushed through, just to get the kids home. We spent the afternoon hanging out in the hotel, and starting to pack. Our guide took us out for dinner at a local Chinese restaurant that was incredible. I want to find Chinese food like that back home! Christopher was most excited about a cold mashed potato dish they make that they then cover with ice cream toppings. It is very much like real ice cream, with a funny texture. Benjamin, however, was more impressed with tofu, and probably ate the whole plate of it by himself.
Friday morning, we met our guide to go to the Yuelu Academy. It was raining pretty steady, but totally worth being out in the rain. It is a 1000 year old school, that is part of the Hunan college system right now. If I were going to school in the middle of something so beautiful, I would never get any work done (not that I really did in school anyways, so I'm not really sure that was a valid comparison) If you shut your eyes and picture what you think China should be, this is it. Very lush, with the old style buidlings and open courtyards. I'm fairly sure Brian and I both filled entire memory cards :)
So, forgive the million pictures, but I couldn't really pick my favorites :)
The last two are pictures at the entrance to the Academy, where they have a platform with Chinese characters on either side. To the right is the character for luck, and the to the right, is the character for longevity. When you enter the grounds, it's tradition to touch both characters. The bottom picture is Christopher with our guide, Celia. He loved her, and she did a great job with him.
It was definitely interesting being a few of the only Caucasian folks around. Every time we'd turn around, someone was taking a picture. Today it wasn't just Christopher, but all of us. My Mom turned into a photo shoot with a bunch of teenage girls :)
We left the Academy, and Celia brought us to a dim sum style restaurant for lunch. For anyone who knows my family well, you'd be impressed. Not only did my father manage to find food he liked, he also actually ate some of it with chopsticks!
We went back to the hotel, finished packing, and headed out to the airport. Our flight got delayed for a while - we boarded about 30 minutes late, and then spent another 30 minutes on the tarmac. It's never a good sign when the flight attendants are passing out water and snacks before the plane moves an inch :) The positive side of Benjamin only wanting Daddy is that Brian had an hour flight with a loud, cranky 2 year old, while I had an hour with a sleeping 5 year old :) Well, the sleeping only began after he serenaded the plane with every song he knows at the top of his lungs. We ended up getting in to the hotel around 11:00, with 2 very cranky kids in tow. Christopher passed out pretty quickly, while Benjamin stayed up screaming for about 2 hours. Yikes! To the folks on the 13 floor of the Garden Hotel, we'd like to apologize for the screaming.
This morning, we brought Benjamin to the medical exam to get his visa. Christopher stayed at the hotel with Grama and Grampa. Thank gosh for that! The building is a bit crazy for the exams, and they move the kids through pretty quickly. What they consider a comprehensive exam and TB test maybe takes 5 minutes. I'm very sure they didn't actually see anything, since it only took 2 minutes for a full medical exam. Even in my fastest day, I couldn't do that. The doctor was most concerned about his foot, and wondered if he has rickets. Interesting idea, and I hadn't really considered it. It's funny how something like that wouldn't be a problem in the US, but apparently is a big problem in China.
Benjamin is doing very well. He eats like a horse, and everything the orphanage folks told us he likes and doesn't like seems to be wrong. They said he hates fatty foods, but he loves potatoes, noodles, and dumplings. They also said he loves congee, but he won't eat it for us. He has been loving watermelon, sweet bread, and apples. He is still Daddy's boy, but is settling down slightly. He will let me feed him, play with him if Daddy is nearby, and has slightly less of a hissy fit if I have to carry him somewhere. Still baby steps, but some progress.
Brian is loving the baby carrier look (NOT!!!!). Apparently it's not a very manly look. He will really love it now that we're in Guangzhou, and it's hotter than the gates of you-know-where :) If Benjamin keeps up with the "only Daddy may hold me" thing, I'll be looking for carriers in camo when we get home.
We met up again with the other couple we were with in Beijing. Their daughter is absolutely adorable. There's another couple with us as well, and they have a 6 year old daughter, as well as the 2 year old boy they adopted. Christopher will be some glad to have a friend here to play with!
Our hotel is amazing here. We actually have a suite, with a king size bed!!!! Space to sprawl out again, although Benjamin did have another temper tantrum last night when he realized he didn't get to go to bed with just Daddy. Christopher is pretty excited about the remote control window shade for the bathroom :)
I'll try to be less of a slacker for posting so the next won't be so long.
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