Nanchang – Day 9 – AM & PM

Bruce and Mr. Wong picked us up at 9:30 this morning. I bet they hardly got any sleep with all the anticipation leading up to our great day of shopping. The first store we hit was a traditional Chinese decoration store. Now, for those of you who know anything about me at all, you can imagine the excitement I felt! This is my idea of heaven; a Chinese version of The Party Store. Let’s just say that when we left, poor Bruce was struggling to carry all the lanterns, hangings and miscellaneous other things we bought.

There was a quick stop on a pedestrian street before we hit the Jiangxi Provincial Museum. Amy loved the dinosaurs, but more importantly, she saw this as an opportunity to further wrap Bruce around her finger with, “Bruce, pick me up please” or “Come on Bruce, let’s go on the stairs”. The ever so willing Bruce did as he was told, just like Daddy.

We stopped for lunch before heading to the gigantic ferris wheel, much like the London Eye. When we were here last, I could see the ferris wheel off in the distance, but it was not running. This time, I was not disappointed. It was great. The aerial view allowed for the comparison of the old and the new, the pagodas and the many modern condos built up along the riverbank along with the many multi-layered highways and the sand boats, dredging the river bottom, much like was done many years ago. Nanchang is definitely a city of contrasts.

Although it was a hot, sunny day here (32o C), the first one without any rain, we could not see too far due to the smog. What we could see, unfortunately, was a carnival right next door. This, of course, necessitated a stop.

Amy went on the merry-go-round, a multitude of shaky bridges, a much wished for climbing structure and the biggest blow-up jumping thing I have ever seen. It had blow-ups on the blow-up! We were there for at least forty-five minutes and poor Bruce ran around in the heat purchasing tickets for Amy’s every whim while Mr. Wong waited in the van.

Our final stop for the day was the porcelain store. After much perusing, I picked a beautiful cut porcelain vase for Amy using the money that Popo gave her (plus a little of my own). I also picked up a great mug and a tea container.

We drove around awhile looking for a store that sold silk material, but never managed to find one (was that a big sigh of relief, Robin?). After unloading at the hotel, the three of us headed back out to walk around the neighbourhood and enjoy an ice cream. For dinner we ordered room service, and then Amy and Carol headed to the pool while I packed.

This is our last night in Nanchang. Tomorrow we have an early flight back to Hong Kong, where we’ll stay for a few more days before heading home. It has been a wonderful stay here in Amy’s home province, getting to know her foster family, seeing the sites and learning more about this diverse area of China, and meeting our friends Bruce and Mr. Wong, but I’m really looking forward to some coffee and being able to blog without my wonderful helper Juanita (and Robin, who makes the type bigger and edits).

Nanchang – Day 8 – AM & PM

We were up early this morning and, after breakfast, went for a stroll to the park where we saw large groups of children rehearsing for an International Children’s Day program. Amy, of course, was right in there like a dirty shirt, throwing the teachers off by her presence. She also spent some time by the fish pond in the lobby of the hotel, trying to pick up rocks with the assistance of Mr. Wong.

By noon, we were in Nanchang. I was not feeling all that well – call it cucumberitis – so Amy and Carol hit the pool in the hotel for 2 hours while I remained on the couch. Carol then hit the shops while Amy and I stayed at the hotel. Amy has had the sniffles for the last few days, so I thought a relaxing day would be good for her. We stayed in, read books, coloured, played, watched movies and ordered room service. It was a nice afternoon.

Amy is now in bed and I’m soon to follow. We are going shopping tomorrow. Bruce is taking us to a porcelain store (this province is known for its porcelain) so that I can get something meaningful with the money Popo gave Amy. We are also going to a silk store to purchase silk for Amy’s curtains in her new bedroom. If you watch closely, you should see a spike in China’s economy tomorrow! Of course, I’m kidding, Robin!

Mount Tiger and Mount Dragon – Day 7 – AM & PM

We packed up and left Fuzhou this morning. Similar to a year and a half ago, I felt sad leaving the city of Amy’s birth (or close to it), but it is different this time. I know we’ll be back and we have a real connection; we have relatives here. Through Bruce, our guide, we’ll be able to communicate and send pictures often. He’ll also check on Popo when he goes to the village to make sure she’s in good health.

The drive to Mount Tiger and Mount Dragon was beautiful. We passed many lakes and drove through many villages. The roadside markets were very interesting with fruits and vegetables, stands with food cooking, and stands with meat, unrefrigerated and unpackaged, sitting on the plywood tables. Some areas sold household items, such as little bamboo chairs. I almost asked if we could stop so I could buy one and then reconsidered once I gave thought to actually packing it.

After two hours, we arrived at the beginning of the river that snakes past the two mountains. The area is very similar, and close to, the rounded mountains that were featured in the Survivor season in the fall of 2007 (I only know this because it was on during the time we traveled to get Amy). We had a wonderful lunch featuring the local cuisine. Of course, most of the dishes are quite spicy, which necessitates copious amounts of liquids, beer and pop being the safest. We made a quick stop to purchase some of the local fashions, namely hats and umbrellas, and then headed to the boats.


The boats are long wooden boats with wooden seats that are just a little too small for North American bums and legs. They are propelled along the river by two people, one at the front and one at the back (sorry, but all nautical terms seem to have slipped my mind) with long poles which are then pushed against the bottom or the side of the river, against the current.

It was raining (what else is new?), cool (not the norm) and just a little bit hazy, all making for an interesting ride. There are many caves quite high up on one of the mountains where locals used to put coffins with the dead in them. Many of these can still be seen from the river, in various stages of disintegration. There was a demonstration put on by the local villagers as to how this amazing feat was accomplished along with much fanfare, banging of the drums and, of course, fireworks!

We continued along the river, with our tour guide giving Bruce opportunities to translate for us. We passed the local village, made up mainly of fishermen and tour guides, as well as a few pagodas perched high atop the mountains. As we were going along, there were elderly ladies on small rafts that had a chair, a pot and a few baskets attached to them. They were the ladies of the village who would saddle up to the tour boats and sell snacks – hard boiled eggs, cucumbers and sticky rice wrapped in leaves, which we now know is a food associated with the Dragon Boat Festival. Bruce bought an egg for Amy. I’m not sure which she enjoyed more, eating the egg, or feeding the shell and the yolk to the fish.

After an hour long ride, the boats pulled over and almost all of the people got out to walk back along the trails. Given my sister’s lack of dexterity and balance, we chose to stay on the boat and float back to the beginning. Only one person stayed at the stern (there, it’s coming back to me now) and steered while the other rested and the tour guide, a young girl, ate her lunch. She was eating yellow cucumbers and shared one with Amy and me. We were midway through eating it when I had the sudden realization that this probably wasn’t a good thing to be doing, eating the peel of an uncooked food. I then thought whatever damage there was to be done to our digestive systems had probably already happened, so we finished eating it.

Once back, we perused the little gift shops/stands the locals had set up. It was quite entertaining shopping with Bruce and our driver, Mr. Wong. I don’t like to barter that much. I always think these people need the money more than I do and I’d rather not squabble over a small amount of money. Bruce and Mr. Wong think very differently and went to town on the poor shop keepers, getting the price of a bag of trinkets down to under $5 CND, rather than the $7 I was going to pay. Wow! Shopping in Nanchang is going to be great.

We hit the road again and arrived at a city that, I’m embarrassed to say, I do not know the name of. We got comfortable in our hotel and then went out to see the neighbourhood. We stopped at a number of shops and always generated a crowd. Amy wanted a drink, so we stopped at a little store and also purchased a bunch of suckers, which Amy had great delight in giving out to the children that we met. There is a park beside our hotel that was also fun to walk through, although we didn’t get very far before we were surrounded by locals, mostly old men and women with children who were curious about the white women with the Chinese girl. Everyone was very friendly and tried to communicate with us using various forms of sign language. I guess they don’t get too many foreigners in these parts!

Fuzhou – Day 6 – AM & PM

What a day!

We were up early this morning and went down to the lobby. As we were waiting, the ladies in the hair dressers shop came out and began to chatter about Amy. Soon they took her by the hand and led her into the shop, where they did her hair. Too cute.

Nian Hua’s son-in-law soon came to the hotel by cab to escort us to his village. It is still very warm here, even though it is raining, and he came wearing a suit. We are big news indeed!

Nian Hua lives in a village and I was expecting to drive through the countryside for awhile, but it was almost like a suburb instead. That doesn’t mean it looked like a suburb though. The streets were very narrow, some of them paved, some of them not. There were chickens and dogs running around and many people walking with sticks on their shoulders to balance loads hanging in baskets.

We drove up to the house and there was Nian Hua, her family, and about twenty villagers waiting for us. It seemed that, for every minute we were there, another ten people showed up. I was carrying Amy and we went directly to Nian Hua before Amy became so overwhelmed that she wouldn’t go to her. Nian Hua then held her, whispered (okay, yelled quietly) in her ear and felt her hair, face, arms and legs. Amy was so much more cooperative this time and Nian Hua got at least 5 minutes of time with her before she began to wiggle away and wanted to go see her friend, Nian Hua’s grandson.

Nian Hua took my hand and led me to her room to show me her bed and explained how Amy liked to sit on the middle of her bed and play. She began to get pictures and small toys out to show how Amy would sit. It was at this point that my camera battery decided to die and thus ended my picture taking for the morning.

Thankfully, Carol had her camera, but there were so many people crowding around her, giving her babies to hold, that she either couldn’t see much or didn’t have her hands free. We had bottles of water thrust into our hands as well as a traditional Dragon Boat Festival sticky rice cooked in leaves. Nian Hua also came up to me and pressed 200 RMB ($40 CND) into my hands and began to cry. Bruce told me that it would be ill perceived if I did not take the money, even though she clearly could not afford to be giving away any money, so I told her we would buy something for Amy and send her a picture of it.

We had a soccer ball and pump for her grandson and a little train set for her baby grandson and foster grand babies as well as candies and pencils for the village children. It was lots of fun giving them out to children who clearly did not know what to do with them.

After about forty-five minutes, there was such a rush of people, that Bruce thought it best if we left. Nian Hua insisted that she walk with us to the car. Once there, Amy gave her a big hug and a kiss. Nian Hua began to cry once again and held on to my hand saying “thank you, thank you” over and over again. This was just one of the moments that made me realize how important this trip was, not only for Amy, but for her as well. She wished us well and stood waving, surrounded by her family and her friends, as we drove away.

We went for lunch and then back to the hotel so that Amy could have a short nap and I could charge the battery for my camera. After that, we got back in the van and went to a shopping mall where I bought Amy a few pair of shoes and then headed back to Nian Hua’s.

This visit went a little better as there weren’t as many people there. I was able to get many more pictures. Her home consisted of a large communal room with four rooms leading off of it, one Nian Hua’s, one her eldest daughter’s and her husband’s with their two foster babies, the other her youngest son’s, and the fourth was her son’s with his wife, their daughter and her son. The large room had concrete floors and cinder block walls. There was an altar at one end of the room and stools scattered around.

Nian Hua’s room, where Amy slept for eighteen months, had a concrete floor as well. There was a large bed without a mattress, just a blanket. A storage closet was at one end of the small room and cupboards were on another. She had a T.V. beside her bed. There was a telephone on the storage closet and a single bare bulb hanging from the concrete ceiling.

As I stood in the room to take the pictures, I was struck by the darkness, with the only light coming from the small window. The only sound was the ticking of the clock. I could imagine my baby playing with her Popo on the bed. I could also imagine the loneliness she must have felt after Amy left. Nian Hua told me she cried for weeks after Amy joined our family. Being in her room alone, I can see how she would have missed our little chatterbox.

We are now back at the hotel. Amy has had her bath and will go to bed soon. I look at her and say a silent thank you to the woman who took such great care of her and clearly loved her. Today was a day most adoptive parents can only dream of. I’m thankful to have been able to fill in a few of the blanks of my daughter’s life. And I’m thankful they were days filled with love.

Fuzhou – Day 5 – AM & PM

This morning we went to Amy’s SWI (Social Welfare Institute) or, as we would call it, orphanage. When we adopted Amy, we drove to Fuzhou after a few days, but were only allowed to stand outside the gate and take pictures. Today was a little different.

We were allowed to drive into the complex and enter into the main building. We were ushered into a Board Room with each place at the table set with bananas, bowls of apples and peanuts and bottles of water. I hope they were having a big meeting after seeing us.

We were then shown Amy’s file by the two Vice Directors. I was amazing to see her tiny foot print from the day she was found and a picture of her when she was two months old. The file also contained the original form, filled out by the person that found her and brought her to the SWI. The police report was also there. It was interesting to see the back of the file was all about Robin and me with copies of our passports and pictures from the day Amy joined our family. I was allowed to have copies of pages of the file and Bruce is now translating them for me.

Unfortunately, due to H1N1, we were not allowed to see any of the children. We had brought toys, candies, stickers and school supplies, along with a few other things along, but we had to just leave them with the Vice Directors. I completely understand, but it was disappointing none-the-less.

We stopped at Amy’s finding spot and took pictures in the pouring rain. It was much closer to the SWI than I remembered last time. The two Vice Directors, our driver Mr. Wong, Bruce, Carol, Amy and I went to lunch and then we went back to the hotel so that Amy could have a much needed nap.

Mr. Zhou, the Director, stopped by our hotel room in the afternoon to say hi and see Amy again. He was busy during the morning and couldn’t meet with us. The remainder of the afternoon was spent hanging out in the room. We seem to bring the rain and squallies with us wherever we go, and here is no exception. Dinner was here in the hotel and we are now doing more relaxing.
Today was, once again, an interesting day. Being at the SWI was quite the experience, thinking of the 100 or so children there, waiting for families. We were not allowed to see any of the children, but as we were leaving, there was an older girl of about 8 years old walking around with a younger girl who was about 3 years old. They just stood and stared at us and us at them. When we tried to communicate, both girls just continued to stare.

Tomorrow is another big day as we are going to Gan Nian Hua’s house. Another emotional day I’m sure.

Fuzhou – Day 4 – AM & PM

Blogging in China has always been difficult, but now it’s impossible. There have been some changes recently that now do not allow you into certain social networking sites, Blogger being one of them. I am now forwarding my posts to Robin who is posting for me. Thanks Robbie.

Today was an emotional day. We left Nanchang in the morning and drove to Fuzhou with Bruce and our driver. We reached Fuzhou at around 1 and had a couple of hours to unwind and get our gifts together for Nian Hua, Amy’s foster mother, and her children.

They arrived at three and came up to our room. I was just expecting Nian Hua and her daughter, but her daughter, husband and little Fu (Amy was a Fu from Fuzhou SWI) baby they are fostering came, along with Nian Hua’s son, his wife and son, Nian Hua’s daughter, her granddaughter and great grandson and Nian Hua’s other daughter all showed up. The first few minutes were pretty overwhelming as Nian Hua began to cry, her great grandson and foster granddaughter began to cry, Amy began to cry and four other women and I tried to comfort all of them. It was a little frenetic.

Eventually, Amy and Nian Hua’s grandchildren reconnected and they began to play. The adults began to talk through Bruce, our translator, and before you know it, two and a half hours were up.
I was able to ask very few questions, but what I was able to find out was that Amy was hospitalized for the first week Nian Hua had her. She sat with her day and night, until she was released. At that point, she was two weeks old. Amy was a difficult and unhealthy baby until she was about six months old. She demanded all of Nian Hua’s attention and needed to be rocked all the time. When she began to talk, she still demanded all of Nian Hua’s attention as she called “Popo, Popo, Popo” for what seemed like every waking moment of the day. Nian Hua reported that her house was very quiet after Amy left.

At five thirty, we all went downstairs to the restaurant for dinner. Bruce had found out that neither Nian Hua nor any of her children had ever been to dinner in a restaurant before, so we took them for a meal. It was lots of fun, with each of them toasting us every few minutes.
Amy and Nian Hua’s grandson, who was about eight years old, got along very well. Apparently, they used to play with each other quite a bit. They had a great time running up and down the hallways, chasing each other and playing ball. It was really quite cute to see them holding each other’s hands as they walked along together.
We’ve now been back in the room for an hour and Amy has completely crashed. It’s been an emotional and tiring day for us all.