I Love Me Some Xuzhou!

We could barely keep our eyes open at dinner last night so we tuckered out pretty early. Breakfast at this hotel is so-so (it is no J.W. Marriott in Beijing!) but you do get to eat with famous celebrities...

Ms. Tang and the driver picked us up at 9:30... we needed the sleep-in!  The first thing she asked Johnathan was if he missed her.  He said yes and told her that he had been been a good boy this morning (he conveniently left out the part of the story where he threw a water bottle across the room!).  When she said that she had heard about him throwing the bottle he acted like he couldn't hear her.  It was actually too cute :0

We drove across Xuzhou to Yunlong Mountain (Cloud Dragon Mountain).  It is really quite beautiful.  Xuxhou is actually surrounded my mountains and they are treated so reverently...  you can tell that the local people are very proud of their mountains.  Yunlong Mountain has a Buddhist temple on one side where you can worship Buddha (and other Buddhist deities) as you climb up the mountain (so there are different "layers" going up with steep steps in between).  It is a working temple so it was wonderfully enlightening to watch them worship.  The air smelled of incense and there was music playing everywhere... what at atmosphere!

When we reached the highest point of the temple, a 1000 year old giant statue of Buddha, there was a priest who was doing calligraphy.  He called out to Johnathan (who was riding on Jay's shoulders) that he should walk like a big boy (this kind of thing has happened ALL over Nanjing).  Our guide politely told the priest that Johnathan is unable to walk and was just adopted by us.  At this point the priest got super excited and ran over to us.  He asked Jay to put Johnathan down and then he picked him up.  He insisted that he have his picture taken with Johnathan and then with both boys (and then our whole family).  He ran over and got 2 apples that had been given to Buddha and gave them to the boys.  Yes... my kids have eaten divine apples.  They are both now destined for greatness :)

We continued up the mountain (which was much higher than the temple) and Jay and Ms. Tang took turns hauling Johnathan. I think I mentioned it before but he is so HEAVY! What a sack of potatoes! This has been the biggest shock to us. He liked the backpack carrier at first but it started to be too tight (his words to our guide) so we had to carry him everywhere until we were able to buy a stroller (not that a stroller would have helped on the mountain). We kept going up and up (Jack was so jazzed about actually climbing a mountain... he moved off the path that we were walking so he was in the "wilderness". Mr. Bossy Pants alternately kept yelling at him to be careful (he is such a worry-wort for a 4 year old!) and yelling at him that he was a bad boy for disobeying Mama and straying from the path. LOL!

When we got to the top we had a 360 view where we could see the entire city of Xuzhou. It was spectacular (though I was sweaty and out of breath at this point so all I could think about was water). Ms. Tang was super proud of us for making it to the top.

After leaving the mountain we went to a traditional Xuzhou restaurant.  We learned that Xuzhou people are considered northern people and they, like Ben's folk, eat wheat based foods rather than rice based foods.  So, obviously, I could not partake in most.  But, Jay said the breads (which are like flat breads that they stuff and fold like burritos) were out of this world.

We took a walk around the giant lake for a few minutes to digest our lunch.  Johnathan clearly knew that area (it is very near the orphanage and Ms. Tang said that the nannies take the kids on walks around the lake) and it was very peaceful and beautiful.

After our walk we visited a market so that Jack could see how the local people shop for food.  Ms. Tang wanted him to see a vendor making crispy noodles (the thing he loved most during our traditional Xuzhou lunch).  She bought him a whole bunch of noodles, flatbread "pancakes", and sugarcane... he was so happy and I do believe that Ms. Tang is now his very best friend in the whole wide world.  He keeps asking when we can come back and visit Xuzhou again :)

It was a very long and exhausting day (I think we nearly killed our guide!) but such wonderful memories were made by all of us.  We are so blessed to have spent the day with such amazing people!

Off to Xuzhou

I woke up this morning exactly how I woke up yesterday... with a little Chinese man tapping me on the shoulder saying, "Mama, niao niao" (Mommy, I have to pee!). We had another great night... Johnathan is a good, sound sleeper. But, a bit of a bed hog!

It was a very early morning because we had to get to Nanjing's brand new GIGANTIC train station to catch our high speed magnetic train to Xuzhou. The station is so massive and is bigger than many airports that I have been to. The train was a fabulous way to travel... so smooth and easy. It only took 2 hours to get to Xuzhou so it was really moving. I wish we had that option in the states. Johnathan was excited about the train when he saw it in the station but once we sat down in our seats he was all about the snacks :)

The driver from the orphanage picked us up at the train station and after driving through Xuzhou (which really is an awesome city), visiting Johnathan's finding spot, and having enough lunch to feed an army (I will never understand why they order so much food!) we finally arrived for our visit to the orphanage.

When we got there the little kids were sleeping so we toured the construction site for the new orphanage building. It has taken a long time to build it and the orphanage director said that they cannot find enough construction workers to build it (and they cannot find any during the winter months at all... I was shocked by that). It is supposed to be done for the grand opening in June 2012. Xuzhou SWI is already the largest in Jiangsu province but when the new building is done it will be the largest in China.  It is huge and it looks like it will be really nice... the director is super excited and VERY proud!

We were worried that Johnathan might be affected by going back to the orphanage but instead he was really excited to see his friends and nannies again.  We handed out some treats and met some of the kids who are matched and that I want to advocate for.   Jack and Jay both had a great time playing with the kids (any male can instantly become 3 years old at a moments notice... right?).  We saw Johnathan's old bed and they made him some special bread that he LOVED.  We gave him time to say goodbye to his friends and nannies that he was leaving behind.  All in all we were there for like 5 hours when we had planned on 1... I have to tell you that the orphanage director was NOT surprised by that at all :) It was a long and exhausting day but so very, very worth it.

Finally Final!

We had a great first night with our guy (slept like a rock and woke up with a smile on his face!) and a hearty first breakfast... my kid can EAT!  We nearly left the room without his Monkey (which he calls WaWa... baby)  and his backpack (which he calls something that sounds like shoe-bow and means school bag) which was a big NO NO!  He is so possessive of his new things and he wants to make sure they are around if he needs them :)

After breakfast we set off for the civil affairs office to make everything official... thumbprints all around make Johnathan officially ours forever and ever!

After all the paperwork we went to Purple Mountain. We went to part of it before so we asked our guide to take us somewhere new... the observatory. It was awesome to see all the old time-telling instruments (ranging from hundreds to thousands of years old) and the mountain is so beautiful and peaceful that it is always fun just to be up there.  The view was unparallelled... it was Nanjing in all its glory!

I mentioned before that Johnathan sings all the time... he just breaks into song when he is playing or when he is bored.  What we did not know is that he also recites poetry.  While we were walking around the observatory he started reciting this folk poem about a goose.  The first time it was spontaneous but when we went to film him doing it the guide "helped".  We need to get his many songs on video too.



While on the mountain Jack decided to get some energy out which made Johnathan jealous.  He kept yelling, "I want to climb and play" until Jay let him out of the backpack carrier.  He actually climbed up these steps all by himself which is something we did know he could do.  He pulls himself up with his arms... he is so crazy strong in his upper body!  He is so solid... all muscle.

In the van afterwards there was alot of this going on :)

We stopped for lunch for my favorite... PEKING DUCK! I was in heaven! You can read about it on Jack's blog... he was not too thrilled!

Naps for the boys and a nighttime walkabout in Nanjing ended the day. Things with Johnathan could not be going better. We are beyond amazed by him!  He really is the sweetest little boy in the entire world.

Gotcha!

Sorry for the late post... I know there have been some anxious people on the other side of the world!

So, obviously, we have our Johnathan!!!!  It was our strangest gotcha by far.  We got the other kids in the morning (so we only had anxious breakfasts instead of anxious all-days... this time I was emotionally spent before we ever left to get him!).  We also had to wait for Ben and Catherine to arrive but Johnathan was already there when we walked in.  After 2 years of waiting it was kind of anticlimactic... we didn't get any pics or video of the gotcha moment because our cameras were still in our backpacks.  But, it was a good moment nonetheless and he came right over to us (smiling!) when we got there.  There is only 1 other family adopting in this province this week so we signed our paperwork, took our official photograph (no tears, unlike Catherine), and we were in and out of there very quickly.  The whole time he had a big smile on his face :)

We left the civil affairs office and headed to a giant store to buy some essentials.  We found out that Johnathan's idea of essentials is EVERYTHING in the store so we got out of there as fast as we could.  We headed back to the hotel (as Johnathan snarffed all the snacks we just bought) to do our official adoption paperwork with our guide.  Johnathan got busy playing with all of his new possessions (which he is VERY possessive about... we have to carry all of it with us all the time).  He had a great time just hanging out in the room, playing with toys, getting to "know" the ipod, trying out the backpack carrier, eating anything he could find, and getting into EVERYTHING.  Seriously... that boy gets around quickly and he can find trouble in a millisecond.  Oh, and he laughs really loud when he is naughty (like when he splashed all of the water out of the tub)... great!

We went out to dinner and everything was great until he started crying and yelling at me.  Of course we had no idea what was the matter and we thought maybe he was upset about leaving some of his toys in the room.  He was really really mad at me and he kept yelling and pointing.  We only found out later that he had to go to the bathroom!  Why oh why did the other people in the restaurant, who heard him yelling, not show us to the bathroom or something?  I had no idea... BAD MOMMY!  Now I know the particular word he uses so we are good to go from now on!  That was our one and only bad time of the day... pretty good I will have to say!

When we got back from dinner we skyped with the kids at home (he was so excited to see JieJie, GeGe, and Mei Mei and he kept saying "Ni Hao" to them!) and then he laid down, said Nigh Night to all of us, and went right to sleep.  He is such a little sweetie and he is so well behaved.  He is so aware of what is going on in the world around him it is amazing that he was in the orphanage for 3 years.  He is so bossy and has no problem telling adults what to do... when he rides in the backpack carrier he directs Jay like Jay is his horse :)  Our guide said that he was saying, "Daddy go this way" and "Daddy don't stop- keep going."  He is a little prince... he is going to have a hard time being the low man on the totem pole when we get home!

It was a very strange but wonderful day.  He has to be the cutest little kid who has ever lived (or at least he is making a good case for the title!)...

Serious Cuteness Factor #1: He spontaneously breaks into song.  It is hilarious!  He will just be sitting there or playing with toys and he will just start singing to himself and dance a little bit.

Serious Cuteness Factor #2:  He cannot get enough of looking at pictures of himself or looking at himself in the mirror.  Whenever he sees his image he smiles, points to it, and says his Chinese name.  And I do mean whenever... the elevator in the hotel has mirrors on the walls and ceiling that he was thrilled that he could see multiple Jia Yu's at the same time :)

Serious Cuteness Factor #3:  Jay made him a paper airplane and he named it his butterfly :)

Serious Cuteness Factor #4: We were trying to get him to change his clothes but he did not want to (we wanted to save the orphanage clothes for him so we needed to get him out of them).  Our guide told him he had to change and he asked why.  She told him that he was stinky and needed to change.  He was so offended that she said he was stinky and he totally told her off!

Blustery Beijing

Wow did the weather take a turn! We woke up to lots of wind and rain but as we headed down to breakfast our attitudes changed immediately :) I told Jack that the hardest part of the post-China adjustment is not having a huge buffet prepared for you every morning!

We had a lazy morning (we needed that!) and then we headed out for the Beijing subway which too us to Tienanmen Square. Though he was born in Japan and lived his first few years in London Jack insisted that this was his first subway ride... not so much :) We did not have tons of time so we talked to him a little bit about what happened in the square and then we went inside the walls of The Forbidden City. It was so crowded so we decided to walk along the outer walls and moat instead of going into the main areas of the palace. Jack took tons of pictures for his Chinese Architecture presentation that he will give his class when he gets back. He also had his picture taken by ALOT of curious Chinese people. It was his first brush with fame and I have to say that he was diggin it! After the picture taking he suddenly began to notice how many stares he was getting and I was really proud of him... instead of getting self-conscious about it he got really excited that he was different and he appreciated their curiosity in him.

We came in from the rain, packed up, and left for the airport. We had to take 2 taxi's which led to some tense moments since Jay and I were dropped off at different ends of the giant terminal and we had not set up a meeting place if we were separated. Poor Jack tripped and fell in the crowded terminal and twisted his ankle... he can't catch a break! Our guide is going to help us get him some magic spray to put on it that apparently fixes a twisted ankle right up. We'll see!

The flight was bumpy but we are here in Nanjing in our sweeet suite (love me some free rooms on hotel points!).  Just a few more hours now...