CHRISVALIER.COM

Just a few days ago, when we met Ava for the first time, she was terrified of the bath tub.  Julie had to wash her down with a wash cloth and that was still a bit stressful.  Today, Ava is comfortably taking a bath and every day she seems to be getting more and more relaxed with us.

We are working to get packed and ready for our flight to Guangzhou.  We just received Ava’s passport, so we have completed all of our paperwork in Nanchang.

There is a bit of sadness with today, as this will likely be the last day for Ava in her “home town”.  Maybe someday we’ll get back to Nanchang, but it’s likely that this will be our first and last visit.  We have pictures and memories that will last forever.

Today we did venture out, but again, not without our guide Mary.  She took us to the largest park in Nanchang.  We were there about 30 minutes and it started raining, so we high tailed it back to the bus.  From there, we headed to a Jade store.  It was important that Mary help us pick the right Jade store.  Evidently, there are different variations of Jade including glass and plastic sold at some of the local stores.   After the Jade store, we headed to Porcelain Street, which was, you guessed it, a street full of porcelain shops.  Nanchang is very famous and proud of its porcelain.  We visited a few of the shops that only sold hand-made porcelain and picked up some really beautiful items.  Now if we can just get them home without breaking them.

Tonight, we ventured out alone (without our guide) for dinner.  It was Julie, Ava and myself along with two other families in our group.  Although Mary was not with us, she did write out directions to the restaurant and back to the hotel for the cab driver.  She also wrote out our order (in Chinese and English) before we ever left the hotel.  It turned out to be a very good thing that she wrote out our information for us, because after the short cab ride to the restaurant, I was in no shape to even begin to think about what to order for dinner.  I was simply thankful to be alive!  I really can’t begin to explain traffic in China.  Words cannot adequately describe the harrowing adventures we’ve experienced from the back seat of a two-tone Hyundai Elantra (that’s what 90% of the cabs are here).  Anyway, dinner was at a restaurant named “0791”.   0791 just happens to be the area code for Nanchang too.  This restaurant was recommended to us by Mary and the hotel.  The food was incredible and 5 adults and 3 children all ate for 221 Yuan ($32.35).  The restaurant also had a really nice funnel shaped aquarium that was filled with Parrot Fish.  Ava was mesmerized by all of the fish.

Well, it was another really good day for all of us.  The best part, however, is that we are “one day closer to home”.  This is one incredible trip that we’ll likely never experience again, but home is really where we want to be right now.

Ava and Julie at the Park.

  We were popular with the locals again today. 

Wiped out after another long day.

As usual, there are more pictures here.

One of the most prevalent differences between China and the U.S. is the food.  I’m not sure what some of the food that the Chinese eat really is.  I’ve seen squid, shark fin, chicken feet and congee to name a few items that you don’t typically see on the menu in the States.  However, there are a few Western restaurants in the area.  Today, during our adventure in the Pedestrian Walkway, we had the good fortune to pass by a McDonald’s.  We agreed that was the place to eat lunch.  Ava even seemed to enjoy it.  Interestingly enough, though, Ava started her meal by drinking the Sweet and Sour nugget sauce.  Once she had one shot of sauce down, we added a French Fry and it was all good from that point on.

More pictures here.

Wow!  We ventured out to a nearby shopping area t0day and boy did we draw some attention.  It seems that for the locals, we are quite the attraction – Americans with Chinese babies.  First, the Chinese love babies and second, they are very thankful for people taking their babies to the United States.  Everyone wanted to stop and talk to us and in some cases asked to have their picture taken with us.  It was kind of crazy, but they were all so incredibly nice.

Fueled by Coca-Cola Light

and a sleeping baby. . . .

Julie goes into blogging mode!

Another great day.  Ava is doing amazingly well.   She wears a diaper and wets in it.  But, when she has to go poo, she points to her backside and goes to the little potty they brought in here for her.  She has gone twice!  This is a big  deal in adoption world.  “The baby go poo poo.  It mean baby comferbal wif ahhh, famawee! “

  We went to a pavilion today that is 1300 years old.  The Tengwang Pavilion has been burned down and rebuilt 29 times.   We went to the ninth floor where we saw a 10 minute dance.  There is symbolism in everything.  The number 9 is the closest number to heaven.  Hence the ninth floor being the top floor.  There is a tradition or superstitious reason for everything that is done here.

  I wish you could be here to experience the sights, sounds, and smells of China.  There are people absolutely everywhere!  On foot, on bike, bus and car.  The traffic is CRAZY!  People in the city live in apartments.  If you look up there is laundry hanging out of all the windows. It is the only way to fit in enough housing for the population.  Only 30% of people live in the city and the other 70% are farmers in the country. 

  The smells are of garlic and onion.  (And it ain’t no Olive Garden garlic!)  It is everywhere.  The elevator, Wal-Mart, the smell coming from restaurants.  It is all the same.  And the food seems to all have the taste of that smell.  Chris and I have noticed we are starting to smell like it as well. 

  As far as the sounds go, my dad would love driving here.  He would get to use his horn every 30 seconds.  They honk while they drive.  If you saw the streets you would know why they were honking.  Not just at cars, but at people walking and riding bikes.  Insane!  And one other sound that is everywhere.  The wind up.  What is it?  The hacking done prior to the spitting of the loogey!  We have listened to it on the plane.  Where the heck he was spittin it, I don’t want to know.  On the street there is constantly someone doing the wind up.  We have been walking down the hall of the hotel to hear people in their rooms!  It is everywhere.  Oh, and it is nice to watch the holding one nostril shut while blowing out the other one on the street.  Oh yeah, I have seen men in suits and a pretty lady in a dress just blow it out on the street.  We ain’t in Kansas anymore Toto!  But, once you get past those things, it is all rather pleasant.  Everyone is very kind and very intrigued by us holding Ava.  We constantly get stared at and approached.  They love to come up and touch Ava’s face.  If they speak English, they tell us how beautiful she is, lucky girl and she has big eyes.  If they don’t speak English, they smile and give the thumbs up.  It is very touching actually.  They are very grateful for us adopting their children.  

  We are having a wonderful time and we love the other families we are here with.  There are 3 other families  here with babies 13 and 14 months old.  Ava is the oldest and the only one that can walk.  That is nice!  I can’t wait to see how all these children flourish!  We have made friends here that we will be in touch with for life!

  We miss all of you.  But, we are half way through the trip.  Though I am not looking forward to our flights home.  UUUggghhh!

  Goodbye until tomorrow!!  See more pictures here.

Today, we received Ava’s Adoption Certificate, officially welcoming her to the Valier family.  We are so proud. 

Our day started bright and early, leaving the hotel at 8AM (which turned out to be the best move of the day).  First, we headed over to the Civil Affairs Bureau of Jiangxi Province to complete the adoption registration procedure.  When we arrived, there was a mass of people trying to get on the elevators.  We filled the elevator and headed for the 26th floor.  Unfortunately, we stopped on nearly every floor in between and somehow squeezed one or two more people in at each stop.  When we finally got to the 26th floor, we were directed into a small room where we had our pictures taken for the adoption certificate.  After pictures, we moved into a larger waiting area and began the wait for our turn. 

In the waiting room, initially, there was our group of four families and one or two other families.   Thirty minutes later, you could hardly find a place to stand, let alone an empty seat.   There must have been twenty families in that waiting room – hence my earlier comment about leaving at 8AM being the best move of the day.  We were then called, one family at a time, to be questioned by a Chinese official.  The questions were relatively simple like “What is your occupation?” and “Why do you want to adopt a baby from China?”.   When the questions were over and the official was satisfied, we exchanged gifts and moved on.  There were many more families waiting.  The gift we received was a nice porcelain mug.   This area of China is quite famous for its porcelain.

After the questions, it was on to the “banker” where we paid the fees for all of the paperwork.  They seemed to be very well organized, probably due to the incredible job our guide Mary had done.  I sat down at the “bankers” window, he said something to Mary and Mary turned to me and said $1240 dollars.  I handed him the money and he handed me a stack of receipts that were already stapled together.  I was in and out of there in less than five minutes.

At this point, we received our Adoption Certificates and Ava was officially a Valier.

Then, it was on to the Notary Office to complete the notarization procedure.  Again, when we walked into the lobby, there was only one or two people there, so we were able to get in and out very quickly.  Fortunately so, because as we were leaving, a bus load of at least 10 families was walking into the lobby.  Yet another clear indication of why leaving early was in our best interest.

Then, we all headed to Wal-Mart to pick up some essentials.  Well, the whole China Wal-Mart experience is a story in and of itself.  We’ll save that for another day. 

Needles to say, today was an exciting day for the Valier family. 

P.S. – Thank you so much to everyone who has commented on our posts.  It is so much fun to come home after a busy day and just read through each and every comment.  It keeps us going, thanks.

We’ve finished our second day in Beijing (our first full day). We spent the day visiting Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. Then we ate at Pizza Hut (oh, was it good to have pizza in China). Tonight, we went to the Olympic Village and then on to the Beijing Theatre to watch the Chinese Acrobat show. It was fantastic! We are pretty tired at the moment and heading to bed. We’ll hopefully post more information tomorrow.