- snow at the Forbidden City
- Zoë all snuggled in
- warming up back at the hotel (still snowing in the background)
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Saturday, October 31, 2009
Beijing blizzard photos
- snow at the Forbidden City
- Zoë all snuggled in
- warming up back at the hotel (still snowing in the background)
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Beijing Blizzard
Perhaps it's a good thing that we didn't go to the Great Wall today because there is a full-on blizzard in Beijing. So Zoë is getting in some practice at becoming a Canadian baby. We took the subway (ultramodern and clean and easy to use) to Tiananmen Square and wandered into the Forbidden City. It got colder and snowier with every passing moment, so we may have done the fastest ever tour of these sites. Zoë was toasty warm and didn't complain once. We took a cab back to the hotel where we're currently cocooning until we decide whether and where to venture out this afternoon. Photos to follow...
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On the home front
- Here's a shot of Molly and Jacob getting ready for their roles as big brother/sister.
- They don't look too unhappy without us, do they?
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Saturday flight to Beijing
- Zoë's first flight
- all of us on the airplane
- doesn't she look cozy? Yes, we're back in the land of Starbucks on every corner
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More photos of Friday in Nanchang
- mother and daughter snuggling
- hands up, baby, hands up
- some of the food did make it into her mouth
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Photos of Friday in Nanchang
- Kate thought she would have followed this handsome revolutionary into battle
- hiding out in the mountains
- I liked this topographical map of Jiangxi province. Shows why the province was so important historically, with its waterways, and why it is considered beautiful with the mountains, rivers and lakes
- And because I know people are tuning in for Zoë photos, not museums, here's one from Elephant Lake
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Friday in Nanchang
Friday morning we walked to the Memorial Hall to the Martyrs of the Revolution. Lots of photos and statues and memorabilia detailing the 1925-49 struggle by the communists to overthrow the imperialists/kuomintang/japanese. The museum honours the fallen in this struggle, men and women (given equal prominence in the museum), mostly in their mid-20's. Not sure they would have wanted their legacy to be either the cultural revolution or the hyper-commercialized China that we're now visiting. I won't tell you how much shopping Kate has done on this trip, in case it is misconstrued as anti-revolutionary behaviour.
In the afternoon we went with Helen to Elephant Lake Park, so-named due to the shape of the lake. A peaceful retreat from the bustling city.
Then we stopped to buy a painting of a mountain scene - we both really liked the painting when we passed the little gallery a few days ago, and when we went back with Helen it turns out that the painting is set west of Nanchang, not too far from where Zoë is from. Then we went to a Chinese restaurant for a great spicy beef and bean dish, yummy broccoli and a few other concoctions, which we took turns scarfing down as Zoë got ravenously hungry at the same time. She is turning into an enormous eater!!
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In the afternoon we went with Helen to Elephant Lake Park, so-named due to the shape of the lake. A peaceful retreat from the bustling city.
Then we stopped to buy a painting of a mountain scene - we both really liked the painting when we passed the little gallery a few days ago, and when we went back with Helen it turns out that the painting is set west of Nanchang, not too far from where Zoë is from. Then we went to a Chinese restaurant for a great spicy beef and bean dish, yummy broccoli and a few other concoctions, which we took turns scarfing down as Zoë got ravenously hungry at the same time. She is turning into an enormous eater!!
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Fengxin - Liutte Hospital
- Zoë's finding place, the Liutte Hospital
- the birthing hospital, across from her finding place, where Zoë was probably born
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Friends from Fengxin
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Fengxin photos
- inside Zoë's room
- laughing with the nannies - the 2 who took the most care of her are Chen Zheng Ying and Deng Shi Feng (I'll have to check the video to see who's who)
- saying goodbye
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Thursday's Trip to Fengxin
It's Saturday evening and we've made it to Beijing. So, lots of catching up to do on the blog.
On Thursday we had a wonderful and emotional trip to Fengxin (pronounced Fung-shin), Zoë's hometown. Fengxin is about 1 1/2 hours west of Nanchang, along a smooth, 4-lane divided highway. A river separates old Fengxin from the new industrial zone, where within the last 5 years an entire new city has sprouted out of the rice fields - dozens of manufacturing businesses (each with hundreds of the workers' mopeds and bicycles parked outside), high-rise apartment buildings everywhere, presumably to house the workers moving in from the countryside. Our guide estimated that Fengxin has about 500,000 residents. The old town looks mostly like Nanchang, slightly run-down storefronts, high-rise buildings, a sense of bustle and growth and industry everywhere.
It took us awhile to locate the "social welfare institute" where Zoë's orphanage is housed. The complex is only a year and a half old and with so much growth and change here, like everywhere in China, even the locals we asked on the street weren't sure where to point us. Eventually we headed down a lane and up to the complex. We went through the white gates and into the circular compound that houses the orphanage, as well as a nursing home.
As we pulled up in front of the orphanage, several of the nannies came running out to greet us. They all seemed so excited to see Zoë and they jostled to take turns holding her. Before we knew it, someone had prepared her a bottle and someone else had the cream out that they rub on her eczema(?). The orphanage director had told us that there are 50 babies at the orphanage, but we only saw Zoë's room, which houses 15, 14 of whom are girls plus one slightly older special needs boy. The room has 5 rows of 3 kids. There's a play area at one end of the room, where the floor is covered with interlocking rubber mats (the same ones that are ubiquitous at home). There's a tv at that end of the room but none of the kids seemed to be paying it any mind. A couple of the kids were in the walker seats that appear in all the referral photos. The room is at the ground floor level, with a bank of windows. All the formula-making supplies were lined up along a counter by the window - quite an assembly-line process, to feed 15 babies. We were overwhelmed by how much the nannies clearly loved Zoë and the other babies. Zoë was smiling and giggling at them, and she seemed happy to see some of her old crib-mates too. We met the 3 girls who were apparently her good buddies and we have their names, so I will try to track down their future families to see if we can keep in contact. The head nanny said that all these babies will be adopted.
After leaving the orphanage, we drove back into Fengxin to see Zoë's finding place. We knew that she had been found outside a hospital, but it turns out that it was a small clinic on one of the main streets of Fengxin. The clinic is right across the street from a non-descript "national women's birthing hospital", so it is a reasonable guess that she was born in the birthing hospital and then left at the clinic to be found. The orphanage also gave us the clothes that she was bundled up in on the February morning that she was found. We spent a lot of time thinking about Zoë's birthmother, trying to picture who she is and what her life might look like, the anguish she must have gone through in giving up Zoë, and how we wish we could thank her and tell her how much we already love Zoë.
Most families aren't able to visit the orphanages these days, partly due to fears of H1N1. We were therefore really lucky to be given permission, probably because we're travelling alone.
Altogether a very emotional day (for us - Zoë was happy and unfazed). But I think we came away feeling like we know she was loved and cared for during her first eight months, and feeling good that we have at least seen her hometown and seen the places where she was born and found.
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On Thursday we had a wonderful and emotional trip to Fengxin (pronounced Fung-shin), Zoë's hometown. Fengxin is about 1 1/2 hours west of Nanchang, along a smooth, 4-lane divided highway. A river separates old Fengxin from the new industrial zone, where within the last 5 years an entire new city has sprouted out of the rice fields - dozens of manufacturing businesses (each with hundreds of the workers' mopeds and bicycles parked outside), high-rise apartment buildings everywhere, presumably to house the workers moving in from the countryside. Our guide estimated that Fengxin has about 500,000 residents. The old town looks mostly like Nanchang, slightly run-down storefronts, high-rise buildings, a sense of bustle and growth and industry everywhere.
It took us awhile to locate the "social welfare institute" where Zoë's orphanage is housed. The complex is only a year and a half old and with so much growth and change here, like everywhere in China, even the locals we asked on the street weren't sure where to point us. Eventually we headed down a lane and up to the complex. We went through the white gates and into the circular compound that houses the orphanage, as well as a nursing home.
As we pulled up in front of the orphanage, several of the nannies came running out to greet us. They all seemed so excited to see Zoë and they jostled to take turns holding her. Before we knew it, someone had prepared her a bottle and someone else had the cream out that they rub on her eczema(?). The orphanage director had told us that there are 50 babies at the orphanage, but we only saw Zoë's room, which houses 15, 14 of whom are girls plus one slightly older special needs boy. The room has 5 rows of 3 kids. There's a play area at one end of the room, where the floor is covered with interlocking rubber mats (the same ones that are ubiquitous at home). There's a tv at that end of the room but none of the kids seemed to be paying it any mind. A couple of the kids were in the walker seats that appear in all the referral photos. The room is at the ground floor level, with a bank of windows. All the formula-making supplies were lined up along a counter by the window - quite an assembly-line process, to feed 15 babies. We were overwhelmed by how much the nannies clearly loved Zoë and the other babies. Zoë was smiling and giggling at them, and she seemed happy to see some of her old crib-mates too. We met the 3 girls who were apparently her good buddies and we have their names, so I will try to track down their future families to see if we can keep in contact. The head nanny said that all these babies will be adopted.
After leaving the orphanage, we drove back into Fengxin to see Zoë's finding place. We knew that she had been found outside a hospital, but it turns out that it was a small clinic on one of the main streets of Fengxin. The clinic is right across the street from a non-descript "national women's birthing hospital", so it is a reasonable guess that she was born in the birthing hospital and then left at the clinic to be found. The orphanage also gave us the clothes that she was bundled up in on the February morning that she was found. We spent a lot of time thinking about Zoë's birthmother, trying to picture who she is and what her life might look like, the anguish she must have gone through in giving up Zoë, and how we wish we could thank her and tell her how much we already love Zoë.
Most families aren't able to visit the orphanages these days, partly due to fears of H1N1. We were therefore really lucky to be given permission, probably because we're travelling alone.
Altogether a very emotional day (for us - Zoë was happy and unfazed). But I think we came away feeling like we know she was loved and cared for during her first eight months, and feeling good that we have at least seen her hometown and seen the places where she was born and found.
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Thursday, October 29, 2009
Chavez is a big Vikings fan
Okay, here's my favourite non-Zoë moment from the trip. This one's going to have me giggling for a while.
Riding up the elevator to our hotel room...
Man: You have a beautiful baby (said with strong Spanish accent)
Me: Thank you. Where are you from?
Man: Venezuela
Kate: Oh wow, I'm from Thunder Bay so I went to Minnesota often during my childhood
Man: (steps out of elevator with very puzzled look on his face) okay, bye
Me: He said he was from Venezuela, not Minnesota
Kate: aaaaaggghhh
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Riding up the elevator to our hotel room...
Man: You have a beautiful baby (said with strong Spanish accent)
Me: Thank you. Where are you from?
Man: Venezuela
Kate: Oh wow, I'm from Thunder Bay so I went to Minnesota often during my childhood
Man: (steps out of elevator with very puzzled look on his face) okay, bye
Me: He said he was from Venezuela, not Minnesota
Kate: aaaaaggghhh
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Wednesday in Nanchang, more photos
- Zoë giving the big stare to the camera
- here we are checking out another museum display
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Wednesday in Nanchang photos
- the decorations continue into the park - Kate walks with our guide, Helen
- me, Zoë, and Helen in front of the paper dragon in the park
- family shot, on the bridge in the park
- Kate, Zoë and the dancing pandas
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Wednesday in Nanchang
We had another fun day in Nanchang. This morning we went for a walk in The People's Park, then went shopping for porcelain (Jiangxi province is the number one source of porcelain in the world - who says you can't learn anything from reading blogs?). This afternoon we went to the Jiangxi Museum and learned some local history. Along the way, Zoë seems to have progressed from never having tried solid food to being passionate about rice cereal, bananas, and, wait for it... duck soup. That's our girl. She slept much less during the day today, which I'm taking as a sign that she's feeling a little less overwhelmed by the whole situation. She's now having difficulty falling asleep this evening, but that could have something to do with the massive fireworks display happening outside our window.
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Tuesday, October 27, 2009
More photos from Tuesday
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Tengwang Ge
We spent the morning at the Tengwang Ge pavillion with our guide Helen. Lunch back at the hotel then we went for a walk in the afternoon and ended up at a really good restaurant where nobody spoke a word of English. Through fingerpointing and gesturing, we ended with about 5 times more food than we meant to order. If I were half the blogger that my friend Mercedes is, I would have taken photos of the food. We brought home enough leftovers for 2 or 3 more meals and the whole bill came to $14!
Here are some photos from our day. By the way, I'm enjoying the "spot the clothes" game. Sean recognized his old blanket. Alison recognized Sam's blue pajamas. I'm sure Helen noticed her beautiful green sweater.
- Walking from the hotel to the pavillion. There were 3 drops of rain, so our guide and the hotel staff insisted that we bring umbrellas. Have to keep the baby dry. We bought her these shoes at a local store here.
- Approaching the Tengwang Ge - very impressive structure. It has rebuilt 29 times over the course of hundreds of years. It's fame and importance is largely derived from a poem. How many buildings can we say that about in North America?
- Part of a show we enjoyed in the pavillion. Zoë was entranced.
- From the bansai garden (which is apparently a Chinese artform, not Japanese??)
Some Zoë in the next post...
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Monday, October 26, 2009
More photos - 1st full day with Zoë
- wandering around Nanchang - North Lake, about 500m from our hotel. The dude on the boat is cruising around scooping out any garbage on the surface of the water.
- the red gate is the entrance to Bayi Park, which is filled with paths, lanterns, trees, stages for spontaneous music performances, adult outdoor exercise equipment. I don't know what the modern art appendage is on the building on the right. We received a lot of looks similar to the one from the old woman in this photo.
- inside Bayi Park
- Tengwang Ge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavilion_of_Prince_Teng) is Nanchang's pride and its most famous tourist destination. The pavillion is lit up at night and is right across the street from our hotel. Here is the view out of our hotel room window. Pretty cool.
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