|
|
Part 3 Yangzhou
October 24
Took a bus ride to Yangzhou that was about 2 hours long. Nice countryside and saw a lot of how the local people really live and farm. First stop was at the notary office to make sure the papers are in order. I found out that they left out an "I" in my middle name. The officials here are able to correct it but the OFFICIAL paper still needs to be change when we get back to Nanjing.
We then went to a beautiful park for a walking tour and a boat trip for about 2 hours. I don't remember the name of the park but the city is very proud of it and I don't blame them. There was no garbage, no street people, and everyone was very nice. We encountered some "clothing police" that were mostly elderly women that made sure our daughters were dressed properly and all skin was covered. Most gave us the thumbs up about adopting their girls and giving them a new home in the States. I just wish that I could have talked to them to understand their feelings better but the smile on their faces said enough for now.
We then climbed back on the bus for a 'short' trip to the Orphanage but the driver got lost and tried to go down a narrow street and at the other end the street was blocked. So the driver had to either back down the almost mile long road or turn around. So the drive started to nudge the bus in and out between a store front and a row of packed bikes. Finally after about 5 min and not hitting anything, we were on our way so we gave the driver a big hand of applause.
We arrived at the Yangzhou Children's Welfare Institute about 2:30 in the afternoon and were escorted to a building/room up on a hill over looking a beautiful river. Apparently this room is only used for adoption purposes. We received some papers stating that Mary is mine and thanking me for adopting her. I also received a Chop with Mary's Chinese name on it (Yang, Run Fang). We then paid our Orphanage Donation and were allowed to visit the nursery rooms.
There were 4 crib rooms that held about 12 cribs each. Between every other room is a small playroom that held walkers. At the end of the hall was the large playroom with the foam floor pads. We did not see many toys but I was assured that they did have some but were put up for the visit.
I saw the crib that Mary called home for the first year of her life. It makes me cry thinking that she lived in a 2 foot by 3-foot crib and only came out to play twice a day. She now has a whole house to explore and the crib that she sleeps in is twice as big. No wonder she likes to sleep on the edge of the pad with either her leg or arm hanging out. I took a photo of one of Mary's nannies but she had bonded with me too much and started to cry as soon as I handed her to the woman. We finally took a group photo of all the families in front of the Orphanage.
The last stop was back to the notary’s office to pick up our papers. We were all so thirsty and hungry that everyone went to McDonalds and had hamburgers and ice drinks. About half way through the drink I realized that we were drinking with ICE but I just kept going because it was sooo good. (No problems later).
On the ride home, Mary screamed for 1 1/2 hrs of the 2-hour ride. She was starving, thirsty, hot, and tired. I had only taken enough for only one meal. We did not get back to the hotel until 7pm.
October 25
After breakfast, I took Mary out into the entrance of the hotel and put her down on the floor on her feet and she took hold of my fingers and began to walk. Unsteady at first but she got better. Look out world, here she comes!
We ventured out to the Purple Cloud area. We had to climb another set of steps to the top to see Dr. Sun
Yet-Sen Mausoleum. There were a lot of steps (maybe about 200) and since Bob and I were refreshed, we all made it to the top!!! The air was a little clearer so we were able to see about 3 miles but there was still a haze.
We then took a short walk over to another site - the Beamless hall. This is a structure that is made only of bricks with a rounded ceiling. No beams were used to hold the structure up hence the name.
That afternoon, LuAnn and I had to return to the Police station to get the Passports corrected. Mine was the "I" in my middle name and LuAnn's was her street was misspelled. We thought that it would be a lot of trouble but all the guy had to do was pull the disk out, place it in the computer, fix the mistake and reprint the paper - No Problem!
We had the rest of the day off so we stayed in our room and played. Mary finally laughed with a big open mouth when she was tickled.
October 26
This was basically a free day. Cathy brought Mary's passport to our room about 9:30am and I checked it
thoroughly for mistakes - there were none.
That afternoon, Bob, Mary and I went back to the department store for last minute shopping. I bought Mary the cutest pair of green shoes with a mouse face on it and a few other outfits.
That night we had to repack all of our things for our next leg of the trip. We had a lot of stuff but we were able to get it packed - and we still have another few stops to make before we get to come home - I don't know if anything else will fit!
|
|
This page was designed using
Micro$oft FrontPage2000, Adobe PhotoShop v5.5 and good old NotePad. It is best viewed using IE5 at 800x600.
All original graphics are the property of Bob Boehm and Janet Luhn. If you see
something you like, ask before taking it.
Copyright 2002
last modified on 04/21/2002 12:20:56 PM
|
