Beijing Day 2 First Leg is a Wrap

The time change is proving to be difficult.  It is very common for Michael or Myriam to be up between midnight and 4:00 AM.  Unable to sleep we toil away attempting to access the internet.  Myriam seems to have better luck accessing her company e-mail.  It would appear blogging and uploading photos is a competitive event in China.  Facebook and most Google functions such as Gmail and Google Translate do not work over here.  The internet appears to be much more restrictive now than when we were here in 2006 getting Sophie.  Speaking of Sophie she is sitting here quietly playing Bingo with herself at 4:30 in the morning wide awake with nothing to do for at least another four hours.

Today we will take the bullet train to Chelsea’s province.  It is one step closer to our goal.  Nolan is going to miss Beijing.  He gives it 10 out of 10.  He has decided that he will live in a big city when he is older.  He loves the hustle and bustle the activity and the organization mixed with chaos.  Sophie also liked Beijing giving it 9 out of 10.  Had we done more shopping I am sure she would have upped her score.  Sophie does not feel the need to live in the big city.  She would be happy just living at the mall.  Some of the bigger ones have bedding stores so she would have a place to sleep and new shopping adventures every day.  Now Chase...  Chase likes Bonney Lake, Specifically our house in Bonney Lake and more specifically his room in our house in Bonne Lake.  The crowds, noise and smell do not exist there; although I am certain I have caught a whiff of the latter of those three emanating from his room in the past. Chase does not like to be bothered...with anything.  He handled the locals taking pics of him pretty well.  Not sure he smiled but they were not fascinated with his teeth it was the fair skin and blonde hair that caught the eye.  His afternoon was a struggle.  One of the first intersections we encountered (sidewalk and alley street) we warned the kids to watch because cars do not stop.  Chase saw his opportunity with the green flashing pedestrian and made a break for it.  As I have said earlier running in Beijing only makes you a higher valued target. A car had to quickly slow and a bike screeched its tires and Chase made it across the street.  That incident rated Beijing a 1.  As we moved closer to the square and the crowds increase Chase’s sore dropped I think to a low of 0.4.  By the time we made it back to the hotel we were upping the score with every successful street crossing.  At the end of the day we had made it all the way to 5; essentially saying eh I can take it or leave it.  That is a monumental move for Chase.

Moving on today via the bullet train will without a doubt bring more challenges.  Our driver can take us to the train station but is not allowed to help us with the bags.  So 15 – 17 bags will be divided up between the 7 of us and off we go for a three hour ride.  I am just assuming the internet will be even spottier in the rural parts of China but time will tell.

I can now call this My Starbucks since I was here in 2006 and 2015

 

Sophie outside one of the gate to Tenamen Square

Standing just outside the foriden city

A much deserved cookie and drink at Starbucks after playing Dodge Car

Beijing the City and the People (we the people)

Wow what a day in Beijing.  It started for us at about 4:00 or 5:00 AM thanks to the time change.  We tried to sleep more and made it to about 6:00.  We just tried to relax in the hotel room until about 8:00 as we knew we had a full day ahead of us.  At 8:00 we all went down to breakfast.  Breakfast in the hotels in Beijing is an eating event.  Full on American breakfast fused with a traditional Chinese breakfast allows you to eat freshly prepared eggs, wonton soup, cereal, rice, juice, green tea or American coffee or espresso.  You name the combination it was probably there. 

We are about a 15 minute walk from Tiananmen Square.  So we walked the distance.  It was a Saturday morning for us Friday afternoon for you and the square was bustling with tourists, and locals.  It did not take long for the Avery family to become a popular distraction.  As we would stop and take pictures, the Chinese would stop and take pictures of us!! Several stopped Chase individually with his seriously blonde head of hair.  He took it in stride and allowed the occasional photo-op.  Ron was a spectacle as well with his pure white beard he was the center of attention from the old man smoking a pipe to the teen girls who would sneak a picture then walk away giggling.  It was quite funny.  Some would come up and just stand next to you and take a picture.  Others would casually pan the area stop on us briefly and take another picture “sneaking” a candid photo. 

The intersections here are massive typically 4 lanes going each way.  This means 16 lanes coming together in the middle.  Nobody has the right away.  There is a rhythm to the movement.  If you see you are running out of time to get across the street the last thing you want to do is run.  You just become a more valuable point target.  Instead you stand your ground; maybe moving backwards or sideways eventually moving forward and getting across.  Think 1985 “Frogger” with double decker busses and you are the frog.  Now you get the picture. Tiananmen Square is massive and Nolan enjoyed it.  Although it does not hold the same value to his generation as it does to ours he was still impressed with the size and monuments.  

From Tiananmen Square we moved east toward the Emperor’s Avenue shopping center, a version of time square without all the light.  It looks fairly new and we suspect it was put in during the 2008 Olympics as we do not remember seeing it in 2006 at our last visit.  We did get back to our Starbucks from 2006 and stopped to have a drink and rest.  We made the walk back to the hotel where we took a brief break before venturing out for Peking Duck around 5:30.  That gets us to a 12 hour day.  After dinner we made it back to the hotel where everyone essentially collapsed at 8:00.  Tomorrow we have another big day.  We leave Beijing and head to Anhui province where Chelsea is at.  We will have our driver take us to the train station where we will take a 3 hour bullet train ride.  If flying “in Country” in China was interesting last time loading 7 people and about 20 bags onto a bullet train for a 620 mle train ride should not disappoint.

It is very hard to blog from here.  At times we cannot access the internet.  Other times it is so slow activities time out.  Finally our failsafe (e-mail stories and photos home and have friends post is proving to be just as difficult.  In many cases we cannot access e-mail to send info.  We will keep trying Stay tuned.



Peking Duck Preperation

 

 

If you find this happy duck outside, you will find Peking Duck inside

 

We are Here

We made it to Beijing. Our plane in at SeaTac was given away to Hong Kong after everything was loaded. So we waited until they unloaded everything moved it over 1 gate and let us get on. We pushed back about 90 minutes late. The only causality was Nolan's Beats by Dre. The framework broke when he pulled them out of his carry-on. A freak accident but they still work. However, for a moment my 13 year old boy who was getting ready to get onto an 11 hour airplane ride the only music in is head was ...."It's the end of the world as we know it...."

We settled in for a mighty long airplane ride. Seats were good had the bulkhead row so the extra legroom was nice. For Chase and Sophie it was a bit long but they persevered. We got into Beijing about 8:30 Friday night, made it through immigration and found our driver. We got on our own private bus...Yes it was the Avery short bus, in case you were wondering. By the time we got to our room it was pushing 10:00 PM. We settled into bed about 11:00 and all but Myriam are up and at it at 5:00 AM. It is going to be a long day. Today we go to Tiananmen Square. Myriam may have us on the Chinese Subway before our time is up here, that may require a seperate seperate blog all together and maybe a quick check on the life insurance exceptions. We received a few more pictures of Chelsea but working around the internet here is a bit tricky and take a bit of time. We will post more when we figure out how to get them out of the Gmail account. Apparently Gmail is not well received and everything involving it is blocked.

Down to the Wire

In less than 24 hours the planning and preparation will all be over.  The journey will begin; there is no turning back now.

We are grateful to have good friends and contacts who have adopted older children.  They have given us reassurance that all will be fine. They have given us pointers and reassurance, laughed at our concerns and given us reassurance, empathized with us and given us reassurance. We are confident, ready to go based on the reassurance of our friends and family. 

Chelsea is the perfect age for us to adopt her and it is the perfect time.  We tried to get her last year around the holidays but that did not work; we tried to be there in February for her birthday, but that did not work.  Now we leave in March it turns out to be the perfect time. One week is during spring break, so the kids will miss very little school.  Most importantly international soccer is on a two week break and the sounders FC are not playing this weekend and have an international friendly on the 24^th.  It is as if God himself is guiding us.

Everyone is good to go.  I have finally convinced Chase that yes he is my son but he is not THE sun and the world does not rotate around him.  For the safety of the passengers and crew we have placed a minimum of 4 people and at least one aisle between Sophie and Chase.  You are welcome Delta Airline.

Chelsea is getting ready as well.  Hopefully she is learning English at a faster rate than we are learning Chinese.  She apparently has learned the art of negotiation.  We have been informed that she only wants to be adopted if we bring her a bike.  Not buy a bike Bring her a bike to China. In effect she is requesting a dowry. This caused much consternation in the Avery household.  We have 7 bikes in the garage, Michael knows because he turns into a sailor every time he trips over them walking through the garage.  “Why do we have 7 bikes there are only 5 of us!?”  Well apparently Chelsea will now have one of them and if need be I will have to negotiate a second bike that I will hold in reserve to sweeten the pot. “No dear we did not bring you a bike; you see we could not decide which one to bring, you actually have two in Bonney Lake!”

Myriam took pictures of the bike we will offer her.  We also took pictures of the kids on the trampoline.  However, now that I think about it Chelsea has probably never seen a trampoline, to her it looks like a soft sided cage that the kids are trying as hard as they can to vault over the side.  I can hear here now "this is the american version of timeout?"Better start the therapy jar early.  9 years in China and then catapulted into the American excess.  We have a lot of catching up to do.

Counting down by the Hours –

If I count by the hours is sounds like we have more time “72 hours” – “3 Days,” Hmm?  Either way we are down to it!!

This weekend was spent packing and planning for the different scenarios.  For example we found out that Chelsea gets motion sickness. – Add more outfits.

Chase announced that he did not want to go. – Show him a globe and try and convince him that it does not rotate around him.  Not sure how successful we were.

Tell the kids what to do if we get separated. -  Kids do not move, the adults (there will be four of us) will backtrack and find you.  DO NOT MOVE!  Myriam: I promise we will not lose you on purpose. Nolan and I look at Myriam “on Purpose?”

Chase announces he will be staying home.   – Where is that dang globe?

All laundry must be completed so we can finish packing and know what we are wearing on the plane.  Myriam likes to work backwards. Knowing what you are wearing on the plane helps determine what will be packed.

Myriam: Chase what are you wearing on the plane? Chase: coming home from China, I don’t know?  Myriam: I am not working that far backwards. – Where is my wine?

Nolan, you need to pack your carry-on.  I am not sure what is in his carry-on. X-Box 1, X-Box 360, laptop and Surface were denied access. He is down to the headphones that I am sure have graphed to his neck and his cell phone.  Do you need a carry-on for that?

Michael is your carry on packed?  I am only taking my phone and some headphones.

Sophie had to go shopping for the trip; at the Justice store with catalog, “I will take one of everything please.”  I need to take every possible clothing combination with me.  How much candy can I take on my carry-on?

Michael announces he will be staying home…

 



Celebrating Chinese New Year

T Minus 10 Days

We are T minus 10 days to departure.  I believe we are entering Panic mode.  The 30-day departure plan has mostly been completed however the shell game as begun. We are now looking at the things that will not be completed on time and can wait until we return.  We cannot complete it now?  Put it post return list.  In the meantime here is another photo of the Soon to be Chelsea Avery.  Her orphanage is very poor and they seldom get fresh fruit.  When it does arrive the kids seem to really enjoy…as you can see.

We depart in 10 days and will get to see Chelsea for ourselves for the first time on March 23^rd.

Less than 2 weeks to go!...No Seriously!

 

 

Is it possible?  No it cannot be!  The calendar does not lie 13 days to departure…

 

      Somehow the e-mail Myriam sent me that said we are 90 days away from leaving was just last week?  Is it possible that the e-mail came and in that time frame we finished Christmas shopping, had the big day and rang I a new year?  Is it possible the 30-Day departure plan is now down to one page?  Is it possible that the time left before we depart is shorter than the time we will be gone?  Somehow it is all true.  We are only 13 days away from getting on an airplane and flying to China to add Chelsea to the Avery Family!

Somehow it does not seem possible.  Somewhere we ripped a hole in the time space continuum in order to go from 90 days to 30 days to a mere 13 days in what seems like only a week.

You know what, with everything we have to do still from stopping the mail, to packing and taking care of the dogs the time cannot move fast enough if it means we get to her just a little quicker. 

The kids are getting excited, Myriam is getting nervous and Michael is doing the fuzzy math to figure out what happened to the missing days.