Back in the USA

It's been a little more than a week since we've been home. Our bodies have returned to Wisconsin time, and we are no longer waking up in the middle of the night.

The weather here has been great - deep blue skies, puffy white clouds, and 70 degree temperatures. The food is familiar - we know what we are eating. There are rules on the road, and drivers follow them (most of the time). Horns beep only when absolutely necessary. When people talk to us, we understand what they are saying, and they understand us.  And all the bathrooms have toilets that actually flush.  It's great to be back with family and friends.

But do we miss China? Absolutely!  Would we like to go back again someday? In a heartbeat. We miss the Chinese people and the yummy food and the bright lights and the ancient sights and the bustling cities and the gorgeous countryside and our many new friends.

But next time, Amanda and Jamie are coming with us.

Going Home

We're on our way home. After more than two weeks of experiencing China, we are heading home to Wisconsin.

We have had an amazing visit to this great country.  It has been educational and exciting and exhausting at times.  We have explored ancient sites,  shopped in modern cities, and eaten traditional Chinese dishes. We have traveled by planes, trains, buses, and boats. We have met special people and made lots of new friends.

But we sure miss Amanda and Jamie. And our families and friends. We can't wait to go home!

Julie with a chocolate muffin at the airport

Our Last Day in China

Last night we arrived at The Garden Hotel in Guangzhou around dinnertime. This is probably the nicest hotel we stayed at - which was great because we were pretty tired. Julie walked into the room, looked around, and said, "Can we live here?"

The two families from Canada, from our original group of eight, were here too, so we all had dinner together.  We last saw them in Chengdu on June 29 so it was great to catch up.

Today we planned a mostly relaxing day since we need to leave tomorrow morning at six for a  three hour drive to the Hong Kong airport. 

We swam in the hotel pool after breakfast and then shopped at a local market. Guangzhou is a huge city - about 13 million people. It is very pretty but quite hot. It would be fun to come back some time and spend a few more days here.

After dinner it was back to the pool for one more swim. As I watched Julie play with Greg in the water and saw her smiles and listened to her laughter, I thought back to that day eleven years ago when she was first placed in my arms. She was so  serious. And so scared. And so sad. First she just stared. And then she cried - as if her little heart was breaking. When we woke up in the morning, we would look over and see her just staring at the ceiling. We tried everything to make her smile - cheerios and cookies and toys and tricks. Greg would have stood on his head to make her smile. And then one day she did. Little by little the tears slowed down and the smiles increased.

People tell us that Julie is lucky. And maybe she is. But I know in my heart that we are the lucky ones... 

Discoveries in Yudu - A Bittersweet Day

Waiting for us in the hotel lobby at 8:30 this morning were the current director of the Yudu Orphanage, Mr. Li, and the former director, DingGuiLan, who cared for Julie. She handed us a photograph of Julie taken when she was 59 days old, which is now the earliest photo we have of her. She was so excited to see Julie and gave us the following information.

DingGuiLan said that in March 2002, she found Julie crying in a paper box under a tree in a vegetable garden near the orphanage.  The garden was located near a salt factory. She took her home for two days and cared for her before bringing her to the orphanage. Julie was at Yudu Orphanage for several months before DingGuiLan brought her to Jianxin Orphanage. She said she would have loved to keep her but had children and a granddaughter to care for at home. 

We drove to the location of the orphanage, but the building was sold and is empty. We visited the new location which only has three children and many elderly people. DingGuiLan took us to Julie's finding site which is now part of the city. The vegetable garden has been replaced by shops. But the salt factory is still there.

Then Mr.  Li, the current director, surprised us by taking us to a nursing home to meet the nanny who took care of Julie. She is 91 years old and was so happy  to see Julie. She gave her lots of hugs and kisses. Her name is YuYuYing. She seems pretty healthy and told us she is a vegetarian. She is a widow and never had any children. We could see that she really cared for Julie. 

We then had lunch with both directors before leaving for the airport and a flight from Ganzhou to Guangzhou.

This sure was an emotional and memorable day. We learned more about Julie's early life than we thought we would. Everyone we met was so kind and helpful. And it was especially gratifying for us to see how much Julie was loved as a baby in China. 

Jianxin Orphanage

We had a wonderful visit to Julie's former orphanage. As we drove up the driveway to the office building, the director set off Chinese firecrackers in honor of Julie's homecoming and then met us at our van. Her name is Xie Fu Xin, and she gave Julie a big hug. She has only been director for two years but has worked at the orphanage for twenty years. We remember seeing her in the hotel in 2003 when we adopted Julie, and she sure remembered Julie. She was so excited to see her. We walked inside, and there was a big banner on the wall welcoming Julie back.

Xie's assistant, Peng Rong Rong, also remembered Julie. They served us fruit , nuts, and tea as we talked. They do not speak English so Wendy, our guide, translated.

 

All of the orphanages from which children have been adopted keep a file on each child so we were able to look through Julie's file. It contains medical information as well as information about the time she spent at the orphanage. The director then made a copy for us to keep.

We learned that over 1000 children were adopted from the Jianxin Orphanage before it closed. Today there are about twenty homeless elderly people who live there.

The grounds where the orphanage was located contains many apartment buildings, walking paths, and a pond. Xie took us on a tour. The building which housed the orphanage is now owned by someone else so we were not able to go inside. But Xie showed us Julie's bedroom window. We also saw the playground where Julie played as a baby.

 

 2003 to 2014

After our tour, Xie invited us to lunch at a little restaurant right down the road. Peng came, too, so there were six of us plus our wonderful driver.  The food was delicious - Chinese food in China is so much better than Chinese food in the U.S. (Well, except for the chicken's head and foot in our soup.) 

Julie was definitely the center of attention today - I really think Xie and Peng were thrilled that she came back to see them. They made us all feel so welcome. Xie asked Julie to please come back again when she gets bigger. And they also asked her to please learn mandarin. After many hugs and good wishes, we began the drive south to Yudu.

Yudu is in southern Jiangxi province and is the town where Julie is from. She was in an orphanage in Yudu for a few days before being transferred to Jianxin Orphanage.  We were told that in 2002, Yudu Orphanage was not processing international adoptions. Julie was brought to Jianxin Orphanage so she could be adopted. Tomorrow we hope to get more information about Julie's time in Yudu from the director of that orphanage.

Nanchang Orphanage

Today we took a second bullet train to Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi Province, where Julie is from. Our first stop was the Nanchang Orphanage where about 300 children currently live. Julie was in the Jianxin Orphanage which is about an hour away. It closed as an orphanage in December 2013 because almost all of the children were adopted into families.  A few of the children with special needs were then transferred to the Nanchang Orphanage.

We visited with some of the younger children who ranged in age from 2 to 7.  We saw their classrooms and gave them lollipops, pencils, and stickers. They liked the candy the best. Many of the children live with foster families who have small apartments at the orphanage site. Each family cares for 5 or 6 children in a homelike setting. The children go to school at the orphanage until 5 and then go home with their families who are paid to care for them.  The director told us that most of the children have special needs, and some are on waiting lists to be adopted.

The saddest part of the orphanage visit was when we went upstairs to the infant room. There were four or five rows of little cribs next to each other with a little baby in each. We weren't allowed to go into the room because all of the babies have medical conditions. It was heartbreaking to see them lying there. I hope and pray that more and more people will consider adoption as a way to grow their families. Adoption isn't always easy, but I believe every child deserves to be part of a family.

Tomorrow morning we will visit the former Jianxin Orphanage which is now a home for elderly people. We will then drive to Yudu, Julie's hometown, in southern Jiangxi province.

Saying Goodbye

From July 2, 2014:

The feng shui must have been great at the Mountain Retreat Hotel in Yangshuo.  We had the best night's sleep so far. We woke refreshed and ready for more adventures.

On our way back to Guilin, we stopped at a 300 year old farmer's house.  An elderly farmer lives there with his wife and sister in law. Their children and grandchildren moved to the city and visit on the weekend. Our guide told us that most young people prefer living in cities today.The farmer told us that he practices kung fu.  His wife showed us how to grind soybeans into soy milk and how to pump water from a well. 

We then drove back to the Bravo Hotel in Guilin where it was time to say goodbye to our friends.  We have had such a great time together that it was really hard to leave them.  But we plan to keep in touch and hopefully get together occasionally.

Our local guide, Cherry,  dropped us off at the train station, and we were on our own in China. Taking the bullet train from Guilin to Changsha without a Chinese guide was quite a challenge so we were really happy to find our new guide, Wendy, waiting for us when we arrived.