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From the traditional red couch photo at the White Swan to
the back door with the local market and the zoo, the Marales
Family experienced China like a local... and like an
adoptive parent.
DAY 14 (part 1):
Group Picture and Shopping in Guangzhou!
Drew Miller and Tonito Morales, far right
Tonito has been doing so great with us!!! We have been using
the "bu ta" (no hitting) less and less (we're probably down
below 100 times a day now ), and he and his sister Vivi are
learning how to act silly with each other without the
violence. It was so funny in the bathtub last night - Tonito
had splashed Vivi and we heard her say "bu ta mei mei"-
she's picking up on survival Chinese as well!
They play their own version of hide and seek, and although
the hiding spot is always behind the curtains, they never
tire of laughing when they find each other. Tonito
definitely likes his naps (as does Vivi) and is in a much
better mood when he is well-rested - which is why I am
updating the blog now in silence while my two pseudo-angels
sleep :-)
We took a taxi to a wholesale market where we found our
traditional Chinese clothes- we got one for everyone in our
family, including Maya!
After we grabbed some lunch at KFC (I don't eat here in the
states, but we couldn't find a restaurant that had a menu!)
we took a taxi back to the hotel for the famous "red couch"
picture in the 2nd floor lobby of the hotel.
Of course after the pictures the wrestling started.
Here are all of the families in our travel group
(of course Tonito is squirming around).
So tonight is the cruise on the Pearl River! I am expecting
lots of neon lights, some good Cantonese food, and 2 kids in
a good mood because they've slept for 2 hours! I can't
believe we will be home in less than a week!!! I miss Maya
so much, but I will also be sad to leave Tonito's home
country. I hope that we will be able to return to visit
before long, and that in the meantime we can help to keep
his culture and language alive. But for now we will enjoy
everything we can while we are here!!
Monday, April 7, 2008
DAY 13:
Guangzhou Zoo!
For the first time on this trip, I slept a monstrous 9
hours!!:) That felt great to kind-of catch up- and I needed
to be well-rested for our trip to the zoo. We met at 10am
with the families from Urumqi, plus another family who
adopted a 7-year-old adorable little boy, Tyler.
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On the
way to the zoo.. |
with
best buddy Drew. |
The zoo was large and had a lot of different types of
animals: tons of zebras, giraffes, elephants, wolves,
jaguars, lions, tigers, different types of deer and elk,
brown bears, tons of different monkeys, and our favorite: a
panda bear. Zoos in other countries are not always like zoos
in the states as far as natural-looking habitats and free
space to roam (heck, even in the US some zoos aren't very
animal-friendly). This zoo was very green and the lush
tropical plants made you feel like you were out of the huge
city of Guangzhou. The weather was about 90 degrees with the
kind-of humidity that puffs up my curly hair the instant I
leave the AC (hence the ponytail and scarf!)
After the zoo and a nap to recuperate from the sauna, er,
zoo, Tonio and I (and the kids) hit the streets of touristy
knick-knacks and found some very colorful local art
(painting of little kids flying kites and playing with the
New Years dragons) for Tonito's room, as well as some other
must-haves:). |
On March 31, Kimber and Scott Miller had their greatest
adventure in their adoption - meeting their new son, Drew.
Gotcha Day!
We've had quite an exciting, nerve racking, long day today.
Well, actually my nerves were working overtime and Scott was
A-ok as usual. Just got back to the hotel, it is 6:00 p.m.
now Monday evening. We left here this morning before 10 a.m.
to meet our Drew. We went to the Civil Affairs office and
when we got there, the kids were already there in the room.
However, Drew was no where to be seen. Of course I panicked
and wondered if they forgot to bring him!
Thank goodness, he was there, just in the bathroom. He was
very quiet and shy at first; he stood over to the side
trying to hide from us. He stood there and got tears in his
eyes for a few minutes as there was a lot of noise going on
in the room with the 3 other kids meeting their families,
too. The room was quite small, of course. First Scott gave
him some bite sized chocolate chip cookies which he ate a
few of. We showed him his backpack and he perked up
immediately. He continued to unpack EVERYTHING in his
backpack, every little nook and cranny pocket was emptied
out. He had a ball with everything he could find to drag out
of there.
Then the other kids came over to check out all his neat
stuff, we all had a good time sitting there in the floor as
the kids went through all the toys. Let me tell you that he
LOVES his BABA-- (his daddy) he wants to be beside him at
all times and only wanted to sit on the bus beside him. We
did switch seats coming home and he asked to sit by his dad,
but then he settled for me I guess. He only wants his baba
to hold and carry him, too. Scott says he weighs a ton!
hahaha
We were walking down the street waiting at this office, and
Drew wanted a balloon. Well he not only got a balloon, he
got 2 more toys and juice to drink. He was very happy with
that. We realize he doesn't truly understand what is going
on, as he asked the Chinese tour guide who was taking him
back to the orphanage. She told him he was staying with his
mama and baba. He said ok. Just to tell you as I'm writing
this, Drew found his MP3 player and wanted me to get it
started for him. He is into EVERYTHING! He is a very
inquisitive little boy to say the least. He opens everything
he can get his hands on or into. When we first just now
walked into the room, he walked straight to this laptop and
turned it on!! I'd say he knows how to use a computer...
Drew had a big time passing the beach balls around in this
office we were in today; we were in there for hours!! He got
it out and wanted it blown up. He was laughing out loud
while throwing and catching that around. He also kept asking
for ice cream, preferably chocolate according to our tour
guide Wendy. So finally later, his baba took him to buy a
chocolate ice cream bar which he ate all of. He seems to be
very independent. He likes to play with the other kids at
times, and other times, he just wants to sit down and look
around, or draw pictures at the table by himself. He can
definitely entertain himself pretty well. Oh yeah, his
dimples are sooooo darn cute!!!!
Later, we walked back to the hotel to eat. Just to let you
know, you would have thought he had eaten out with us a
thousand times before. He did so wonderful. We found out he
likes watermelon, tomatoes, broccoli, meat. He?s not a very
picky eater-yippee!!
Kimber shared her thoughts on
her blog while in China completing her adoption, on March
31, 2008. Read more about her travels at
Our Journey to Drew online. |
We all went to a huge nearby park where the kids ran around,
climbed, jumped, and worked out on this unusual public
exercise equipment that they shared with elderly Chinese
men. It is no surprise that Chinese people live long and are
not overweight- every morning we see so much group exercise
in the parks, people walking, running, biking, stretching,
doing tai chi, playing hackey-sack, playing badminton,
swinging swords, and just being active outdoors the whole
day. The kids (and parents) were dripping with sweat in
minutes with what seemed like 100% humidity and almost 90
degrees- but they loved every minute of it!!
After the fun in the park, we went back to the room for a
little lunch (peanut butter sandwiches and milk) and a long
nap for the kids. I walked around the whole island while
they were sleeping and found so many cute stores with
souvenirs!! The whole Shamian Island is definitely made for
adoptive parents- tons of little kids' traditional Chinese
clothes, stores that do your laundry, memory etchings, etc.
We are a captive audience that will pay high prices for
convenience! Although Tonio and I tomorrow are taking a taxi
to try to find cheaper markets with the same goods :-)
(well, talking, and
talking in Chinese while Tonio and I just smiled and Tonito
answered them). One woman spoke a little English and told
everyone we were their mama and baba, and people were smling,
giving us thumbs up, grabbing Tonito's cheeks. They
apparently asked him how old he was (he said three in
Chinese), and asked about us, and he pointed and said mama
and baba. CUTE!!!:) Everyone has been so nice- the older
generation really likes that we are adopting (I mean we as a
huge group of adoptive parents) and the younger generation
loves to help with the kids, help translate for us (since
many speak some English). (see the live baby scorpions in
the big red bowls):
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