Day 4: Monday, May 30, 2005
We had 2 court appointments this morning. One was a group ceremony to 'donate' our money and gifts to the orphanage directors. Then they gave each of us a gift as well. We did not get to meet Abby's nanny, but she wrote us a paper telling more about her habits and daily life. She returned both cameras fully used (hopefully there will be some pictures of her too- I can't wait to see them).
The other appointment was by family and we had to promise to love and not ever abandon this baby. Then it was official.
At our first appointment today, there were lots of toys and things for the girls to do. While everyone was playing and laughing, Abby stayed with me.
Abby still carries her blue ring. It is her security blanket. She has very busy hands - even when she sleeps.
Our translator and tour guide is Bonnie. Her English is pretty good.
We went to a grocery store today. It was huge like a Meijer, but not as nice. We could not read anything. There were hundreds of workers everywhere. We tried to put Abby in her stroller, but she screamed. Looks from locals were not happy, so I carried her. Later we tried to let her ride in the cart - same ole. We bought rice cereal, bottled water, soda, OJ, 2 outfits, a pillow, and I forget what else (3 bags full) for only $18 US!!! WOW! I can't wait to really go shopping.
I hope Mandy and Tiffany are okay. I sure miss them. I hope that they have not given up on us returning.
Group travel is the only way to travel through China. De and Helen are very friendly and helpful. Their English is broken, but we always have Bonnie, our translator. They all make sure that we know what to do and where to go. Our families are numbered 1 through 15 and we do everything by that number. Even our hotel room is 709. We are family 9. De takes inventory of the families at each stop of each outing. We haven't lost or even misplaced anyone yet. Everything has been really smooth so far. Keep your fingers crossed.
I know about 75% of all the names in our group. We have everyone's number, so we know which room, which baby they have, from which orphanage, and even everyone's birth date. We know enough. Most of us are 40ish - a few older and a few younger. We are all getting 1 and 2 year old babies - 13 of them are between 12 and 16 months and 2 of them are just over 2.
There are no baby clothing police!!! We were told by numerous people that the locals would be telling us to keep our babies warmer and that they weren't covered enough. We haven't heard anything like that. It is HOT here so no one wants to cover up!
Night-night time.
I don't need a lot of sleep, so I type while everyone is sleeping. Well Steph is up now too. So I better go back to bed so we can all get more sleep. Our tour leaves at 9:30am. It's pretty cool, we never even had to change our watches.
Signing off for now.
