Oh happy day!

Happy dance time! We are on our last full day here in Nanchang. Tomorrow we get Naomi's passport and fly out of this joint. Despite Peter's attempts to talk us out of going to Pizza Hut tonight we are headed there for dinner. Mike vowed not to eat at the buffet for dinner tonight. He choked down more fried rice and chicken yesterday. I opted to order off the ala carte menu and got a cheeseburger and fries. Not sure what meat the burger was made out of but it was better than the other choices. Ignorance is bliss when it comes to the ingredients of the food in these parts. At breakfast we talked with some other adoption families and found that we were not alone in our stir craziness. Oddly that was reassuring for some reason. Naomi didn't sleep well last night. We put her in our bed after her head got caught in between the rails of her crib or should I say death bed. I don't know if it is the lack of sleep or the fear of going into the crib again but she hasn't been napping well today and is giving us a good dose of stubborn. Which equates into one cranky baby. It started raining yesterday and has rained all day and actually brought some cooler weather with it. I think Naomi is ready to blow this popsicle stand too.

We're not in Kanas anymore, or even any place relatively close!

Yes, it's another stinking pagoda...temple, whatever. At least this one had some nice garden areas for photo opportunities but basically it was just as boring as the one we went to yesterday. We have two more days here. The American channels (hbo & cinemax) were blown out with a wind storm, it's 100 + outside, I am sick of the Chinese version of "western food" and I forgot my ruby slippers to click and get the heck out of here!

Dinner Anyone?

Here's our movie star!

Free Day #1

O.K. already. I'm IT Challenged so this video stuff is a little out of my league. Today was a "free day", which translates into "no appointments today". Unfortunately it is so hot here that if you don't get your sightseeing done in the morning you're out of luck. I love Peter, our interpeter, but he's not much help when it comes to suggestions on what to do. Today we went to a 1000 year old temple. Which probably would have been pretty cool except that everything was written in Chinese so we just wandered around looking at stuff and sweating. Not my idea of fun. To get to the park we went down a tree shaded "walking" street that had many retired people sitting around tables doing whatever retired Chinese people do. We felt like we were a one float parade. Every face turned our way as we approached. Too bad Naomi doesn't know how to wave yet.
We had a pivotal breakthrough today with the potty. She did the deed! How strange to have a 11 month old using the potty. We were making a big to-do about it and she looked at us like "what's the fuss, I've been doing this for 6 months".
Tomorrow is another "free day". We will be hitting the "city center" as Peter says. That's downtown for all you round eyes. There's a McDonalds, Pizza Hut & KFC there. I'm looking forward to eating something besides fried rice. Today's specialty at the buffet was braised chicken unguis, that's fancy chicken feet for you round eyes. Yesterday was fried duck unguis. And no, I am not kidding! Still haven't seen any monkey brain jello.

Officially Ours

We had a very busy morning. First there was an appointment at the CAB (China Adoption Bureau) at 8 AM to sign papers to let them know that we would indeed keep this baby. I guess yesterday was a free trial and we could still change our mind until we officially signed today. Yeah - like that ever happens! We had a short interview, a family picture done for their records, paid lots of money, turned in signed papers and then it was off to the Notary office, then Mike and Peter went to different Notary while Naomi and I hung out on the cushy couches in the first office, they had to go to make a deposit at a bank, then back to the second notary and finally back to get us. After all that we headed to the Security Bureau to apply for Naomi's passport. We ventured to Wal-Mart and are now hanging out at the hotel watching movies. It's too stinking hot (100 +) to be running around a busy city. We might do some sightseeing in the mornings on the next two days (before it gets scorching). Naomi was a trooper through it all and didn't make one little fuss. On Friday, we will pick up her passport and then head to the airport for our flight back to Guangzhou. I like the hotel room here better but the buffet is a little strange. Supposedly we eat at the "western" buffet which is more western-friendly but I just can't ever remember a western restaurant serving fried duck feet before. I've been sticking to fried rice and steamed rolls, supplementing my diet with cheez-its and pepsi to sustain my girlie figure. Also the pool here is rather strange. It's indoors, on the 4th floor, but to get to it you have to go through the locker rooms and then up about 3 floors by steps. Not exactly the easiest task for a woman with temperamental knees and a 30 lb. kid on her hip. So needless to say we won't be visiting the pool in Nanchang. I'm looking forward to taking Naomi swimming at the one in Guangzhou. We took a dip on Saturday and it was really nice.
Naomi is a good eater. She takes bottles of a rice and powdered milk formula and then eats fruits,breads and congee (a rice soup) with us at meals. We haven't mastered the potty thing yet but haven't given up yet. Peter says her scheduled it all messed up right now and once things settle down we will probably be able to get the hang of it. We got a written schedule from the foster family and are trying to stick to it as close as possible. She goes down for naps without any trouble too. She's just perfect!

White Swan Hotel