** Adoption countdown: 8 days until Pam, Terry and Matthew return home **
ZHENGZHOU, China (Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008, 7:20 a.m.) – It’s been a whirlwind of emotion and activity these past few hours since Pam and I arrived in Zhengzhou and our adoption journey quickly changed tone.
I’m writing from the spacious lobby of the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Zhengzhou early Wednesday morning. Pam and Matthew Wu Di are still asleep in our room – Matthew actually slept surprisingly well.
He woke up a few times in his crib and whimpered. At 4 a.m. he woke, drank a little milk and then whimpered back to sleep in our bed as Pam held him tightly in her lap.
Other than that, Matthew slept well.
Today, we begin a host of paperwork at, I believe, the Zhengzhou Civil Affairs office. After that, the adoption is final in the eyes of the People’s Republic of China: We officially will be Matthew’s parents.
That doesn’t mean we can book a flight and come home a week early. We still have to stop in Guangzhou for about a week and take care of more paperwork as the U.S. Consulate processes Matthew’s entry visa.
Matthew will travel with his China passport. With his entry visa and other paperwork we get from the consulate, he will automatically become a U.S. citizen as soon as we land in Detroit on Thursday, Dec. 18, our first point of entry in the United States.
Zhengzhou observations
Pam and I haven’t had much opportunity to explore this city of 7.2 million people in central China. After our flight landed shortly after noon Tuesday, our escort from Holt International Children’s Services whisked us to the Crowne Plaza.
Nevertheless, this city doesn’t seem as overwhelming or intimidating as Beijing.
I’m not criticizing Beijing at all. I’m simply saying the city is larger than you can ever imagine and that can be quite a shock for someone who lives in Mississippi and grew up in New Orleans.
Just after we arrived at the Crowne Plaza, the hotel experienced an afternoon blackout.
The staff profusely apologized. They offered us complimentary tall glasses of orange juice. And about four staffers accompanied us by flashlight on our climb up three flights of steps to our spacious, well-furnished room.
The Crowne Plaza is a much nicer hotel than the Novotel Peace Hotel, where we stayed in Beijing.
The staff here is incredibly pleasant. The Christmas decorations are impressive and reminded Pam and me of the decorations at the Fairmont Roosevelt in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina.
The hotel restaurant offered an unbelievable buffet that included Brazilian barbecue, roasted pig, lamb chops, pork roast, deep fried eggplant, eggplant pasta, sushi, salads, fresh fruit and more.
As we sat at the table with Matthew eating our first family meal together Tuesday night, restaurant staff would stop by our table and offer us roasted sweet potato. Some carried skewers from customer to customer, offering freshly sliced cuts of roasted pork, roasted lamb and piping hot rib eye steak.
It was one of the best meals we’ve had since we’ve been in China.
Matthew’s transition
Our sole attention, however, has been trying to make the transition smooth for Matthew Wu Di. I can’t begin to imagine the total confusion he is experiencing over losing his caretaker and gaining two new parents.
Pam tried to joke with Matthew outside the portrait studio in Zhengzhou where we stopped to take our first official family photo which is needed to complete the China adoption.
“Look, look, Matthew,” she said excitedly as she held him close in her arms just outside the photo studio after he had just ended about an hour of non-stop crying.
“Look. Look at Baba. He looks like Buddha,” she said, referring our driver in Beijing who laughed after lunch at a city restaurant on one of tours, pointing to a statue of the Buddha’s head and then my freshly-shaved head.
Our driver told me in Mandarin that my bald head makes me look like the Buddha.
Later, in the car, he told our tour guide he was worried he offended me. I assured our tour guide I have a great sense of humor and thought the driver was funny – comments our tour guide and driver appreciated.
And that brings me back to a comment I mentioned in an earlier post: A smile and a sense of humor go an awful long way in a country where you have a major language barrier.
It even helps with Matthew, especially since he speaks a little Mandarin. In fact, while I carried him down the street from the Civil Affairs office to the portrait studio, he kept repeating in Mandarin “Leave me alone.”
Thankfully, he understands as best he can at the age of 20 months that Pam and I are his new Mommy and Baba.
Copyright 2008 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.
hi matthew maw maw loves you are so cute love maw maw
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