BEIJING, China (Friday, Dec. 5, 2008, 6:05 a.m.) – I thought I would share a few random thoughts and observations so far after two shorts days into this incredible trip to adopt our son.
Raising children
We have an awesome task as parents. Sometimes that doesn’t really register that much with many of us, other times it hits us (including me) like a ton of bricks.
Children are special no matter who they are, where they came from or whether they are adopted or your flesh and blood. We help shape them into fine adults; everything we do and say has a profound, deep effect on them.
Like many parents of young children, we are constantly amazed with our 3-year-old daughter, Camryn, who soaks up everything and anything she can.
She already has picked up language and sayings I use that are part of my New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana culture and background. And she says it with a Mississippi twang.
I can only begin to imagine what life will be like with two children running around the house. We have a difficult time keeping it straight and clean with one child – I guess we’ll give up with two. The joys of parenting.
Approaching adoption
Speaking of Matthew, he will be home in the Henan province when we arrive in Zhengzhou on Tuesday. After we check into the Crowne Plaza, we are scheduled to go to the Civil Affairs office to get him at about 3 p.m. that afternoon (1 a.m. Tuesday in Mississippi).
This is a different from the way we got Camryn. If you read my blog entry from Tuesday, Dec. 2, you’ll remember we got Camryn at our hotel in Nanchang; the change this time could be due to the fact we are the only parents on this trip arranged by Holt International.
We’ll be in Zhengzhou until Friday, Dec. 12, completing adoption paperwork before we head to the final stop on our trip in Guangzhou.
Enjoying great food
Like our last visit, the food here has been excellent and relatively inexpensive. We eat breakfast every day at our hotel, a buffet that includes the usual: eggs, bacon, sausage, waffles and pancakes.
The breakfast buffet also includes other items such as fresh sushi, congee, baked fish, juice and a whole array of breads. The only coffee is an incredibly strong, but good, espresso.
On Thursday night, Pam and I joined a couple from the states for dinner at Xiu Lan, a small restaurant two doors down from the hotel that was packed with locals. We were the only non-Chinese in the entire place and, amazingly, were able to order and pay for our food with a wait staff that spoke no English.
As I said before, a smile goes an awful long way here.
Interestingly, Xiu Lan was the same restaurant Pam and I stopped at in March 2006 on our second day in Beijing hoping to eat roasted duck, the city’s famous dish. We left, however, after we saw the restaurant menu said it served roasted dog – a common Chinese dish we later learned.
We didn’t leave this time and we didn’t see dog on their dinner menu. We ordered a whole roasted duck and an order of fried noodles; both were excellent, authentic Chinese food (not the watered-down Americanized versions) and cost about $25 total.
Now, if only I could figure out how to use those chopsticks ...
Copyright 2008 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment