Great Wall, Pandas, and Mcdonald's

So, we start a new year.  This is the year we go back to China.  We are already planning what we need to do before going back.  We have more sales to add to Ebay.  We are selling bracelets.  I will post something soon about it, if you'd like to get one.  I might even add a list of posters.  Leave a comment if you are interested.  If you have to buy something from Amazon, please go through the links on this page.  We can get a small commission.  Any amount will help with the adoption.  We still have some bills to come.  After the Dossier goes to the agency, then we need to come up with fees in China and travel fees.  If Angie has it her way, we will probably turn around and put in for another child. Tomorrow, I will start getting rid of stuff for our second yard sale.  It's times like this when you realize how much junk you have.  I plan to get rid of it. Welcome to any new readers!  Feel free to comment,...

I have talked about customs in a past blog, but it had more to do with movies.  I just wanted to send out a warning.  If you buy luxury items in China, keep the receipt if it is from a reputable company.  When you declare it, they will want to see it.  If it is like my visit, they will take it away no questions asked.  Well, maybe one:  Do you want to pay a fine or donate the items?  If you buy in a bargaining situation, be careful.  That is the stuff they are targeting.  More chances than not, it is a knockoff.  We just stay away from that kind of stuff.  It's not worth the hassle Customs will give you.

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2014-12/29/content_19188050.htm I am hoping we get to visit this park when we go pick up our daughter.  I have to find out what kind of sightseeing they do.  Our last agency planned a couple of outings per province.  I have added the link because the paper did not have Blogger on their list to share to.  Interesting story!

In past blogs, I have talked about my expectations of and those were told to us.  You'd think we were going to a place that did not have running water or electricity.  China is a little more advanced than that.  Even western companies are flocking to this country.  Soon there will be a McDonald's on every corner.  As scary as that sounds, it's happening.  Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, Wal-Mart, Ikea.  They are all moving into China. I would like to describe our first visit to a Wal-Mart.  In Beijing, they are there.  They were far outside of the area we were visiting.  In Jiangxi, we were able to visit Wal-Mart.  Angie was excited.  She wanted to see if the sales matched the ones at home.  Out group got into the bus at the hotel and drove to the center of the city.  In the middle is a big Memorial of the August 1 Nanchang Uprising.  We did not visit it, but our guide pointed out to us as we passed by.  At the far...

Beijing's public transport adopts new fares on Sunday - CCTV News - CCTV.com English So, the great price is gone.  It is now going up in price.  I'm guessing the price will still be reasonable versus taking the bus or cab.  It will probably be more expensive for the locals.

It was a great Christmas.  I think over the years, we have learned about buying too many gifts.  I did not even ask for anything.  At 42, I feel I have what I want.  I'd rather see the happiness in the children.  The girls all got what they wanted and were satisfied. I wish I were rich.  Not for the fact that it could buy me things.  I'd love to fly over to an orphanage and get all the children gifts.  Unfortunately, the orphanage would probably keep them when the children move on.  That happened in each of our adoptions.  With Michelle, they even asked for the clothes on her back.  We decided to keep them, but gave them other clothes in return  I would just love to have the money to make a difference in many kids lives.  I know I have done that for our children, but I want to do more. I think another great idea would be to open some kind of foster/assistance house in a rural part of China.  We would take in child...

So, Angie brought up our agency fee that will be coming up.  Unfortunately, they want it in the form of a check.  They do not take credit or Paypal.  We need to start coming up with that money.  I guess it was not as bad as I was expecting, but it is all part of adopting.  Everyone has set fees that they expect when it comes to there part.  After this, the next big payment will be for our travel and orphanage donations and fees.   Besides the fundraisers, we are also looking at low to no interest loans and grants.  Some grants do not take place until after the adoption.  I would think you would have to start the process before going.  Like I've said before, research everything before getting into adoption.  That way you can figure out the money that will be needed and how to come up with it.

I just checked the weather in Harbin, China.  They must be having a warm front.  Today's temperature is 7 F.  It looks like it will be in the teens.  I can't wait to visit to get my child, but I think it would be too cold.  If my children come, their mom will have them dressed like the boy in A Christmas Story.  At least I will not bring my ball cap and think it will keep my head warm.  Might have to bring the Chinese hat we bought the last time.  I think we will be going in the spring or early summer.  I don't know how the expiditing will work. Now that the holidays are upon us, all things come to a halt.  Once the holidays pass, it is on to the next stop.  Chinese New Year is approaching.  During that holiday, the whole country takes the week off.  There will not be people processing and travel will be hard to come by.

I read an article the other day.  The subject was a child who was adopted from China had committed suicide, due to bullying. With one daughter in middle school and the other approaching, I am worried they will have the same thing happen to them.  Kiersten has already told us about incidents, but they seemed to have stopped.  We are just going to sit them down and tell them that if any bullying happens, they need to let us know.  I know how it is growing up.  I can't say I really liked middle or high school.  My issues had more to do with being an introvert.  I know kids can be mean.  School officials are not always around when things happen. Talking to Angie the other day, I find out that a teacher had caught some students making fun of my daughter and her friend.  Why can't kids just leave others alone?  Does it make them feel special to put others down?  I hope if it continues, my daughter will let us know.

Our package is heading back.  Hopefully, that means it has been signed and is ready for the next stop.   Next is the Chinese consulate in Texas.  We have to hire a courier to bring the package to the consulate.  All of it comes at a cost.  The courier charges, the consulate charges, and Fed-Ex charges.  As of this morning (Sunday December 21st), the package is in Memphis, TN.  Funny, the package goes from northern Florida and has to go to a northern state before coming back down to Orlando, FL.  We should get the package in a day or so.  Angie may get the package out quick, but holidays might slow things down. It's the 22nd today.  The package has arrived from the Secretary of State of Florida.  Now Angie will make some copies and prepare to ship to Texas.  This will be going to the Chinese Consulate.  They have things to certify.  They only accept packages from couriers.  Angie is using the service/person we u...

A documentary that I would suggest and have shown my daughters is Somewhere Between.  It follows a group of teen adoptees and the issues they deal with in their lives.  My daughters liked it.  One of them actually would like to go back and try to find her parents.  In the documentary, one of the girls does that.  It also helps parents to see issues their child might go through or been going through.  I think our girls will go through it.  Hopefully, they will discuss those issues with us.  I am more than happy to discuss and even do research for them.

Today we found out that China has increased some its fees.  This happens during adoptions.  Especially if the value of the Yuan goes down as compared to the dollar.  We may not have an increase in all fees.  Sometimes, they grandfather in fees.  If you have started the process, you may not have to pay the increases.  When it rains it pours.  Hopefully, this will be all the bad news for this week.  At times like these, I wish we were already headed to China.  Angie also found out that the Chinese Embassy charges $15 to $20 a sheet to certify.  Not only that, but they will only take the paperwork from a courier that you have to hire.  I think her fee is $150.

So today I received bad news.  I have been trying to get Angie to inquire about an 11 year old that is up for adoption.  She has been in the orphanage since birth.  I only wanted to try and give her a home.  Earlier in our adoption, Angie had requested two.  The agency sort of approved us, but called and said they did not think that China would allow it.  Recently, China has come out with new rules.  We thought this might be an opening for us. Wrong.  Angie sent the email.  They replied that the one child we are interested in is going to take a lot of care and also, we don't make enough.  Funny thing is that the book I am reading talks about all the money issues surrounding adoptions and how it is perceived as being for the rich.  We are rich of heart, but not of wallet.   Maybe we will raise lots of money in the next couple of months and be able to set some aside for another child.  Knowing my wife, two to three years f...

In Jiangxi, our agency set up a visit to a village similar to the one our child could have come from.   Some of the people from the village allowed us to walk through their house and see the surroundings.  Granted, this was not near the orphanage.  That was about 1-2 hours away on country roads.  We had an option of visiting, but we did not think it would be fair to our child to take the same journey that she took the day before.  Had I had a chance to do it again, I would go.  The city was the only place we got to visit.  I'm sure one day, we will bring our daughter back to visit the area she came from. The day we were to visit the village, one of the families decided not to go.  They were concerned about bird flu.  It did not bother us.  If we saw a bird walking crazy, we'd stay away from it.  We only saw a couple of chickens walking around.  They looked fine. We loaded up in our bus and drove to the outskirts of the ci...

Before we go to adopt, I like to research the provinces we are going to.  I like to look at the history and look for places to visit.  I also like to see what cuisine is their specialty.  Chengdu specializes in Sichuan cuisine.  Believe me, if you are not used to spicy, be warned.  They put Sichuan oil on everything. In Jiangxi, I learned about the Nanchang Massacre during World War II.  I did not learn about it in school.  They have also done a couple of movies based on it.  Flowers of War is a movie that has Christian Bale as a man stuck in the middle of the massacre.  It is directed by Yimou Zhang.  I found it to be a good movie.  When it came to the Oscars, they said it was a Chinese propaganda film.  I did not see it that way.  What about US war movies?  Aren't they US propaganda films?  Some of them even won Oscars.     Another great movie is John Rabe.  It centers around John Rabe's attemp...

International adoption is a special trip.  We loved to buy things from the provinces that our daughters came from.  Believe me, it is hard to find special things.  Most shops will sell the same things.  It's like going on a cruise to the islands.  All those shops look a like.  We tend to gravitate towards hand made items.  When packing to fly to your next destination, be careful. We like to use TSA approved locks for our luggage.  When we pack, we try to bring valuables on the plane with us.  On one of our trips, another family had a bunch of souvenirs in their luggage.  When they got to the next location, their things had been stolen from the bags.  They might have even had locks.  Just take this advice, be careful.  It happens.  It has not happened to us, but we have been lucky.

Wi-Fi has become a great way to stay in touch when you are out of town.  On our first outing, we did not seek out an Internet Cafe until Guangzhou.  On the island, they had a coffee shop that gave free internet.  Believe me, it is better to find something like this than pay hotel rates.  One time we did try it.  It was .75 a minute.  Well the access was like going through dial up.  We paid 6.00 for 10 minutes of access.  Three of that was waiting on the site to come up.  Back to the coffee shop.  We bought a drink and sat down at a computer. On the second trip, we found an internet shop in a small mall next to the hotel.  They had reasonable rates.  The people that ran it were really friendly.  One thing that I did notice was that a lot of the people were playing games on the computers.  While Angie was going through email, we watched people play games. Finally, the last trip saw us bringing our miny computer. ...

Mia is our 5 year old.  When we adopted her, we were told she may or may not be able to see.  Well she has some sight.  She runs around the house and does not bump into things.  She even can use an Ipad.  One thing she loves is music.  Of course, I have shared my international likes with her.  One of her favorites is a Korean group called Wa$$up.  They perform a song Bang Bang (see Bang Bang post for video).  Every time she gets into my car she requests Bang Bang.  Bang Bang is not in Angie's car.  She does not ask for it there.  She evens sings some of the lyrics. She is still learning to talk and eat.  When we got her at 3, she was more like a baby.  Now she is more like a 3 year old.  Some of the things she comes up with to say is funny.  This morning she started saying Those are not Pumpkins! She loves changing words around.  For potatoes, she says popatoes.  I will say, we are very happy to ...

During our vacation, we were walking around and saw a family with a daughter that looked exactly like Michelle, only smaller.  This seems to happen to us a lot.  We go places and we see other families who have adopted from China.  Angie runs into the mother and asks about her daughter.  It turns out her daughter is the same age as Michelle and she comes from the same Province.  Also, we might have been on the same plane to pick up our daughters.  The mother did not remember the name of the orphanage.

On vacation, I started reading Adoption Nation by Adam Pertman.  It has been an interesting book.  It breaks down the history of adoption and gives interesting information.  I know this is not much, but I am only two chapters in.  I will update as I can form a better opinion.  So far, so good. I just finished a chapter that dealt with the skyrocketing cost of adoption and domestic adoptions.  It explained laws from the states and how they vary.  It also went into adoption from the birth mothers.  The laws in the states vary for a mother changing her mind and what a family can pay for.  Mainly they can pay for hospital stays and lodging.  The states do not want it to add up to buying a baby.  I think these kind of adoptions can leave a family open for fraud.  There laws do not seem to protect families from that.  It also mentioned father rights. I have finally read about the international arena.  The next chapter d...

The other day Angie was getting food at a buffet.  The person serving looked like they were from another country.  The person serving bacon was trying to unclump some bacon that had stuck together.  The lady in front of Angie told the woman she could just serve the whole thing to her because she was going to tell her it was not enough.  The woman continued to separate the bacon.  She gave the woman two pieces of bacon.  The woman turns to Angie and goes "I guess she doesn't understand English!".  After the woman had left, the woman serving turned to Angie and says in perfect English, "Good Morning, would you like some extra bacon?" That really irritates me when people do that.  I think that if my daughter was in the same situation, they would do the same thing to her just on her appearance.   She would either do the same thing or just cuss them out.  She could do just like the man on The Karate Kid remake, where the boy asks the man so...

So I'm back.  Been a great week of rest.  While we were gone, we got out fingerprint approval.  It's on to the Secretary of State of Florida for signatures.  They will authentic our package.  It will be in the mail by Monday.  Also while we were gone, we discovered that a teacher has a problem with our adoption.  Can you believe that?  This person discussed it with Angie's parents.  I guess she thought her almighty words would convince us not to adopt.  Guess she would be really upset if she found out we might adopt two if we can. During our vacation, we talked to a woman about our adoptions.  She broke down in tears for what we were doing.  I like these kind of discussions.  At least she understands what we are trying to do.  Angie found out that our chance of adopting two might have increased.  Not only that, but the child we are considering has a grant available.  This child is 11 years old.  I thi...

I have been posting a lot lately.  The reason is because I am going to take a slight break.  I should return around the 15th.  I still have lots to talk about.  I still have visits and pictures in China to share.  I have more music.  We hope to have an update about the adoption.  Right now, we are waiting on the fingerprints.  Feel free to leave comments.  Let me know what you would like to see more of or less of.  Thanks for continuing to come back to this blog and I hope the information that I am providing is informative and entertaining.  Please share the link to the blog with friends and family. So, no comments.  I guess I am doing something right.  I am still getting readers.  If for any reason you want to ask anything, by all means do so.  I will keep on writing.  This helps keep my brain thinking and hopefully my writing is improving as I go along.

Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that Disney's Frozen has taken the world by storm.  At the same time, we know the province that our child is located at.  She lives in Harbin, China.  This is a city in the province of Heilongjiang.  This province border Russia.  Every year they do an Ice and Snow Festival.  I read that it can go to -35.0 C(-31.0 F).  I do not think we will get to go during the winter.  It may be more like spring.  Researching, I am looking forward to going there to experience the culture. Getting back to the movie Frozen.  My daughters loved this movie.  I like some of the music, but I must confess, I still have not sat down to watch it.  Early on, I heard a version of Let it Go by Demi Lovato.  I did not like it.  I guess it's the way she sings it.  I prefer the one by Idina Menzel.  I keep up with Asian music through Facebook.  It's the only way I can find out if a...

When we found out we were going to Chengdu for our adoption, I looked it up on the internet.  I found out that they were home to a Panda research center.  We guessed that the adoption agencey would set up a visit to there.  We were correct.  It was one of the few areas we did get to visit in Chengdu. On the day of the visit, we loaded up in our van for the ride to the center.  On the way there, we got to see areas that had been affected by one of the earthquakes.  I believe it was the 2008 earthquake.  I also saw people selling dogs by the side of the road.  They were medium sized and in crates.  I'd like to think they were selling them as pets, but I doubt it. At the center, we waited for our guide to take care of the tickets.  We went in and explored.  This park was much nicer than the zoo.  The pandas have wide open areas to roam and just hang out.  They also have areas that they can go during inclemite weather. ...