In the afternoon on Tuesday we went to the Civil Affairs office and then to a Notary (which I don't think is quite the same as one here in the US). At Civil Affairs we took pictures (Tim and I with SongSong) and signed the final adoption papers. We had to promise to never abuse or abandon SongSong - which of course we did. Signed our names several times and that was it - it's a done deal now. Next we drove to the Notary's office where they looked at our passports and read through the circumstances of our son's abandonment while our guide translated. I think we signed something there too, but I forget now what it was if we did. We've signed so much stuff these past few days, it's all a blur.
Mandy from the orphanage was at Civil Affairs (Debbie, I gave her your box to give to Jaxon - she delivered it). I got her picture with SongSong while we were there too.
On Monday, so as not to intrusively rifle through our new son's bag of belongings, we had Oscar help him unpack and report back to us what he was missing. When we were finished with "official" stuff we went to Carrefour (a department store) to pick up some things that SongSong was lacking and really couldn't do without before we get home. I must say that Carrefour has the weirdest store layout I've ever seen in my life. They had cosmetics, jewelry and hygiene items on the main floor, then you took an inclined conveyor belt thingy so you can take your shopping cart with you up it (which I've actually seen before at a grocery store in Mexico) to the 2nd floor where they have clothing and household goods, then you take the conveyor thingy up to the 3rd floor where they have groceries. Very odd, but we got what we needed (and Stacey we bought Seth's chicken feet there!).
Later we met up with the other family at Tianfu Square (the main city square) and went to a noodle place called Chef Kong's. The boys loved it! They all got the spicy bowl of noodles. I got some noodles that had some spice in it that made my mouth numb - I couldn't finish it :). I got it because the picture showed it had cilantro in it (one of my faves). Couldn't taste the cilantro due to the numbing effect of the other spice that was in it. Very disappointing, but we got ice cream after dinner which made up for it :). If anyone knows what that spice is, let me know so I can avoid it in the future!
Mandy from the orphanage was at Civil Affairs (Debbie, I gave her your box to give to Jaxon - she delivered it). I got her picture with SongSong while we were there too.
On Monday, so as not to intrusively rifle through our new son's bag of belongings, we had Oscar help him unpack and report back to us what he was missing. When we were finished with "official" stuff we went to Carrefour (a department store) to pick up some things that SongSong was lacking and really couldn't do without before we get home. I must say that Carrefour has the weirdest store layout I've ever seen in my life. They had cosmetics, jewelry and hygiene items on the main floor, then you took an inclined conveyor belt thingy so you can take your shopping cart with you up it (which I've actually seen before at a grocery store in Mexico) to the 2nd floor where they have clothing and household goods, then you take the conveyor thingy up to the 3rd floor where they have groceries. Very odd, but we got what we needed (and Stacey we bought Seth's chicken feet there!).
Later we met up with the other family at Tianfu Square (the main city square) and went to a noodle place called Chef Kong's. The boys loved it! They all got the spicy bowl of noodles. I got some noodles that had some spice in it that made my mouth numb - I couldn't finish it :). I got it because the picture showed it had cilantro in it (one of my faves). Couldn't taste the cilantro due to the numbing effect of the other spice that was in it. Very disappointing, but we got ice cream after dinner which made up for it :). If anyone knows what that spice is, let me know so I can avoid it in the future!
Tianfu Square is incredible looking at night. I'll post a pic of one of the buildings. There are tons of people there after dark. Almost all the kids are playing with glow in the dark flying toys and people will walk right up to you and strike up a conversation in order to try to practice their English skills. All this happens under the watchful gaze of a giant statue of Chairman Mao. Just can't help but wonder what he would think of how much things have changed in China is such a short amount of time...
1 comment:
I am so glad that we can now see your blog posts. We hope to travel in the Spring to get our son who will be six. He is Gou, Dong Gen and is also in foster care at Chengdu. I am so happy for your family. Congratulations!
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