We slept as late as we dared and then got ourselves down to breakfast, so we could get back in time for Mrs. Shiyan Zeng to visit us at 9:30.
A quick word about breakfast. The complimentary breakfasts at the hotels we have stayed at have been very good. They all have featured an interesting variety of foods: dim sum, bacon, congee, pizza, sushi, corn flakes, leek bread, tofu, pickled eggs, fresh fruit, and more have all been present. When you are serving an international clientèle, I guess everything is up for grabs! The White Swan was like all the rest, and then some. I don't know as I have ever seen a breakfast buffet quite so diverse and bustling with activity as I saw today!
This sort of breakfast has been a real blessing because there have been a number of days on this trip where our schedule was such that Kim and I ended up skipping lunch. So, having a good variety of choices, without the linguistic difficulties in ordering food has been really great.
Anyway, we got back up to the room in time to meet with Shiyan. She helped us request a child's bed to replace the crib, gave us a positive update on the status of Futing's passport and told us when we could meet the rest of the families.
Today was the day for medical appointments. Each child was given an examination. We received two very nice compliments in the doctors examination room. The doctor asked Futing to point out baba, and he pointed to me. The doctor asked Futing to point out mama and, without reservation, he pointed to Kim. This was great!
I also was using my best (and admittedly rehearsed) mandarin phrases on Futing. Stuff like: "This is the doctor," and "It's OK," and "Don't be afraid." The doctor told me "You speak Chinese very well." He was probably just being nice, but it was good to hear!
Shortly after that, each child had to receive between four and six shots. Thanks to the Hague conventions, that's what he had to do. Futing got six shots. This was the lowlight of everyone's day.
One of those shots for Futing was a TB test. Please pray that it comes back negative on Monday!
After the shots we all waited around for the mandatory 20 to 30 minutes. Futing had a "mama moment" just then ... but it passed quickly. When we were all cleared for take-off, the families all went their separate ways.
We went to lunch at Subway. We learned there that Futing LOVES potato chips. Unfortunately, Futing also had a melt down over not being allowed to eat ONLY potato chips for lunch. I think he probably cursed us out in Chinese! (We're not sure, but everyone else in the restaurant must have heard him fine.) After we got him to eat a couple of other things, he got his one bag of potato chips back (he had wanted to eat his, and ours as well!)
We all needed to recuperate a bit from the morning so we took a walk around the square here. After some shopping, a Venti Carmel Macciatto (for Jeremy, not Futing) and nice long visit to the playground we all felt better.
A lot of other stuff happened after that, but it is late and this post has gotten far to long already. I also need to post some pictures or some video, or something!
I'll conclude with this. Tonight, Futing climbed into his little bed all by himself. He did not feel the need to surround himself with his coats and shoe. He went to bed happy, without a mama-moment. Considering all that he went through today, this was a great success!
All right, I am going to hit "send" on this post and then go find some video to share out as well. Good night...
no 'mama moment' tonight at bed. Oh, his little heart is healing with the bandages of the love of God and his NEW mama and daddy.
ReplyDeleteYour journey sounds so much like ours. Our arrival at ws was horrible, but by Sunday, we realized how much better off we were in Guangzhou and were able to breathe a little bit. You are doing a great job! I know it's hard to set limits in China (potato chip example), but sometimes, it has to be done, even with eyes staring at you. You are on your last leg of the trip! Congrats!
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