Party of Four - day 1 (officially)



Time to wake up!  I'm getting a Mommy, Daddy and Brother Today!

I better eat a good breakfast.

We had an 8 am appointment back in the foreign adoption office where we had first met Lillian only 16 hours earlier to finalize our adoption.  We signed several documents and then each placed a red thumbprint over each signature.  We moved from the first table with the notary to a second table with a government official and then to the adjoining room to make our donation to the Social Welfare Institute (orphanage).

The director and Lillian's caretaker from the orphanage were there for a final good bye. We shared with them the details of our first day and they seemed pleased.  We returned to the hotel as her parents and began the rest of our lives together.  That meant shopping! 

This was her caretaker

The woman in front is the orphanage director

As I mentioned, she does not fit the idea we had in our heads in terms of size.  As we prepared, Nina stared at 18-month-old-sized clothes and hoped they wouldn’t be too big.  Well, the lion’s share of those 18 month clothes went back with the orphanage caretakers because we can’t use them.  There is a big, modern shopping mall about a block away from our hotel (Aqua City – it has a series of fountains throughout, with Bellagio-style water shows on the hour) and we began to outfit her.  If anyone wants to buy gifts from countries that use the Metric System, she’s 105/110 cm.  Then we found a stall that sold kids clothes and shoes at slightly more reasonable prices and got her some sandals and dresses.  We learned after-the-fact that one of the pairs of sandals we bought had squeakers in the heels.  (As I write to you, I am listening to her shoes echoing through the hotel lobby – we needed to get out for housekeeping – tiny footstep by tiny footstep).

 New stuff!

Time for lunch and her first French Fries (probably)!  There is a KFC across from the hotel and we had been advised that they served an egg tart that would be familiar to her.  It was like a small custard pie – slightly sweet.  As others in our traveling party were having more traditional KFC fare, she did get to sample some fries.  Needless to say, they seemed to be a hit.

Our afternoon activity was a tour of a beautiful private garden in which most of the structures were 600 years old.  To get there, we walked through a neighborhood and looked at the various food stalls and commercial wares along the streets and sidewalks.  It was a real taste of local life.  And Nina got to break out the new baby carrier, which worked like a charm.

A storefront poker game - I didn't have the stakes on me, or I might have sat.

Each commercial street had several duck stores.

This woman was single-handing this massive shoe cart.

Each pan is a different piece of the duck.  We got the full list.  Rest assured, nothing goes to waste.

 We enjoyed a slow stroll through the grounds of the gardens, the heart of which was a pond formed by a natural spring.  The walkways were decorated with rock formations of butterflies, peaches and other symbols for wealth, family peace and long life.  (Photos by Max)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As it was a warm day, we decided to try the hotel pool.  Max and I got in the water, while Nina sat on the side with Lillian between her legs dangling her own legs in the water.  She sat very still, with a very concerned look on her face.  She did not crack a smile, but she didn't get upset. 

Then, off to dinner.  We went back to the Aqua City mall to a restaurant rather reminiscent of an American mall restaurant.  Lillian sat happily in a booster seat eating a single bite out of several pork buns and otherwise content with the snacks we brought for her.  Max had a giant bowl of noodles and we shared stir-fry squid.  It was very spicy, though it only featured one pepper next to the dish name on the menu. 

Lillian really likes to feed Mommy.

 

We were all ready for bed when we got home.  It was a great first day as an official family of four and it only hit me afterwards how incredible it is that we took a two year old who had never been outside of her orphanage (save for a trip to a hospital for surgery) to restaurants and shopping malls and swimming pools and walks along crowded streets and she is full of curiosity and smiles, when we would totally understand fear and tears.  I think she was worth the wait.