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--Okay! Paperwork all picked up!! Whooo hooooooo!! We can LEAVE!!!!!!! And can it really be true?? Can we leave TOMORROW?!?! YESSSSSS!!!!! Tomorrow evening we have a 9:40pm (ugh) flight to Shanghai - we stay the night in Shanghai then aboard our Chicago flight the next afternoon. Then, we stay the night in Chicago (oh, blessed AMERICA) and the next morning, fly home to Orlando!! Almost makes me tear up just thinking of it!!
A word about the Internet: China blocks many websites, we all know, but this can be gotten around by installing a VPN (or 2 or 6). I did, I put 3 on my phone and 2 on my tablet. I forgot to do it on my laptop. Well, even with a VPN (or 2 or 6), the Internet is often inaccessible. It was horrible in Beijing but not bad in Nanjing. Here in Guangzhou it has been pretty awful. For instance, the past 2 days, after a good 210 attempts at connecting, I'll get a connection, but it only lasts 1-2 minutes! So you have to be FAST if you want to check in on Facebook, let alone check e-mails or anything else! I gotta get home...
Nov. 21 (Mom's birthday! Happy birthday, Mom!)
We are sitting around, waiting a couple of more hours when we have to check out of the apt and head to the airport, where we'll have to wait ~6 hours before boarding. UGH! We will land in Shanghai around 11:30 and stay the night, then leave for Chicago the next day, around 5pm.
As long as we are sitting around with nothing to do (a rare occurrence - cough!) I thought it might be fun to describe what I've noticed of the girls' personalities at this point. In years to come, it will be fun to see how they've changed, if at all.
Mei: Quiet and cooperative. Gets silly and LOUD at times, gets very giggly. Obedient, for the very most part. Patient with Yang ~95% of the time but occasionally crabs at her for being annoying. Watches a lot of TV (not much else to do!) and seems to prefer soap operas (you've never seen such epic crying on soap operas in your life!) and live music concerts. Sleeps a lot, and sleeps soundly, and everyday goes to bed and takes a real nap! She also goes to bed early every night (between 7:30 and 9) and sleeps until the sun wakes her at 6:30. She also talks in her sleep! I wish I knew what she was saying, but it's in Chinese, of course! So far, she 's a very easy, very pleasant 14 y.o. girl. Her hygiene could use a little tweaking though, to be up to American standards. She will often wear certain clothing 3 or 4 days without changing, but this could also very well be that we are living out of suitcases and she doesn't have much clothing. She's also doing better about bathing. I'm SURE once we get home these things will NOT be issues with her. She is certainly NOT an unhygienic person! She loves jewelry and accessories, but won't let me braid her hair. :o( I bought some fingernail polish, but she won't let anyone use it. :o( Maybe she's saving it? She also likes to sing, and I'd like to get her in a choir, whether school or church.
Next kid analysis: Hua, Hui Yang! How many pages can I squeeze her into? First of all, she loves her mama! She tells everyone her name - it's really too bad that I have to change it. If I didn't, she'd spend her whole life repeating it to every person she meets and spelling and re-spelling it to everyone on the phone when she orders something. It would be a tough name to keep. :o( Also, in renaming her I should have given her middle name as "HuiYang" and not just "Yang", but I didn't know... Maybe at re-adoption I can change it.
Okay - personality description: this girl has a BIG personality! She talks constantly, and to anyone, and everyone she talks to loves her! She has a brilliant smile that lights up her whole face, and she craves approval and attention. If she thinks you are upset with her, it breaks her heart! For example, if you put her on time out, she is first angry, then her heart breaks as she realizes that she fell out of your good graces! She must've been spoiled at the orphanage (a favorite?) because she does not handle being told "no" well AT ALL! The first week in Guangzhou she had some pretty bad screaming tantrums, but they got some better the second week. She is also INTO EVERYTHING! If there's a button to push, a knob to turn, a switch to flick or a device to swipe, she WILL DO IT, IN ABUNDANCE! She simply can't leave anything alone!! Talk about busy hands!! I FINALLY got her to quit running the TV remote, and almost got her to quick clicking on stuff and swiping on my devices while I'm in the middle of using them (or simply picking them up and screwing with them - she tried calling Wuesthoff the other day!), but then, Mei is also really bad about being grabby and screwing with whatever device you are working on. Apparently, it's a cultural thing. Iv'e tried to use the translator and the guide to explain about "personal property" and "personal space", but I think it might just take some time.
Yang is also very independent most of the time, but then she's also very dependent in some ways. When we are in an elevator (in our 35 story apt. building), she insists on standing by the panel and pushing the buttons. For everyone. No matter who they are. No matter what. People are lucky to get in without becoming squooshed as she is so obsessed with pushing the "door close" button that people hardly have a chance to get on! I'm' convinced she will be the CEO of a company someday. The girl likes to be in CHARGE. Too bad (or good?) that she's #6 of 6 kids! LOL Bottom of the totem pole. LOL She's very fastidious with her things, and always has a place for everything, and everything in its place! She knows where ALL of her personal property is, that's for sure! She's also very good at cleaning up after herself. She also LOVES for everyone to have their shoes on! The moment she's awake in the morning, her shoes go on, and it drives her battty that I don't put mine on right away! She'll even bring a clean pair of socks to me and put them on me, followed by my shoes! LOL
So far, neither girl has had any tendency toward stealing, and neither has lied to me, to my knowledge. Neither has any obvious post-institutional behavior that's very obvious! Yang has her insecurities (VERY "Mommy obsessed") and Mei is quiet, but those behaviors, I think, are very normal. So far, both girls are wonderful, each in their own way, and I am a blessed woman!
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I don't tear up often, so when I do, I'm really upset. We arrived at the Guangzhou airport fine. We were attacked by a skycap who demanded $5 for the privilege. I told him (and the girl there) that we were too early to check my bags but he didn't understand English and scurried away with my bags to the check-in counter. After consulting with the check-in guy, I was informed that I was too early! What a shock! Enjoy my 5 bucks, fella! We walked a few minutes, with 2 suitcases, a large carryon and 5 backpacks and I looked at the monitor and got an idea: I wonder if we could get on the 435 flight to Shanghai? I went back to the counter and asked. The guy nodded "yes" and pointed me to a long line. We waited in line until arrived back at the same dude's counter. He took our passports, weighed the baggage, did a bunch of stuff, printed our boarding passes, then pointed at my luggage and wrote "1800" on a paper. Huh? He circled it and pointed at my bags. What?? He obviously didn't know a WORD of English! He rewrote "1800" over the previous "1800" to make it much darker, while speaking to me in Chinese. WHAT?!? Then it dawned on me - he was telling me to come back at 6pm to check my baggage! No early flights for us!! I was SOOOOO MAD. I'd even asked him earlier if we had time to make that flight and he nodded, "yes"!! FURIOUS, I took the girls to a restaurant. The prices were terrible, but I had to feed them. Mei, as always, ordered a huge meal. Yang was ticked that she couldn't order potato chips and pouted, so I ordered 2 muffins for her, and 2 for me. And a coke for me. Well, Yang's muffins arrived but mine didn't. Just my Coke. I asked about my muffins, but the server, who obviously spoke NO ENGLISH, held up 2 fingers and pointed to Yang. NICE! I get no food! The bill was so high already, I refused to buy any more. Mei's enormous plate arrived and she happily dug in and Yang ate her muffins and some crackers we'd brought along. I drank my Coke through tear-filled eyes. I asked for water for the girls and was told $2.50 each for a small glass of hot water!! Forget it! I plunged my Coke at Yang who was asking for a drink. She didn't know why I was upset, I guess, with nothing to eat or drink. She licked the straw, blew bubbles in the Coke and made it disgusting to anyone else who would share it, and only drank about 1/3 of it. I was SO ANGRY. So hungry. So thirsty!! So sick of food issues in this place!! We walked around and around the airport, finding no where to sit and finally took the elevator to another floor to sit. I dug out a worn out bag of apple chips that Mom had given me and guess who wanted those?! Yang!! I gave her a few and I guess she was full (must be nice) cause she didn't ask for more. They ARE dry, slightly chewy, and awfully tangy, I will say. :o( I guess I'll be hungry until the flight at 9:15. Hopefully they'll serve some snacks, or something. :o( NOT having a good time!!
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