Nengren Temple

Today we visited another Buddhist Temple. It was gorgeous. The kids loved the coy and turtle pond. There were hundreds of turtles. A few of the turtles had red Chinese characters painted on their back. During Chinese celebrations the Monks will go to the market and pick out a few turtles. They write a Chinese Blessing on their back and set them free. We climbed tons of stairs but never made it to the true top. It is so much hotter than home here. The temples were beautiful with lush gardens.
Today was the last tour we will be going on. Tomorrow is a museum. Barb will go to that. Museums are too much for 3 kids and 2 adults with no attention span. Barb will give us the Cliffs notes.
Tonight we have the group Red Couch picture and then a big birthday bash with about 20 families from our agency. Many babies have birthdays this month and several families missed their child's birthday by a week or two. I'll post the pictures tonight.
Thursday we turn in all our info to the American Consulate. Friday we pick up Bliss' exit Visa and depart China at 9PM!!!!!

More Temple Pics

The Characters above Bugga's head read "May the Mind be Free of Dust".

The Local Fleet Feet

For all the Runners back home. Nothing we would ever run in...

Zhen Hai Tower

Today we went to a park the had a museum and a tower. It was built during the Ming Dynasty in 1380AD. The statue of the 5 Goats is the symbol of Guangzhou. It is believed that the goats arrived like gods to bring the people what they needed to develop the city.

Famous red couch

Everyone that adopts a baby from China has a photo taken on this red couch. Before we leave we will take a photo of all the babies in our travel group.

Cute Babies

I know Grammy and Grampy need to see at least one picture of the kids each day. Thomas' "girlfriend" Elizabeth came over to watch a movie with him today. He spent most of the day playing with her. They played in the playroom this morning , we had lunch together, swam this afternoon, and then a movie. She is a sweet little girl and her family is very nice. We haven't really bonded with many people from our travel group because they are all first time parents or didn't bring kids. I think people run the other way when they see us coming with our entourage. It rained all morning. You don't even need sunscreen here, smog works fine.

Hungry?

Pete and I took a walk to a different part of town tonight. It was a big, bright, shopping area. It looked much like Times Square. Vendors everywhere. We had to walk through the market to get there. Everyone was closing up shop but there was still a lot of hustle and bustle going on. People cooking on the side of the road, men playing cards and games in big loud groups, mostly people working really hard. Everyone works so hard here. People eat things here that are unimaginable to us. Snakes, eels, mice, scorpions, etc. Pete saw a woman and her young daughter picking through a big bucket of scorpions for the "good ones". We went to a store that was selling all kinds of wines. Each bottle/jar had some kind of creature in it. Mostly huge snakes, mice, and chicken parts. Yes, the jar in the attached photo says Snake Penis Wine. Sound good? There was a huge clay pot, bigger than me filled solid with the biggest pythons (and wine)I have ever seen. We stopped to watch a woman sort out by size a huge bucket of eels. She let me hold one and all the men in the store got a big kick out of the American woman holding an eel.

Bliss: Joy from Deep Within

On the 3rd floor of the hotel There are 18 statues of various Monks/Decipals of Buddha. The one of Kanaka the Vasta caught our eye.
The inscription reads...
Happy Lohan Kanaka the Vasta
Decimating the demons. The universe now cleared. Hands raised for jubulation. Be wild with joy. Kanaka the Vasta was a well-known public speaker and debater of the Buddhist doctrines. When asked what is happiness, he would answer that it is experienced through the five senses. When asked what is bliss, he would reply that bliss is joy coming not from the five senses but from deep within, like feeling Buddha in his heart.
He often wore a smiling countenance during debates and was famous for his preachings on happiness, therefore he is called the Happy Lohan.

Pete's Weekly Blogcast #3

Of the approximate 1.3 billion people in China, about 350 million live at or below the UN poverty level. Far less generous than the US poverty level, that’s less than $1 per day! , I also suspect, unlike those in the US, that most of these people work hard for even that much. I have gone back into the merchants neighborhood several times to look for my little friend and his Dad, and yesterday they were there, in the same place. This time the boy was sitting up and smiling. I put a more significant amount of money in their can this time and paused for a longer look. He did not appear to be near death as I had previously thought. I concluded that his injuries are definitely severe burns that never were fully closed. His face was horribly scared, he has no toes or fingers, and definitely can’t walk. They were so grateful for the money, it made there day. Like Michelle said earlier, suffering is relative. This man and his boy acted as if it was Christmas. Maybe all that can will by them is a hot meal and a bath, and yet that could be like a holiday for them. I let them go now, and leave with this memory of how much more I need to do.
On a lighter note, the police here are plentiful, confident, and quiet. They say the crime rate is high here, and there are “guards” everywhere. Most look like high school kids. I haven’t seen any signs of even a criminal element here. Societies have their own stereotype features such as Italians are friendly and easy going, French are standoffish, Germans are loud and pushy, and the Chinese are obligated or stuck to protocol, yet there are many contradictions to that rigidity. Michelle’s cousin Beth stated it very well by saying its nice they are so excited about Madeline, too bad they don’t see how precious their own little girls are. They are resentful if a Chinese woman is with a western man, yet they don’t empower their women. Another quirky thing is the service. It’s too good. The waiters hover over you in the restaurant, the elevator attendant not only pushes the button to call it, she insist on rushing in front of you to hold the door, as if that’s necessary. Even though I’ve been up to my room 50 times this week, when the door opens I’m always greeted with “26th floor! This way please” At the gym, guys put the treadmill on a steep incline, then walk slowly backwards, in the pool I was obstructed by a guy walking through my lane while talking on his cell phone, in waist high water. Yes, even over here there are “loud cell phone talkin guys.”
I want to extend my thanks to all my clients for their support in me being out of the office for such an extended period. I’m sure my staff is accommodating you all very well. I can only expect that my life enriching experience here will somehow make me a more effective advisor for you.
My long 15 mile run was very satisfying. I went down one side of the river and up the other. Just like any big city, it took me through working class downtown and I ended up in a park along the river in an upscale neighborhood of high rises, an opera house much like the Kravitz Center, and people doing the same things you would see them doing in central park. What a huge social class difference between these folks and the ones in the merchant neighborhood I filmed yesterday. At the very end of the island I was briefly entertained by a dozen kite fighters. (Small kites with glass dipped string trying to cut each others string) I watched as one kite attacked and cut loose two others which gently floated down to the river. Having just finished reading the book The Kiterunner, it was nice to see what was so eloquently described to me in the book. I wonder how many other cultures enjoy this.
Bliss is, well, her name says it all. She is naughty and loud, and keeping up.
She is definitely behind developmentally due to her orphanage care, and making strides every day. She’s a one year old with 6 month motor skills. Mom taught her how to pinch a cheerio today, and we working on getting it to her mouth. She is very loving and responds well to affection. I’m already in love with her. I hogged her all day yesterday. So she’s all ready for Grammy, “the baby hog”

For the Computer Illiterate

Peter doesn't believe me that most of the world knows that if you click on a picture it will enlarge. He insisted that I write this.

Country side tour

We left at 9:30 this morning for a tour of the country. We really had no idea what to expect. When we got on the bus our tour guide began to tell us that they were taking us to a small village in the country so that we could see something similar to where all our babies are born/found. Most of the babies that are abandoned come from the country. Women often take a bus somewhere to abandon them. The people that live in the country are obviously farmers. Our guide told us that there are 1.3 Billion people in China and .8 Billion are farmers. So what we were going to see today was what most of China is like. After a few minutes on the highway we were able to see mountains and the scenery began to look a lot like North Carolina except with taller buildings and more people... I was thinking how even though these people live in "the country" they still live on top of one another. We exited the highway and entered the town that the village was in. It appeared extremely run-down. I couldn't tell if businesses were open or if they were abandoned buildings. There were very few cars, many bikes, and tons of mopeds and motorcycles. As you can see from the pictures Moms are toting their children around on mopeds with out helmets, even on the highway! We turned out of town and went down a long country road. There were many farms. Mostly bananas, fruit, squash, beans, etc. Everything looked dirty and it was hard to believe that people were actually living around there. You can see in the photos all of the garbage on the side of the roads. I couldn't believe it. There were people rummaging through it. We even take for granted the way in which we dispose of our waste. The bus stopped at a place I wouldn't have expected. A small "village" with dilapidated buildings. At first glance I was not able to tell that there was a farm behind the village. We got off the bus, our whole family, and about 15 other people all carrying cameras/video cameras and Chinese babies. We were quite the scene. I was not prepared for what I was about to see.
There were children running everywhere and they immediately swarmed around the first people off the bus. People from our group gave them bags of candy. We walked down a very narrow street. We could see inside the homes of these people. It was filthy. Obviously no AC, broken windows, no doors. The worst poverty I have ever seen. I began to feel so many different emotions that I am not sure I can even express them. I immediately felt guilt and embarrassment as we were filming and snapping photos of these people. I felt so intrusive, like I was making a spectacle out of their unfortunate existence. I made a comment to one of the other men in the group, hoping for confirmation that he too was as uncomfortable as I. He just said to me , why not , they stare at us... I would have liked to have taken more photos but I tried to be as discreet as possible, which was difficult since I was walking through this small village with several obnoxious, typical, McDonald's eating , overweight, ungrateful, Americans. Although the people that lived there were friendly and didn't seem to mind our gawking, I still felt so uncomfortable. I asked the guide if they had even seen a tour bus of Americans before and she said only twice. We walked a bit further up the road and I began to notice the women that lived there and tried to imagine what it was like for Bliss' birthmother. I imagined giving birth in a place like that and trying to raise children. The apartments were hovels. I again became filled with guilt and I think, shame. I couldn't hold back tears anymore and had to walk away from the group. There was a women sitting off to the side with her small baby. He was sitting in the dirt and was filthy. At that moment, it became very clear to me why women in this country have to abandon babies. There are just no options and no hope for them. My thought was, even the dirtiest orphanage is better than this. It is sad to see first-hand human suffering but so important for Bliss that I did. I can now help her to better understand the problems in her birth country and realize her mother's choice was so completely our of her control. It was the utmost act of love, sacrifice, and suffering. No humans naturally want to abandon their child. This will be such a hard subject for her to grasp as she begins to question where she was left and why. At least I have better answers to why. What we saw today was moving and what I referred to as human suffering seems that way to me, but what was amazing is that there were still children playing and laughing, and running. There were still people working and smiling. There were still people relaxing in their homes and on their front "porch". All was fine in their world. It's all a matter of perception. I am feeling very blessed. Take a moment to be thankful.
Oh, and sorry for the poor quality of photographs coming from the "photographer". I was taking most of them out of a moving bus with a baby on my lap.

Photos of Village

More Village pictures

Village

More Pictures

Well, my time here is starting to feel like that movie Groundhog Day..... same day, same place, same everything...
We just found out today that there are families here using different agencies that only have to stay for 14 days. They too have babies from Guangdong province. Our guide is going to question the agency for us again. Too late now , we're here.
Today we went to a huge indoor mall. It was in a very nice part of the city. It actually reminded me of NYC. The stores were very upscale and we really didn't get to "shop" since we had 3 kids to keep track of. I wrote the hotel phone number in black pen on Thomas and Bugga's arm, just incase... They enjoyed getting tattooed and we didn't lose anyone. It was not as crowded there as I expected. The outdoor shopping areas are more congested. As you can see from the photos, they even have a KFC.
Tomorrow is a Country Side Tour. The bus ride is a little over an hour and we will tour a farm. Sounds like a good thing to do. Hopefully we can avoid the Bird Flu. Speaking of Flu, Bugga just woke up with a stomach ache. She was crying. I hope she doesn't have what I had because it was painful. I gave her some medicine, a warm bath, and put The Little Mermaid on for her to watch in her bed. She is quiet now but still awake.
The pictures attached are of the park that I referred to in one of the first entries. It is the place where all the people come to exercise and play hackysack, etc. The equipment looks like playground toys but adults use it to workout. The woman in the photo with the kids works in the shop across the street. We see her several times a day and she loves the kids. Thomas likes her because she sells toys.
Thomas is in love. He met a little girlfriend at the pool. Her name is Elizabeth. He and Pete set up a date for them to meet at breakfast. He was so excited but didn't wake up in time. We are going to try again tomorrow.

Trip to Indoor Mall

I'll write later.