And the final result... The Penn Family of 4

Pedestrian Mall (Last Day in China)

Monday

This is becoming like "groundhog day".  I cannot wait to leave.  Every day is the same exact thing at the hotel.  Same breakfast at the hotel every morning, same schedule, same peddlers on the street.  We arrive at breakfast (which is really good breakfast actually) at about the same time every morning around 7.  They play this really bad muzak and appear to start the cd exactly at the same time becuase every moring I hear the same songs while getting coffee (Cyndi Lauper), finishing up fruit (George Michael), getting Samuel some congee (Bette Midler), and searching for a pastry (Billy Joel).  Its like the soundtrack to our trip. 

 

Anyway Samuel is doing well.  At first, he would not walk without holding my hand.  Now, since he had a taste of freedom, he occassionally throws a tantrum when I do hold his hand walking down the street.  Still an incredibly even tempered child.

 

I am going to eat this stuff next.  Don thought that it might be whale blubber.  After I bought it I found some ingredients in english written in fine print.  turns out it is a soy product so likely just tofu.  not very exciting.  I might try the fried chicken feet at the restaraunte tonight.  Could 1 billion Chinese be wrong?  I ate a package of something that was gummy, brown, but white and fuzzy on the outside.  No idea what that was.  Strange taste.  Sweet and salty.  not a word of english on the package. 

 

Don took another tour of a park.  There parks are very different from our idea of a park.  For them it is less natural and very manipulated/manicured.  Basically it is a lot of concrete with beds of beautiful trees and plants that you don't walk in.  It is similar to Longwood Gardens.  Anyway, Don said he saw some guy at the park with his pet bird.  He just carries around this bird in a cage.  I don't get it, but it speaks to an artist in that context.  I wish he would have taken a picture. 

 

The guy in the blue shirt on the right side of the picture is wearing a t shirt that says, "failure is not an option".  I tried so hard to get a good picture of that.  oh well.

 

Samuel is finally slowing down on eating.  I guess he figured out that each meal was not his last.  There were two days in a row where he puked a little bit in the room after eating.  We never even noticed it.  One time he was playing with it.  He was eating too much too fast. 

 

Don pointed out that there were rotating cameras on every street corner on the island.  I did not notice that before.  they make them look like street lights.

 

Godbless

CPenn

 

 

View from top of hotel, water too cold for swimming

 

Trapped but fun, Exam,Ready for breakfast, Eating Breakfast

 

Zoo

 

Friday

The zoo.  What I would do to be able to post the video of what I got at the zoo.......the file is too big. 

 

Samuel threw his first temper tantrum, which was kindergarten compared to Lia.  I was drawing water for a bath (which he immediatelly recognized) and shut him out of the bathroom until it was ready for him.  It only lasted a couple of minutes. 

 

Apparently he knows what a dog is; there are a couple of dogs that live on the roof of the building next to us.  When he sees them he makes a barking noise.  He also does this to any furry mammal at the zoo that is roughly the same shape as a dog. 

 

Samuel got 5 shots at the medical clinic yesterday.  That was sad.  However, he recovered in about 30 seconds.  He even peeled off all of those gay band-aids. 

 

They got Carlsberg lager at the 7/11.  I have not seen that since I was in Ireland.  Bought one for nostalgic reasons.  Tastes like Yuengling, but better.  They sell this carrot juice there that is pretty good.  I try some different stuff every day.  So far nothing served with heads still on it like last year.  Not that it tastes bad.....

 

Godbless

CPenn

Thursday

Go to the city park.  They have a LOT  of things for people to do at the park.  Elvin says that they are able to retire "early" so they all come to the park to make friends and recreation.  I wish I could post the video of the masses of Chinese playing hackey sac, the outdoor ballroom dancing, aerobics, and live music.  Here are some still photos.

 

Check out the guy with the cigarette playing the traditional Chinese instrument.  He is like the Chinese Eddie Van Halen.  All he needs is a built-in holder on his instrument for the cig.  The music was really interesting.  I was told that it was a sort of a musical opera.  There was a man and woman taking turns that sang in a very old traditional Chinese style. 

 

The statue is of the 5 goats that the "immortals" rode in on thousands of years ago carrying a new rice variety that saved them from famine.  The 5 goats are a symbol of the city of Guangzhou. 

 

Samuel is doing well.  He sure sleeps a lot.  He is so easy going. 

 

I ate the packaged/dried fish-stuff.  Turns out it was spicy and actually quite tasty. 

 

Godbless

CPenn

 

First Meeting, Nannies, I like you, Happy

 

Wednesday

I am already so sick of this island (Shamian).  Can't wait to get back.  They block the Catholic web sites.  I still wear my Knights of Columbus shirt.  Samuel is still doing well.  He has a slight cold, but it is getting better.  Still loves to throw stuff.  Bath time is certainly a blast.  He is becoming more coordinated on his feet every day.  He sleeps 9 solid hours every night and takes a 2 to 3 hour nap during the day.  Don keeps the exact same sleep schedule.  I wish I could sleep that easily. 

 

This is our guide, Elvin.  He is a good guy and a big help. 

 

So we got beef jerky in the U.S.; they got squid and fish and the like.  Check this out, I am going to eat this crap when I'm feeling up to it.  I am not exactly sure what it is.  I got it at the 7/11 and it appears to be some parts of fish, looks like some fish eggs as well.  Is that a picture of Bullwinkle in a wife beater?  And why is he holding his hand out?  Is he saying, "no, don't eat this !".  That is not a very good advertising strategy.  My guess is that it is spicy.  I can try it at least.  What else is there better to do?    We get to see the zoo on Friday.  That should be great.  I would love to be able to see the rural areas. 

 

Godbless

CPenn

 

   

Tuesday

I still can't believe how much he eats.  Not only that, there is nothing that he won't eat.  Pizza, rice, noodles, several fruits, water, milk, juice, bread, chicken, EVERYTHING.  The nannies at the orphanage said that he is very "active", which is ironic because I look at him and say, "why does he move so slowly?"  Steph made the same comment while watching him on skype.  Relative to Lia, he is slow moving.  But then again, Lia could make an entire house look like a burglar rummaged through it, if left unattended and given 1 hour. 

 

He likes to throw stuff.  Not out of anger, but for fun.  90% of the time when he laughs, it is while throwing something or banging something down loudly.  He popped a balloon that gave a loud "bang".  I flinched.  He laughed.  I guess that is just boys.  Heck, I still like to throw stuff for fun. 

 

Check out the top of the cab in Hong Kong.

 

Godbless

CPenn

Monday

This boy eats whatever you put in front of him, and a lot of it.  He goes in the pot when you sit him on it, plays with anything you give him, sleeps when you put him in the crib, and is calm as can be.  What more could you ask for?  Stephanie's prayers have been answered.  He will be a good influence on Lia.  His cleft palate has already been repaired. 

Family of Four!

I got to Skype with Samuel this morning. Everything went well at the adoption office and Samuel is doing great! He's adorable and very calm (so far). He's about the same size as Lia and polished off his dinner of chicken and rice. I think Chad and Dad were too tired to post pictures, but hopefully they'll post tomorrow morning. YEAH! - Steph

We made it!

Our trip started with a short drive from Stillwater to the Oklahoma City airport with Lia and Stephanie.  Lia was not happy to see Chad leave and we later found out that Stephanie had to calm her with ice cream.... it always worked for me.  At the ticket counter the attendant said "UH OH" which is that last thing you ever want to hear them say.  But it was nothing and our flight to LA went well.  Around midnight was departed on Cathay Pacific for our 15 hour flight to Hong Kong.  Somehow our assigned seats were lost and we got split up.   I was seated next to a woman that didn’t know any English but on the other side of me was a man from the US diplomatic service.  He was very friendly and full of good information about Hong Kong.   The service on the flight was excellent as they gave us Dinner,  Light Lunch, and Breakfast in that order.  The food was very good. In Hong Kong we had no problem catching the Shuttle Train to Hong Kong and the express train to Guangzhou.  For 2 hours we saw mostly 4 to 20 story apartments with small farms and gardens in between.  After 33 hours of no sleep we arrived and met our guide around 11 am China time. The Hotel Victory is great and I can’t wait to see the breakfast.   Today Chad is going to exchange money and our guide will pick us up to go and get Samuel!    - Don

And from Chad...

Keep in mind that I was concerned about folks having the false impression that Don (my father in  law) and I were two gays adopting a kid.  Thus I make it a point to mention my wife in conversation.  When we get to the hotel, the staff was just as friendly as they were to us last year.  One of the bell boy was helping us with our luggage; while I was in the elevator with him he said to me, "you are very handsome".  I hope that he just confused his English.  Perhaps he only memorized a few phrases and he meant to say, "I hope you enjoy your stay".  Anyway, I did not know what to say in reply, so I just gave a nervous laugh and found some way to mention my absentee wife.

The train ride from Hong Kong to Guangzhou was incredible.  I wish we had a train like that running from Stillwater to OKC or Tulsa.  So fast and smooth, comfortable.  inexpensive.  here are a couple of pictures from that ride.

Anyway, we get Samuel at around 2 pm today (local time).  Can't wait. I need to get back into diaper changing and nap mode.  There are a lot of people here in the hotel compared to last year.  The city is spotless (at least from the highway) and more green than before.  Typhoon is going to hit very close to us.  I pray that it does not keep us from departing next Wed. 

God Bless.