Today (Saturday) was medical exam day. There is a clinic about a 10 minute walk from the hotel where these are conducted for the adopted children. All went well here. We thought that they might not accept Cameron’s TB test result from the prior week, but would instead make us take it again. However, this did not occur. He did have to take 2 shots. I took a number of pictures in the clinic in order to document this part of the process, but Cameron did not like me doing so. You may see his disgust come through in the pictures. I explained to him that I was taking them partly for him to have many years from now, and he seemed to take it a little better after that. He did not care for the shots, one in each arm, but allowed them to be done without major protest.
On the way back to the hotel we met up with Jane, our CWA worker from Beijing. It was great to chat with her again. She and Mei had just completed their interviews of the children from the local orphanage that will be part of Hope Project 3. Hope 1 had primarily older children and Hope 2 had younger children, while Hope 3 is also older children. Angie had a chance to talk to them at length in the afternoon but, unfortunately, I did not as they had only one parent from each family meet with the guide when they were present. Mei is returning to the States today. Both Mei and Jane truly have a passion for these children and advocate for them tirelessly, and this was quite evident in our interactions with them. We will miss them both, and hope to visit with them again in the future.
We had lunch at a restaurant across the road from the hotel. I can’t remember the name of it, but the food was awesome…..we cleaned our plates! One interesting cuisine note that I don’t think I’ve mentioned is that after every meal they put a bunch of slices of watermelon on the sousan for everyone to eat. I think this was done at virtually every meal in Beijing as well. It’s almost like a light dessert. I’ll have to inquire about it.
In the afternoon, Angie met with our guide to go over paperwork. It is amazing how many documents are involved in the adoption process, and they all have to be done exactly right. This went smoothly, so we are ready to apply for Cameron’s visa and then have our Consulate appointment.
While Angie was going over paperwork, Cameron and I decided to go swimming. He does not yet know how to swim, so he stayed in the very shallow area set aside from the main body of the pool. After this we went to a local park and he tested out all the equipment while I chatted with a local who spoke broken English and was going to be in the States later this year. We had a number of people take our pictures here. Once again, they were quite polite, so we were not put off by this at all.
The White Swan is a very nice hotel located on Shamian Island, a sandbar island in the Pearl River. The rooms here are nice, although we have 2 much smaller beds than in Beijing. Nevertheless, we make it work just fine. The beds are firmer here than in the States, so they take a bit of getting used to. Our room overlooks the mainland rather than the river, and the old US Consulate is directly below. The buffet here is pretty good, so we load up in the morning.
Cameron is adjusting well. The relatively minor behavioral issues we’ve seen are rapidly improving as he learns to trust us. Bonding is going extremely well. He has no problem talking to us; however, the language barrier is pretty big. We communicate through the handheld translator just fine, and he is learning new words every day. He is extremely helpful and thoughtful and will readily share whatever he has with us. He thrives on close contact, and loves to sit on our laps while watching television or when on the computer. He hugs us quite a bit and kisses Angie on the cheek. He is prone to pouting a bit when he doesn’t get his way, but this is improving as well. He is quite happy, and is always jabbering away or singing. He is always trying to figure out how things work. When we first arrived at this hotel, he had to go through every closet and drawer, push every button, and figure out how everything worked. It’s great…..now we just ask him through gestures what we want, and he gladly knows which button or switch to push to do it. He knows it better than we do! Needless to say, he is quite inquisitive, but can get frustrated if he cannot figure something out or if it does not work the way he thinks it should. He is quite playful, but doesn’t always adjust the “volume”, so to speak, on the physicality of play. He seems to be quite adept at adjusting to his environment after the initial shock wears off, and we think this bodes very well for him as he enters his new life. Hopefully this gives you some insight into the remarkable little guy we’ve been given the opportunity to parent.
Today is an off day, so we’ll probably take it easy. Maybe walk the island a bit. Ciao for now!
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