Hooray for Kate

It was a long day here but we're all home and full of turkey.

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas.

Another good night of sleep last night. She went to bed @ 7PM and woke up at 5AM. One little fuss during the night but nothing that took more than 2 minutes to gte her back to sleep. Jen got up with her for the first bit then her and I had breakfast and did some laundry while Jen rested. It's Jen's turn today to feel jetlagged.

We went to visit my grandmother this morning and Kate was a bit shy but did quite well. The carseat is not an issue for her as she now does quite well with the high chair and all of those restraints. We were going to take her for a walk in the sled that was goiven to us but it's quite mild here today and any snow on the roads melted away this morning.

Kate is down now for her nap and we're going to let her sleep a bit longer to try to move her bedtime by an hour to get her back in sync with her China bedtime.

Here are some pics of us arriving at the airport Thursday night.

Jen Kate and Grammy O
Kate checking out Grampy O
Grampy O's wife Jane beside me.

At last, we are home. Kate is now asleep in her own room and we're about to get some shut-eye.

Thanks to everyone for the AWESOME turnout at the airport.

And here's thinking to you Chris, Tracy and Madison, who we hear are delayed from their arrival in Moncton tonight.

More tomorrow. We're tired tonight.

How they delivery money to a bank in China. With military precision. Yep, those are shotguns and they are on guard.Jason... I went here just because you are such a good friend.

It was a bit chilly today in Beijing but still a sunny day. We headed off early this morning and went to Tianamen Square then the Forbidden City. Tianamen Square was disappointing as we were constantly hounded by street vendors and it really was overwhelming from a personal space and pickpocket concern. I did get a couple of good deals on things though. We all have this image of Tianamen Square in our heads form the massacre, but it doesn't look like that at all. Alot of buildings in it than I pictured. And alot more open. I pictured more of a large wide open square with some type of privacy hedge or wall around it but there's just a small steel fence around it and people were hopping over it all the time.

A building at Tianamen Square.

Next, we crossed under the road to the Forbidden City. This is a huge "compound" where emperors used to live. It was off limits to locals hence the forbidden name. Impressive, but after the Great Wall, not much compares. Busy there as well, but no vendors inside.



We just got back from a Peking Duck supper. Interesting to say the least. Jason, here;s the pics you wanted.

Yep, thats a ducks head. Nope, I didnt eat it... Just kissed it to wish it a good afterlife.
Some mystery food. Alot of garlic.
Tomorrow is a free day and we're off to do some Christmas shopping at a couple of markets.


Thursday is fly home day. lets hope for good weather.


Kate is progressing well. She decided to crawl last night so she is now a menace to everything in the room. Amazing how one minute she is sitting, the next minute is a full crawl. We are so happy with her progress since we got her. She's slept thru every night and has generally been a joy to be around. No major tantrums or disasters so far.


That's it from here... off to have a few local beer with some others in the room to celebrate our trip.

The "birdsnest". The stadium for the Olympics that will host the openign and closing ceremonies... Looks kinda like a birds next, hence the name. Seats 95,000 people.

Can't wait to be home! Less than 3 days to go!

We just got back form the doctor and Kate is healthy. HOORAY! Kates sleeping now then some some lunch then we're off to see a Chinese acrobatic show late this afternoon. This shoudl be quite interesting.

I went to use my laptop this mornign and it is not working. It was froze and when I rebooted it, it just would not boot up again. I'm in the business cetner entering this post buit pictures might be a bit tricky form here on out and quick and easy communication home will definately be trickier.

After being treated like royalty inChongqing, we're rerally not impressed with this hotel. There's no highchairs, the rooms are hot hot hot, they are slow to clean the rooms, the staff is not as nice, and generally (my opinion here) Beijing people are much ruder than the people were in Beijing. Twice this morning, I jot jostled around while trying to get food from the breakfast buffet. People just dont care.

Not a great day... we're hot, tired and now my computer is dead.

Our luggage all arrived, we took the Immingration paperwork to Ma-rie and we just got back from getting some basics from the grocery store. Someone found out tat Pizza Hut delivers to the room so a bunch of us had a "traditional" Chinese pizza and beer party tonight.

This area is baby central. We ran into a bunch of Spaniards in the grocery store and then walking thru the hotel lobby we saw several families with children.

So, to satisfy your urge for more pics, here are some more for you. The internet connection here in Beijing seems much faster.

We figured out how to save airfare... check Kate as luggage. She doesnt seem to agree with us.



Here's our Chongqing driver on the left and Michael our gide on the right. Michael usually has a smile a mile wide.
Our plane from Chongqing to Beijing. The flight is almost identical as a flight form Mocnton to Toronto expcept they bahve twice as many flight attendants, they try to kep you happy and they serve a meal.
Kate being cute
Beijing somewhere between the airport and our hotel. Its Saturday so not much traffic.

Here's Kate in her stroller. This was yesterday and it was her first ride in it. We tried just after we got her and no way, but yesterday was a piece of cake. Not a tear was shed.
On our walk yesterday, after we crossed under the road, thsi s waht we walked into. Wht a great find to immerse oursellves in local activities. Look at the 2 shopkeepers in the bakground watching wht we're doing.
On our way home, the kids were out waiting for their busses at the school next to the hotel. I got more of a "Bazooka Joe" swarming than a rockstar swarming when I started handing our bubble gum and Canadian flags. It was amazing. Alot of these kids could speak some english and some understood Canada when I said it.
And finally, here's the video that I tired uploading yesterday. I think Kate will go from nothign to walking and skip the crawling stage. If I hold her in a crawling position, she always tries to stand. She's not interested in crawling.

What a long day. We left the fog of Chongqing and arrived in a blindingly sunny day in Beijing. The sky is clear and after spending a week in the fog in Chongqing, we're all squinting a bit now.

The amenities in the Chongqing hotel were nicer (6 bottles of water compared to 2 here, a nice crib in Chongqing, a bath tub for Kate in Chongqing) but the room is the double the size here in Beijing so we can play with Kate on the floor.

Kate did awesome on the flight. Not an issue at all. Luckily, there was nobody in the 3rd seat on our side so we were able to use the middle seat as a buffer seat. Only one kid fussed and that was only on he arrival. Once we hit terra firma, she was fine.

Ma-rie the guide is gathering paperwork tonight then we are of for a DR appointment tomorrow morning then an acrobatic show later in the afternoon. We're all looking forward to that. Monday and Tuesday will also be busy days and Wednesday is a quiet day before we leave Thursday.

Mom, check your email. I couldnt attach the video we discussed. -Scott

We're packing our luggage for our trip back to Beijing and here's a summary of what we would not bring with us if we were coming here again. This might be different for other cities but so far, we haven't needed these things.
* toilet paper. We kept reading to bring toilet paper, as there was none here and it was so bad when you did find it. Not an issue. with a snotty kid, we always have a box of tissues so we've always been prepared. The hotel is equipped to North American standards so not an issue.
* formula. We brought a can just in case, but the orphanage gave us 2 packs - one of each type she gets and the Trust Matt has a formula isle 40 feet long. Not an issue.
* power adapters. Didn't need them. The plugs here are 220 volt and everything plugs directly into them. unlike our plugs at home which just have 2 slots on them, here the plugs have a bunch of different slots in the same spots so they all take many different style plugs.
* not a ton of Cheerios. A handful goes a long way. A complete boxful would last the Chinese army for at least a day. Alot of the families have used Honey Nut Cheerios from the breakfast buffet and no kid has had an issue.
* not a ton of diapers. We brought 18 from home and bought a pack at Trust Mart. They're Pampers and seem to be about 90% as good as home. We're saving the good ones for trips when we do not want leakage.

Hey Grampy O... Mom and Dad tell me that you're 60 today. Happy birthday old man!

Love Kate

We've had a few people ask about the Internet access in China.

It's almost as good as at home. In Beijing, I had a couple instances where I could not view my blog, but posting comments to it thru Blogger.com was not an issue. The hotel in Beijing has a wireless Internet signal so I was able to surf for free.

Here in Chongqing, I cannot view videos on my blog or any other blog and I cannot send email from my scottfillmore.ca account (not sure about Beijing on this one) I'm receiving mail thru scottfillmore.ca, but having to send it using my Yahoo email address. I'm assuming everyone can see my videos as I have not heard that people cannot.

The comments on our posts are great. It tells us that people are indeed reading and appreciating the blog which makes it worth my time. Thanks.

As for communicating with home, I've done all my calls using Skype. It's worked great. I've even called the guides Chinese cellphone here from Chongqing and it;s worked fine. The rest of the group has called home using a calling card that the guide sourced locally and had no issues. Much more expensive than Skype.

Thats it... off to supper.

If anyone needs to know anything, as away. Getting ready for the trip, I had alot of questions that I just could not find answers for which frustrated me a bit.

We're all under the weather today so I don't have the creative juices to do much of an entry.

Kate the snot monster is just not feeling good today. She coughed alot last night and kept waking up. She'd fall right back asleep but it still messed up her sleep enough that she was not in a very good mood this morning. Jen was pretty tired as well so the 2 of them stayed here while I went off to the Old Town.

I was back around 12:30. The trip finished me off as well so we've all been lying around all afternoon.

That's the extent of our day. No pics to upload, no exciting stories to tell... just the reality of 3 people in a strange city.

We had a great meal tonight in the Chinese restaurant here in the hotel. In true Chinese style, we all ordered something different and share everything! Great meal! And I have to say, I really enjoy the 500 ml beers @ 15 yuan each. Yep, that's move the decimal pint to the left then add half of that (15/10)+(15/10*.5)=2.25 each. And they're 10% alcohol.

Kate sat thru 90% of the meal in the highchair. The first 3 or 4 minutes were a bit hairy, but once she calmed down and realized that I would not let her out, she was fine. It made the meal much more enjoyable. A kid stuck to you like glue sure is tiring. She flaked out in about 10 minutes tonight. Much easier than the hour and a bit last night.

Jen got "rock star mobbed" today. When we were leaving the tower heading to the tea house, there was 20 or so older women walking towards us and they were waving and saying something in Chinese. She said Hello in Chinese to them so they all came over towards her. I threw her the bag of Canadian lapel pins that I got and she started handing them out and people started coming from everywhere. She was quite overwhelmed by it (in a good way) and I just stood back on a bench and enjoyed the moment and snapped a couple pics. Unfortunately, this was close to the end, but it gives you an idea of what she encountered. See for yourself. Also, as we were heading out, 2 teen aged girls, dressed in trendy clothing, stopped Jen in her tracks and wanted a pic. Being a good husband, I jumped in and offered to take pics for them. It must be her height and red hair.
While on our trip to the Trust Mart yesterday, we took a different route as the doctor and pharmacist in our group wanted to check out a local pharmacy to see how different it was from home. Well, I stumbled across a Chinese dollar store (or I guess it would be a Yuan store in China) It's everything we'd find in our dollar stores at home, just priced at the Chinese equivalent... 14 cents Canadian. What a hoot! I had to get a pic. The lady was all smiles when she saw that I wanted to take a pic and the people across the street actually stopped what they were doing to see why a Caucasian was having his picture taken in front of just an ordinary store front. Quite comical. There was also a sign above the street saying to not honk your horn in this neighborhood, but that didn't seem to work at all. It's their national pastime. People honk all the time, but there's no road rage. They just lay on the horn, then drive along like nothing was wrong. very odd.
Her'e a lcoal street being dug up. How would you like to work in these conditions?This guy has a huge cart of this stuff that he's been pushign around outside of the Trust Mart since we got here. This is the first time I saw him sell his "birdseed and candy" cake so I just had to get a picture of him in action. Not much else to report. I do know that as Kate's mourning is lessening and every day we're seeing small improvements in things. As she comes out of her shell I know it's more and more work for us as she's busier which means the updates may be less frequent and detailed but I'll try my best to keep everyone up to date.

I'll leave you all with a couple more pics while I have the time...

This was at the junction of the rivers this morning... a giant ring. I said that it's the tribute to international adoption... a giant Cheerio... the lifesaver food we have to calm Kate. And I don't see there is any need to bring them... the restaurant in the hotel in Beijing had them and the restaurant here has them too. People who didn't bring them just steal a Tupperware container each morning.
And this pic is for my mother... who always has a tissue with her. Mom, she's your grandchild for sure. These are Kate's 2 favorite toys... a Kleenex package which crinkes when she plays with it and a stacking cup. She hasnt taken to soft toys yet... probably because we didnt see many in the orphange so she doesnt knwo what to do with them.And I just have to end the day with this pic. How cute is this??? Take care everyone and we cant wait to see you all at the airport!