Market Adventures

PHOTOS: Market experience in Guangzhou.  It was pretty interesting.  See below...   Today is Monday in China.  It's Labor Day in the states, but it's just Monday in China.  :-)  The day started off quite good... Jen found a Starbucks!  They opened at 7 am; Jen was there, waiting at the door, by 6:57 am.  :-)  I expect that she'll be there every morning, waiting for the guy to open the door for our much needed caffeine fix.    After downing our much loved Starbucks, we made our way downstairs for the breakfast buffet.  I was relieved and humored to find BACON BITS on the salad bar.  (yes- the salad bar is open and available for breakfast.  I don't know why.)  With bacon bits and Cherrios, Shawna was happy.   The three of us spent the morning walking around the island.  It's so quiet and peaceful here... nothing like Beijing or Chongqing.  It almost feels like a remote, European resort.   Ok- resort is a wee bit of an overstatement.  But, it certainly is peaceful.   This evening, we ventured off the island the market area of Guangzhou. (Oh- side note here: we are technically staying on Shamian Island in Guangzhou.  I really didn't think that it meant much, other than a pretty view of the river.  I was wrong.  The feel of the island is much different that the rest of Guangzhou.  Much different. And, just for reference, the Shamian Island really isn't an island either.  Confusing eh??)  ANYWAY- regarding the market area... all I can say is WOW.  What a difference.  The hustle and bustle is just as crazy... people everywhere... split pants, strange food, etc. Yep- it's all here in Guangzhou too.    We walked thru the dried goods market.. it included everything from tea to dried snake skins.  Yum!  Then, we walked through the pet market.  Our guide made a point to tell us that the pet market was truly for pets.. not for food.  Phew!  I was worried that the McDonalds next door might be serving filet of dog.  Again... YICK!  The animals at the pet market looked just our dogs,cats, puppies, and kittens.  It was just weird to see them in cages on the streets.   All of that market stuff lead us to the main square of Guangzhou.  And, surprise, surprise.. it was bustling with people.  Shopping at the pearl market and the jade market was next... followed by dinner at Papa Johns pizza.  Sigh.  Food from home.  Pizza never tasted so good!  Oh-- I almost forgot!! Before we got to the jade market, we had the distinct pleasure of walking thru the Chinese food street ... Some guy asked me if I wanted a scorpion on a stick!  There were all sorts of gross, smelly foods there. Really.  It was quite disgusting.  I'm pretty sure that I saw some dude saute a mouse. EWwww!!   Lori M. Baylor

It was a good day for Shawna Rae

Shawna did a lot of walking around the room today!  So, I bought her a new pair of pink squeaky shoes.  :-)  Bath time is still a wee bit loud, but it's really the only time that she uses her voices.  We gained some pretty big strides in the food department today.  First, she let me feed her a Cherrio.  Twice!  I know that it sounds so trival.. but for a child with oral adversion, it was a big step. Then, we went out for pizza tonight and she ate some of the crust.  Woo Hoo!! :-) Lori M. Baylor

An Innocent Game of Patty-Cake

You know the drill. "Patty cake, patty cake. Bakers man..."

Shawna and I were playing patty cake the other day. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that I was teaching Shawna to play patty-cake. She was facing me, and I held her little hands in mine while we clapped, patted, and rolled. She seemed to enjoy it so I continued on for several encores.

After many rounds of holding her hands in mine, I wanted to see if she would clap along with me while I sang. So, I let go of her hands and raised mine to assume the starting "clapping" position...and.... she winced. Badly. She was anticipating pain .. and it broke my heart.
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Jen arrives and the medical exam

So, Jen arrived in GZ late Friday night.  On Saturday morning, she was still a wee bit jet lagged (... I am really understating the obvious here.  I'm pretty sure that she didn't sleep at all last night).  Nonetheless, she and Shawna became fast friends.    At breakfast, Zhou (our liaison) tried desperately to feed Shawna some Chinese congee.  But, she would have nothing to do with it!!  I laughed ..because EVERY morning in Chongqing, I tried to feed her congee.  Every morning , I would offer it to her at least a dozen times.  And, every morning, Dan would chuckle at my efforts.  This morning, Dan wasn't at breakfast.  :-(  So, I got to chuckle at Zhou's efforts.  The girl just doesn't want congee!! After breakfast, we had to get visa photos for the babies.  Then- we were off to their medical exams.  Unfortunately, it started to POUR down rain while we were in route.  We all got absolutely soaked, even with umbrellas.  Once we arrived at the medical building, the door man took our umbrella and put it into a special umbrella holder, complete with a lock.  Get out!  Really? An umbrella lock?  I'm not joking.  We had a key for our umbrella.     ANYWAY- the medical exam was pretty uneventful.  We had three stations:  ENT, Medicine, and vitals.  We went to medical first.  The physician quickly examined Shawna.. and by exam, I mean that he listened to her heart.  That was it.  Thorough eh?  Then, he led us into another room for another doctor to listen to her heart.  He yelled something in Chinese to Zhou... Zhou yelled something in Chinese back to him.  Then, they went round-and-round, in Chinese.  Jen just stood there nodding her head.  I felt like I was watching a ping pong match.  Back and forth.  Back and forth.  I started asking questions... Zhou assured me that everthing was fine.   Apparently, one doctor was calling the other doctor 'stupid'.  Ok. Whatever.  The same thing happened to one of our other families so I felt a little better.  The vitals and ENT station were completely uneventful.  The checked her eyes and ears, height, weight, and temp.  This little peanut only weighs 18 lbs with clothes on!   Lori M. Baylor

Dan leaving GZ..

Dan left GZ early Saturday morning.  Yes- of course I cried.  I've been a blubbering idiot this entire trip.  Lori M. Baylor

I really don't think that she likes bathtime...

She really needs to soak, but I don't wanna push our luck! Lori M. Baylor

Shawna eats ...

Bacon bits. Seriously. We had dinner at Lucy's tonight. Jen and I split a baked potatoe. Shawna snatched up the bacon bits! She ate them all, so Jen had the waitress bring more. So, her diet consists of formula, cherrios, and bacon bits. Have at it girl!!
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Goodbye Chongqing, Hello Guangzhou

Sorry for the duplicate...   Just a few photos of the our departure from Chongqing and our welcome sign in Guangzhou.  I couldn't help but take a photo of the sign in the airport that advertised room rentals by the hour!  The other photo is of Shawna in the airport play area. Lori M. Baylor

Observations part 2

Other observations:    Dan must blend in to the crowd.  He he he  J  For three consecutives days, the same man in Chongqing square has approached him … "You want watch?  Bag? Umbrella?"  Every time we walk thru the square, the same man is there.  And, he always finds his way over to Dan.   This city of Chongqing is not exactly ADA compliant.  We've had a heck of a time navigating around in a stroller.  It's just so different to struggle with stairs constantly.   Many, many Chinese natives smoke.  The restaurants are still predominately 'smoking.'   Many women hold hands as they walk through the streets and stores.  They are often huddled under umbrellas to shield the sun.  But, many times, they are just holding hands.. walking down the street.   I'm not sure why…   Lori M. Baylor

Observations from Chongqing part 1

Photos:  My blog manager (ie/ Dan) is currently unavailable. So, I have to attach photos by email.  I'm not sure how it'll post... the photos of our trip to Eling Park in Chongqing.  In the comments below, I discuss the crazy driving in China!  The photos don't do this justice, but you'll notice lots of cars driving down the middle line. And, no baby car seats!!  Also included is a view of the city from Eling Park and a visit to a traditional Chinese tea house.   I have a bunch of miscellaneous observations.  I don't know that there is a clearly defined theme among them.  So "observations" is as specific as I can get. Yes- we are currently in Guangzhou, so forgive me for being a bit behind in the blog!! :-)     The streets of Chongqing .   There are a lot of people walking the streets of Chongqing .  Nearly 7 million people reside in this city alone!  Holy smokes that's a lot of people!  Walking the streets of the city, we routinely see people playing cards.  Old people. Young people.  All kinds of people.  Sitting around a table or upside-down box playing cards.    The folks around here don't own homes; the government owns all the land.  Instead, they "own" apartments.  There are high-rise apartments everywhere!  Not all of them have elevators.  Most of them have laundry hanging outside to dry.   I would be scared to drive in this city.  There are plenty of cars.. there just aren't many traffic signals.  It's unbelievable.  Cars drive everywhere and anywhere. We've seen them on sidewalks, alley ways, etc.  Our hotel is close to the pedestrian area, which one would think is for pedestrians only.  Nope.  There are cars in the pedestrian area too. I'm not sure that the pedestrians even have the right of way in the pedestrian area.  It's crazy here.  Frankly, it puts Manhattan to shame!   The stores in the hills.  Chongqing is known for the 5 "H's":  Hot, humid, hilly, hazy, and huge.  As we were traveling to the Civil affairs office, we noticed several "stores" in the hills.  I wish that I would've captured them on film because its difficult to describe.  But, here's my best shot at it.  In such a populated city, real estate is a premium and hills are abundant.  So folks 'cut out space' in the hills to order to create stores and restaurants along the highway.  Their spaces are about the size of a single car garage space, only deeper.  With the doors closed, it looked like the Midway at a local amusement park, just less fancy.  Apparently, many of the businesses are closed now.  And, these areas of the city certainly reflect some poor economic conditions.   Interestingly, there were still people everywhere.  People  playing cards, hanging out in old raggy chairs, and people sleeping all along the "midway." Lori M. Baylor

Photo Shoot

Lori M. Baylor

Playing with Aunt Jenny

Aunt Jen has arrived in Guangzhou! Sadly, I had to say goodbye to Dan this morning. A car came to pick him up at 6:45 am. Shawna was looking for him this morning. I hope that she understands (duh? How could she?) that Dan did not abandon her. She's been through so much in her short little life...
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Cultural Shock...

Ok- it's not exactly cultural shock.  But, there are some fundamental differences over here that I must discuss... I must comment.  So, here we go:     First… the split pant phenomenon. For those of you who don't know, toddlers in China don't always wear diapers or even pull-ups. They wear split pants.  And, split pants are just like you are imagining them.. pants with a big split seam in the crotch.  Yes- there butt hangs out as they stroll along down the street.  I've stopped counting how many baby behinds we have seen in China after only a few days.    ANYWAY- the purpose of the split pants is to allow the little ones to relieve themselves easily and conveniently.   It's the 'convenient' part is a little icky for me.  By convenient… I mean that they relieve themselves WHEREVER they are.  So far, we've seen a little girl pee on The Great Wall of China, a little boy squat to pee at the entrance to the zoo, and another child grunting along the curb.  Lovely eh?  It's not like they step aside to "go" in the grass or even around the corner.  They literally just stop, squat, and pee.  Apparently, it's normal for China .  Personally, it makes me a little weary of wearing sandals…   Since I am already talking about the subject, let's move onto the infamous "squatty potty".  Again- the term pretty much describes the subject matter.  Let's just say that the public restroom facilities in China are much different than our American version.  They don't have our traditional toilet bowls and seats.  Actually, they don't have seats at all.  They have a hole in the ground … with a white plastic foot hold that surrounds the 'hole'. (There is a pic of the squatty potty in one of the earlier posts…)  The idea is that you put your feet on the white thing, squat, and "aim."  Using the squatty potty effectively requires some pretty advanced skills (the details of which I will NOT be discussing on the blog).   Not everyone can 'aim', so the bathrooms smell horrible and the floors are always wet.  Ick!  Again- it makes me think twice about wearing flip-flops!   Many facilities have both the squatty and a western style toilet.  However, most Asian women think that 'sitting' on a public toilet seat is disgusting.. so they will just stand on the seat and assume their normal squatty position if they are forced to use a western style toilet.  Our room in our hotel has a normal bathroom.  I think the squatty is only used in public places (restaurants, airports, etc) rather than in hotels and homes.  And yes, the squatty potty is available to men as well.  Lori M. Baylor

Arrived in Guangzhou

The last stop on our journey is Guangzhou, home to the USA embassy! Shawna was a perfect angel on the 2 hour flight!!
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All about food...

All about Food   Yep- it's different year.  I miss American coffee.  I miss our version of "Chinese" food. I REALLY miss good 'ole Diet Coke (the Chinese version is the Splenda sweetened kind. It just isn't the same.)   And, I really wish that I could read the menu!!    Fortunately, at the fast food establishments, they have picture menus.  So far, we've visited McDonalds and KFC.  There is a surprising number of KFC restaurants in Beijing and Chongqing .  I really don't remember the last time that I even thought about KFC, let alone ate at KFC. In China , well… it's one of very few options that Dan and I are comfortable navigating without a translator.  And, for lunch and dinner in Chongqing , we are on our own!!  Perhaps we will venture out to Pizza Hut tonight.   Our hotel has a breakfast buffet that visit every morning.  Our daily breakfast consists of fried rice, sauteed noodles, watermelon, undercooked bacon, and an omelet.  I usually have a bowl of congee as well (a rice based hot cereal.. it tastes like cream of wheat).  I admit.  It's a strange collection of food... but it's familiar to us. So, we load up!   Let's see what else??  OH- on our first day in Beijing , we ate a traditional Chinese lunch.  It was very good!  Except for the fish…. which was served with head and tail still intact.  In all fairness, I didn't try the fish. It might have been very good.   I just couldn't get past those beady little eyes staring at me.   Much to Dan's pleasant surprise, the beer is often 'free' here!  No joke!  At our dinner buffet (and our Chinese lunch), the beer was included with your meal.  The soda was extra, but the beer was free!   And finally… there is Wal-Mart.  Yes.  Wal- Mart in China will be included in my post about food.  We went to Wal-Mart in search of more diapers, baby formula, etc.  On our way to check out, we went through the 'meat' department.  It was, well, … different.  Allow me to paint a picture for you.  Imagine the freezer section of your local grocery store.  Not the part with the tall doors, but the part with the big coffin cases. Now, fill the case with crushed ice and put unwrapped, raw meat on top.  There you have it, folks.  The meat department in China .  It is literally piles of raw meat, separated by cut, laying on top of crushed ice.  Whole chickens in one section, wings in another, etc.  Nothing prewrapped.  Nothing wrapped at all actually.  They buy their meat like we buy our produce.  Grab a clear bag from the roll… pick out your meat, and put it in the bag.  Ick!  The seafood department is very similar except all of the seafood is still swimming.  Fish. Turtles. Frogs.  Grab a net. Catch your 'dinner'.  Put it in a bag.  Lori M. Baylor

Dinner at Chongqing's Hot Pot

I meant to post this on Thursday night. We went to dinner at a restaurant called 'Hot Pot'. It's a well known restaurant chain in the Chongqing PR, similar to a fondue kinda place. We ate things that were not easily identifiable. :-) It was very good! Very, very spicy. And, as always... The beer was included.
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Finally... FOOD!

It was a glorious morning!! Shawna ate toast! For a child that has never had solid food, it was amazing.
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Video and photos

So, major kuddos to my sister, Jen, for managing the blog this past week.  Blogger, YouTube, Facebook, and many other social network sites are blocked/unavailable in China. So, for example, I can upload the photos to Picasa, but I can't access the HTML code to post the slideshow on the blog.    My sister posted all of the picasa slideshows and managed to get the YouTube video uploaded!! She's become pretty computer savvy in 7 days!!   If you haven't seen the video yet, scroll down to view it.  She also turned off the blog music so it shouldn't interfere with the video's music!!    Jen will be in route to China in just a few hours.  She is meeting us in Guangzhou for the second week of our trip.  She arrives on Friday night; Dan heads home on Saturday morning.  :-(  Once Dan arrives home, he will be assuming the "blog manager" role!  Lori M. Baylor

The other stuff...

As for the rest of the 'orphanage-type' behavior, she's doing pretty well.  Many orphans display autistic-like behaviors to self-stimulate such as head thrashing, rocking, and playing excessively with their fingers. We don't have any of that!  She's made great eye contact with us, so she doesn't appear to be 'shut-down' from the trauma of the transition.  For all these things, we are very grateful.  We are certain that there will be bumps in the road.  But, the road is just starting.  We'll cover the bumps.. one at a time.   The not-so-good stuff:   She will sit in one spot for hours without moving…playing with one single toy.  Now, in some ways, this is a selling feature right?  Easy kid! But… it's actually a not-so-good kind of thing. And, it's an orphanage thing.  For the past few days, Shawna has played with stacking cups.  She loves them!  It's both interesting and very sad that she is completely content to play with 8 colored plastic cups for hours when most toddlers would be done with them after 10 minutes.    Even without toys, she doesn't move around much.  I've seen her "walk" several steps on her own.  But, we've never seen her crawl.  In absence of interaction from us, she just sits there and stares.  Ok- that's not entirely true.  She prefers to be held all the time!  And, we try to comply as much as possible.  If, for whatever reason, we need to put her down for a moment, say to get a bottle for her… she just sits there.  She won't try to come after us.  She won't roll over, move over, or crawl.  She just sits there and cries.  I'm not worried about her falling off the bed because she doesn't move unless we move her.  I'm not really sure what to make of this yet…   She doesn't put anything into her mouth, except her bottle. We've tried Cherrios, congee, crackers, and teething things.  Nope.  Nothing.  She whips her head around and looks the other way.  Oral adversion?  Sensory issues?? It could be both.  How am I going to fatten her up if I can't get her to eat???  It's also a wee bit weird that she doesn't try to chew on anything.   Developmental stage?? Still yet to be determined.  Experts estimate that an institutionalized child develops one month for every three months of institutionalization.  Shawna was at the SWI for 14 /18 months.  So, she should be close to a 9 month old.  I'll have to consult my "book" to confirm.  She can sit on her own and walk a little.  She has some gross motor skills; I haven't seen any fine motor skills yet.  She can roll over, but I don't know if she can sit up from a laying position.  She smiles and giggles (although not a lot ).  But, I haven't heard her talk …. I wouldn't understand her if she did.  There is much to be gained developmentally.   Lori M. Baylor

Shawna update- the good stuff

I've worried about so many things over the past few months.  I've shared those worries with many of you. So, I am going to try to address them.  First.. the good stuff:   She can drink from a bottle.  No problems.  It's even a normal sized nipple!  For this, we are grateful.  Many infants in Chinese orphanages are fed by gravity… a propped bottle with rice-thickened formula that just drips into their mouth.  Babies need to learn how to 'suck' in order to develop the appropriate muscles for speech.  Shawna can suck down a bottle in 10 minutes FLAT! Phew!   Bug bites, lice, and other icky stuff? Nope.  None of that.  I came armed with an entire pharmacy of meds that we haven't needed.   Her nanny said that she got a bath every night before bed.  Hmmm… I think what she meant was … she got a sponge bath every night before bed.  The kid screamed bloody murder when we put her into the tub last night.  Yes- she was very clean when they gave her to us.  But, I don't think that she has ever soaked in a tub before.   She has a few Mongolian spots on her back, but doesn't appear to have any evidence of restraining devices on her arms or legs.  This is also a good thing.  Many young orphans are strapped to a chamber pot for hours until they "go."   Her overall health appears to be pretty good.  No distended belly (Giardia) or bow shaped legs (rickets).  She does have a fever and is pretty congested.  (My guess is some type of upper respiratory infection or strep.  So, we started her on some amoxicillin. )  It's still really early to make any grand statements.  Afterall, she's only been with us for 3 days. Only time will tell.... but so far, we're doing pretty good. Lori M. Baylor