Hangzhou to Wenzhou and Back

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! It is Thursday afternoon here and not surprisingly there is almost no indication of the US holiday (though we did see one little sign in a store).

We have had Charlotte since Monday and we are having a great time getting to know her. She is a sweet baby with a great disposition. She is 16 months old and healthy, sleeps very well, and likes to laugh and have fun. She walks and wants to run! She has had only a few moments of crabbiness that pass quickly - she has been very tolerant considering that she has a little cold and is totally out of her routine. She got handed off to some strange people that she does not know (us) and we have all had to sit in offices and complete paperwork. We are very lucky to have her.

On Tuesday we went back to the Civil Affairs Office and completed the paperwork making the adoption official. There was a little ceremony and the Zhejiang provincial official in charge shook our hands. There were two other adopting families there at the same time. One was a family from Pennsylvania adopting a disabled boy, their 8th adoptee and their 12th child. Another was a family from Ohio adopting a little boy. We are likely to see them all again in Guangzhou, where all US families adopting Chinese orphans go to complete the US citizenship paperwork.

That afternoon our guide Derek and our driver Jiang drove us from Hangzhou to Wenzhou. Wenzhou is a city of about a million people (I think) on the coast of Zhejiang province. It was a four hour drive on a 4 lane highway winding in around and through (many tunnels) steep, sudden mountains. Chinese drivers seem quite aggressive, but Jiang was more than up to the task! We arrived in Wenzhou in the early evening.

The next morning we went to the local passport office and applied for Charlotte's Chinese passport, with Derek's able assistance. We will pick up the passport back in Hangzhou on Friday. Then we went to visit the orphanage where Charlotte came from. The building is institutional but clean and they are pretty up to date with their equipment. The caregivers (nannies) are simply extraordinary. They do a very good job - professional but loving and caring. Their bond with the children was something to behold. We met Charlotte's playmates, a couple of whom are also about to be adopted. Many children there, however, are disabled and will never be adopted. It was heartbreaking to see them, but at least they are well taken care of there.

Then we drove back to Hangzhou, where we will wait to pick up the passport on Friday. Derek was going to give us a tour of Hangzhou's sights today (Thursday) but it is rainy so we deferred that until better weather tomorrow.

Again, Happy Turkey Day to everyone!