It has been so exciting each day as we get to do different things! I am having so much fun getting to know my new brother. The first day he as sad and scared. The people who cared for him are called foster parents. They loved him and treated him like their own son. They have one older son who is very tall. Chase had a small blue backpack with him when he came and inside was a photo album with their pictures. His foster father was holding him then the next photo he as riding on the shoulders of his foster brother, then the last was where he was sitting on the lap of his foster mother. He really likes to be held by my Mom. When he is scared or tired he puts his head on her shoulder or hides his face in her neck. She wears a baby carrier all day with him in it unless we are in our room but that is not much. He gets upset if she tries to put him down and hold her hand but we like having him up there so we can see him and he is safe. Mom put two coats on him with his hat and his clothes with another set of clothes under it and her coat buttons around him too. The old women in China will look close and scold her if he is not dressed warm enough. It is cold here but we are used to it. We are right by the Yellow Sea! You should look on the map. The sea comes right up to the sidewalk we were on today. Out in the water we can see two warships, a light house and got to walk out on the pier to the end. As we walked out there were lots of people down on the beach looking for sea creatures. I saw lots of barnacles, tiny sea crabs then I saw a REAL starfish! I did not bring boots to China but Mom let Daddy take me down the steps below to walk under the pier for a while. I love sea animals!
Braelyn and I walked holding our guide Ally's hand for a while so Daddy could take pictures and Mom was holding Chase. Lots of people had a small blanket laying out with treasures to buy. Necklaces out of stones, bracelets made out of shells, white shells carved into crosses and Chinese characters, then some really old looking Chinese people were selling bags of bread to feed the Seagulls. On the way out we got to buy a small back for one Yuan. 6.67 Yuan is $1. So when we see a price we divide it by 7 or to be exact Mom said to divide by 6.67 for the price. Most things do not cost much here. The next city we go to tomorrow has things even cheaper. I saw some really cute red boots that Mom said I might get to buy with my allowance money I saved but I have to wait until we get to Guangzhou.
Yesterday we were getting ready to call a friend Mommy met from an adoption group on the internet when she knocked on the door. Her name is Bernice and she was so very kind to us. She brought us gifts from this area, Qingdao where Chase was born. She told us about its history and how a lot of Korea people like to live here. It is right across the sea from Korea. When we go out people stare at us. They know I look Korea but my sister looks Chinese like my brother. Some people follow us to watch us and just stare a lot. Some even stop in front of us to take our picture but none of them ask. One man shook his hand by his hair then pointed to Mom. Daddy smiled and Mommy frowned. They do not know why we have so many children.
Our guide Ally will tell us what people are saying if we ask. At the Mansion we visited today people were asking her why we wanted children to adopt? They asked her in Chinese thinking we would not find out. They wanted to know why my parents adopted us if they had children of their own. Mommy got a bit mad when anyone says "children of their own" and tells them that ALL of us are hers! And their own children. They mean to say birth children but are not paying attention to what they should mean. Mommy asks me if it bothers me but I'm used to it. People always look at me because I am different except in Korea, I looked just like everyone else until they saw my parents. My parents laughed when one man asked if Mommy had a nanny to help her take care of us now that she will have Chase. He did not even know that Chase is the 6th child in our family. A lot of people tell Ally to tell us how grateful they are for us to adopt so many children who do not have a family. I am so glad we could adopt Chase! He is so cute and fun to play with. He reminds us of our friend at home we love a lot named Keaton. They both have such cute smiles and sweet cheeks to kiss.
When we drive to places a van picks us up in front of our hotel. There are so very many cars and even more taxi's. They are pushy. They do not stop if you are there and keep going. People drive scarey. A car was coming down the lane the wrong way. Daddy said just do not look. They honk and honk and honk at each other. Mommy was walking around a car in the grocery lot and a taxi honked at her and she had no place to go and the other two cars did not either. In the store it is full of people too. People want to help you a lot. Each part of the store has two people working there. Then you have to take it to the next place to pay for it and more people to work with you. Then we see some old people sitting on the sidewalk on an old rug with a cup of money in front of them. They look sad and I want to help them.
The front door to the hotel is a circle you push and it has a shelf of flowers in two parts of it you walk behind. We stay on the 19th floor in two rooms that attach. Our room is so very cool with a bunk bed with steps, a playrug area with blocks, table and chairs, an easle to draw on, two huge beanbag chairs and the bathroom is decorated too. This two rooms is called a suite and used just for families who are adopting. They bring us a bowl of fresh fruit each day. We even have a doorbell they ring! It has a coffee pot to boil water so Mommy makes us hot tea. When we brush our teeth we can not let any water touch our mouth expect the boiled water or water from the store.
Tomorrw we will ride the airplane to Guangzhou and it will have Florida type weather! We had to bring two types of clothes but our suitcase can only weigh 44# or we pay extra money. It took a long time for us to put everything in our suitcases and weigh them. Then Chase tried tos tand on the scales too. We laughed at him and he danced! I hope he is not scared to ride the airplane. We like flying places…but now Mommy says I need to fly into bed.
We hope to meet him someday! Maybe we can meet at the library again.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are enjoying your time in China,
Leah, Natalie and Julianne