China Day Eleven -- Administrative Junk and Another Blau Adventure

Last night was a bit crazy. After getting Minsy to sleep without any problems, Herman and I left the older girls in charge and went downstairs to the business center so that we could type our blog entries for the day on a keyboard instead of with our thumbs. It took a bit of time, and it was almost 11:30 by the time we got back to the room. While we were getting ready for bed Minsy woke up, and she was wide awake. We sat up with her for a long time. She was super cute. We had her lying on the bed between us. She would tap each one of us on the shoulder and then say something to us and giggle. It made us laugh, but after a bit we knew that we needed to get some sleep. Herman told me to get some sleep, and he took Minsy on a long walk through the hotel. He eventually returned from the walk, but Minsy was still wide awake. At this point it was already about 2 am, so she really needed to sleep so she'd be ready for the day. Herman sat in a chair, held her, and sang to her to help her relax, just as he's done for all of the other Blau children through the years. Well, Minsy was not going to stand for this. For the very first time of the day, Minsy cried. These weren't tears of sadness. These were tears of anger. She was mad, really mad. Interestingly, her cries when mad sound exactly like her giggles. Maybe she'd just been mad all this time we thought she was happy. No. I know she wasn't really mad earlier because when she's mad she also throws in a few firm 'boo yaos' to emphasize her feelings. Minsy cried and cried and cried angry tears until she finally calmed down enough to sleep. Herman brought her to me in bed and I dried her tears and held her until she was sleeping soundly.

All of us woke up around 7 am. Minsy woke up happy with no real bad effects from the night before. For a second she looked around in wonder like she might have thought that the events of yesterday had only been a dream. But she jumped right down and started playing with the family. This morning Herman and I took Minsy with us and met Shirley in the lobby. She took us back to the civil affairs office to do the paperwork for the adoption. We were again there with the other two families who had met their children yesterday. Each of us had had very different experiences since meeting our children the day before. As I spoke with one of the mothers she asked if Minsy was taking her bottle okay. That's when I realized just how tiny Minsy really is. I explained that she was really four. I have the feeling I'll be having to explain that to people a lot in the coming years.

Today things were a lot calmer and relaxed than they were yesterday when we were all meeting our children. Minsy is not the shy girl we expected. She walked from group to group in the waiting room, playing with the other children or talking to the other families. It seems as if food us a big draw for our little girl. As soon as anyone brought out a snack, Minsy was right there with her hand out, ready for a sample. When it was our turn, Herman and I entered an office with the lady doing the paperwork, an interpreter, and the representative from the orphanage who introduced us to Minsy yesterday. We answered a few questions letting them know that we would take care of Minsy and provide her with a good education in the future. We double checked our information, and then they took a picture of Herman and me with Minsy for their records. All in all the process took less than an hour. I think that means that our adoption is totally official now. Hurray! It took a lot less time than I expected, especially after the 15 months it took to get to this point.

We returned to our hotel to enjoy the rest of the day with our family. When we got there we opened the door and found JoJo weeping. He was crying because he missed us. That is totally unlike him, so I took him aside and spent a little one on one time with him. I think he was a bit sad because Herman and I had left with Minsy. As I spoke to him I told him that he had nothing to worry about, that he would always be my baby boy. This made his tears flow faster. I realized that he was feeling a bit off balance after the adoption. So I took some time to just hold him and we read a story together. It was time well spent. I think he felt much better by the time he got up to go swim.

Minsy gets her first introduction to swimming

We headed down to the hotel pool once we got everything settled when we returned to the hotel. The kids have been excited to go to a pool since we got to China. That is something that they, especially the younger kids, have always loved to do any time we stay in a hotel. Our Days Inn in Beijing didn't have a pool, and honestly, even if they did we would not have had any time to enjoy it. This hotel, however, has a very nice pool, and it seems as if no one ever uses it. We have been by ourselves the two times that we've headed down, except at the end of our swimming time today when an older lady came to swim some laps. We had the whole family come down to swim. I didn't dress out in a swimsuit because I wasn't much interested in swimming today. I just brought the camera so that I could take pictures. We didn't have a swimsuit for Minsy, so she just stayed in her undies. I probably would have never done that in the US, but here it seems like it isn't a problem at all. I don't think that she has ever been swimming before, but she is a brave little girl, and she seems to be willing to give anything a try once to see what she thinks about it. She got in the pool with Herman and the older kids and splashed around. Once I arrived a bit later and got a few pictures she decided that she had had enough of all this, so she had me get her out of the pool. Then she and I sat in a chair on the side of the pool and watched everyone else play in the pool. Minsy laughed and laughed and laughed at everyone as they splashed each other and jumped in the pool. Seeing her laugh is so fun, so everyone then began putting on a show for her. We'll have to get her a suit somewhere and let her have more experience in the water. Unfortunately every shop has their winter collections out, so it is impossible to find anything like a swimsuit. Hopefully we'll have better luck in a place like Hong Kong which has a warmer climate and is next to the ocean.

Today Minsy decided that I would be the person she attached to.  While we were walked yesterday she tried everyone out, but today only I would do. I had kind of expected this to happen because that is common in adoption, so I was prepared. Still, it is a tad bit exhausting to be the only person having the role of comforter. After we returned from swimming and had rested for a bit we decided to have another adventure and go see a movie in China. We headed down to the lobby to get ready to take some cabs to a nearby theater, and as we stood waiting I had several people stop me and comment on how little Minsy was wearing. It is about 58 degrees outside, which is pretty cold for Wuhan at this time of year, but it isn't arctic temps either. I had Minsy in pants, a long sleeved shirt and a jacket, but the people we encountered were not convinced that this would be enough. So I decided to run upstairs to grab some more clothing to layer her in so I wouldn't be stopped every ten feet to hear another comment on her lack of clothing. As I got to the elevators I looked back and saw her calling for me. I told her I'd be right back and headed up to our room quickly. When I returned she was having a huge meltdown. It was her first real meltdown of the week. She was very unhappy that I had gone, and while I was missing she just cried, "Mama, Mama, Mama" over and over. I found her in tears and grabbed her into my arms and she stopped crying immediately. She just hugged me tightly. It was nice to see that I was already Mama this quickly and that she needed me to hold her. It makes my heart grow three sizes as she holds me tightly and allows me to comfort her.


We got our taxis and headed to the cinema. While we were driving Minsy fell fast asleep. I think that that was probably part of the problem with her meltdown. She has been wired for activity the entire time that we have had her, and I think she was finally worn out. As we drove the taxi driver talked to me a bit. He only spoke Chinese, so I didn't really understand anything, but I smiled at him and tried to answer anything I understood. He asked if Minsy was two. Egad! She must really be tiny if even the Chinese who are used to smaller children are misinterpreting her age. I didn't want to get into any prolonged explanations in Chinese, so I just smiled and said that no, she was three. I thought that if I said she was four it would be too hard to try to explain to the cabbie.

We arrived at the cinema, which happened to be connected to the Walmart where we came last night. It was a lot like an American movie theater except that it had a huge lobby that would have been considered wasted space in the US (but helpful on opening days for movies like Harry Potter or Twilight where we are packed into the lobby like sardines as we wait for the theater to let us through). We looked at the big movie posters outside the theater to see what we wanted to see. There were a few Chinese movies that seemed interesting, but we were sure that they would not have English subtitles in a mainstream Chinese theater. There were a couple of American films as well. We decided to see "Real Steel." There were no ratings listed, or if there were it was in Chinese, so we just guessed as to what the rating would be. We knew that it wasn't Rated R, but we were split about whether it was PG-13 or PG. We don't normally allow our younger kids to see anything that is PG-13. We purchased the tickets, though, and headed into the theater. It turns out that the movie is PG-13, but we think that this movie was edited for Chinese audiences because it didn't really have any violence, language issues, or sexual content that would warrant a higher rating. I'm sure we're just justifying ourselves here though. The theater looked just like a theater does in the US, but we were given assigned seats. That would be helpful in times when the theaters are packed, but this one was not very full. The movie was in English with Chinese subtitles, so it was easy to watch. We didn't really notice the subtitles at all. I did wonder how on earth the Chinese could keep up with the subtitles though. There would be a short two word sentence in the movie, but the subtitle would be ten to twelve characters in length. It was amazing to think that the people next to us were having to read all of that as we watched. It was a surprisingly touching little movie -- kind of like Rocky with robots. JoJo leaned over to me several times during the movie and said "This is awesome!" Unfortunately, he won't be able to watch it again in the US for several more years. Herman LOVED it. It was just his type of movie. While we watched we got popcorn and sode. It was only the equivalent of $5 for the huge combo pack. How refreshing to eat in a movie theater without feeling like I was spending away my savings. The popcorn we ate was the best popcorn I had ever had in a theater before. It was sweet, kind of like kettle corn, but not quite so sweet. I loved it!

After the movie we headed over to Walmart again. With Minsy needing me to hold her all the time, my arms were getting really sore, even though she weighs little more than a feather. We decided to buy a cheap umbrella stroller that we could use while we are in China. If we have to, we'll leave it behind before we head back home. We also explored the Walmart a bit more and discovered that they did have an electronics section. I looked through their movies and found some Disney movies in Chinese for the equivalent of $5. Sweet! I purchased a few of them for us to have for Minsy when we returned. Then as we left the store we found a merchant selling black market DVDs for the equivalent of $1. We bought a few just to see what they would be like. Since our computer is out of battery with no way to charge it we will have to wait until we get home to see what they are like. It was an interesting experience at least.

We returned home at last without any problems. I just have to briefly talk about the army training center that is right next to our hotel. There are soldiers marching back and forth between buildings at all hours of the day. AS they march they do a chant very loudly. It is really fascinating to watch them when they come into view from our hotel window. It is strange to think that they would have a training spot in the middle of a city. I would expect them to be in a more rural setting where they have room to maneuver. They provide a constant background sound for us as we stay her at the White Rose. Minsy ended up going to sleep wonderfully today. Maybe that bodes well for her in the future. It will help a bunch once we return home and get into some sort of routine. It was another wonderful day in China. Tomorrow is a free day for us in Wuhan, so we'll see where it takes us.