Wednesday, August 23, 2006: Walking Tour and Money Exchange

First, some business-- for those of you trying to reach us (e.g., those of you with a three and a half year old who keeps hanging up on his parents-- though after he managed to explain to us in his yammering that Barley and Pugasus had played together and that he had gone swimming), we are in room 1618.

Now onto the day in review. . .
This morning started out pleasant enough. Marcie did wake up at 12:33am, but just for long enough to suck down half a bottle (which for her is about 20 seconds). She slept until 7am, and then we got up and went down to breakfast. There was no rice and no noodles today. I tried eating a pancake and some ham, but the ham was a weird rubbery texture, and the syrup is this strange apricot/marmelade flavor-- and I just couldn't choke it down. I did manage to explain to the nice egg chef that I wanted scrambled eggs, though. And I had some orange juice. Marcie enjoyed some congee with breakfast. It's a warm rice soup-like substance.

One of the families had to go to the hospital this morning with Marie, so Marie wasn't able to take us on a tour of the city. When the doctor did the check up yesterday, he noticed a problem with the baby's heart, so they went to get some preemptive testing done. Fortunately, it turns out, the baby has a heart murmur-- this is something that is not unusual and many children grow out of it. So they were out of the hospital and back at the hotel by mid-day, much to everyone's relief.

Oriole took us on the walking tour, though she didn't really show us anything we didn't already know how to find. But boy were we on display today! People did crowd us and touch the babies and coo over "The Americans" in town with their babies. I don't know if other people get this reaction every time they are out, but we don't. That could be because one small family unit wandering through the crowds isn't a big deal, or it could be because Jason and Marcie look alike-- but whatever the reason, today everyone stopped and stared. The sun was out today, so we put a little hat on Marcie. Her head sure does sweat a lot, though, so I took it off whenever we were inside or in the shade. After we walked around town, we went into the bookstore to see if there were any children's books to purchase. Then we headed off to Starbucks.

This Starbucks was, by far, the most impressive Starbucks I have ever seen. First of all, it was enormous. We were a pretty big group, and we didn't even fill half the place! The shop was actually a comfortable temperature, and the chairs were comfortable too. This is nearly unheard of in Starbucks-- whatever you think of their coffee, it seems like they do everything in their power to make the environment uncomfortable so that you will buy the coffee and leave. They don't like loiterers. I personally think the whole point of the coffee shop experience is the loitering, but then I'm not much of a coffee drinker. In any case, this Starbucks was terrific, and we were able to take the time to feed the girls before we ventured on to the department store to buy items we needed (like clothes or a baby carrier or a stroller).

After Starbucks, we went to the department store, which was really a Macy's even though I have no idea what it was called. We bought a little container to hold the formula mixture for while we are out and about. And we bought a sleeper and a onesie. A size 18-month onsie, which will be a little big, but not too big. I kept picking out pink clothes and the sales clerk kept shaking her head a me and bringing me blue things. I pointed out Marcie to try to explain she was a girl. But I'd dressed Marcie in a blue floral pant set today, so I don't think the clerk understood. Finally I pulled out her green hat with the flower on it and said, "girl." I'm sure she didn't understand the word, but she understood the hat, and she let me buy girly looking clothes after that.

Last, we went into McDonald's for lunch. Fortunately, unlike my KFC experience, I got exactly what I was expecting today-- nuggets. I'm still not entirely clear on how safe the ice is in the stores, though I hear it's fine at Starbucks in the blended drinks, so I imagine McDonald's is okay. I won't risk it though. . . so I dumped out my orange soda back at the hotel. Marcie was a real trooper on our excursion-- she napped on me for about 45 minutes while we were in the Chinese version of Macy's.

After lunch, it was time to go exchange money. You won't see any photos of this excursion on the blog because it all took place in a bank. This was probably the most stressful part of our adoption journey yet. We were supposed to bring $3,000 in brand new US dollars. If you've been following this blog, you know we had a lot of trouble getting new money and basically did the best we could. What I didn't understand, though, was that all the adoption-related fees needed to be in brand-new U.S. hundred dollar bills. I was so nervous about carrying all that cash, and we had so much trouble getting new bills, that we brought traveler's checks. Who doesn't accept them? Well, today we almost found out who! In the time it took me at the window to exchange my $3,900 ($3,000 in one hundred dollar bills and $900 in American Express Traveler's Checks), six other people from our Adoption group completed their $3900 transactions! At first they weren't sure if they could take the traveler's checks. Then they started going through my hundreds. One person looked through them and checked the serial numbers, then looked for the water mark, then sent them through the machine that tells if it's counterfeit. Then another person did the same, only she rejected one! Fortunately for me, Larry was there, with his pre-circulation extra money (which I guess you can order from the bank if it's for an adoption and you give them enough lead-time). He traded my rejected $100 for his brand new $100, and the bank accepted that. Then, they did the traveler's checks. After they figured out what they were and agreed to take them, they really studied my signature on every one. I was very careful not to dot my "i" on my second signature if I hadn't on my first. I was so sweaty and emotionally overwhelmed by the process, that I'm pretty sure I wrote the date wrong on all of them. I wrote 2006/23/08, and I think it should have been 2006/8/23. But whatever. When I turned to go, I thanked all the guys for sticking around-- and they were so kind about it. None of them wanted to leave until they were sure the bank had taken my money. They'd planned to trade me my traveller's checks for their brand new hundreds if necessary-- how nice is that?!? Talk about a team approach! The whole ordeal took about an hour and half, thanks in large part to my traveler's checks fiasco. My advice? Bring ALL cash, and give yourself at least a week so you can order it from your bank! I will also mention, this was one point in time when we were really grateful to have my mom here with us. Jason was feeling really ill (a sinus headache), so while I was at the bank, Marcie got to play with grandma and nap. . . I guess being ill just isn't something you calculate into the plan, but it does happen. Fortunately, Jason was feeling better after a cat nap.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at this sketchy-looking Kodak store to pick up photos we'd dropped off earlier (the disposable cameras we'd sent in care packages). They had them ready and waiting. We got to see photos of the girls with their nannies, in their cribs, in their regular play environment. It was pretty cool. But also a little sad. When we get back to the U.S. and I can scan them, I'll post the photos.

Then it was time for dinner-- in the hotel's Chinese restaurant (where they remembered us from the night before). Marie and Oriole purchased a lotus candle (which you can see in the photo) and we all sang happy birthday to our girls to celebrate their "rebirth" into their new families. Then Brad and Gene, who are part of Apex Ministries, did a little show, in which Gene balanced a chair on his head and Brad and Gene juggled plungers of all things (don't worry, they were brand new, never-been-used). We sat next to Brad and Joia at dinner, and heard all about their adventures with Ava. Ava has a respiratory infection of some kind, and the doctor last night prescribed amoxacillan (which I know I totally misspelled, but I'm tired so cut me some slack). Anyway, Ava had an allergic reaction. So then they gave her Benadryl. And purchased some zithromax. This came up at dinner because one of the other little girls had a bit of a fever, and her parents (Larry and Kyndra) weren't sure if it was because she is teething or because she still hadn't had a bowel movement. Joia commented that if Cassidy needed any medicine, they had a whole pharmacy of options with them!

I don't know what ended up happening with Cassidy, but Marcie hadn't had a bowel movement yet, so we asked for help with a glycerine suppository. I brought some, but I'd heard the one Marie had was really good for babies, and Marie (our guide) said she'd come by and give it to Marcie. I would say not more than 5 minutes after she gave it, Marcie started crying and screeching in pain. It was awful. Her face scrunched up; her head sweated profusely, and she grunted and groaned. I just held her and rubbed her back. The whole event lasted maybe 20 minutes, and when I changed her diaper it seriously smelled like sewage. Poor Marcie-- her system has been totally clogged! She fell asleep on me almost immediately afterward, and she's been asleep since. The last time she ate was at 4:30pm and we didn't give her any rice because she seemed constipated, so we are fully expecting to be waking up in the middle of the night for a feeding tonight. . . tomorrow we are off to an old city, then the zoo is, apparently, the next day. I myself and exhausted (again). The pollution is really getting to my sinuses-- and I haven't run in like two weeks now, so I feel like a total slob. Oh well. That's what parenthood is all about, right?