Dumpling banquet

Last night, on our last evening in Xi'an, we went to a Tang Dynasty-themed show that included a dumpling banquet. We had close to 20 courses (one dumpling each course, per person), featuring dumplings designed to look like the filling on the inside. Rachel Guanglan ate the equivalent of 8 dumplings herself, plus appetizers.

A stage show in the tradition of the Tang Dynasty followed, lasting about an hour. Rachel was transfixed, although she covered her ears during the high notes played by the flat flute. It was a nice way to end our visit in Xi'an. Today, we're just waiting for her passport and our plane ride to Guangzhou. Rachel had a great morning, but she really fought her nap today. In the process she worked herself up into wild crying, during which she was trying to tell me what her mother (not me, she made clear) would say about all this. It's hard to differentiate real grieving from a 3-year-old's attempt to avoid a nap, but sometimes we think the latter segues to the former. She did eventually climb up onto the bed, snuggled up and went promptly asleep.

How this bodes for our flight tonight (early morning in the US) we're not sure, so all prayers will be appreciated!

Should have noted...

Taking photos of Rachel Guanglan's finding place required some derring-do on Brent's part. Our driver stopped the van ON THE HIGHWAY (no shoulder), and Brent climbed up along the railing to get photos of the area. That behavior is not especially unusual in China, though! People park on sidewalks, on the road -- pretty much anywhere they can find room in the city. We don't suppose parking on the highway would be tolerated very long, but it only took a couple minutes to get the shots.

In Xi'an, and perhaps elsewhere in China, the highway patrol uses cameras to catch traffic violators, then posts fines to the vehicle owner's account. When the time comes to renew registration, drivers have to settle up for the year. I suppose it's some kind of deterrent, but despite what we are told are steep fines, many drivers seem very haphazard. Driving conditions are much better on the highways than on city streets, though, so maybe it works.

Area of finding place

Photos

Days 3-4 with Rachel Guanglan

The last couple days have been great fun, until about supper time, when Rachel Guanglan starts to declare it's time to go home. (We THINK that's what she's saying. We're told she has a countryside accent, strong enough that our Xi'an native guide David can only pick out a word or two per sentence.) The orientation Holt gave us again was spot on: After the initial couple hours of terror, she realized we were going to be a lot of fun, so she was all bubbles and sunshine for about 24 hours. Then, nightfall the second night, she thought, "Well, that was fun. Time to go home." She had a terrible tantrum/crying jag, then finally agreed to crawl into bed and fell promptly asleep. Yesterday we made sure she had her nap so that tiredness didn't exacerbate her grief. Last night, she started in with the same crying, but it seemed more like a normal tantrum and less like wild grief. That seemed more certain when I produced a piece of gum, pointed to it, and told her in my basic Mandarin
that she could have gum when she stopped crying. She grabbed a tissue, blew her nose, wiped her eyes, and reached for the gum. She fell asleep contentedly next to us in bed.

She's very stubborn and persistent -- bossy, even -- which with boundaries will serve her well in life. Right now, it just means she repeats the same demand over and over, regardless of whether you tell her no, later, wait, or don't even understand. We can't imagine what this must be like for her.

However, she had a great time yesterday on our tour of the Wild Goose Pagoda and city wall -- running, jumping, laughing, teasing, sharing with the other Holt family in Shaanxi Province, and demonstrating abundant curiosity. Today at the Terra Cotta Army, it was much the same. During the day, she is a bubbly, energetic preschooler who wants to be near us. But she didn't get a nap today, so we'll see how tonight goes!

We got to see her finding place today too, although the information we have is so general that we're not really certain of the exact place. It's basically a highway tunnel near a train station. There is a pedestrian/bicycle area, and we're guessing that's where she was found.

Finalized

It's official -- Rachel Guanglan Bruffett is our daughter. Now we wait in Xi'an for her passport and the translated adoption documents. That will give us several days to see the sites of Xi'an. The plan is to visit the city wall and Wild Goose Pagoda tomorrow, then the Terra Cotta Army on Wednesday. We also hope to go to a dumpling banquet one evening. We will visit the city gate that was Rachel's finding place.

We're here with a family from Louisiana, and they and their new daughter are a delight. We'll always remember how scared we all were of the aggressive style of our skilled driver. Brent says driving is as much an art here as a skill. The streets seem much more intimidating here than in Beijing or in the other Chinese cities we visited in 2008. Pedestrians have no right of way ever, which makes the prospect of crossing the street to go to the nearby department store hard to face, even with our guide's promise of big holiday sales. We have enough clothes for Rachel, but we didn't bring many toys. So far she is well-occupied, so the live-action game of Frogger can wait another day.

photos with last post

Guanglan has landed

Well, it's the middle of the night and Rachel is fast asleep. She had a very rough first couple hours. She was there already when we arrived at the appointment. At first she was OK holding my hand and even being held, but once she figured out her auntie was not staying, she freaked out. She had just left her foster mom that morning -- the same woman who has raised her from the age of 2 months, even longer than we'd thought. The grieving process is going to be rough.

However, after doing some more paperwork with our guide back at the hotel, during which she cried to go back home, I took her for a walk in the lobby. I think she thought we were leaving at first, so she was in a good mood, and then we ran into the other Holt family in our province, who were getting ready to go to supper in the lobby restaurant with their cutie. Rachel tried to DRAG me into the restaurant, so after popping upstairs to tell Daddy we were going to try to eat, we went back and got a table.

She instantly transformed -- she ate up two little bowls of soup, a plate of fresh fruit, and a good portion of my noodle dish. All the while she was flirting, teasing, and finally REALLY smiling. Her mood continued even back up in our room, where she showed new interest in the little toys and gadgets we'd brought. We waited a little while then Skyped with Lillian, Grandpa and Grammie, and while we were talking, she fell asleep on my lap. She woke up a little while as I put jammies on her, but went right to sleep between us in the bed. (We did too, which is why we're now wide awake in the middle of the night!)

We're preparing for lots of mood swings, and it may be tough today when we go back for the finalization, where she'll see an auntie again. Her grieving may take a while, but at least we know she can be comfortable with us. She is so darling, and it tears your heart to see her so sad, but she has a big capacity for love.

The other photo is what the check-in line at the Beijing airport looked like at 6 a.m. before our flight. Our guide was our hero, though, as she made the process smooth for us.

Guanglan has landed

Well, it's the middle of the night and Rachel is fast asleep. She had a very rough first couple hours. She was there already when we arrived at the appointment. At first she was OK holding my hand and even being held, but once she figured out her auntie was not staying, she freaked out. She had just left her foster mom that morning -- the same woman who has raised her from the age of 2 months, even longer than we'd thought. The grieving process is going to be rough.

However, after doing some more paperwork with our guide back at the hotel, during which she cried to go back home, I took her for a walk in the lobby. I think she thought we were leaving at first, so she was in a good mood, and then we ran into the other Holt family in our province, who were getting ready to go to supper in the lobby restaurant with their cutie. Rachel tried to DRAG me into the restaurant, so after popping upstairs to tell Daddy we were going to try to eat, we went back and got a table.

She instantly transformed -- she ate up two little bowls of soup, a plate of fresh fruit, and a good portion of my noodle dish. All the while she was flirting, teasing, and finally REALLY smiling. Her mood continued even back up in our room, where she showed new interest in the little toys and gadgets we'd brought. We waited a little while then Skyped with Lillian, Grandpa and Grammie, and while we were talking, she fell asleep on my lap. She woke up a little while as I put jammies on her, but went right to sleep between us in the bed. (We did too, which is why we're now wide awake in the middle of the night!)

We're preparing for lots of mood swings, and it may be tough today when we go back for the finalization, where she'll see an auntie again. Her grieving may take a while, but at least we know she can be comfortable with us. She is so darling, and it tears your heart to see her so sad, but she has a big capacity for love.

The other photo is what the check-in line at the Beijing airport looked like at 6 a.m. before our flight. Our guide was our hero, though, as she made the process smooth for us.

But the big news of the day...

...was the update on Rachel Guanglan we received after orientation this morning. While some families received multiple photos, we received just one, but in that photo we see how much she's changed since the much earlier photos we'd seen of her. We also received updated measurements, which if correct could make fitting into her 4T clothes a bit tough, let alone the handful of 3Ts we brought.

We leave Beijing early Sunday morning and will meet her Sunday afternoon in Xi'an. That's now less than 19 hours away!