At the Zoo - Mahlon's Blog Entry

These dolphins, made of flowers,
represent the entrance to the zoo

Sunday we went to the zoo. 

We took the bus to the Guanghzou Zoo.  It took about 30 minutes to get there from our hotel.

I pushed Jackie's stroller
for much of the time

There were so many animals to see, including the giant panda. 

When we got there, it was a crowd of people.  There were so many Chinese out with their kids on a Sunday afternoon that we were packed into a very small space. 



Howler monkey







The first animals we saw were monkeys.  There were many different types.  They were swinging from bar to bar in their cages.  They were very funny. 



Black bear



Next, we made our way to the bear exhibit.  The first bear we saw had big, huge ears as big as a dinner plate.  That was a black bear.  There were several black bears together in one enclosure. 

Grizzly bear looking for treats

The next bear we saw was a grizzly bear.  Both of the grizzlies were in the water, cooling off.  They were swimming and swimming.  One of the bears was near the crowd because they were throwing food into the water.  Of course, you would get arrested if you did this in Denver.  

Siberian tiger





Then it was on to the tiger exhibit.  We saw a bengal tiger, that looked too skinny and a white tiger that was laying against his cage.  We also saw a siberian tiger, a leopard, and a cheetah.  The lions were next, including four cubs who were playing together at the back of the cage.  One of them was adventurous and kept trying to sneak out front, but got too scared because of the crowd, so he ran back.

Pelican

The pond was next.  We saw several pelicans and stopped at the ice cream stand for some very sweet ice cream - that tasted like butter drizzled with chocolate.



Then it was off to the bamboo forest to find the panda bear.  When we emerged from the forest, there was there was the ... GIANT PANDA!  We were very excited to see it and so was everyone else.  It was very crowded at that exhibit.  We spent the most time at this enclosure.  The panda walked around in a circle in its rather large area.  It was so cute, with its big black eyes, sitting on the ground near the crowds.



I finished my ice cream right as we left the panda area.  That's when I started taking all the pictures.  So, the pictures from here on out were taken by me. 

Giraffe

Then there were several smaller enclosures, with mainly hooved animals.  We saw zebras, ealends, oryx, yak, addax, and Chinese goats.  All of them were very interesting.





Red rhinocerous



The last hooved animal we saw was the giraffe.  They had a very large enclosure and several giraffes were living there together along with an ostrich. Right across from that enclosure were two rhinos.  They were hard to take a picture of because the barrier was so high - probably to protect us from them instead of the other way around.

  



African elephant



Finally, we made our way to the ... ELEPHANTS!  I took so many pictures there.  There was one Asian elephant and one African elephant.  The Asian was the first one we saw.  The African was farther away, blowing dust on her back to cool herself down.  But, then the African elephant came near the fence, so I got some great photos of her as well.



Asian elephant



  





Before I knew it, it was time to get back on the bus. 

It was a great day at the Guanghzou Zoo.  I wish you all could have joined me.



Sunday in Guanghzou - More Pictures


 Nothing happens on Sunday in Guanghzou, so it was another day in the city.  Mae is going to do a special posting on our trip to zoo, so I will just include some more pictures from the last 48 hours.  Most of these are from the pearl market - which is really a five-story shopping mall with every kind of precious and not-so-precious stones for sale. 





Mae in the Pearl Market surrounded
by about 100,000,000 pearls




Pearls, pearls and more pearls

  

Jackie pointing at Mae
through the aisles of
pearls







 



One of hundreds of bags \

of thousands of pearls.






A dog made completely out
of pearls

 

Mae with one of the other big
sisters, Alexis, from Colorado Springs



Lyn and Jackie on yet
another bus trip



Shopping center for pearls
and other precious stones
five levels high

More Pictures



Here are some assorted pictures from the past couple of days.  It's a waiting day, so we are just filling out forms and enjoying our time together.



Mae and me on our first full day

in Guanghzou



Lyn and Mae on the bus

to get Jackie



Jackie and Lyn at the

Six Banyon Tree Temple

 



Jackie playing catch





 

Jackie's first bath with us







Tour of Guanghzou

Today was a processing day.  So, we went on a tour of Guanghzou.  The tour included an ancient Buddhist Temple, constructed in 547 A.D., known as the Six Banyon Tree Temple.  The second stop was a house of the Chen family, which demonstrated the four specialties of the Guangdong Province - embroidery, porcelian, ivory (bone) carving, and bronze sculpture.  Finally, we went to a traditional Chinese arts fair. 

Here are some pictures from today's event.

The Big Sister

It was never in doubt, but now we have proof that Mahlon is a great bigsister.

Not only is Mahlon there for Jackie, feeding her and giving her something to drink, she's also amazingly patient as we clamor from place to place completing paperwork.  Mae was showing off Jackie to all the other big sisters when we went shopping this afternoon.  In fact, Mae seems to have discovered Jackie's greatest love in life - farm animals.  Mae went to Timbuk Toys before we left for China and purchased a small set of farm animals in a zipper bag.  Ever since Mae gave them to Jackie last night, Jackie hasn't let the bag out of her steel grip. 

Mae and Jackie in the Swan Room
on November 10, 2010

In fact, Jackie has three favorite things of all time. 

1. her farm animals
2. a ball that Mahlon bought her at the store yesterday
3. the panda bear that we all picked out for Jackie's care package, which she was clutching when we first saw her two days ago.

Mahlon was exclusively responsible for the first two and was an essential player in the third.  And, as I write this, Mahlon is playing catch with Jackie.

I am so pleased we brought Mahlon.  She's been perfect.

It's Official - We Have Adopted Jackie



Lyn and Jackie at the Civil
Affairs office on day #2



Today is all about making the adoption official.  Yesterday, they gave us Jackie.  Today, we had to go back to the very place where the exchange happened and answer questions with the government officials who oversee the adoption program for the Civil Affairs office.  You would think that something as traumatic as yesterday - and let me tell you, it was traumatic - would have made that place intolerable.  At the very least, you might expect that the older kids might be worried that they were being returned.  But, the kids did a remarkably good job. 

While we were there, we were interviewed by the notary public and by an official of the Chinese government.  Both interviews went smoothly.  We professed our love for Jackie and signed the papers.  They also took a picture of the three of us for their records.  When we signed the last paper, it was official - we adopted Jackie.  It was among the most important moments of our lives and yet it slipped by so easily. 

Much of the time there was spent waiting for the other families or your next appointment, so there was lots of downtime.  During a slow moment, Jackie started looking at her reflection in the glass of the photography studio.  At one point, she realized that Lyn was several feet behind her, prompting her to run back to Lyn with a big hug.  She then went back to the glass and looked again at her reflection before running back to Lyn again.  After that, it was a game that Jackie must have done 30 more times.  Below is an upload of a very short version of the game - which went on for 30 minutes.

We are back at the White Swan Hotel now, but later tonight there will be passport photos and dinner at a Thai restaurant.  When Mae heard about the Thai place, she turned up her nose and howled in disgust, until we told her that Thai is the food we order from the Moongate restaurant at home all the time.  Her response was immediate and something resembling a shout in triumph.  I think she's looking forward to dinner. 

The Exchange

With her caregiver from the Jiangmen City Orphanage

The exchange went perfectly.  They said it would be 3:30pm, but at 2:45 in the Guanghzou Civil Affairs office we were handed Jiang Xue Lan.  She sat there, dazed, with a blank look on her face for the first 15 minutes - taking in everything around her.  Then, suddenly, she let loose a blood curdling cry and everyone in the room, where there must have been 30 new parents, turned to look at us.  All I could think was, yep, that's my daughter.

Waiting to leave the Civil Affairs office

We brought her back to the hotel and sat with her for an hour, listening to music and trying to make her feel comfortable.  When it was time to start thinking about bed, Lyn removed Jackie's clothes to reveal terrible skin rashes all over her body from years of untreated eczema.  Lyn and Mahlon applied some baby lotion all over Jackie's body and suddenly Jackie was like a new kid.  She broke out in a big smile for Lyn and began laughing when Lyn prodded her a bit. 

Putting lotion on Jackie's very dry skin

Mahlon and I ran to the 7 Eleven to get some juice and milk for the next day and we ordered a pizza from Papa Johns because it was getting too late to take Jackie anywhere.  (and yes, we are in China).

Jackie went to sleep without a peep at 8pm.  It was a perfect evening.

Tomorrow is another day full of forms and meetings, so off to bed we go.

Jackie's first smile (with us)

We are having trouble linking pictures to this post because China is blocking our upload.  But I will add them when we get up tomorrow morning.

One Hour to Go

The White Swan Hotel in Guanghzou

The bus ride to get Jackie is one hour away and Lyn is counting and recounting the cash we hand to agents, Mae is bouncing off the walls, and I am taking a moment to write it all down.  It's like a psych class experiment. 

In the last 24 hours, we have met the CCAI representatives, some of the other families, and settled into our room at the hotel.  All that goes out the window in just a couple of minutes. 

Some interesting facts:
1. We are in the best hotel in Guanghzou, but the room is about as big as our walk-in closet. 
2. The beds are very hard, which suits me fine but Lyn has taken to using the cushions on the chairs to fluff up her side of the twin bed that we are both sleeping on.
3. We went to lunch yesterday and proceeded to pay $120 in U.S. dollars for a meal that should have cost us about $20 because we didn't understand the conversion.  It was certainly the most expensive plate of noodles I have ever had.  For her part, Mahlon had two buttered rolls and some watermelon for her $40.  Lesson learned.

We Have Arrived

We have arrived in China.  It took 31 hours from door to door.  The flights were long, but fine.  We thought our luggage was lost when we had to wait for an hour at Guanghzou airport, but it was just a slow process.  We stayed up as late as possible last night - 7:30pm - and slept for 11 hours. 

Here's a picture of Lyn and Mae during the trip.

The hotel - The White Swan - is great.  The breakfast buffet this morning included just about everything that would qualify as breakfast in the east and the west.  We are heading to the swimming pool now to burn off some of Mahlon's energy.   

We have today to acclimate.  We get Jackie tomorrow.