Reunion!

Bryn and Caia...together again!


After being back from China for a month we finally had a chance to get Bryn and Caia together for their first playdate at home. Bryn and I ventured out today for our first road trip without Girard (which went much better than I thought) to meet with Shea and Caia at "Grandma Darlene's" (Shea's mom). And what fun it was!

For those of you who don't know, Caia and her mom, Shea, were in our travel group. We're so very lucky to have been able to share this amazing experience with someone from Saskatoon and it will be fun to watch Bryn and Caia grow up together.

Caia is such a happy girl and so funny! She loves to squeal and is full of energy...now I know why Shea calls her "Crazy Caia". The girls had a great time sharing Cheerios and toys and Shea and I had fun catching up and swapping baby stories.



Bryn and Caia share a snack. Shea's niece, Ayven, is in the background on her Auntie Shea's lap.

Travel Ramblings No. 2

Bryn with a rose she received at our farewell supper

We learned a lot about Peking duck from our guide, Fay, during a long bus trip in Beijing. She talked and talked about Peking duck, so much so that among our travel companions, the eyes were glistening (possibly from near exhaustion) and the mouths were watering (possibly from uncontrollable drool due to exhaustion) by the time we arrived at the restaurant for a Peking duck lunch. We should have taken notes, but as far as we can remember the duck selected at a young age to be a Peking duck is doomed. It enjoys life while it is still with us, as it is pampered, injected with fat and watched over as if it is guarding the family jewels. Then, of course, nature takes its course, it is carved into about 120 pieces, and set out on a platter. So after the obligatory glass of beer, I was ready for the Peking duck, and as duck goes it was very moist, and tasty and fatty, and did not contain any lead shot, which as a kid I would accidentally chomp on while eating duck — the bounty from my dad's hunting expeditions.

It has been four weeks since our return to Canada, and I find myself desperately missing our lunches in China. Who can top Peking duck, eaten on Bryn's first birthday (Feb. 10)? In fact, other than that whole business of getting our baby, some of the most memorable moments of our trip to China involve the people with whom we shared the experience, and the food we ate together.


James, Helena, Beth and Ava Hendricksen pose for a family photo on our last day in Beijing


Gary and Marvin (left) dig into a typical lunch feast

Buried in the travel notes supplied by our adoption agency was a line about how adoptive parents tend to lose weight during their two weeks in China. Such people weren't part of our group, as we enjoyed some fabulous feasts. But things didn't get off to a great start. Our first meal as a group occurred on the first night all of us were in Beijing, the Sunday night before we got our girls. It was a hot pot type supper, wherein one boiled in some kind of small vat all of our food, from cabbage to beef, chicken to veggies. Being North American, the thought of boiling our raw chicken in the same vat as our veggies made us squirm. After that meal, I thought the agency was right — I'd be shedding some pounds on this trip. (Word to the wise for future travels — go easy on the cabbage.)


We dive cautiously into our first meal

The next day we travelled to — for China — the little city of Nanchang (pop. four million) to get the kids. We arrived at our hotel in time for lunch, and to our delight, it was a North American-style hotel. Our Saskatoon travelling companions Shea and Darlene joined us for a buffet, so I filled my plate with recognizable foods — we were getting the babies that afternoon and I didn't particularly want any cabbage moments to spoil the day. Here we are in a relatively poorer region of China — I'm half-way around the globe and I should be partaking in the local flavour of the country, food and all — but I'm thrilled to find pizza by the slice.

The next week, in Beijing, there was much joy about the close proximity of a McDonald's to our hotel. Rae and I have been together for what seems like 34 years, give or take, and I can remember us going to McDonald's once in all that time, and that was because nieces and nephews wanted to use the play area. But we and our very good friends Carolyn and Marvin had a memorable meal at a Beijing McDonald's, if not for the food, then for the interest we generated among the crowd. We did have our adventurous moments, though. A side order of camel hump one day, fried eel on another occasion, a shot of 56-proof rice-based liquor to close another scrumptuous lunch.


Dads Girard and Marvin worship at a shrine called McDonald's

All in all, I really miss the eight course lunches at the big round tables. This was where we got know each other, talk about our ups and downs, watch the babies and chow down ourselves. I also miss the buffet breakfasts, the sausages and bacon, stir fried rice and potatoes, breads and buns, fruits and juices. What a start to the day. By contrast, now that I am home, one morning this week I was able to sneak in a Cheez Whiz on bread sandwich between looking after Bryn, taking the dog for a walk and running errands. My lips smack when I think about the breakfast buffets in China.


Bryn and Roshandra get acquainted during our farewell supper


Kennedy and Caia become friends during a supper in Nanchang

Mostly, though, I remember our last night out in Beijing, such a release of energy and emotion. The food was spicy, very hot for our tastes (travel tip — don't chew on red things), the group was loud, there were birthday cakes and gifts presented, songs sung, pictures taken and stories told. Amid the general mayhem we sensed that this was the last time all of us will be gathered in the same place, at the same time, and we better make the most of it. We told each other we would keep in contact, and through the magic of emails and blogs share our experiences as parents and watch our girls grow. But emails and blogs can't convey our emotions — we had grown in a short span of time very attached to our friends in our group. We have very fond memories of good food shared among great company, and these memories sustain us as we settle into the routine of daily life.


General mayhem during our final night out in Beijing, complete with cake for the kids


The proud mothers, and one dad, and daughters

Snow day

Yesterday we discovered Bryn doesn't like the snow. We wanted to get a picture of her on the huge snowbanks in our yard but the minute we plopped her on top the snowbank she started to cry. This is the only shot we managed to get before we had to take her inside and cheer her up.

Last night Bryn's Auntie Nonie and Uncle Wayne came to visit and Bryn was putting on quite a show for them. She's really coming out of her shell. We also visited at Girard's office and she was a hit there, too. Girard goes back to work on Monday so it will be another adjustment for Bryn (and me) but I know we'll do just fine. Girard would much rather stay home and have me go back to work but fortunately I came out the winner in that discussion.

Tomorrow we're going to the monthly gathering of the Saskatoon group of children adopted from China. We'll finally be able to met Regan, newest daughter of Sharon and Daryl Lesyshyn and sister for Tanys, who came home the week before us from Guandong. We'll post some photos in the next few days of them and the other children we meet there.



Look out Rocky Balboa!


Who's the pretty baby?



Jessie reading one of Bryn's books

Repost - Travel Ramblings No. 1, Part 1

For some reason the photos on the March 2 post of this have disappeared. Some of you are still wanting to see the photos so we're reposting this in two parts, hoping it works.


(Nanchang travelogue, first of my random thoughts of our trip to China.)



Smoggy first night in Beijing


We'd still be in Nanchang if not for Gary. Some people edit words for a living (that would be me), but others do things that are useful to society, such as fix bus engines. I had a great view of everything too. We were on our way to the Nanchang airport on Feb. 9, babies and spouses in tow, when our ice-veined bus driver was faced with a dilemma. He could plough head-on into a black Audi that had suddenly crossed what can, in Nanchang, only loosely be called a centre line. The centre line in Nanchang is actually more like a guideline, in which generally traffic stays on one side or the other, but if you feel like it you can cross over and just for fun watch the vehicles scatter. Or, our bus driver could avoid a certain collision by stalling the bus and limping to the shoulder. So we limped to the shoulder.



Another traffic tie-up in Nanchang


Lucky for us it was downhill or Gary would have had to get out and push us. We were stalled, and the engine wouldn't start, and we and our kids had a flight to catch to Beijing, but I had no fear. Since Gary works with heavy equipment at a construction company in Regina, I knew a) that he might know what he's doing, and b) if he does know and doesn't have the parts or tools, he'll use good old Saskatchewan ingenuity and concoct something with binder twine and the cuff of his pants. I don't know how he did it, but Gary got the bus going. If only he knew how to fix airline toilets, but we are getting ahead of ourselves.



Gary examines the stalled bus, James supervises, frantic Cindy tries to figure out Plan B


We left Nanchang, and Jiangxi Province, on Feb. 9 with bittersweet memories. This is the province of my daughter's birth. Her first home was a couple of hundred kilometres to the southeast, in the city of Xinyu, southeast China. She's had a rough go of life so far; we hope to change that but on Feb. 9 we had only had her for four days, and while we had waited for her for months and loved her from the moment two months earlier when we first saw her photo, she had not been waiting for us. She didn't ask to join our family, and maybe if given a choice she wouldn't have wanted to. But by the time we took that bus ride out of Nanchang, she seemed somewhat content, if not a little mystified at the strange voices her parents made when they talked to her and dangled things in front of her nose.

As we left Nanchang I thought about the journey we had taken: the long flight from Vancouver to Beijing, our stomachs doing cartwheels in anticipation and fear of the unknown, my panic attacks over losing our passports and paperwork. Seated on the flight behind us were Kevin and Catherine, whom we did not yet know, but Kevin soon learned about my missing passport phobia, which provided no end of amusement. Oh the laughs we had at my expense.



Catherine and Kevin enjoy the plane trip to Beijing


We landed in Beijing on Sunday in a shroud of choking, grimy pollution, so thick I thought I could set my drink on it. We met the other couples in our group, and I was relieved to find out Tsingtao beer is not so bad after all. We were up early Monday, Feb. 5, shared breakfast with the Kazakhstan national soccer team, and soon were back at the airport to fly to Nanchang. We were a tired lot when we arrived in the afternoon, but I sensed our spirits pick up when we met our guide, Cindy, a bright, radiant university student who, more than anyone, was responsible for getting our group through the week and on the bus to the Nanchang airport with kids on our hips and our spirits intact.



Bryn and Cindy say farewell at the Nanchang airport

Repost - Travel Ramblings No. 1, Part 2

The rest of that first day in Nanchang is a blur, memories fading into one another. It was decided we would walk to pick up our babies from the government office, a 15 or 20 minute stroll skirting grimy bike shops, choking traffic and clogged sidewalks. We were quite the sight during our Great Leap Forward, a dozen or so Canadian couples walking in a row, picking our way through the congestion. We got more than a few gawks, but the reception was more one of bemusement than hostility. Speaking for myself, by the time we arrived at our destination on the 26th floor of the office complex, I was numb. Soon it was our turn to receive our daughter. Joy, camera flashes and screams filled the room.



First photo we have of Rae and Bryn



Girard gets a turn, and Bryn doesn't scream



The walk that produced the gawks



Was this really happening to me, I thought? Is the old me having a nap on the couch, sun in my face and dog on my lap, dreaming about becoming a dad? Truth be told, that "is it really happening to me" feeling still lingers, four weeks after the fact. So do the bittersweet memories of Nanchang, a city that did not make a good first impression. But the longer we stayed, the more we got to like the people — the courteous servers at our hotel restaurant who had to pick up after us and our kids, the gracious and smiling staff at restaurants, the families we met strolling through an amusement park, the friendly workers at Wal-Mart trying to understand my pleas to find the beer aisle and the laughs each of us had when we couldn't communicate. These are people who seem to enjoy their work, cherish their families, love their kids. Funny, then, that as glad as we were to leave Nanchang on Feb. 9 and be closer to home, we were sad that no one was there to say goodbye to our little Bryn when she left her homeland on the laps of strangers.



Little Miss Bryn in our Nanchang hotel room