June 25, 2015 What A Homecoming!

We woke up at the crack of dawn and boarded a van for the drive to Hong Kong to catch our flight back to the US.  The drive provided some amazing views of China.  Here's one crossing the bridge into Hong Kong.  This pic does not do it justice...it was an awesome view.

After three pukes, two leaky bags and one pissed off driver, we arrived in Hong Kong.   When we boarded the plane we were so worried about stocking up on barf bags we completely forgot to get a pic of Liya on her first plane ride.  Third child syndrome is kicking in already.  The good news is her motion sickness does not include planes or maybe having your pockets stuffed with barf bags somehow cures her!  She made it through both flights without an incident.  She enjoyed watching TV and slept quite a bit during the long flight.  Our flight out of HK was delayed about an hour and a half.  We arrived late to Chicago and the baggage took forever to come out.  Since we were adopting, we had to go through customs and an additional immigration area.  Let me just say that I appreciate the thankless job the customs and immigration officials do, but someone needs to implement some serious standard operating procedures within these organizations.  This is the first impression visitors/immigrants have of our country and it's not a pretty one.  First off, when we came to the additional immigration area and stood in line, no one was there to help direct us on where to go.  Meanwhile, I counted 8 officers just standing around.  Finally, one of them came over and instructed us to line up our paperwork on a desk and have a seat.  When the guy was one stack away from ours, he disappeared.   Twenty minutes later a new lady walked up and stacked all the paperwork in the opposite order from the way the first guy had them.  Which meant the last folks to put their paperwork in line were the first ones helped.  We were cutting it close because of our delay, but we might have had a chance without going through this debacle.  Anyway, we missed our connection to St. Louis and when we tried to get a new flight there were only two options, one flight with two seats that left at 8pm and another flight at 10:30pm that had three available seats.  That was it and we were a group of six!  We decided to send Nicky and Liya on the 8pm flight (sometimes it pays to have motion sickness) and the rest of us rented a car and drove.  It turned out that there was bad weather in STL that delayed Nicky and Liya's flight so we wound up getting to the STL airport within minutes of each other.  That ended a very long 32 hours of traveling.  The good news is we made it home.  Thanks to the big welcoming committee that met us at the airport.   

 

Liya must like my driving or I had a few spare barf bags in my pockets because she made it home from the airport just fine.  Twenty minutes after we arrived home, she lost her first tooth!  Not sure if she's expecting the Tooth Fairy to pay in Yuan or US dollars.

Home safe and sound in her own bed. With panda and pillow pet on top of her.

 

On behalf of our entire family I would like to say thank you for following us throughout this process and a huge thank you to everyone that helped in so many different ways make this a reality.  Now the real journey begins!

June 24, 2015 Last Day in China

We began our last day in China with breakfast at the hotel buffet, just like we've done since we have arrived here.  We have developed a few routines with the breakfast buffet.  First, the bacon here is severely undercooked...Matt Warren could not begin to handle the bacon here.  Early on, I asked the omelet chef if he could put a few pieces on his griddle and cook them a little..actually a lot longer.  He agreed and every day after that he would see me coming and hold out his spatula waiting for me to give him the undercooked bacon.  The second routine is that the kids always grab an extra piece of bread that they never eat.  After we are finished with breakfast we take the extra pieces right out side the restaurant and feed the koi fish.  

 

After breakfast we boarded the metro and took it to Shaimen island without any hitches.  

When we arrived, the girls went onto the island while Jack and I decided to stay on the other side because we wanted to explore the markets.  We had heard from another US family that the markets were awesome.  The plan was to meet at the Starbucks on Shaimen island after two hours.


Jack and I hit the food markets first.  Row after row of foods that I have never seen before that covers about two square city blocks.  Side note, it is so much fun to walk a little bit behind Jack to watch all the people turn and stare at his hair.  The old ladies love to come up and pet him and the daring ones come up and take selfies with him.  It's almost like he's a movie star over here.  I am pretty sure he will miss all the attention once he returns to the states.  After the food market we came upon the electronics market.  Row after row of cell phones, phone accessories, cameras, etc. for another two square blocks.  Then came the toy markets.  Here's a pic of some crazy monkey dude that was running around the toy market.

That's as far as we got before it was time to head back.  We decided to take a cab because we were short on time...big mistake!  We got in and I told him we wanted to go to Shaimen island.  He looked back at me like he didn't understand.  I did my best impression of an island with water around it.  He nodded and off we went.  Right out of the gates he took a right when I thought we should be going left.  I started telling him left, left, left, but left in English must mean straight in Chinese cause he kept on going straight.  Then he headed for a highway.  I told him to pull off and he finally he did.  At this point we were too far away to walk and we were in an area that is old school China.  No one spoke English and there were no hotels (the staff in the hotels speak English and I knew they would be able to help us).  We walked around for a few blocks looking for a hotel.  First we found a police station.  I asked a police officer for help.  He started speaking Chinese faster than I've ever heard anyone speak Chinese.  I could tell he was asking for my passport, which I did not have on me, so I played dumb and we got the hell out of there as quickly as we could.  Next we came to a temple.  All the incense helped calm our nerves and I figured we might find someone that could help us there.  We tried to walk in, but before we could the guard and the homeless guy both told us in perfect English we had to buy a ticket first.  When I asked them if they could help us get to Shaimen island, they both acted like they couldn't speak English.  At this point we had walked about ten blocks and decided we better get back to a main road.  On the way back, we saw a teenager in a school uniform so I asked him if he spoke English, he kept walking like he didn't hear me, but an angel of a woman stopped and said she spoke English.  She agreed to tell the taxi driver where we needed to go so I hailed a cab and she told him where we needed to go. We made it back to the Starbucks an hour later than we had agreed to.  The girls were gone and I knew Nicky was going to be pissed.  I knew if we took a cab we could beat them back to the hotel and lessen her concern, but there was no way in hell we were getting back in a cab.  We took the metro back and arrived to Nicky in tears.  She thought we had been taken down a knockoff alley and had been kidnapped or had gotten hurt and were in the hospital somewhere.  She said that if we were a half hour later she was going to call the police.  I decided not to inform her that she wouldn't have gotten anywhere with the police!  I feel horrible for worrying her, but I never intended for any of this to happen and with no cell service, it's like we're back in the 80's.  At this point, I am passing it over to Nicky to tell you about her shopping experience.

Well the shopping was great. We picked up the last of the souvenirs. As Mike said we were to meet at the Starbucks at 11:45. Of course being women like we are and prompt we hurried the last purchase and got there on time. 12:00 came around and Liya had fallen asleep in my lap. After about 1/2 an hour I started to worry. I thought either they had walked too far and headed back to the hotel or something really bad had happened. We waited until 12:30 and then I decided we better head back to the hotel. My mom thought we should wait a bit longer but I thought no way they were still coming. My mom, Liya, Taylor and I managed the subway and transferring trains all on our own. Each time we would come to a stop we would all start looking at the maps. Not Liya. She would point one direction each time and each time she was exactly correct on which way we should go. My mom and I were hardly speaking the whole way back. We were both praying and trying to keep it together. You can imagine the shock when we walked in the apartment and they weren't there. I lost it. Poor Liya went and told grandma that mommy was crying. My mom fixed the girls some lunch while I sat in the window from my bedroom for about 20 minutes watching the escalator to the subway. From our bedroom you can see the people coming up the escalator right in front of the hotel. I was praying like I have never prayed before and said so many hail Mary's and Our Father's. I could not believe it when finally I saw them come up the escalator. I ran upstairs to let everyone know they were safe and home. I of course was crying and yelling at Mike when they walked in. Jack told me he was scared when they were lost. I was so relieved they were home.

The rest of the afternoon was spent packing and swimming. Simon and his wife met us for dinner to have one last goodbye dinner. At dinner we were talking about the afternoon. Simon was scolding us because he had told us to just stay home all day and rest before our big trip home. But of course we had shopping to do. Earlier when Mike was gone Liya kept putting her hand to her ear like just call "ba ba"'daddy. She probably thought we were the dumbest people around. Anyway Simon explained what we were talking about at dinner and she basically knew what was going on all day. Such a smart kid!

Tonight before dinner Liya asked if we could make her hair curly. She saw grandma putting her curlers in so we obliged and put curlers in her hair. It didn't really work because her hair was still wet. I managed to get a few curls in with the curling iron. Below is a pic of her in her curlers. 

Also a pic of her first hair cut. Yesterday grandma asked her if she wanted a trim and she said yes!

Well it's almost midnight here and we are being picked up at 6:00 am for our ride to Hong Kong. From there we fly out at noon for Chicago. I am so grateful for this amazing experience. Things have gone so well all things considered. No one got sick and I want to give a big shout out to my mom. For a 73 year old lady she has kept up pretty well. She is probably exhausted and will sleep for a week when we get home! She has been a real trooper and I am so grateful for her help during this trip!
So exited to get home and see everyone and for everyone to meet Liya. She has no idea what awaits her. Thanks for following us on this amazing journey!

Mike here again...Someone please call Pepsi to make sure they have a Diet Dew truck ready when we touch down in Chicago.  We're coming home baby!

Monday June 22 - Zoo & Ocean World

Today we basically had a free day. Simon had on our schedule to visit the zoo. We took the subway there which Liya was thrilled about since it didn't involve getting in a car. We warned the kids that the zoo might not be as humane as our zoos in the US but we were pleasantly surprised. Other than the animals being really close to you- no restrictions on cage requirements - it was pretty good. We decided before going in to also purchase tickets for ocean world. Taylor was super excited as she loves any marine life. It cost $20 per person and ended up being completely worth it since it rained for about 2 hours today. The ocean world is all inside so we escaped getting wet. We were all most excited about seeing the pandas.  We were told there were twin panda bears there. Well just to show you how much they love their panda bears, they have an enclosed air conditioned glass cage for the panda bears. Since it's so hot right now they were inside and we could hardly see them from the glare on the windows. We did manage to get one pic but a big disappointment.

Ocean world on the other hand was not a disappointment. We got to touch and feed sea turtles. Taylor was again disturbed that they were letting people reach in and touch them and the fact that they had such a small aquarium for them considering the number of turtles in one area. But again a cool experience. At the end of the day we decided to take in the dolphin show.  It included sea lions, a beluga whale and dolphins. The most disturbing part was the clown that came out to entertain everyone in between animals. The clown came out and was juggling and spinning plates on his fingers. The disturbing part was how he rewarded audience volunteers. After the volunteers helped, he reached into the front of his clown pants and pulled out a toy for each participant. It was very strange but everyone seemed to think it was very entertaining.

 

 

 

 


After the zoo we came back to recuperate. With the rain and humidity today it was pretty bad. Mike headed out shortly after we were back to "explore". He convinced Jack to go with him with promises of fake Legos. They found this one crazy store that has fake Lego guys that you put together. Mike and Jack make a daily sometimes multiple trips a day there. I am sure the lady thinks he is crazy!  Here are a few pics from their exploring trip today.

 

 

 

For dinner we decided on pizza again. What I would give for a big salad and diet coke. Very ready to come home. Only 2 more days and we head for Hong Kong. Tomorrow we go for the visa interview to apply for Liya's visa. Jack and Taylor will stay back with Grandma. Grandma, Taylor and I will head back out in the afternoon for more shopping. Then Wednesday is our last day - a free day while we wait for the visa to be ready that afternoon. 6:00 am Thursday we head out by car for Hong Kong. Simon says it's about a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive. Then our flight leaves Hong Kong about noon Thursday for Chicago! Kids are really really home sick but have done so well. It will be good to get home.

Liya continues to do well. She seems very comfortable with us. So comfortable that it is a battle of the wills sometimes. Mommy's stubbornness against Liya's.  Miss everyone and we can't wait for everyone to meet Liya!

Sunday June 21, 2015 Happy Father's Day

First, Nicky wanted to let everyone know that our passports arrived safe and sound.  Liya's new Chinese passport also arrived today.

 

One additional update on what Jack and I love about the Chinese culture.  It is perfectly acceptable to burp and fart as loud as you want whenever you want.  Seriously, no one bats an eye. Hacking up a big lugie and spitting it right out is fine too...even if you're indoors.  As my Gammer used to say, "Better out than in".

On to today's shopping adventures.  First we went to Shamian Island which is a tiny island (5-6 square blocks) that was once occupied by the British.  There used to be lots of shops here because a popular hotel for adopting parents, The White Swan, is located on the island.  The hotel has been closed for a few years for renovations and that has caused many of the shops to close.  There are still a few shops that have remained that sell Chinese trinkets and traditional Chinese clothing.  We bought a few trinkets including some beginner chopsticks for Grandma and then moved on to the clothing.  After Nicky had found the dresses she wanted I began to bargain with the lady.  Taylor left the store immediately.  The lady gave us a number and I countered with a number.  Before the lady could respond Nicky says, "Oh that's way too low".  At this point I am not sure which team Nicky is playing for.  We manage to make a deal, but I am pretty sure I could have gotten a much better deal.  

Next we head to the toy market.  Nicky, Taylor, Rosalie, and Liya head over to the knockoff Barbie section and Jack and I hit the knockoff Legos section. I think Jack almost died when he heard the prices.  He settled on a somewhat large jet.  Liya got Barbies and a Barbie kitchen set.  We found out later that you have to pop the Barbie's head off to change her clothes, but this didn't seem to bother Liya at all.  We then dropped Grandma and the kids at the hotel and headed back out for knockoff sports jerseys and purses.  When we got out of the taxi, it appeared to be a normal outdoor shopping mall.  After a few minutes of walking around a guy came up to us with laminated pictures of purses, watches, and shoes.  We told him we were looking for Kate Spade and he said, "yes, very high quality".  We followed him down an alley and around a corner.  The entire time Nicky is saying this is a bad idea...this is a very bad idea.  We came to a door with bars on it and he knocks.  A lady answers the door and I step inside, Nicky refuses.  They flip the lights on and there is room after room of floor to ceiling purses.  After seeing this from outside, Nicky warms up a little and comes in.  Most of the purses are pretty ugly and they don't have any Kate Spade's.  Nicky picks out a few little ones and asks how much.  The lady enters a number on her calculator and Nicky says, "Oh that's too high".  The lady hands me the calculator and I enter a number and Nicky says, "Oh that's too low".  At this point the lady agrees with Nicky, but has a confused look on her face.  I had to threaten to walk out in order to get a deal done.  Then we moved on to sports jerseys where we got a decent deal, but I had to walk out and then come up in price to get them.
When we returned home the kids presented me with Father's day cards.  Two in English and one in Chinese.  Not sure what Liya's said, but the following video may hold a clue.

 

I am so fortunate to have these three great kids.  It's an honor to be their father.  Today, I think about how wonderful it would've been to have seen my Dad with all the Losse/Friar grandkids.  Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there.

Saturday June 20th

*So sorry everyone for the delay in the posts! I was having technical difficulties! ~Katie Friar

We started the day off by visiting a popular park in Guangzhou.  This weekend is also the Dragon Boat Festival which is a national three day holiday so the park was pretty crowded.  Guangzhou is known as the goat city and there was a monument located in the middle of the park.  We all bought fans because it was so hot today.

After paying homage to the goats of Guangzhou we went to a different section of the park for a game of hacky sack.  Their hacky sack is a little different than ours.  It's made of feathers attached to a springy thing.  We've mentioned Simon quite a bit in the blog. He is the guy holding the fan in the following video.

 

 

Here's another video of some very skilled hacky sack players.

 

 

 

Then on to some Tia Chi.

 

 

We then went to another section of the park that has the last remains of the original Guangzhou city wall which is over 600 years old.  It was pretty cool to see the tree roots growing all over of the wall. 

 

After that we went to this giant jade mall which was extremely boring for Jack and myself.  The girls picked up a few pieces of jade and that's about all there is to report on that.  We then went to a souvenir shop.  We walked in and right in the front of the store was a huge Buddha statue.  Liya rubbed the Buddha's belly and then turned and rubbed my belly.  I can only assume that she believes she has been adopted by a living God.

When we climbed back into the car to head back to the hotel, I could not find the vomit bag.  After searching for a bit, Liya said, "peepee".  I looked at Simon and asked him what she said.  He giggled and told us she just said, "ass".  Sure enough, that's where the bag was.  I am also happy to report that the bag could've stayed right there under my peepee because she didn't need it all day.

Most of us are hitting a China wall, pun intended.  Taylor will report more on that later in her side blog!  Anyway, Jack, Nicky and I decided we needed a big dose of the good old USA so we headed to McDonald's for lunch and they did not disappoint! The lady taking our order must have known we were struggling because when I ordered my Big Mac she informed me that not only do they have Big Macs, but they also have Grand Big Macs here in China that are twice the size of normal Big Macs.  (These pics do not do it justice.)

After our fix, all was right in the world again. Unfortunately, Taylor chose not to have McDonald's for lunch today.  She hit her wall when we sat down for dinner.  Here's her "side blog".

 

A little update from Taylor Losse:
China is not I repeat NOT like in the pictures. Just kidding. I really miss St. Louis and Mac and Cheese and the library and people that don't stare at me everywhere I go. At least they only touch my brother's hair. But I am really lucky to be here. Just not for 2 weeks. And by the way I love my new sister. I am not trying to be spoiled, but you would understand if you were here! Taylor, signing off from China.
I am told I need to give an update on what we will be doing tomorrow.  We are headed to Shamian Island for more shopping...yipee!

June 19

Bad day for Nicky -  today we started back from Shaoguan to Guangzhou. Liya did great in the car at first and went right to sleep. She basically would only eat a piece of toast for breakfast because she was afraid of throwing up in the car. We got all the way back to the city and she puked about 5 minutes from our hotel. It was probably mine and Mike's fault. We stopped for gas and there was a McDonald's. We both got a coke zero because we were having withdrawals (there was no coke zero in shaoguan). She wanted a little bit of coke and some ice and then she threw up about 1/2 hour later.

 

Speaking about stopping for gas.... We also stopped to pee. Yes once again it was a squatter. Note to everyone-don't wear your sun glasses on your body when using a squatter. I had them hanging from my shirt and yup- right into the hole- of course I dug them out and washed them and sanitized them. I know I know..... Gross!

 

We returned to Guangzhou to the hotel where I realized I had left all of our passports in the safe in the hotel on shaoguan. Luckily we didn't need them to check into the hotel here. Our staff was nice enough to call the hotel and they are overnighting them to us here in Guangzhou. Just praying they all arrive safely.

 

The rest of the afternoon was spent back at our apartment. Everyone was glad to be back. Especially liya. The rest of us went out on various occasions to run errands and each time she wanted to stay back. Mike found some UNO cards and she is such a quick learner. She already beat us at a few games!

 

Also wanted to clear something up from the blog yesterday. I am sure those of you that know Mike know he was stretching the truth when he said Liya's favorite sport was hockey. I am sure she has no clue what hockey is nor has she seen it before. When Simon asked her what her favorite sport is she said "whatever daddy's favorite is". She already has him wrapped around her finger!

 

More about Shaoguan I was amazed how the city has such modern looking buildings. The hotel we stayed at is part of a whole community complex called country garden. They have beautiful villas. Simon told us that the community villas house up to 10,000 families. Unbelievable. All the families can use the hotel pool, tennis courts and other amenities.  Here are some pictures from shaoguan and between Guangzhou and Shaoguan.

 

Thursday June 18 Orphanage Visit

Today we drove three hours North to visit Shaoguan which is where Liya's orphanage is.  Like clock work, she lost her cookies about an hour into the ride.  We have gotten into a routine of making sure we have plastic bags without any holes in them and that one is out and ready on every trip.  I can only imagine what the plane ride home will be like!  Afterwards, Nicky and Liya had a nice little nap.  After the nap we managed, through Simon, to learn a little more about Liya like her favorite color is pink, her favorite animal is a dog, she loves meat and noodles, and her favorite sport is hockey, that one amazed me!  We also found out that she is afraid of most little animals especially birds.

 

Once we arrived in Shaoguan we had lunch, checked into our hotel and then headed over to the orphanage.  On the way to the orphanage we stopped at a store and Nicky and I picked up some candy and cake snacks with fruit filling to give to the kids.  When we arrived we met with the orphanage officials and Liya's caretakers.  They told us that Liya was a little naughty when she was younger.  They called her the "Queen" and said that she would make sure she got all of her favorite toys before anyone else could.  Then Liya gave them the gifts we brought for them.

After that we took a tour.  On the elevator ride up, we noticed a picture hung in the elevator of Liya from when she was younger.

She's the little one with short hair on the far left.  We then got to see where she slept, where she ate her meals and met some more caretakers.

 

We then handed out the snack cakes and candy.  After we hand handed out the candy Simon informed us that the candy was actually cough drops.  The kids didn't seem to mind and I guess that could be considered a healthy snack.

 

We then said our goodbyes and left the orphanage and went out to dinner.  On this trip Simon has done all the food ordering and we have all been at his mercy.  Taylor has been very adventurous.  She has found some new things she likes and has had fire mouth (spicy foods) on a couple of occasions.  Liya loves the spicy foods and gets a kick out of Taylor freaking out over them.  Jack on the other hand has managed to subsist on white rice and sprite.  Grandma has not gotten the hang of chop sticks yet and chooses to use the fork of shame!  All in all, the food has been really good.

 

Finally, I will leave you with a bathroom update...anytime you have to go to the bathroom away from our hotel, it is hell to be a woman.  Taylor told me her legs are sore from squatting!

 

Wednesday June 17th

This morning we had a free morning and didn't have to do anything official until 1:30. We had a lazy morning then went to the pool for a bit. Came back and had lunch then got ready to go.

This afternoon we went for Liya's visa medical (by the way we are using Liya in the blog but she still wants to go by FunMan so that is what we are still calling her for now)  She passed the medical exam with flying colors however she will need to go see the eye doctor as soon as we get home. We knew she had some eye problems but her one eye is really bad. She already wears a patch two hours a day to strengthen it.   After the medical exam Simon was nice enough to run us by a store where we could get jack some Premier League soccer uniforms. Then onto the passport office. She signed her own name on her passport which is so cool to watch her write her name in Chinese characters. Here we are in front of the passport office.  We tried to take a picture of her signing her passport, but we were scolded for using a camera in a government office.

Liya looks a little grumpy in this picture but it's because she missed her nap today. She actually fell asleep in the van. Speaking of the van we made our trip all afternoon without any puking!! Yay! Today we used the Dramamine and sea sickness wrist bands.

After the passport office we returned home and made our daily, yes daily trip to the supermarket to get the necessities. I thought when I got mike 6 twelve ounce coke zeros yesterday it would last 2 days but they were gone by this afternoon. Mike has been satisfied with the coke zeros here, but it's a weak substitute for diet Mountain Dew which can't be found in China.  The closest we found was regular Mountain Dew.  In Beijing we could get diet coke but here it's only Coke zero (Beth Ritchey you would be in heaven).

 

For dinner we decided to try Simon's favorite Thai restaurant across the street from the hotel. He told us to go between 6:30 and 7 because they also had music during that time. Well we walked in and were greeted by music. Most of the greeters spoke great English. After we sat down and ordered, the music continued and the waitress came over and grabbed Taylor, jack and grandma up to make a Congo line to dance with them( see below). Liya wanted nothing to do with the Congo line and I think she was thoroughly embarrassed.  That or she just wanted to eat her dinner which had already been served. After that they got mike and I up dancing but luckily we have no pictures of that. Only video.

 

All the ladies at the restaurant loved Tay and Jack's hair. They kept rubbing it and running their fingers through jack's hair.

One thing I will share about Liya and I think most Chinese people. They are not afraid to ask embarrassing questions or make statements that we would never say to someone in the US. Liya has already told Simon I have a big nose and then today she patted mike's stomach and made a big circle to show how big it is. She also made a comment and pointed to all the freckles on my chest today while we were at the pool :)

Kids all continue to get along well. Mike and jack keep her entertained with all their silliness. Here she is playing Lego cars with jack!

 

Tomorrow we will drive to the orphanage and spend one night. I hope we have wifi there at the hotel. Otherwise I won't be posting again until Friday. Wish us luck with the car trip!