Part II - Changsha (Hunan Province of China).

July 16, 2007 - GOTCHA DAY! (Monday).

At around 7 a.m. we went downstairs to eat our last breakfast buffet at the Novotel, and then we went back upstairs to get our luggage. In the lobby we turned in our room cards at the front desk and we met up with a lady who wasn’t Sherri, who took us to the van that would take us back to the Beijing International Airport. We left at 8 a.m. or so and arrived at the airport in a little under an hour. We received our new boarding passes for our flight to Changsha. We checked our luggage, went through security, and then we proceeded to our gate which was in a large circular area of the airport.


The Circular Gate Area - Beijing Airport.


Our China Southern Flight CZ3124.


Loading up our plane to Changsha.


Our Departure Gate.

Our China Southern flight CZ3124 departed Beijing at 11:15 a.m., and as soon as we got above the clouds we saw the blue skies again. This flight took a little over 2 hours and we were flying south. This jet we were on was of the puddle jumper variety – small but comfortable and it seemed to be running OK.


China - Hunan Province - Changsha.


Hunan Province's location within China.


Map of Hunan Province - Changsha & Zhuzhou City.

Looking down on Hunan (Jenna’s homeland) it looked very rural and very green with lots of agriculture and plant life. There were lots of square and rectangular rice paddies, and at times it even looked like a jungle down there, and I noticed that the soil was red. Changsha is another large crowded Chinese city with over 2 million people but this is only a fraction of the size of Beijing. Pollution doesn’t seem to be a problem here, for there were sunny blue (partly cloudy) skies all around. We arrived at the Changsha Airport at around 1:30 p.m. After we found our checked luggage and made it through security we met up with our new guide Shirley Wang. Shirley was a lot more personable and upbeat than Sherri our guide in Beijing. On the drive to our hotel we found out that she was an English teacher at a university, and she didn’t live in Hunan. In other words she had to travel here to be our guide, but she had been a guide here before so she was somewhat familiar with Changsha. Our driver was a young man in his mid 20’s and he drove a Toyota van that had good air conditioning, which was a good thing because Changsha was very hot and very humid. It reminded me of what it’s like in the summer in Florida. We soon noticed that Changsha had several palm trees – a sure sign that the temperature never gets below freezing here.


The Dolton Hotel Waterfall.


Looking Up at The Dolton Hotel.


The Dolton Hotel (side view from a distance).

We made it to our new hotel – The Dolton Hotel, which didn’t have a gold revolving door out front. It did however have a big working waterfall there. It had very friendly valets/bellhops as you enter who immediately help you with the doors and our bags. The lobby is just as fancy (if not more so) than the Novotel’s – marble floors, columns, and stairways. Up above there is a huge chandelier. We are amazed that apparently we can afford to stay at such a place. Shirley helped us check into our room 3122 on the 31st floor and told us to go up & relax and meet her back here in the lobby at 5 p.m. at which time we will go to the Civil Affairs Office to receive our daughter. As you can imagine we are pretty excited! It has all come down to this – how will it go? This will be our 4th time meeting and receiving a new child and we know it’s a time that is filled with so many different emotions and different results. Will our new daughter fear us and think we are strange, or will she go with the flow and adapt to us quickly? Will the rest of our time in China be a struggle for all 3 of us, or will it continue to be a good time that we will never forget? How much will we be able to learn about the 3+ years of our new daughter’s life that we were not there for?


The Dolton entrance.


The 31st Floor elevators.

We noticed that the elevators didn’t have a 14th floor (it had a 15A and 15B floor). I asked Shirley about this and she told us that 14 is an unlucky number and is associated with death in China. However the numbers 6, 8, & 9 are lucky numbers. Shirley mentioned that a lot of Chinese are obsessed or at least superstitious about numbers. Room 3122 at the Dolton was a regular room with one large closet (with a lockbox) to the left, a decent sized bathroom to the right that had a picture (sticker) of the 2 poong poongies on the toilet lid (the fart king & queen of Korea and maybe even China).


Poong Poongie.

It had a shower/bathtub which turned out to be important. There were 2 good sized beds that were a little softer than the hard bed back at the Novotel. There was a desk with chair, a large dresser, TV, fridge, and a table with chairs. I ordered some ice and grabbed a $4 coke (yes I’m laughing) from the wet bar. We cleaned up, changed clothes and relaxed. I hooked up our laptop computer the same way as before and got online. We found out that the internet connection at this hotel was free. Soon it was 5 p.m. and time to go meet Jenna at the Civil Affairs Office so we met Shirley and the driver down in the lobby. The drive in the cool Toyota van to the CA Office took about 15 minutes.

The Changsha Civil Affairs Office was a non-descript brick building that was just off a main street. We took the elevator up to the 3rd floor and went to a waiting room where we immediately saw our pretty little pixie girl Jenna and 3 ladies from her orphanage. Jenna walked up to me and let me pick her up, and I gave her a hug. I held Jenna for a little while as the ladies were all talking with Shirley and Cheryl (with Shirley translating as usual). Jenna had the photo album that we had sent to her orphanage earlier and she pointed at a picture of me and then at me, and she did the same with Cheryl. We knew Jenna would be small, but she felt incredibly light to me. Jenna weighs about 27.5 lbs. and is 34” tall – pretty small for a 3-year-old. Soon I realized I wanted to get video of this occasion so I handed Jenna off to Cheryl and got the camera out to take video. Jenna seemed like a very pleasant-natured, very cute little girl. The following is some of what they told us about our new daughter… They said her main food is cow’s milk based formula & congee, meat, eggs, vegetables, fruit, noodles, & rice. They said she loves to eat and doesn’t pick at her food. Her eating schedule is at 7 a.m. she eats noodles, steamed bun, congee or cake and 8 ounces of formula. At 11:30 a.m. she eats rice, pork, and vegetables. Wen Xin eats dinner at 5:30 p.m. They also mentioned that she snacks on fruits and snacks between her meals. Wen Xin eats with a bowl & spoon by herself. She is potty trained and when she has to go pee she says “niao niao”. She wears diapers at night and sometimes wets at night. They give her praise by telling her she is beautiful and that everybody loves her. They discipline her by telling her they don’t love her anymore (what!?!) We hope that maybe something was lost in translation but maybe not. Wen Xin’s sleeping schedule is bed time 8 p.m. – 7 a.m. with a nap from 12 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. so apparently she sleeps over 13 hours total each day. She sleeps alone on her back with the lights off, and she prefers a quiet environment. She is bathed each night about a half hour after supper – she loves baths. They mentioned Wen Xin loves to sing & dance and she likes new and colorful toys. She loves outdoor activities, and she loves to play on the playground preferring the slide. They said that Wen Xin has no dislikes whatsoever. She is able to walk freely and go up and down stairs, and she can run and jump. She can reach objects high up with the help of a chair (in other words we have a climber). She can express her feelings with simple actions. She can put on and take off her shoes (never had shoes with shoe laces). She is able to turn the pages of books and draw with a pencil. She can say simple Chinese words like “hao nai nai” (good grandmother), “lai” (come), “hao” (good), “niao niao” (pee pee), and “cha” (tea). Wen Xin is able to follow simple orders such as “take the chair”, “bring the cup”, and “bring younger sister here”. She is able to mimic some actions of adults. When she is angry or upset they calm her down by taking her out to play (we didn’t ask if this still works at nighttime). They also mentioned that Wen Xin has no allergies. I was trying to ask the questions we had while videoing everything and it was quite a balancing act, but it sure helps us with remembering all of their answers. It was sometimes hard to hear Shirley’s translations because she was talking so softly. I also asked them if Wen Xin is shy or outgoing, and how does she get along with the other children, and they replied that she was outgoing and gets along very well with the other children. I must say I was thinking she seems almost like a dream.

Throughout this discussion Cheryl was holding Jenna and she was very quiet and calm. Whenever someone said something to her sometimes she would give a quick smile. One of the ladies was the orphanage director for the Zhuzhou SWI (Social Welfare Institute), and the other two ladies were caregivers of Jenna and the other children she lived with. They told us that Jenna still sleeps in a crib. They gave us a photo album that was inside a Zhuzhou SWI bag (a nice little souvenir) with several pictures of Jenna that were probably taken earlier this year, but there was one picture in it that they took when they first received Jenna when she was 1 ½ months old. This is the earliest photo of Jenna that we have. Jenna must not have been aware that she was going to be left behind with strangers because when she became aware that was the case she began to get distressed and soon started crying. Everyone was trying to calm her down. We asked the director if we could receive the note that was with Jenna when she was found (her finding note) and she said “yes”. We also asked if we could visit the orphanage and see where Jenna lived – to which she also said “yes”. We had some paperwork we had to fill out and sign for the orphanage. Fortunately we wrote down what questions we wanted to ask them before the meeting or I think I would’ve had trouble remembering them. During these visits my brain is on information overload and there are so many emotions involved as well. Meeting our new child is a very momentous occasion – one we will never forget. When the 3 ladies left Jenna continued to fuss but we soon were able to calm her down. She wasn’t happy but she was calm. Tomorrow we would have to come back to this office to do Jenna’s adoption registration and notarization. Basically what this means is Jenna will officially become our daughter. On the ride home Jenna remained quiet & calm and she was watching all of the traffic. There is always a lot happening in these large Chinese cities – it was now between 6 & 7 p.m. and the streets were busy and noisy, lots of car horns honking. Cheryl & I were pretty pleased with how things went, what we learned, and with how Jenna was doing. We were glad that we were going to get to visit Jenna’s orphanage and maybe even her finding place – the spot where she was abandoned at 1 ½ months old. I remember wondering what Jenna was feeling, probably a combination of scared, confused, sad, yet curious. I could tell that she was getting more comfortable with Cheryl all of the time. I had a good positive feeling that things were going to be OK.


Jenna's double vision.


You looking at me?

On our first night with our new daughter Jenna we found out that this small, shy little girl was actually quite playful and spunky. It took her a little while to completely come out of her shell back in room 3122, but when she did she showed us her personality. I ordered ice as usual and we ordered room service. Cheryl ordered some kind of Chinese dish with noodles and meat with sides of different fruit. I just ordered chicken nuggets with fries. We fed Jenna from both of our plates and she ate enthusiastically. She especially liked the noodles and the fries.


Eating noodles with mommy.

Later I gave Jenna some M&M’s and she gobbled them right up. She was my buddy until I ran out of M&M’s. We gave Jenna a magnetic drawing pad and she drew us some scribbles. Jenna is an explorer who needs to check out her surroundings. Later Cheryl gave Jenna a bath which Jenna loved – she was splashing and laughing, having a good ole time. It was great to see her smiling and laughing so much.


Jenna after her 1st bath.

Since we discovered that Jenna still slept in a crib we called down to the front desk to have them bring a crib up to our room and they soon delivered a wooden crib. I took several pictures of Jenna & Cheryl on this night, and there is one picture that I got of Jenna laying in her crib and Cheryl laying on the bed next to the crib and they are looking at each other with fondness.


Goodnight Sweet Princess. Tomorrow we begin our lives together.

Jenna and Cheryl went right to sleep and I stayed up and typed up an update to send to friends and family. I didn’t send an update every night, but I sent at least 5 or 6 while we were in China. It almost seems unreal that we began this day in Beijing and here we are now in a new place with our new daughter – what a day!