Happy Thanksgiving - we have documents!!!!

Chris' thoughts:

Today we got Jacks adoption registration form from the Sichuan provincial government, so he can travel to Guangzhou with us on Saturday. Along with that we now have his Chinese passport so when we get to Guangzhou we will need to complete his visa paperwork and then we are home free.

Tonight Sonja and I have decided to tag team the blog. There are so many things here that I find amusing that I thought I should spend some sentences detailing them. So here goes: the main topic on the board is traffic and riding in cabs. If you don’t know, you cannot drive in China unless you have a Chinese drivers license. After riding in cabs and busses for the last week I can tell you that most 2nd graders who have driven the bumper cars at any amusement park in the US should get a grandfathered drivers license in China. This trip to China we have seen many more traffic signals than our last trip, which is not many. Chengdu is a city of 6 – 8 million, and they have about the same number of traffic signals as the city of Fair Oaks. Of course as in bumper cars, these signals are only a suggestion of what an organized society would expect from drivers. If you stand in our hotel room and look down onto the intersection below, it is 8 lanes wide by 8 lanes wide and always full. In Chinese, 8 lanes wide equates to 10 – 14 cars wide, plus 4 rickshaws, 20 bikes, and 10 to 30 pedestrians. This total does not include the brave traffic officer standing in the center of the intersection with the lighted wand directing it all. If the officer was the maestro, and traffic an orchestra then the music would sound like Iron Maiden crossed with Liberace. From the ground level Sonja and I have crossed these streets daily and we feel fairly safe, but it is crazy because the cars will turn into the pedestrian area against a red light, and it is commonplace. The cars do not travel fast because then there would be mayhem, but they do manage to get around. So my ranting is done, and if you ever find yourself in a Chinese Cab, I suggest closing your eyes like I do.

Sonja’s thoughts:

Early this morning, we met Sandy and took a cab to the silk brocade factory. I have to say, this was amazing. The silk is woven on these huge looms that take two people to operate. The patterns are loaded on the top of the loom and the top person is responsible for pulling up the threads at the right time according to the pattern. The person on the bottom of the loom is responsible for pushing the threads through one by one. As a team, they can weave just 7 cm in one day! Many of the patterns they were weaving here are over 2000 years old and all of them have some particular meaning, often spiritual. The history of silk weaving can be traced to Sichuan, and so Chengdu is an area well known for the silk brocades produced here. In fact the trade route from Chengdu to the Middle East was known as the Southern Silk Road. So, the silk weaving and silk embroidery done in this area is well known for being very beautiful and of high quality. We really enjoyed the tour. Really, though, the big news here was that Jack allowed Chris to hold him while we walked around. Of course there were some caveats; Chris had a never-ending supply of crackers, and I had to be within view. Good nonetheless!

We then returned to the hotel, once again via cab (I think this is why Chris has the cab rides on his mind!), and had lunch in our room while Jack napped. It is raining outside and we are very weary of the attention we garner when out and about, so it was nice to stay in. Unfortunately, housekeeping did not clean our room since we were in it. So, the next time we left, we had a bilingual conversation with housekeeping. Well, okay, so my definition of bilingual is we spoke English and they spoke Chinese. When we walked away, we figured either they were a.) going to clean our room while we were out, or b.) they asked us if they had cleaned our room yet because they couldn’t remember and they thought we said not to bother.

We met Sandy downstairs and she took us (via cab) to the pearl factory. This was very touristy and full of Koreans. Interesting, but we only stayed a short while. Again, Chris and his crackers were a hit with Jack and he is liking Dad more and more.

We then headed to a restaurant for our big Thanksgiving dinner. It was Sandy’s idea to take us for Beijing Duck (aka Peking Duck). This was another wonderful meal (Sandy added some of our Sichuan spicy favorites to the order too)! So, we all agreed that we have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. We have now 4 amazing children and an incredibly supportive and wonderful network of friends and family that just couldn’t be better! How great is that?

I will close with a little more about Jack. He is starting to get a little more inquisitive and curious. Today, his smiles are emerging and he is feeling much more secure. As I type this, he is supposed to be sleeping. Instead, he has figured out that there are switches on the nightstand that turn lights off and on. He also just peeled off his pajama bottoms under the covers. I think we will be hopping when he teams up with Jaden back home…