My China Reunion

I get to come home tomrow

2008-11-29T06:00:00.000-08:00

I get to come home tomorrow. I get to see my sister Sonja. I miss her so much. But I am going to miss Fuling too, because Fuling is more exiting than Forest Grove. Today we boarded a plane to Beijing, then Mama went shopping and I got to stay in Chessie's room and watch movings and we got KFC, which was awesome. This was a cool journey. I'm glad I came, and I thought it was cool the four of us came--my, Mya, Chessie and Lily, and together we had a lot of fun. I think being Chinese is part of my heritage, and I'm proud of it. I want to go back to China next week, but first I want to go school in Forest Grove and see all of my friends and say hello.

2008-11-29T05:59:00.000-08:00

We started flying back home today. This is in the Chongqing airport.
That's Lucy and De Ang and their parents (plus Lily's dad). They live in Australia. Theyve got a lot of energy.

Lily and I got to ride on the cart. Tomorrow we fly together from Beijing to Tokyo and then home.
We hope there are carts in Tokyo too!

Last Night in Fuling

2008-11-28T07:10:00.000-08:00

This morning we went to one of the museums, and I only liked the fossilized stuff. Because it was cool fish and it showed perspective and details. I liked being crazy with Mya and Chessie there. We went back to our hotel and talked things over. Lily and I wanted KFC for lunch but Lily's dad and my mom said no. And so we went to this small restaurant and had noodles. I liked mine because they weren't spicy and the sauce was sort of sweet. After that we walked around. In the afternoon we went to the orphanage goodbye ceremony. I liked the part where we got to plant a tree. First I used a hoe thing, then I traded it for a shovel. Then I picked up a heavy rock and put it on the pile and dropped it. We went inside and played with babies. Then we went to the bus and went back down the mountain to our hotel. We had a farewell dinner with Blas, the tour guides. I wasn't very hungry because my stomach hurt. So I ate two pieces of meat and french fries and two cuts of meat. Mama took me up to the room to get some rest, then later I felt better. We went out in the dark.

Fuling is beautiful in the dark because there are whole bunches of lights and flashing lights. The people were doing shopping and bargaining. We bought Chocolate kind of like hot chocolate and it was nice. We walked to a little shop and bought muffins like cornbread. They were good. We walked further the turned around and walked back to the hotel. I'm tired now and going to bed. We have to get up early to start the trip home. I really liked the trip to Fuling because it was exiting and like a mini adventure.

I think America is more organized but China is more fun.

2008-11-28T07:08:00.000-08:00

This morning we went to a Fuling museum but I didn't pay attention that much. Mama made me add this photo. She said it was educational. The museum had rubbings and pictures from carvings on rocks that are in the Yangzte River. The carvings are underwater now because of the Three Gorges Dam when it filled in. The carvings are ansient and told people how high the water was for fishing.

Chessie and me had noodles outside with our parents. We love noodles. The lady cooked them in a big pot right in front of us. This place was called the Shun Jiang Garden. That gate behind me is spessial.

That's some of us girls at the goodbye ceremony at the orphanage. My aunties are laughing. Can you find me in the picture? We all got a special jade necklace that says Fuling on it to help us remember our first home in China.

2008-11-28T06:58:00.000-08:00

Chessie, Livvie and me with Director Huang and Director Chen.
They help Director Yang run the orphanage. Those are presents all the kids gave them.

Carly, Chessie and me got to be in a picture with our auntie Wu Ping and Director Yang's husband.
He told me he carried me around when I was a baby.

Director Yang said I was too heavy now to carry but she still picked me up.

2008-11-28T06:53:00.000-08:00

The kids could donate a tree to the new orphanage. Our parents decided to plant one in honor of the Fuling 7 sisters, the girls in our adoption group. We got to plant the tree ourselves. I liked it because it was hard work and I got all sweaty. Director Chen told us the sign he would put by it would say "The Seven Flowers of Fuling" (that's what they call us a the orphanage). The sign would list our Chinese names too.

That's Director Chen, Director Huang and Director Yang and us. It's a fig tree. The Chinese people make medicine with the figs.

I found a praying mantis and I picked it up. I found it when we were walking away from the orphanage to get us on the bus. It was cool, and Chessie thought it was venemous so she jumped away whenever I showed it to her.

Last Night in Fuling

2008-11-28T05:08:00.000-08:00

Leaving Fuling is sort of sad because its an awesome place. We got to be here for only three days and we didn't get to see everything and we would like to explor a litt le more. And also Fuling has alot of traffic jams and sometimes you could only go five miles an hour. Also their food is really good. I liked their french frys and the meat with mild spicy sauce. Right now were about to go out and take a short walk around Fuling for a little bit. We'll try to send more pictures and news later tonght before bed. We have to leave at like 8 oclock in the morning.

Thanksgiving in Fuling

2008-11-27T06:45:00.000-08:00

First, we ate breakfast, then we got on the bus, and drove to the new orphanage, then we did a ceremony, the ceremony was about opening the new orphanage, and we got pink balloons. I ''lost'' mine (on purpose)beacause I don't like pink . Then, people who ( I think ) worked at the orphanage handed out this long red ribbon, and scissors and then we took our scissors, and cut the ribbon. We cut the ribbon, because it was part of the opening ceremony. After we cut the ribbon, we took a group picture, and sang Twinkle twinkle little star, and dashing thruw the snow. I thot the opening ceremony was awesome, because we got to play with the babies again. Then we ate lunch inside the orphanage. Me, Mya,Chessie, and Lily, together, drank 20 cups of soda, and water (my stomach hurts, just thinking about it ). After lunch, we went back to the hotel, then we went shoping. After shoping, we came back to the hotel, droped our stuff off, and went out again.

This time, we went out to dinner for Thanksgiving, at this restaurant that Mama had written down in her notebook. People showed us to a building and we took an elevator. We ate on the 4th or 5th floor, and I swallowed a chili pepper whole, I thot the chili pepper was good, so I sucked on another one for about 2 minutes, before I spit it out. I even made Chessie eat a chili pepper. In China,the Chineese people ussally like their food spicy. After we were full, we sang yi shan yi shan ( twinkle twinkle little star in Chineese ), and''where are my friends'' (a chineese song ), and yu er yu er shui jong yo (another Chineese song ).After we thanked the waitresses who helped us, and went to the bathroom, we rode the elavator down to the 1st floor, and started walking back to the hotel.

2008-11-27T06:43:00.000-08:00

This is a temple you can see from the New Orphanage. It looks cool. I wondere what it's like there. Mama said she thinks monks live there. Monks are wise guys who shave their heads. Women buddhists who do that are called nuns. I read that in a book about a woman warrior in ansient China.

2008-11-27T06:37:00.000-08:00

The opening ceremony was kind of long, but at the end we got gifts!
We got a Chinese dictionary because we the people who took care of us hope we learn Chinese.
This is us on the stage with Director Yang

This is Molly's mom with one of the babies. The moms held some of the li ttlest babies. This baby is only a few days old.

This is Huang Guang Rong. She took care of me a lot when I was a baby.
She took a picture of me with her with her cell phone to keep.

2008-11-27T06:30:00.000-08:00

We went on a walk in Fuling today with our parents instead of going to the pickle factory with the group. We walked past the old orphanage where we lived when we were babies. I lived there for one whole year before my parents came. The gate was open but we did not go in. It's a home for older people now. But the gate is still open. We almost ran back in but our parents said it was time to see more of Fuling.

This was on a lilttle street. There was kind of fun stuff. For instance there was little stores where people were selling things and bargaining and playing cards. Really cool stuff. Lily almost stepped on a ladies eggs, but then the lady smiled when we said sorry.

This lady stopped to let us take a picture with her baby. The baby was riding in the basket. It's like backpack for babies.

2008-11-27T06:21:00.000-08:00

Lily's dad got his shoes shined. The lady showed us how to do it. It was complicated.

This is the sign on our hotel. Lots of parents took pictures of it.

I dared Chessie eat at chili pepper at the restaurant after I ate one. She did! It was very hot.

2008-11-27T05:11:00.000-08:00

Chessie gave me big ears at dinner.

We sang songs in Chinese for the waitresses.

We were going berserk and we were getting in a little of trouble from the grown ups.

Fuling

2008-11-26T07:37:00.000-08:00

Sofie has fallen asleep. (This is her mom writing.) Tomorrow she will write her thoughts about her first day back in Fuling. See the photos for now. That's all we had time tonight to put up. They tell a lot of the story.

2008-11-26T07:35:00.000-08:00

This morning we went to Fuling finally! It was two hours on the bus.
I read Harry Potter until my mom told me to put it away and pay attention. When we got out we saw the Yangtze River
and everyone said this is Fuling.

2008-11-26T07:32:00.000-08:00

When we got off the bus Director Yang gave us a good hug.

Then we went to the old orphanage. There aren't any babies there anymore, but we liked it. That's us in front of the picture at the orphanage that showed us when were younger. Except Ariella, Dejie and Sophia aren't on this trip.

This is the room where our cribs were when we were babies. After that it became a First Hugs baby room.
Mama said she had held babies in there this summer and didn't realize I had slept there as a baby. She cried.

2008-11-26T07:27:00.000-08:00

Just before we said goodbye to the old orphanage we got in a big group for a picture.

Then we got in the bus and went up and up mountains for a long while. The orphanage is up high.

When we got there, Chessie and me wanted to get off the bus. That's our guid Vivian. She's nice.

2008-11-26T07:23:00.000-08:00

Director Yang walked me and Chessie and Mya up to to the new orphanage.

One of the aunties who took care of me picked me up like I was still a baby. I liked it.

She was Mya's auntie too. When she saw Mya she got exited because she hasn't seen Mya since she was a baby.

2008-11-26T07:20:00.000-08:00

There were lots of baby rooms. This is an auntie and babies.

This baby has the same name as me Hui with the same meaning.

All the kids and parents wanted to hold babies. I looked around for one to hold.

2008-11-26T07:16:00.000-08:00

I got to hold this baby. Look, she has a bald head like I did.

These are walkers the babies ride around in. The aunties said I rode in one too.

I slept in cribs just like these exept. These are the old cribs fixed and painted blue.

2008-11-26T07:13:00.000-08:00

This little girl had trouble walking. Mama said she has CP and could not walk last year but now she can.
This is her new walker. She was going fast.

This room was really cool. It had rows and rows of shelves like this. This is only one row.
Those are all photo albums parents of Fuling kids have sent in. It is for kids to see when they come back to visit.

There were some my mom had sent. This is the first one she ever sent.
That's me as a baby. I wore a hat to cover my bald head.

2008-11-26T07:07:00.000-08:00

Another Fuling Grace and I looked at pictures of lots of kids from Fuling.

Then I put stickers and art on the wall just for us to decorate.

Finally time to eat! These are jiaotze or dumplings.
Cooks made them for us in the new orphanage kitchen.
There were hundreds of them.

2008-11-26T06:59:00.000-08:00

The cooks at the orphanage gave us a lesson on how to make dumplings.

Lily, Chessie and I tried.

Then we got to eat the good ones. Yummy.
In China when people go home to be with their families for Spring Festival
they make lots of dumplings together and eat them until they are stuffed. I did.

Our last day in Chongqing

2008-11-25T05:15:00.000-08:00

Today was our last day, in Chongqing. It was a pretty good day. First, we went down to breakfast, then after breakfast, we got on our bus, and went to see panda's,tigers,turtles,fish, and even rabbits, at the Chongqing zoo. Also, I got this little stuffed toy panda at the Zoo. After the zoo, we went to this place, called the Chongqing civil affairs office, where babies meet with their new parents. At the Chongqing civil affairs office, we watched a slide show, about kids getting adopted, and being like a bird, and flying to a new life. I liked the slide show allot. After the slide show ended,we got these framed leaves, and the leaves had a black and white design on them, it was the design of a little town, in Chongqing. I have to to bed now, but I'll write tomorrow.
thanks to everyone who commented on my blog. :-)

2008-11-25T05:14:00.000-08:00

The pandas were sitting on flat platforms and they were eating bamboo
and one of them was lying down and looking lazy. I wanted to be him.

This is me and Chessie at the place in Chongqing where babies meet their parents for the first time. The picture between us, on the bottom, was on the wall there. It's of me and Chessie together drawing when were babies! The top picture was Chessie and her family. We were surprised to see ourselves there. This where we also looked at our baby files from when we lived in Fuling. I looked bald!

This is me and Chessie drinking our wine at the restaurant. Except its not really wine.
Its really coca cola. We liked that better anyway.

2008-11-25T05:09:00.000-08:00

This is the food we had for dinner. It was yummy. I liked the deep fried fish, the rice and the crunchy rice.
Sichuan food is spicey and good.

When we were waiting for the bus to go back to the hotel we got to pet this lady's dog. She was nice.

We climbed on this sculpture for a picture.

Ariving in Chongqing

2008-11-24T07:08:00.000-08:00

Today we went to the place where babies are matched with their new parents. It was quiet, because the people, who match babies with there new parents, work real hard, so they like every thing to be quiet. After we went to the place where babies are matched to their parents, we went to lunch. After lunch we went on a bus, to the airport. At the airport me and my friends sold Fuling Kids pins to parents. The money goes to the orphanage to help the kids there.
Then we got to get on the plane. It was a long ride. When we got off the plane, we where in Chongqing. It feels sort of like home because I know I was born near Chongqing. It's sort of a good feeling and sort of a sad feeling, because I don't know who my birthparents are. Maybe my friends feel like this too. We're so busy horsing around we haven't had time yet to talk about it.

Now we are in our hotel room. Our hotel room, has two beds,a TV, some furnitcher, and I took a bubble bath. Mama told me the first day she and Baba adopted me we stayed in this same hotel. I think this hotel is awesome. Mama and I are going to sleep soon, because tomorrow were going to see giant pandas in the zoo! (I just showed my pandas Ying and Yang what I wrote. They are excited too.)

2008-11-24T07:07:00.000-08:00

I fell asleep with my new pandas. I named the big one Yang and the little one Yin. (Get it? Ying and Yan.)
Mama took this photo this morning. She said I really needed the sleep.

This morning went to the office where babies are matched to their new moms and dads.
The way they do it to take papers about the baby and papers about new parents and decide which ones match.
Each one of those folders behind me is from a mom and dad asking to adopt a baby from China! There are a lot.

Mama and me in front of the room where the people who match babies to moms and dads work all day.
They look for the best Mom and Dad for that baby. Its a tough decison.
We have to be quiet, because its important work.
We're really happy because we got paired.
Those people in the matching room did a good job.

2008-11-24T06:54:00.000-08:00

Our calligraphy lesson at the Bridge of Love Office, downstairs from the room where babies and parents are matched.
That's Chessie and Lily in front. Me and Mia, another Fulinger, are in the back.

I learned to write the "Fu" in my name.

We were tossing our pandas in the airport before we left for Chongqing, and it was REALLY fun.

Today was so awesome

2008-11-23T06:38:00.000-08:00

First, we got on a bus and then we drove over to this building to meet important leaders who welcomed us home to China. Then we got on the bus again and drove one hour to the Great Wall. We climbed up and down it, and rode a cable car too. The grownups let us run on the Great Wall for very far because there weren't may people there. At first I was cold but I got warm after that. After walking on the Wall we got souvenirs. I got a cap with a dragon on it and a stamp that says my name in Chinese. Some of the other kids got stamps too. We got to watch a man carve it. It was fun.

2008-11-23T06:35:00.001-08:00

The people helping us on the trip danced for us at the Welcome party.

We got to see where the Olympics were. That's the Bird Nest and the Water Cube. Remember seeing them on TV?

Some of the big kids and little kids. All of the Fuling kids got red scarves from our guides. They'are pretty nice and warm.

2008-11-23T06:27:00.000-08:00

At the Great Wall with Chessie and Lily.

This is taken from the window of Watch Tower on the Wall

The Great Wall is very long. We're the little people on the top of the watch tower.

Invading the Forbidden City

2008-11-22T07:13:00.000-08:00

The Forbidden City was great because of lots of things. It was cool to see this ancient and cool place. Emperers from a few dinasties lives there and ruled. Also my friends and I ran around and climbed on stuff. We saw many stone and painted dragons, because they gave the emperer good luck. There were dog sculptures sitting on a roof. I liked that. And we walked a pretty long walk. That was nice because we got fresh air. Our parents kept us cooped up with all those plane rides. (hah hah).

2008-11-22T07:10:00.000-08:00

At breakfast with my buddies Lily, Mya and Chessie.

We were all adopted on the same day from Fuling.

Walkingn to the Forbidden City. It was a long way.

That's us and the little girls on the walk in front of the Forbidden City.

Thats Chairman Mao on the gate. He was the leader of China.

We mobbed Lily's dad.

2008-11-22T06:45:00.000-08:00

Playing in the Forbidden City

A pretty doorway.

Running down an imperial entrance.

Pretending to be dogs in a corner of the Forbidden City.

Some of the emperers had dogs.

2008-11-22T06:37:00.000-08:00

Lily and her Dad Eric at dinner

Chessies little sister Carly and her momJulianne

Mama and me

We are in Beijing!

2008-11-21T05:32:00.000-08:00

This is the first time for me. It's really cool. We got into an airplane this morning, and we finally got to our hotel at around 2:00. Then we checked into our room and did some cool shopping. We walked to a huge bookstore. The bookstore was very crowded, and in the store lots of people were sitting on the floor reading books. I got a cool pokemon book that makes 3Dimenshional pokemons. We got some Chinese language books for me and Sonja, and some movies for Mama, too. We spent most of our time eating. We stopped at shops on the street and ate dumplings, and everyone was yelling and it was noisy, but the dumplings were good. Lot's of times people in China eat standing up outside. When we got back to our hotel we saw Chessie and Carly and Joy, who I just met! We were talking and playing loud and happy in the hallway, the moms said time to go to bed. It was fun to see them. Right now I'm going to watch a movie with Mama and go to sleep. Tomorrow we are going to the Foribidden City and a big park. Also mabye I will get to go see dinosaurs, at the musseum.

2008-11-21T05:17:00.000-08:00

Me with street food. It was hot, spicey pancake and chicken. I liked the chicken best.

The lady who runs the shop.

2008-11-21T05:15:00.000-08:00

It was loud at night here. The food sellers yell to get people's attention. Many people buy food to eat standing up.

I picked out these dumplings.

They were really really good. I took the picture below this one. It is of a Chinese opera singer. She was singing outside near where we ate. She sort of sounded as if her voice was lower than higher. I liked it.

My new Chinese Yoyo

2008-11-21T05:12:00.000-08:00

I’m caught in hysterical laughter at my Chinese yoyo. I got my yoyo at a shop on the other side of the Forbidden City. Now I want to learn how to do it well for the school talent show.

Staying in Tokyo

2008-11-20T02:23:00.000-08:00

The airplane to Beijing got stuck so we are staying in Tokyo tonight in a hotel, and it's really awesome because I'm glad to be off the airplane. It was a long ride. I watched Wall-E, Peter Pan and Meet the Robinsons. That was fun. I had my own video screen. I have the giggles because I'm tired and happy and really excited. One interesting thing I noticed about Tokyo, the bus driver sits on the right side, the oppositte of America. And I also got to eat dessert before dinner tonight. And it's almost the opposite time from home here. Everything is upside down, sort of.

Cool things to see near our hotel

2008-11-18T22:56:00.000-08:00

A map of where are staying in Beijing. We can walk or take a short taxi ride to visit all sorts of places. Click on the map to see.

looking forward to China

2008-11-18T20:39:00.000-08:00

Tomorow, I am going to China. I know you know that, because about E V E R Y O N E knows.
(And I mean EVERYONE, with a capitil E) I am REALLY exited ( and I have been hyper all evening ) about going to China ( and I mean China, with a capitil C ). I'm exited because, I get to see my home town, and also I was born there. And also when your playing China Wall (a game I play with my friends at school-at break OR P.E. class) remember I'll be seeing the real one. The activity I'm looking forward too: EVERYTHING!!!!!

First I'm going to Beiijjing (this is how I like to spell it), then I'm going to Chongqing, and then I'm going Fuling. I'm going to Fuling, because I lived there when I was a baby. I lived there with my friend babies. It is sort of hard to explain how I feel.

I'm going to China with my mom.

FROM ME

2008-11-13T20:03:00.000-08:00

In 6 days, I'm going to China. I am going to go sight-seeing, for the first few days. Then, the fun starts. In the first couple days, I'm going to stay in a big hotel, mabye. Then I will go to 2 more hotels, until (bummer) its time to go.

I was just reading, a book, called''Where To Look For A Dinosaur'', and in the back of the book, I found dinosaur fosil museums,a couple museums, were located near the hotel in Beijjing I will be staying in. So now, I hope I will go there.

http://www.bmnh.org.cn/web/en/exhibition/Dinosaur.htm