Day 5 - Chang Sha

Monday November 26, 2007

What an emotional day it has been for the people that I am traveling with. Five new families became on member larger. Margaret’s brother and sister in law were amongst those families as they added a third daughter to their family of natural born daughter, and Chinese adopted son. As we arrived at the registry office to finish off the paperwork and meet the new children, Steph could barely contain her tears of excitement. The other mothers and fathers were in much the same state. Most of them had previously adopted children from China and like us, had brought them along. The room was full of anxious thrilled parents, exited children and pleased officials.

One by one the new family members were brought to the room where they were filmed and photographed like rock stars. The outpouring of love and welcome was moving. If anyone ever doubted that adoption wasn’t a wonderful opportunity for all those involved than they should witness a scene like this. The new children greeted their new families; some with reticence, some with quiet composure and others with tears. A few hours later those families were complete and the new children looked as though they had been part of the family since birth. The new children ranged in age from ten month old babies to three year olds and yet they all adjusted quickly to their families.

Once the paperwork was signed we went off to purchase new clothing, diapers etc. for three year old Zu Wei – Caroline Barker – and Marg purchased toys, clothing, diapers, formula and more to take as gifts for the orphanages that we will be visiting over the next few days. Tomorrow we go to Isabelle’s orphanage. Then everyone returned home to bond with their new relatives.

Lunch was a hotel buffet and offered many different Asian dishes from Sushi, to snake and river turtle. The river turtle was delicious, but I gave a pass on the snake in hot peppers as I am still recovering from my Szechwan adventure last night. With some time to kill after lunch I decided to have a hair cut at the Saloon (that’s not a spelling mistake). The hair cut included a head massage, neck shoulder and hand massage and most intriguing an ear cleaning and ear massage. It was wonderful and was carried out with a multitude of giggles as communication was virtually non-existent. Men and women have their massages in the same room and, as I was the only Caucasian and a blonde woman to boot, I had quite an audience. Despite that it was amazingly relaxing. My hair cut turned out to be interesting as my massage audience was equally intrigued by my hair. I signaled through hand gestures to the stylist what I wanted then just smiled and hoped for the best. I don’t think I have ever had my hair so thoroughly combed and carefully picked apart by a stylist’s fingers as I did today. I even had it photographed by one member of my audience! The hair turned out a reasonably facsimile of what I wanted and they insisted on putting it in a pony tail as that is how I came in and they were sure that was how I liked it. So my lovely hairdo was combed out and put in a pony tail.

The others have gone off for another Szechwan adventure with their guide tonight. I need to give my stomach a break so I am eating alone in the room. It is peaceful and pleasant despite the noise of the busy Chang Sha streets. Chang Sha is the capital of Hunan and is a medium sized city with a small population of 5.6 million people. The pollution is terrible and stings the eyes. They have been setting off fireworks throughout the day. Apparently when a roof is put on a new building fireworks are set off. The city itself looks to be in a transition as there is rubble, dug up sidewalks and construction debris everywhere. The houses here are more colourful than in Beijing, boasting purple and green balconies or any other gaudy colour combination. Every small street looks like a Souk and there are vendors selling a variety of very interesting looking dishes along the streets. I wish my stomach could handle this type of exploring as it smells fabulous.
I look forward to the drive to Sophie’s orphanage as we will finally get out of the city. Flying in I could see mountains and rivers and a patchwork quilt of small farms and am dying to see them up close. Until tomor