Dinner In Beijing (By Dean)

Hi everyone, Dean here with my first post. We did a lot of relaxing, napping and unwinding today. Breakfast, swim (in a really cold pool), lunch and then a stroll around the neighbourhood.

Here's Amelia and I at lunch. Thank Yoda the menu had numbers and lots of pictures!

Amelia was able to find some sort of playground that also served as an excercise playground for adults. It was kinda weird to see Amelia hanging on the monkey bars and then see an elderly woman a 10' away doing leg excercises on the adult monkey bar.

This is one of the bigger back alleys of Beijing. Fortunately for me, there are also lots of coffee shops down these back alleys.
I used to love playing Chinese chess. I almost wanted to see if i could get in on a game, but I decided I didn't feel like getting schooled by people who would mock me in a language I don't understand. I prefer to get mocked by people I can understand.

After talking with the other dads to be, we've determined that while we're all looking forward to having new daughters, we don't really know what's going on and we just show up when we're told to show up. It seems the wives run show, which is just fine be me.

Anyways, we're off to the gardens and the Lama Buddhist Temple tomorrow. Stay tuned!

We've arrived!!

We made it!! Yesterday was a long, long day. We got to the Edmonton International Airport at 7am MST (see the pic above of Dean and Amelia all bright eyed and bushy tailed!!) and arrived at the Beijing Oriental Culture Hotel at 5pm Beijing time. That's 3am MST! Ouch! The flight was a bit delayed, but uneventful...we all watched lots of movies and tried to get a bit of sleep. Below is a shot of Amelia while we were waiting for our luggage at the airport. Tired girl!!There was one other couple from our travel group on the same flight as us, and another family arrived at the airport at the same time as us so we all headed to the hotel together - luckily we had a driver and tour guide arranged for us, so we didn't have to worry about anything. Our facilitator, Yulin, met us at the hotel, and got us all checked in. Once we all dropped off our luggage in our rooms, we went for dinner. Thankfully Yulin came along so she did all the ordering for us. The food was absolutely fabulous, and cheap! There were 9 of us eating together and the bill came to $32 for the whole group! Nice! We all fell straight to sleep after getting back to the hotel. Amelia and woke up at 4am, famished! We had a little snack and then we were both wide awake. Below is a picture of Amelia reading a bit to help her fall back to sleep!

Beijing is amazing - loads of people, loads of bikes! And very, very busy! Our hotel is really nice, and obviously caters to the Western traveller. Most of the staff speak a bit of English (a lot better than my Mandarin!) and one of the restaurants has a Western menu. Below are the views from our hotel room as well as a couple of shots of our hotel room. You'll see Dean and Amelia napping while I update this. It's only 9am, but I guess their bodies still aren't quite on Beijing time. I'm feeling fine right now, but expect to crash later on in the day!

Today, Dean, Amelia and I are just going to take it easy. We'll take lots of naps, go swimming at the hotel pool, head down the street to the grocery store and fruit market, etc. We might head to Beihi Park to wander through the gardens. Mostly, we just want to relax and adjust to the time zone. More of our travel group will be arriving today, so we will all have supper together tonight.

Only 3 more sleeps until we meet Iris!!

Almost ready!

We are so close to leaving! I thought that I would spend the weekend getting everything ready, and that Sunday night (tonight) could be a nice relaxing evening. But the universe had a different plan. Amelia has been sick all weekend with a fever (poor kid), so that meant that I got little to no sleep both Friday and Saturday night. And it was a very social weekend, so the bit of energy I had was used in visiting with friends and family. Which was absolutely lovely! But now I am busy making copies of all the paperwork we need to bring (one in each suitcase plus a couple extra stashed throughout the luggage and carry-on. Some may say that I am OCDing, but at least I will be able to relax!!

Like I said, this weekend was very social. We had lunch with Dean's dad on Friday and then supper with my parents and my Auntie Marg and Uncle Buster. My parents spent the whole weekend in Edmonton, so it was nice to see a lot of them. On Saturday night, my dear friend Hannah threw a ladies-only shower for me. It was lovely to be surrounded by so many of the women that I count on and have learned so much from. So, to Hannah, Mom, Shelaine, Valda, Jill, Erin, Chantel, Laurel, Karen, Erika, Laura: thanks so much! I had so much fun - loads of wine and laughs and even some tears! Love you guys!

And then on Sunday afternoon, Hannah arranged a potluck lunch celebration for us at our church. Unfortunately, Amelia and I had to miss it since Amelia still had a bad fever. But Dean came home with loads of good wishes and cards and gifts. Our church, Westwood Unitarian Congregation (www.westwoodunitarian.ca) is an amazing place. They have been an amazing support since the very early stages of our adoption journey. We are so lucky to be a part of this community! Thanks everyone!!

So...3 sleeps...WOW!!! I really can't believe it! I can't believe our family of three is soon going to become a family of four!! Iris has been in our hearts for so long that I've always felt that our family wasn't quite done; but it's been just the three of us for almost 7 years, and it's just going to be such a big change. I am so excited and overwhelmed and eager; so full of love, but also a bit scared. I am really looking forward to getting home with Iris and moving on with our new life. I can't wait to see Amelia be a big sister.

Well...back to my photocopying!!

How we pictured the family over 3 years ago...

My friend Cathy McMillan (http://www.quirkyartcafe.ca/index.htm) is an amazing charicature artist. She drew this picture of our family when we first started our adoption journey 3+ years ago. We had to make our Chinese daughter as generic as possible, but I think that could definitely be Iris in a few months (after her hair grows a little bit)! Anyways, I am looking forward to getting Cathy to do another portrait, this time with the real Iris.

what's important

I've been basically freaking out for the last week or so...stressing (majorly) about all the little details. But I just stopped and took a long look at Iris' pictures. She is so precious and sweet and perfect. I all of a sudden have a total feeling of peace. Look at that beautiful face; we are so blessed.

7 days and counting!

So...one week to go! I haven't written much (or anything, really) lately because things have been CRAZY here! I can't believe all the ups and downs we've had over the past week. Missing paperwork, sleepless nights, mounds of stuff to fit into 3 suitcases...aaaahh!!

But all of our paperwork is in. All of our shopping is done. Iris' clothes are all washed up and in the closet. Diapers are ready to go (although haven't totally decided against the diaper service...don't know if I want to get back into washing diapers for another 2 years!).

All that is left to do is pack! And yes, it will take me seven days to get it perfect. The weight restrictions for luggage for in-China travel is quite limited, so there will be a lot of packing and weighing and re-packing and re-weighing until I get it right. We can leave some luggage behind in Beijing while we go to Nanchang to pick up Iris; I would like to have it all organized ahead of time. I also have to go to the bank today to get our money converted to US dollars and Chinese Yuan. Not sure if our bank will have yuan but I'll give it a try.

Our facilitators have been so helpful preparing for this trip. And one of the mom's in our travel group set up a Yahoo group so that we can all be in touch with each other as we all prepare for the trip of a lifetime. It's been wonderful to get tips and ideas from others and to get support from the group when I am freaking out about something. I can't wait to meet them all! And their children!

We are staying at three different hotels while in China. For our first few days in Beijing we are staying at the Oriental Culture Hotel (http://www.bochotel.com/english/index.htm). Then in Nanchang we stay at the Galactic International Peace Hotel (http://www.glthp.com/english/). Dean being the sci-fi fan that he is, loves that fact that we are staying at a hotel with Galactic in it's title. Check out the Galactic Bar in the hotel!! Very space age looking!Then, when we get back to Beijing, we are staying at the State Guest Hotel Presidential Plaza (http://www.thepresidentialhotel.com/luxury_five_stars_hotel_beijing_china/index.aspx). They all look really nice...much nicer than I've ever stayed in! And Amelia is excited because there are pools in all the hotels!

So that's what is going on here. I can't believe we leave in a week. And we meet Iris in only 12 days!! It's been such a LOOOONNNGGG wait. I am constantly anxious about the paperwork going missing, the donation to the orphanage being unacceptable (has to be given in US $100 bills, PERFECT condition...not tears, creases, jagged edges), forgetting something major like our passports or travel visas. So if you can send us some 'relax' vibes, I would really appreciate it!!!

Three weeks!

We leave for Beijing in three weeks! Wow! I can't wait. I think I've already mentioned that everything else that is going on in my life is taking a major backseat to our upcoming adventure. Thank god for business partners and committees that are willing to take over! I'm still busy getting the house ready (nesting!) but I also want to just think about Iris, hang out with Amelia and Dean, and visit with friends. I feel so blessed and I really just to slow down and enjoy every second of it. Life is too short to miss these moments.

Amelia is starting grade one next week! She is super excited, as am I, but I'm a bit sad too. When she started play school and then moved into kindergarten I didn't find it too hard because she was still with me for the majority of the day. The few hours a day that I was away from her was a nice break. But with grade one, she'll be gone all day! It's going to be so strange! She's basically been an extra little part of me for the last 7+ years (if you include pregnancy). Jeez, I hope I don't cry on that first day!

So, a few of you have noticed that Iris is going to have my last name. Yeah, we're breaking tradition here. Certainly not the first people to do it, but it's not that common yet for siblings to have different last names. I love seeing Helmig on Iris' name! And yes, Dean and I have noticed the irony...that our blonde, blue eyed daughter has the last name Chan and our Chinese daughter will have a German last name. I love it! Because regardless of our names, we are still one family.

Since the time difference is 14 hours between here and China, almost every time I think to myself, 'I wonder what Iris is doing', the answer is almost always 'sleeping'. But last night I was wide awake (middle of the night...don't know why) and it was nice to be able to think about Iris in her waking hours. Wondering if she is eating or being entertained by her caretakers, or having a nap. Right now, she would be sleeping, since it's almost midnight there (10am here). I just checked the weather there...it's 26 C! At midnight! We certainly don't get weather like that here in Edmonton! We are going to have to bundle her up when we get her home...she won't be used to weather like we have!