Yesterday we had an eventful day before leaving Hangzhou. We were picked up by Jessica at 10:00 a.m. and taken to the The Hangzhou Children's Welfare Institute (the orphanage that Juliet lived in for just over 8 months). It was a beautiful facility and only about 3 years old. From the minute you walk into the front doors, you can tell the children are well-loved. There is a large wall with laminated pictures of the children taped to it. Some of the pictures are of the kids with their adoptive families too, and we were encouraged to send them a picture of Juliet with Luke and Mia as soon as we get home to post on the wall. We found two pictures of Juliet taped on the wall already. We were greeted right away by Chen, one of the directors that brought Juliet to us at the Civil Affairs Office. Juliet was a little stoic at the orphanage, just looking around and thinking. Although Juliet had been in a foster family for about 8 months, she returned to the orphanage about three weeks ago to prepare for her adoption. It must have been somewhat confusing for her, but she handled it well. Chen offered to hold her, and she reached over to her, sat in her arms for a minute, but then she wanted to come back to us. Chen laughed and said that was good. Chen sat us down at a small meeting table in the lobby to give us a bag of "goodies" for Juliet to take home with her. There was a giant stuffed cat (as big as Juliet), a CD of photographs of her time spent in the orphanage, some Chinese play-doh, and a memory book. The memory book describes in Chinese her likes, dislikes, friends, schedule, etc..., and it has cute pictures of her in it too. There are even photographs of the day she was brought to the orphanage at two months old.
Chen took us to the toddler room where Juliet stayed. We saw the crib she had slept in which is now occupied by someone else already. We saw the play room which was full of toys. In the washroom, each child had a towel on a hook with his/her picture on it. As we were looking around her room, the other toddlers returned to have their lunch. They were all dressed in little yellow sweatsuits and were so excited to see us. They were waving and smiling. They liked getting their picture taken. They each had a seat around a table for what looked liked a pretty yummy lunch of rice, meat and vegetables. Juliet started to squawk a bit hoping to sit down and eat with them. We took Juliet's picture with her three nannies, and they all gave her kisses good-bye.
Chen also showed us the music room, and the older kids' classrooms. They have a strict curriculum they follow for their schooling. They learn both the Chinese characters and the English words that go with them. They take their education very seriously even in the orphanage. We were also able to see the music room, and the playground area.
In the craft room, we ran into three women and three young girls from the states that volunteer their time for Red Thread Charities. This organization goes into the orphanages for a couple of weeks each October and helps them with a variety of needs. One of the women, Jane, actually had sent us pictures of Juliet back in July from her last trip to the orphanage. She was so kind and excited for us. She couldn't get over how well Juliet was doing and that she totally seemed bonded with us already. She had brought her own adopted Chinese daughter along, as well as her grandaughter to help for the few weeks she was there. The girls ranged from probably 9-11 years, and they kept telling us, "Thank you for adopting the baby, Congratulations!" It was a great experience at the orphanage, and we feel lucky that Juliet had been cared for so well during her stay there.
Before heading to the airport for Guangzhou, we stopped by Juliet's finding place. There are four bus stations in Hangzhou, and she was found outside of bus station #2. Although we weren't sure of the exact location of the spot, we took some pictures of the entrance to the station.
Although the plane ride from Hangzhou to Guangzhou is about two hours, Juliet stayed wide awake for her first flight. She layed her head down just as we were starting to land. We were greeted by our guide, Judy, after getting our luggage. She informed us that we were upgraded to the 5 star Garden Hotel with a suite. We weren't sure why, but we didn't complain It is the nicest hotel we have ever stayed at, and the staff is super friendly. Juliet was even given a small basket of bath accessories and a stuff panda to play with. You see people from all over the world staying here and quite a few adoptive families too. There is a beautiful garden area behind the hotel, with a cascading waterfall, and a giant fish pond. Juliet liked watching the huge koi in the pond after breakfast.
We had to visit the Guangzhou Medical Center for Adoptive Children today so Juliet could get a brief physical. She was a hit with the doctors, and she passed all of her tests with flying colors. She only took a short nap unfortunately, and doesn't seem very well rested as of now so we think a change of scenery is what she may need. It is 88 degrees and sunny here so we are going to go out and investigate the area.
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