grrlTravels back to China

Hohhot, Days 1 and 2: Meeting HSM

The flight to Hohhot from Beijing is a quick 1 hour so we packed up our gear without trepidation and headed to the airport. We arrived way too early, so early that we couldn't check in. (1 1/2 hours before seems to be the magic number for those of you taking notes.) Eventually we were off.

The airport in Hohhot was completely empty at 5:30 pm. It was noticeably colder and the cold and the emptiness gave the whole arrival process an eerie edge. We found our facilitator Sissi, gathered up the luggage and headed out.

The plan was to go to the hotel, check in and settle in a bit, and then meet SiMao. Sissi even asked if we were hungry and recommended that we eat before meeting the baby. The pace seemed leisurely almost. There was a nervous twang in the air for K. and I knowing that we were so close to meeting him, but there was also time.

The drive from the airport to the hotel was quick. We pulled up to the Holiday Inn. Which was fine except that we had requested to stay at the brand new Shangri-La. We told Sissi and there was much discussion with the local guide Sandra. It was decided that we would stay one night in the Holiday Inn and then switch hotels the next morning. We disembarked from the van. E. ran into the lobby with Sissi while K. and I were still sorting through the luggage. K. turned to me and said, "He's inside," and I said, "Ok." Calmly. Oh so calmly. K. said, "No, HE'S INSIDE," and I looked at him and the meaning dawned. I glanced in the window and there was Mao-Mao sitting on his foster father's lap looking bemused and interested.

Seems I am prophetic, at least in China. I had told K. over and over that he would be in the lobby and we would meet him before we got into our room. Sissi had said that they were at another hotel close by and that they would come after we called them. Nope. They were there, waiting.

We walked in and said hi. It was a bit anticlimactic but not in a bad way. There he was with the foster father and there we were and that was it. We said Hi. We exchanged pleasantries. We smiled and waved at Mao-Mao. We got checked in and went to the room to deliver our stuff. And then we went upstairs and they handed Mao-Mao to us.

He cried a lot. He wailed and thrust himself about. The woman from the SWI gave me tons of information about him and his schedule. K. and M-M paced the floor. E. played his gameboy and Z. clung to me looking worried. Mao-Mao cried some more.

We headed up to the room. More crying. Sissi ran out and got us some food which we gulped down standing by the desk. Mao-Mao cried. We unpacked enough to find pajamas for the kids and get Z.'s feeding pump set up. Mao-Mao cried. We tried to settle E. and Z. Mao-Mao eventually passed out and we sorted ourselves enough to get to bed.

We had a surprisingly good night. In the morning we met with the Official from the Civil affairs office and the notaries and the woman from the SWI. We did the paperwork and had our interview and that was it. According to the Chinese government he was ours.

There was a ton of talking about his mouth and the IVs and the hospital. K. and I watched him closely and he just didn't look all that sick to us. We knew he needed to eat and drink and we were ready to take him to the doctor, but it just didn't seem necessary.

We packed up our stuff and moved to the new hotel. We settled in. Mao-Mao did not cry that much, just looking shut down. And that's how we began our life with our new son.

The foster father slipped K. a note as soon as we walked in the door. We read it later and it was a lovely note, written in beautiful English, telling us that they were happy that we were adopting him and giving us their mailing address, phone number, and email address. They asked for updates. In the morning when we finally peeled off all of Mao-Mao's layers they had sewn another copy of the note to his bottom shirt. So sweet. He misses them, we can tell. They took good care of him, that is obvious too. We are so grateful to them. (They did seemingly spoil him, and they fed him ALL DAY LONG from what we can tell, but they loved him too.)

Posted by grrlTravels at February 15, 2008 6:52 PM | TrackBack