2/1/2010-Nanchang

Charlotte rocks. She is sleeping soundly after another long day….its 8.30pm.

Today we got up early to fill out the adoption papers and finalize everything for her passport. We all met in the lobby at 9am and battled the traffic to cross the street. It’s amazing how so few get squished on the roads here….total mayhem. Anyway, we made it across the street to the Jiangxi adoption center. The office was on the 26th floor, so the battle for elevator space was just like crossing the street. We all met in a big room and were called one by one to have our family photos taken and sign some documents. We also had time to talk to the orphanage director and asked her a few questions about Charlotte. We asked about the babies in the pictures that they sent and her little friend is named Mimi, and she is going to be adopted soon into the US. We should ask Zhou if he can keep tabs on her, and find out if we can track her down in the future. We wrapped up about two hours later, and we were all headed back across the street when Zhou got a phone call….we had to go back to do some fingerprints on some documents. This was easily taken care of and we were back in the hotel in no time taking a nap and preparing for an afternoon at the notary and Wal-Mart. Going to the notary was a riot. We have a new bus driver here and u-turns in massive traffic, driving on the sidewalk, and cutting across 3 lanes of traffic is par for the course….he’s not shy, but that’s pretty much how one gets around in a car here. I don’t know for sure, but I think the notary visit was for Charlotte’s passport.

After the notary, we jumped back onto the bus and headed right through a heavily travelled sidewalk to get pointed in the right direction. We were headed to Wal-Mart for things that we forgot or needed.

Wal-Mart was on the 2nd and 3rd floors of a building and was; just like the roads, total mayhem. Good thing the carts had wheels that allowed them to go in all directions. We stocked up on bottled water, stuff for Charlotte and then headed for the beer aisle. She knows her stuff, because the first Heineken bottle within her grasp she snatched. If only a bit stronger she wouldn’t have dropped it to smash all over the floor. I was kind of proud of her.

We hung out in the room tonight and got her to drink a bottle and finally her first poo…..i think that means that she is feeling comfortable with us! We sat around for a couple of hours and played, took a bath and then played some more. She likes her Bug, and Schnerdly and anything like a napkin or Kleenex. And I almost forgot….we have been playing music and she gets really excited when we turn it on.

And thanks to Barb for posting this stuff on our blog since we are blocked while in China.