Adoption Day

Today we visited the Civil Affairs Office and signed papers saying we agreed to adopt Alice. Alice signed a paper with a personally written statement that she wants to be adopted by us. At about 10:30 AM (Beijing time) on February 20 (9:30 PM February 19th - Maryland time), Alice legally became our daughter!

It was actually very anti-climatic. No pictures allowed in a rather nondescript office with some guy out in the lobby with a loud voice having a semi-heated discussion. Our adoption guide leaned over and whispered that the man wanted a divorce. I should have more to say about the adoption, but it has been a very long day and I want to hit the highlights quickly. Tomorrow will be here too soon and we're off to the Great Wall - so without further delay here is how we spent the rest of our day -----

First stop was the Lama Temple. Very pretty, too much incense, and a whole lot of buddhas.

Some of the halls further in had these signs posted. I was very disappointed that I was not allowed to burn film in the hall.

Next stop, lunch in a noodle shop. DH was not a happy camper as it was a tiny place, packed with noisy hungry Chinese. We had to split up to be seated and we had to share tables and we were seated next to the door which people kept leaving open and the outside cold air was, well, COLD! But the noodles were great!

The next adventure was the Temple of Heaven. More walking, more beautiful buildings and lots of pictures.

JJ wanted to do a little shopping and Alice had let us know that she wanted a bag like she had seen someone else get as a gift. I thought she wanted a purse, but turned out it was a fancy pencil box. Anyway, we went to the Pearl Market - a huge indoor shopping mall with vendor stalls and some very aggressive sales people who took one look at us and started speaking English. Poor DH almost didn't make it through one area. JJ went back to retrieve him after a sales lady had wrapped a leather belt around him in an attempt to convince him he really needed to buy one. DH was just a tad out of his comfort zone! Alice did well getting her pencil bag/box, a special locking diary, secret ink pens, a watch and a Chinese yoyo - everything in pretty pink. She knew exactly what she wanted too.

Finished shopping and then went to a Hot Pot restaurant. Very tasty and fun. We are all getting pretty proficient with chopsticks, although JJ and I did help DH just a bit with fishing the cooked food out of the pot. Alice didn't care for the lamb and didn't even try the beef. She likes chicken. period. and lots of vegetables.

While we were eating dinner, Joy left to go get our tickets for the Kung Fu show. She got us great seats (row 4 center section) discounted. It was a good show, but more theatrical than I think I was expecting.

Finally we made it home over 13 hours after we left this morning! Long day! Tomorrow will be a relatively easy day - just the Great Wall - and then back home for supper and a cooking lesson! Should be fun.