Our Ambassador, Dalia

We are far from the first Waiguoren/ foreigners) to adopt from China (our friends, John and Penny who are reading this have two Chinese daughters, Noah and Judy's daughter is from Ethiopia... and I'm sure I am forgetting someone else). So we are not blazing new trails here. Still, every time we are outside and able to interact with people, with Dalia as a magnet for their curiosity and attention, I feel that we are doing some tiny bit of positive mutual cross-cultural international learning and understanding. When people say, "Nin shi nei guo de?" (what nationality are you), I am proud to say, "Mei Guo." Then we all nod, as if to temporarily light a match to the daily newspapers, the posturing and mistrust of our countries, as and to the genuine challenges and conflicts, social, economic, environmental that we share and face.

We made it to Guangzhou Friday night after midnight. Driving to the airport in Lanzhou, an hour out of the city, we saw exactly what it means that Lanzhou is at the edge of the desert -- we drove through it. Very very poor, very few people. so dry yet some attempt at growing trees on plateaus.

Our guide here in Guangzhou, Connie, couldn't be more different from Megan. Megan in jeans and converse tennis shoes, no makeup; Connie in heeled boots, her gait like a slow sashay, a tall woman with short reddish hair and big fake long eyelashes and thick eyeliner, sort of an international woman of mystery, like a Bond girl. "you know, Dee-nahh..." as she puts her arm around me and tells me a little secret. She has worked with over 1,000 families.

Yesterday, our only official business was Dalia's medical exam. Connie walked us over to the medical center. It was very orderly and easy. Since we started our adoption process in 2006, before the "Hague Convention" related to international adoption, as long as we provided proof of her vaccinations -- a little green book given to us in Lanzhou -- she didn't need to have any, whereas Hague adoption kids need as many as 7 vaccinations in one day. Dalia had her hearing checked, then her throat and body, then height and weight. (she weighs 10.6 kg - about 22 pounds. I can't remember how tall she is). The primary doctor said she is very healthy and smart.

Today we are free; tomorrow, Connie will take us sightseeing. We told her we were less interested in shopping -- we have what we need (Dalia) -- and more interested in seeing some historic and cultural sights, going to some outdoor markets.

We're staying at the famous White Swan Hotel, where most of the foreign parents adopting kids from China stay when in Guangzhou. The hotel itself is much much nicer, more elegant, than I had imagined. Yes, the breakfast buffet is fantastic. Tal is able to find almost all of his favorite Chinese foods in one meal -- except for a new favorite, Lanzhou Niu Rou Mian (Lanzhou beef noodle/soup). Here in the South, we eat rice instead of noodles.

Tal is working on his Chinese. His favorite is "Xiao Pengyou," which means "little friend" -- it's what people say to kids when they see them and want to talk to them. When Tal says it, the tones get switched around a bit so he is really saying "Laugh, friend!" It's impressive nonetheless. My Chinese is - OK. I am very comfortable and I understand pretty much everything, but my vocabulary is a bit rusty. I can get the ideas across. And then sometimes when I am with Dalia or Tal I end up speaking Chinglish, as in "Ni already chi nei ge" - "You already ate that.

Dong Ling is happily playing by herself right now. She has her Xi Yang Yang plastic fake cell phone to her ear, walking and talking while she is holding her stuffed lion. She's set up a little place to play near the mini-bar, with a shelf and a drawer. She stacks up packages of tissues, opens the drawer, puts her shoes in, puts in her ziplock bags, takes them all out, then re-orders things and does it all again. Nothing unusual I know but very special for a new Mama (me). We just had lunch of a hard-boiled egg, carrot/salmon/rice cereal and half of a corn muffin. The Yellow Meal. She's having a blast! It's wonderful that she can entertain herself SO well. The crib in this hotel sits on the floor and is made out of wood. She immediately went to it when we walked in the room, though she did not use her crib in Lanzhou. She wants to sleep in it every night, with her little animals, with whom she has great conversations and little songs before she falls asleep. She still sleeps through the night -- 5th night in a row. Wow.

The White Swan is located on Shamian Island, a beautiful little enclave of colonial buildings, lush banyan trees, parks. And touristy shops oriented for foreigners. We had delicious but expensive Thai food for dinner at the Thai Zen Cow and Bridge restaurant... we are aching to get off the island. We took a cab to Yue Xiu Park (cab driver, Mr. Zhou, originally from Beijing, two twin daughters - both attend QingHua University - one of the very best, the "Harvard" of China; one is studying in the U.S). Yue Xiu park - huge, beautiful, more lush trees and flower and plants. Tropical flowers dropped from trees as we passed under. Yue Xiu park climbs up and and up. As people walked past us, they would turn around, look at us, then look down at Dalia in the stroller, and we all smile.

We stopped to buy some waters and some "snow cakes" (rice crackers), and as I turned around several people stood there looking at her. I smiled and said hello. Two worker-ladies with brooms made of sticks and wearing lime-green uniforms also stopped by. Gradually, a crowd gathered. Lots of questions and conversation. Is she your Child? What is wrong with her mouth? Can you / will you repair it? Will there be a problem? How old is she? Can she walk? Do you speak Cantonese? I explain all the answers and add some additional information about her, where she is from, how long we have had her, that we just adopted her. More advanced and tricky questions: Will she speak English or Chinese? Did you pick her? Why did you pick one with a problem like that? Couldn't you have chosen one with no problems, with a normal face? The answers are straightforward - explaining the process, and adding more information - that we are willing and happy to adopt her with her cleft lip and palate. She is healthy, she is wonderful -- just look at her. And on and on. More people stopped to look and listen, about 15 at a time, men and women of all ages. Everyone smiled and thanked us, told us we were very big-hearted, that it was my fate to be her Mother. That she is very fortunate. I always reply that we are the fortunate ones. All the while, Dalia sat in the stroller, eating her rice cracker, looking up, smiling, clapping, saying nothing, or saying one of her two favorite words, "Ga Ga" or "Ya Ya."

After about 15 minutes we continued walking up the path. Suddenly, an errant Chinese hacky sack -- metal stacked discs attached to some feathers -- came flying our way overhead. Tal, carrying the backpack and baby bag, kicked out his foot and sent the hacky back to the two men who were playing. Friends! Tal joined them for a while - he's been dying to play hacky sack since we saw some people playing last night. When we got to the top of the park, there were more people playing, and Tal joined in for quite a while. There were with ping-pongers and bandminton, which we both played. I heard the two men watching (one of whose racquet I borrowed) say something in Cantonese that sounded vaguely like the word for "tennis" in Mandarin. "Yes, I play tennis," I told them. Dalia was fascinated by the modern stone sculpture of an older man and younger boy doing T'ai Chi. Sue K - you have a disciple!

Again, thank you all for your emails. I look forward to replying when we get home.