Day 2 with Emily - Tuesday, February 19th 2008

Since I was brief with yesterday's happenings, I'll try to fill in some of what happened. I may repeat myself since, again, I can't even view our own blog once I post due to filtering on the internet here in China.

I might have mentioned that we have transported around in 3 shiny red Mazda 6's. If any of you have seen the movie "Italian Job" with Marky Mark featuring the 3 mini coopers driving through town. That was us. Apparently red is a lucky color here in China, along with the number 8. They use these cars ordinarily for weddings. So you can just imagine us streaming and weaving through town, with everyone giving way to us. Of course, driving here is kind of like driving in Rome. You just plow through and don't make eye contact. As soon as you make eye contact, it's almost as if you're relinquishing your right to go first.

Anyway, last night we ordered in for Pizza and Coke. It was a welcome treat since the new hotel we're in serves only tradional Chinese cuisine. And yes, it gets old quick. A phenomona occured when Andrew asked to go to bed on his own. Maria had a difficult time getting Emily to sleep and we found that the same trick I used on Andrew of rocking in the stroller worked on her. I was able to later transfer her to the crib. We had a little surprise around 1:30 a.m. when Emily woke up and needed to potty. We didn't realize that she seems to be in the midst of being potty trained and gave us an opportunity to take her, but didn't seize the moment. She proceeded to grace us. Anyway, after the mess, all went back to bed and got up this morning for an early breakfast since we had paperwork and to assure the government we wanted to keep her.

We went to a government building to write and sign explanation as to why we wanted her and to insure that we would not abandon her. With reluctance, we agreed...just kidding.

Again we hopped in to our wedding caravan and proceeded with the "China Job" at hand. Last night I had to exchange money over to RMB or Yuan, in order to pay fees for today. The exchange is about the same as it is for the French and Swiss franc...about 7 to the US dollar. So I divied up the money according the fees and placed each in it's appropriate and distinguishing envelope in order to pay when we were called upon. First was the registration fee (830 rmb - $119), Emily's Chinese passport (250 rmb - $35) and the notary fee (2240 rmb - $320). After the government registration, we went across town for the notary services.

We're now back in our hotel room, which is very nice, however, we're in the midst of so much construction, we can't really walk anywhere. Emily will be put down for her nap in a few moments.