Passport Day

Yesterday was another long but interesting day. In the morning we went shopping at "Beijing Road". A famous street that has been blocked off to traffic and has hundreds of stores of every size. There are big modern department store with set prices and little back alley shops selling the ubiquitous $10 fake Rolex. We bought a few things, including very cute red sandals for Naomi, but we didn't go crazy.

One thing I found interesting was a historical monument in the middle of the street where the old city road had been preserved under a glass observation roof. The road had been excavated to expose it layer by layer, revealing stones that ultimately dated back to China's earliest dynasties.

We then headed back to the room for some lunch and a short nap. After that, we packed up again and went to the Chinese agency responsible for issuing passports. We doubled checked the adoption docs from the day before and they asked me for my passport as official guardian. It was a simple process and we should get Naomi's passport in about 5 days. Then it was back on the bus and back to the hotel for an afternoon of playing in the room. We thought Naomi would sleep but no such luck. She spent 3 hours throwing things, laughing and exploring the room.

Our dinner outing proved to be fun. It turns out there is a Brazilian BBQ churrascaria just 6 blocks for the hotel. It was reasonably authentic and there was a live band made up of three Paulistas (people from Sao Paulo). I spoke to them in my very rusty Portuguese and they were super happy to talk to someone that knew Brazil. They were all there on a 2 year contract with an American firm that recruits international musicians. They get to learn Chinese and see the world and the company gets cheap talent.

The band, Sara, Marcio and Duda told us there first 4 months in China had been rough. Making real friends seemed very difficult and the guys complained that Chinese girls liked to talk to them but not actually go out on dates. They were very interested in our adoption story and loved holding Naomi. Naomi seemed ok with the attention and liked it when we danced around the music.

Tired and full we stumbled back to the room and got ready for bed. Naomi was wound up for dinner and put up her first real protest when we tried to put her to sleep at 9pm. I had to take her out of her crib, play with her for about 30 min and then let her fall asleep next to me on the bed. That worked and I was able to move her back to the crib for the night.

Today we are going sightseeing in the morning and will take the bus to a big park and a memorial to Sun Yat Sen who was from Guangzhou. Tomorrow we will go visit Naomi's orphanage. I have mixed feelings about it but know it will be important to see where she has been these first 16 months of her life. More soon...