A Home for Lily

It is now June 30th in June since they are 14 hours ahead of us and my little girl is celebrating her 4th birthday.  We sent a care package and birthday cake and here are the digital photos they sent me back.

We sent a series of questions to the orphanage about Lily requesting some personal information about her lifestyle and preferences before our arrival.  Here is what we received.

Bing Qiao currently eats the same food as the other children in the orphanage. Other than not being able to eat spicy food she does not have any restrictions. She likes to play games with other same age children and watch cartoons. Her bed has railings on it and she sleeps soundly.

 On the morning of Jun 16 she was playing with friends and fell down while running. She hit her chin which caused a 1.5 cm wound. The wound is now a scab and is not infected.

 We received the photo album and toys that Bing Qiao’s family sent. Through the photographs she saw her mom, sister, and other family members. She knows she will have a new family but we don’t think she understands the true meaning of adoption.

 Bing Qiao is an active child. Since she has grown up in the institute and has not had much contact with the outside world she feels nervous and scared in unfamiliar situations. When she is angry she expresses herself by lowering her head and not talking, ignoring people, and sometimes crying. This does not last long and you only need to hug her and comfort her with a few words of praise and she will be better. 

Our final itinerary arrived this morning.  Yeah!  So for those of you who want to follow our timeline while we are in China, here is the plan.

In-China Itinerary for the Krautkramer Family

7/5       Arrive in Beijing on flight UA851 at 2:40 pm. Your guide, George or Cindy, will meet you at the airport and escort you to the Crowne Plaza Wangfujing. Hotel phone number: 011-86-10-5911-9999

George Jiao cell phone number: 0-13911683584                    Cindy Lee cell phone number: 0-13581695849

7/6       Sightseeing around Beijing (Tiananmen Square and Hutong tour).

7/7       Great Wall and other sights.

7/8       Fly from Beijing to Changsha on flight CZ3124 (10:55 am- 1:20 pm). E-tickets, please use your passports to check in at a China Southern Airlines desk. Your guide, Steven, will escort you to the Dolton Hotel.

Hotel phone number: 011-86-731-8416-8888

 7/9       Meet and take custody of Yin, Bing Qiao (Lily) at the Civil Affairs office.

7/10     Return to the Civil Affairs office for adoption paperwork.

 7/11     Rest and shopping.

7/12     Optional orphanage visit.

 7/13     Fly from Changsha to Guangzhou on flight CZ3387 (5:30 pm- 6:45 pm). E-tickets, please use your passports to check in at a China Southern Airlines desk. Your guide, Sarah or Elsie, will escort you to the Garden Hotel.

Hotel phone number: 011-86-20-8333-8989

Elsie Chen cell phone number: 0-13544599710         Sarah Gao cell phone number: 0-18024507410

7/14     Visa medical examination and TB test.

7/15     Sightseeing around Guangzhou.

7/16     Pick up medical reports and prepare documents for the visa interview with guide’s assistance.

 7/17     Visa interview and oath ceremony at the American Consulate at 8:30 a.m.

 7/18     Pick up Bing Qiao’s visa in the afternoon then take the train to Hong Kong. Take a taxi to the Regal Airport Hotel.: Hong Kong Regal Airport Hotel  9 Cheong Tat Road, Hong Kong International Airport, Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong, Phone number: (852) 2286-8888, Email address: rah.info@regalhotel.com. You will need to take a taxi from the train station to the hotel because Sun Travel does not have guide services in Hong Kong. People in Hong Kong have much more English fluency than in mainland China so the cab ride should not be an issue. Even so, I have provided the hotel name and address in Chinese above for you to show the driver. Your guide in Guangzhou can also help you understand how the train will work and how to get to the hotel. The hotel is directly connected to the airport so you don’t even have to go outside. Breakfast is not included at this hotel. Since the train tickets will be purchased at the train station when you are leaving Guangzhou those fees are not included in the itinerary. The price for children is about USD $10 and for adults it is around USD $25. The cab ride from the Hung Hong train station to the airport hotel should be about $30 but sometimes there is an additional fee for putting luggage in the trunk. I know the cabs can accept RMB and some can even accept credit cards. You should verify this with your guide and see if they have advice on the best method of payment there.

Chinese name and address: 香港赤鱲角香港国际机场畅达路9号

7/19     Depart Hong Kong on flight UA896 at 11:10 am.

Well, we received confirmation today that our US Consulate appointment will be on July 17th. So, we were then able to book our flights, ironically we leave on the 4th of July.

We will post our full schedule soon, so stay tuned!

Sent from my iPad

Our Article 5 was picked up the US Embassy on May 30th and delivered to the CCCWA (The Chinese Authority).  Now we are just waiting on travel approval, that could come any time after June 13th.  So, let’s keep our fingers crossed it comes quickly!