Meeting Meiting

Beijing Children's Welfare Institute

Signing all the paperwork.

Just moments after we met, Meiting enjoyed looking at all of her stuff.

Our first family photo.

What an emotional day! We managed to get some sleep and eat some breakfast. It was a very surreal morning. We got a late start to the orphanage because we had to exchange our money. We were supposed to be there at 9:30 and got there at more like 10:30. We had to sign some forms, give our fingerprints and pay our money. At a little after 11:00 Meiting arrived in the room. She walked up to me and wrapped her arms around me and said something in Chinese. The only thing I understood was "Mama". We talked for about 10 minutes and out the door we went. Meiting did well in the car until Dennis(our coordinator) mentioned something about school. She cried and said she didn't want to go. Uh Oh! This might not be the best time to mention that her new Mama is a teacher. She also cried a little about three of her aunties. Otherwise she has pretty much talked NON STOP! Even though she knows we don't understand, she doesn't seem to care. She wasn't too crazy about Jeff at first. When we got in the van she told Dennis that she wanted to sit in the front with Mamma and Babba could sit in the back. She would not let him touch her or even come near her. That lasted only a few hours and she now holds his hand and he helped give her a bath. She loves to be touched and has kissed me several times. We went shopping at the Carrefore(like Walmart only bigger and more crowded) to buy her new shoes. She came wearing metallic silver and gold sandals that were too big and too ugly! She told Dennis she wanted shoes that light up. Luckily we found her a nice pair of white and pink "light up" sneakers. She was attracting attention because she was squealing with delight and kept saying "Thank you Mama and Babba" which then led to US attracting attention. She must have checked that shoe box 100 times by the time to reached the checkout. She wanted to be SURE they were still in the box and the lights still worked. Jeff was amazing and indulged her EVERY time even if we were holding up the aisle. She then wanted to purchase a toy. After she began to throw stuff in the cart, Dennis had to explain that she must choose ONE thing. She stomped her feet but them got over it. She settled on a Barbie(I was so happy) with wings. Jeff has had fun reattaching those wings a dozen or so times. She kept thanking us and would not let anyone touch her sneakers or her doll. When we left the store we had to wait outside for the rest of group. She was jumping up and down "lighting" her sneakers and squealing with delight. This drew alot of attention on us as well as a crowd. Most of the people were smiling with kind faces like they understood. I'm glad they did because we sure didn't. We also got to see how children use split pants. One little girl just squatted and went #2 right in the middle of the sidewalk. It was very interesting that no one seemed to care or notice. We were hungry and asked Mei what she wanted to eat. I was thinking rice or noodles. WRONG! Try KFC! We didn't want to but when she said her Foster Family brought her there for her birthday, we couldn't say no. Chinese KFC is NOT like US KFC. There is vegetables mixed in with the chicken patty. Different but not bad. She ordered a fish sandwich, tossed the fish and ate the bread. She is a VERY messy eater so we will definitely need to work on her manners. We later discovered that the REAL reason she wanted KFC(she told Jeff she hates chicken) was for the ice cream cone she got at the end. We came back to the hotel and she has taken a bath and is drawing with Jeff. She is happy and very energetic. She is not letting the language barrier stop her. She is letting Jeff hold her hand and he is growing on her like I knew he would. Life is good!
I will end here with a few of my personal notes about China. China is BIG and VERY crowded. I knew it would be but I guess seeing is believing. People are willing to risk their lives on a bike and we witnessed several near misses. China smells different and the food is hard to get used to. I have not YET come face to face with a "squatty potty" and I am glad. Night, Night!!