Our package was picked up at 4:59 p.m. in Alexandria, VA. It left the airpark in Ohio for Beijing at 6:19 p.m. (6:19 this morning in Beijing). The DHL counter here at the hotel gets deliveries at about 10:00 a.m. each day. Our appointment is tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. DHL online says our package is inthe air now. DHL China says it will be delivered tomorrow afternoon. Our guide will be here at 8:30 tomorrow morning so we can check on it together.
I'm trying to arrange another hotel and have asked a woman in the ex-patriate community for help finding one that is safe and clean. No luck reaching her cell phone, though, and at home the phone just rings, so I'll use her email again to see if I got the numbers wrong.
We walked to a little store in the morning for fruit and drinks. Leaving the hotel is problematic right now because the hotel is hosting an economic summit for Asian and European leaders. We have to pass through airport security to come and go with scanners, etc. The staircase and garden are closed and there are police and secret service types everywhere.
Hallelujah! Some good news at last. It is 1:47 in the morning and I just found a fax slid under the door. It has both a State Department authentication as well as a Chinese embassy seal, and the DHL tracking number written on it.
After breakfast I booked an extension on our room. I asked for three days (until my package arrives) and they said I could have it for six. So I took it-I can always cancel the last three days.
My travel mate's daughter came to visit while she packed. Packing stresses adopted children out-they don't know what is happening, but they do know that everything new and now familiar is disappearing.
My travel mate's mother gave us a ton of leftover food and gave me a magazine (I'm desperate for something to read). Then they were off to the airport.
When our guide got back from the airport, we went to the translator's office with my fax. I have a new civil affairs appointment for Thursday morning, and we are going to try to get the passport expedited. We will use a taxi that day for our errands, since the driver is no longer paid for. I will have to pay 650 yuan for our trip to the airport so that I can have a driver and a car big enough for luggage.
The three of us went swimming in the afternoon and ate supper in the dining room. I get a sick to my stomach feeling every time we pass my travel mate's door and break out in a cold sweat. Aidan wants to knock or ring the bell, so I just tell him that they went bye-bye.
Aidan has figured out how to color within the lines and has been working intently at it since his bath.
The courier said that he is picking up our power of attorney from the U.S. State Department today, where he took it Friday, and will then take it to the Chinese embassy. Our agency said it will take 48 hours to arrive in China via DHL. All weekend I had thought that it was already in the air on the way to me.
In the middle of Tiananmen Square I got the message through our guide that if I didn't get some paperwork soon, the orphanage would have to take Aidan back.
After tomorrow our guide will no longer be with us unless we need her for some official business.
My head aches. I am going to be alone in a very expensive hotel that I did not plan money for, without a translator, without a driver, and without a travel group, and responsible for two dependents.
My travel mate found out in the afternoon that she would be able to pick her daughter's passport up tomorrow morning, a day early, so they will fly out after that. I also found out, through rumor, that we are the last China adoptions being done by our agency-the program has become too unpredictable for them. So no one has any real reason to care what is happening here with us. The least my agency should be doing is arranging a new hotel stay for us. I can't even read the phone book and the Internet costs 40 yuan per 10 minutes-not a lot, but it takes time to search for hotels in another country.
We all had supper together one last time-my travel mate's family and mine.
 We didnt' eat at McDonald's this night, but here are my travel mate, her mother, and her daughter.
The restaurant, which opens at 5:00 a.m., wasn't open today when we showed up for breakfast, so we went back to our room and watched a movie, then returned at 6:30. It was much busier than when we normally eat, but the delay meant we got to meet a very nice lady from Kansas who was adopting her third Chinese child, this one a son, and her first Beijing adoption. She will be here through the 28th, so we may not be alone after all.
The morning was boring, but the day got better. LB took Aidan to the garden but he wouldn't behave, so she brought him back and we played with his balloon. He would go into a runner's crouch, I'd say ready-set-go! and he'd be off like a little rocket, running and then jumping to grab the balloon string. We broke for a room service lunch, then played and danced. He taught me the words to a song he frequently sings. We went next door to play with our travel mate's daughter, and then I was going to go to McD's for supper but he got very upset at the idea of my going without him so I threw pants and a coat on over his pjs and he came along. He skips everywhere we go.
After supper he learned to say the English numbers one through four. He was so proud of himself that he did it again, and again, and again. He would also clap his hands after doing it. LB took him next door to show off his new talent and they cheered for him as well.
 Random garden photos. LB goes there daily to do her school work and get our of the room. It is a really beautiful Japanese garden-we are in a Japanese hotel-but like all of the beautiful gardens of Beijing, there is a layer of dirt much like Mount St. Helens ash after the eruption, covering everything (pollution). It really is too bad, because the city is beautifully landscaped in the common areas and everything is still in bloom, unlike home.
I managed to reach G by phone today but had to leave a message at PB's house. I'm suffering from some pretty serious RB withdrawals right now.
Despite this, today was the best day so far. We went first to the Beijing zoo. Although the animal care and confinement leaves a lot to be desired, it was the first kid-friendly place we have been. No one was pushing or shoving, and strollers could be pushed around easily, meaning that our travel mate could enjoy the day as well. We also weren't stared at and the kids weren't poked or prodded the way they are in other places.
Aidan picked out a hot pink balloon for himself, and on the way out I bought him a collection of Ultraman action figures. He carried the action figures with him when we went to the pearl market. I didn't really want to go since I don't have the ability to spend, but ended up enjoying it and I did buy a small pink pearl ring. Pearls are my favorite jewelry.
After the pearl market we went next door to a great Chinese restaurant. Finally! Chinese food in China. Everyone enjoyed this day.
I called FedEx this morning and they said that my package was signed for at 8:59 a.m. Thursday in D.C., but I had no fax, so I called the courier and he said the package just arrived (Thursday evening) and that he would take care of it tomorrow (Friday at home). So we might be able to get the fax and have it translated this weekend, but no civil affairs appointment until at least Monday.
Today we went to the Forbidden City. It was beautiful and impressive, but again it was not a good place for kids. Plus the smog and dirt lay on everything. We left there to go to a children's clothing store-the little girl being adopted by our travel mate needs some larger clothing than what she has. I looked for stuff for Aidan, but everything in the store was too small. His clothes fit for the most part, so we'll just use them until we get home (I brought sizes four and five and that's what he wears-some things just fit better than others).
After nap we took him to the pool, then ordered room service and found out that he loves spaghetti.
 Yes, LB stood out from the crowd
 Before-I need these armbands for what?
 Okay-Maybe it's not so bad
 After-The Proud Conqueror!
No fax today-we asked the courier to fax the forms when he had them done so that we could have them translated ahead of time to save one step. I called the courier and he said that he did not yet have the package I sent. I'll call later tonight and see where it is. In Beijing it takes seven business days to get the passport after applying for it, and the day your application is dropped off is not considered one of those business days. So every day matters. Even our original itinerary was not correct.
Touring today included the Temple of Heaven. I can't say that I enjoyed it because all I could think of was the recent murder there during the Olympic games. It was also not a place for kids to have a good time, and now that I have money worries (having no idea how long I'll stay here or how much it will cost), touring is no fun.
We went to the silk factory after the Temple of Heaven. They have beautiful stuff, but all of it can be bought at home as imports.
Then finally we went to a grocery store-a real grocery store, not the garage door sized convenience stores or the overpriced basement of the expensive department store that I first went to. It was called a Lotte Mart, and it was like a discount retail market/grocery store. I got Aidan a little backpack full of Leg-Os which made him happy-he likes to put my backpack on himself. I don't know if he liked the pack or the blocks better. He also liked riding in the main part of the grocery cart-he's too big for the child seat.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful-nap, play, meal, bath, bedtime.
 Future Builder of America at Work
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