We're in Beijing!

Quick! While my VPN says I'm in Hong Kong, not Beijing, here's what I wrote for Wednesday/Thursday.

October 24/25 (It was all one long day of travel.  I can’t separate them.)

Our flight from Chicago to Beijing was long (exceedingly long) but uneventful.  The plane was HUGE!!!  It was a Boeing 777 and we could have parked two of the plane we took from the Springs to Chicago inside the thing.  Probably about ¾ of the people on the flight were Chinese, as well as a couple of the flight staff.  We met up with the Poeppelmeir family at O’Hare.  Georgette, Rusty and their 3yr old daughter Jaiden (from Jianxi Province) are in our travel group.   

New Friends!!!

There ended up being an empty seat next to Lashi (by the window, even!), so Antigone got to sit next to him.  I was so grateful for that!  I sat between a very quiet young woman and a Chinese-Canadian man who talked to Lashi and I and gave us lots of advice and interesting perspective.  

This picture doesn't do it justice, but it's a flippin' huge plane!

Something cool about the plane: it was the first time I’ve been on a flight with individual on-demand TV, movies and games at every seat.  I read half of the book I bought myself for my birthday, Mark of Athena, but eventually I relented and watched Brave.  Good movie.  The screen also had a “map” setting, which would show various views of the trip – what we were currently flying over in local, regional, and hemispheric view.  It told us current outside temperature, altitude, ground speed, distance traveled, distance remaining, time traveled and time remaining.  That was nice to have, especially on such an interminably long flight.  

My little on-flight screen with the map just as we left Chicago

Really blurry, but you can see our awesome little plane icon coming down through Russia

We actually flew north from Chicago, up through upper Canada and northern Alaska, across the narrow part of the Bering Strait, through northern Russia, Manchuria and into China.  We did not fly over the Pacific Ocean, Japan, or Korea.  The scenery was gorgeous!

Russian Islands

Eastern Russian mountains.  Wow!

Through most of the flight, however, we were not permitted to have our window shades open because it was just too bright.  We chased the sun and it was never dark the whole trip.  We took off Wednesday at noon, and when we landed, it was Thursday afternoon.  We lost a whole day on a 13 hour flight. 

The Beijing airport is huge, but fairly easy to navigate after a flight, because you just follow the herd.  There was a train to get from the concourse to the baggage claim – much like DIA, but without the stupid-sounding music.  Customs was cake.  We just showed our entry card that we filled out on the plane, and walked through the “nothing to declare” line.  After collecting our bags, we went into the main part of the airport where dozens of people were waiting with signs.  We found George, our guide, with the CCAI sign, and waited about an hour for the third family in our group to arrive.  Then we boarded a bus for a 2 HOUR drive across Beijing to our hotel, the Qianmen Jianguo Hotel.  

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to Beijing!

 

Antigone at the Beijing airport

Antigone crouched in a corner journaling.  :)  That's my girl!

Good Advice

One really big bowl

Traffic in Beijing is unbelievable.  Since the boom in the late 2000s, EVERYONE wants to own and drive a car.  I had to stop watching and close my eyes because cars, buses, bikes and pedestrians would jump through tiny spaces or merge in places that I never would dare.  How they do it (without a Borg-like connected conscious) I will never know.  All I know is, our driver Mr. Xia has mad skillz.

George, our awesome local Beijing guide

Once we got to the hotel, I was too tired to think about anything, but Antigone said she was hungry, so we crossed the street to a little restaurant and ordered 3 steamed buns filled with pork for $1.  It was just the right size dinner.  We trudged back across the street and crashed HARD. 

We're off!!!

This is Erin, reporting live from the Colorado Springs airport, which apparently doesn't open until 4am, despite warning international travelers to check in at least 2 (or sometimes 3) hours ahead of boarding time. 

We got up this morning at 2am (after going to bed at about 10:30pm - seriously, I did try, but things happen, you know?), dressed, ate a banana, locked up, and my wonderful friend and visiting teacher, Jan, took us to the airport just before 3am.  We arrived at the airport at 3:20am, and attempted to check in at the self-check kiosk.  There was not an employee in sight anywhere.

The first kiosk asked us to scan our passports, but didn't have a scanner. (FAIL!)
The second kiosk HAD a scanner, but would only accept a passport when the 9-year-old scanned it.  (figures)

Still, neither would allow us to finish.  They insisted that we needed an employee to help us.  (problem!)

So, we stood around for 40 minutes with a woman who was missing most of her teeth and "had to go have a couple cigarettes" in order to "deal with these people".  Lashi took the opportunity to weigh all of our bags, find out that one was overweight, and shuffle things around.

So, finally, at 4am, employees trickled in and brought the place to life.  It was cake after that.  We checked in, checked our baggage, passed security, and now we're sitting here at Gate 11. 

Antigone is doing her school work.  She said that it was easier to wake up than she thought it would be.  Lashi is reading "How to Win Friends and Influence People" (He says, "This will teach me how to not offend people.")  After I finish this, I will start reading "Mark of Athena", which I bought myself for my birthday.  Life is good.


We leave for Chicago in a little over another hour. 

Travel Dates!!!

We got our Consulate Appointment this morning!!!

That was followed by a 5+ hour flurry of logistics, ending with a solid itinerary and airline tickets to get us to/from China.  WAHOOOOOOOO!!!!!

So, here's the lowdown:

Our appointment at the US Consulate, Guangzhou, is on November 7.  We and the rest of our travel group (CCAI group 1920) will take "the oath" on November 7 and receive our little angels' Visas on November 8.  I think "the oath" is relative to Fiona becoming a naturalized citizen and our responsibilities as her immigration sponsors/guardians. 

Oct 24 - We fly (early in the morning) from Colorado Springs to Chicago to Beijing. 
Oct 25 - We arrive in Beijing in the afternoon, totally exhausted.
[touring in and around Beijing and getting our heads on straight]
Oct 28 - Fly to Zhengzhou (the capital city of Fiona's province, Henan)
Oct 29 - GOTCHA DAY!!!  Fiona is brought to us in Zhengzhou.  :))))
[Finalizing adoption, touring, and traveling to Nanyang City (Fiona's birthplace) to register her for a Chinese passport, hopefully visit her orphanage, foster home, and the Women and Children's Hospital where she was found]
Somewhere before Nov 7, we fly to Guangzhou (formerly Canton)
Nov 7 - US Consulate appointment and taking the oath
Nov 8 - Receive Fiona's US immigration visa and leave for Hong Kong
Nov 9 - Tour Hong Kong
Nov 10 - Fly home!!!  (via Chicago again)

WAHOOOO!!!!

TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!

WE GOT OUR TRAVEL APPROVAL!
Beijing issued us final approval to come to China and finalize Fiona's adoption.  That means that as far as the Chinese government is concerned, we're good to go!  Only one thing remains.  We need to make an appointment with the US Consulate in Guangzhou (on the southern China coast) for Fiona to get her US Immigration Visa approved.  Her adoption will be finalized in Zhengzhou (her provincial capital), then the last step is just making sure all of our ducks are in proper rows for her to enter the US as a child of US citizens, which will make her citizenship automatic as soon as she sets foot on American turf. 

The bad news: Today is China's National Day - the birthday of the People's Republic of China.  Why would that be bad news?  Have you ever tried setting up an appointment during the week between Christmas and New Year?  Yeah, kind of like that.  All offices in China shut down from October 1-7, then the US Consulate is closed on October 8 for Columbus Day (darn you, Columbus, you're delaying me here!).  So, the soonest we would hear from the Consulate is October 9.  Some time between Oct 9-11 we will get our official appointment, then we will know our travel dates and can arrange airfare, etc.  We were given two choices: 

1 - Leave between Oct 24-26 and return Nov 9-10
2 - Leave between Oct 31- Nov 2 and return Nov 16-17

Of course, we'll take the first option if it's available. 

So... now we have 3-4 weeks until we leave, and I'm doing what Erins do best - I'm making serious logistical assignments to keep everyone busy and get everything in order before we go.  :)

In true FLYLady style, this week we focus on decluttering and deep-cleaning shared living areas, next week on kitchen and bathrooms, third week on bedrooms, and the last half-week back to shared living areas.  

The Snake Cake

I keep thinking about a quote that includes the phrase "paved with good intentions".  You know the one. 

My intention here was to somehow top last year's cake for Brian. 

That one's pretty good, isn't it?  It was realistic enough to trick the nearly 2yr old.  Brian loves reptiles.  He loved his iguana cake.  Too bad it only lived about 2 hours.  

So this year, Brian turned 8 and got a snake.  Skooch the snake is a western hognose, 12 years old, very docile, and used to belong to my sister-in-law.  He is also likely the only snake in the world that my mother will tolerate.  

I wanted to make Brian a snake cake.  I did a Google search (which is where I found the idea for the iguana, but I think I improved on it).  This is what I found:

Oh, if only!  What an amazing cake!  (Made by a bakery in the UK called North Star)  I knew I needed to settle for something a little less challenging.  I came across an idea of using a bundt cake and cutting it in half to make a snake.  It's not as awesome as North Star's Amelanistic Burmese Python, but it's actually achievable for me.  Well, that's at least what I thought. 

Here's the bundt pan. 

Bundt pan.  Sorry, my camera batteries are dead, so you and I are stuck with pictures ala Blackberry. 

I made two of these.  (It took until 11pm - WAY after my bedtime.)

It was pretty obviously NOT going to fit on my little cookie sheet, so I took a shelf from a broken-down bookshelf and covered it with foil, making a very sturdy, very heavy cake board. 

Voila!  Beautiful! 
Next, I put the cake together.  I cut each circular bundt cake in half and linked the semi circles together in an "S" pattern. 
The real challenge here was getting it from a simple "S" into the shape of an actual snake.  In this case, I decided to use our very own Western Hognose as a model.  I carved a taper into the tail and carved out the head, complete with cute little upturned nose. 

In case you're wondering, the head is on the left, and the tail on the right. 

As you can see above, the shape is cute, but then frosting it was a beast.  The crumby carved areas were SO hard to get covered without them falling apart.  Even just the fluted shape of the bundt cakes was pretty beastly to get around. 
I'd like to say that the snake turned out better than what you see above, but it really didn't improve a whole lot.  I finished frosting it, gave him brown M&M eyes, and drew a little mouth on with what i thought was red writing icing, but which turned out to be red gel coloring.  Oy veh! 
Apparently I didn't take a picture of the "finished product", but here's the idea of what I did. 

A friend of mine suggested tonight (way too late for me, of course) that I should have given him his "scales" in M&Ms and a red licorice tongue.  Yes, that would have been awesome, but I was short both the idea and the candies.  Would have been great. 

Again, it's a far cry from North Star, but it's the best I could come up with. 
Happy Birthday, Brian!

My most brilliant idea today

Every so often I have a spark of brilliance, usually born out of desperation.  Today's was a doozy if I do say so myself. 

Here's my problem:  I make bread a LOT.  I use honey as the sweetener for my bread recipe.  Honey crystallizes.  Crystallized honey is not ideal for my recipe as it is beastly difficult to get out of the bottom of a 1/2 gallon jug. 

Half-gallon jug of nearly-totally crystallized honey.  The other jug in storage was worse.

Possible solution:  Microwave it!
Problem: I don't like the idea of radiation + plastic, AND it re-crystallizes SO fast when I microwave it. 

Possible solution: put the jug in a pan of warm water
Problem: What the heck!  It'll NEVER melt that way!  It looked the same two days later!

Possible solution: turn on the heat under the pan.
Problem:  This.

My awesomely melted jug-bottom.  Luckily it didn't melt THROUGH, so I was able to coax the honey out and into another container without major sticky mess.

Possible solution: Boil the water, then turn it off, place the jug in the hot water and let it melt.
Result: Not too bad.  I have actually done this, but it still take SO long and I have to repeatedly remove the jug, bring the water to boil and do it again. 

Today's brilliant little epiphany:  SPOONS!!!
 I thought about my roasting pans that have those little wire drip things that raise the chicken up above the pan bottom.  Whatever those things are called... I don't have one small enough to fit in the bottom of the pot I soften the honey in.  I thought... maybe if I use spoons to lift it up, yada, yada.  My initial spoon idea didn't work, BUT the spoons fell to the bottom of the pan and voila!  I have a nice little raised surface to set my jug on in the bottom of the actively boiling pan of water! 

Oh, I just love when something works out right.

The results:  I have been boiling this jug of honey for only about 20 minutes and it's almost entirely liquid!  :)  Happy me!

The most spoiled little girl I know

I know a little girl.  She is an only daughter (with 4 brothers).  She has a ludicrous amount of clothes, toys, and hair nonsense.  She can convince her brothers to paint her nails for her and actually enjoy it.  She reads and understands people, and she sees how to best interact with them and often to give them what they want and get what she wants.  Because of this talent is that she is a very agreeable person to be around and take places. 

Well, all of her hard-earned people skills are about to pay off.  That spoiled little girl is going to see the Statue of Liberty and the Great Wall of China within 6 months of each other.

Antigone (of course, who else would it be) came with me in June to my sister's High School graduation in Allentown, PA, followed by a trip to New York City to see the major tourist sites.  Why her?  Because she is the only one of the kids who wanted to make a nearly week-long trip in the car with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Kiera (the graduate), Uncle Jay (who is a disabled adult) and Mom.  She survived 32-hour drives each way, through the night and all, and was in terrific spirits.  She even developed a few new music favorites from Grandpa's collection (the Beach Boys' "Surfin USA" is at the top of her list, and she doesn't like the BeeGees). 

THEN... Lashi and I decided she is going to come with us in a few weeks when we go to China to pick up her sister.  We will likely be visiting Beijing, Zhengzhou, Nanyang, Guangzhou and Hong Kong and their surrounding areas.  She will get to see things most American kids never get to.  Again, she's the only one who is coming.  Why her?  Because we need to bring someone who will

1. appreciate the trip - Antigone won't think it's boring like Liam or Brian or certainly Dmitri might.  She will want to know about the places she sees and people she meets.  She will want to learn about the differences and similarities between our cultures.  Erik, on the other hand, doesn't know the difference between the local playground and Siberia.
2. remember it - Erik and Dmitri are too young to remember much of a trip 6 months after it happens.  Dmitri is likely to remember getting chased by dinosaurs somewhere along the way.  
3. not have a total meltdown somewhere along the way - Liam with his bipolar, Dmitri with his SPD, Erik with his... toddlerhood, NONE of them can be trusted to go 12 hours without some kind of tantrum.  NO way am I going to deal with that on another continent and while trying to soothe and bond to a traumatized child.  I may be crazy, but even I have my limits.
4. not try to wander off with some random Chinese family - Brian and Dmitri on the other hand, they probably would.  
5. be helpful - again, Antigone is a wonderful people-reader.  She is very intuitive.  She can observe a situation and figure out the best thing to do in that situation, then actually act on it!!!  She is very good with babies and small children already.  Poor Liam loved baby Erik, but looked so terrified and awkward trying to hold him.  

 We have been told by other parents of kids adopted from China that the little ones are much more likely to judge an adult "safe" if another child treats them as safe.  Same goes for strange surroundings and behaviors.  Little Fiona will never have seen a western toilet, and we are told that the little ones are often very afraid of the strange, noisy thing for months after they first encounter them.  Not the best thing for a potty-training, nearly-2-year old.  If Antigone uses it, though, then it can't be THAT scary.  If we say "Time to get changed for bed!", Fiona won't know what we're talking about - she doesn't understand English.  Changing her clothes could be frightening for her.  If Antigone is changing into her pajamas, then it might go over better.  Basically, she'll be there to help set an example and reassure Fiona. 

Antigone is thrilled out of her little gourd to have this opportunity.  We're counting the days as best we can since we don't know when we will be traveling.  We only know it is soon, too soon, and not soon enough.