Journey with Ruby HOME!!!!

As we pack it all up I can't believe what we have done in two weeks!
We toured Beijing, flew off to some weird city in the middle of no where,picked up our new daughter,
and now we will make the trip home with her!
I could go on and on with so many stories...every-time we leave the room there is one?
I think I will pause for now and savor all the memories for the way home.
We send much love to you all!!!!
Daryl
Billy
Sophie
and
Ruby

The White Swan

Well, by now you have heard what Guangzhou is like.
Pick pockets, a little violence and loads of reptiles for sale and so much more!!!
But, our day did start with a beautiful walk along the river watching some of China's best ballroom dancing!
It was like stepping back in time. The music, the old speakers and lanterns hanging above-
Is this for real?
The White Swan Hotel is on Shamain Island. It's in a world of it's own. I keep looking for the white swan?
I think the name must have something to do with the Fleet of White Mercedes and white slipcovers over the seats?

THere are many chinsese restaurants to choose from in the hotel and one japanese.
Last night we went to the Chinese version of Benihana. We were given lovely white aprons to wear as we sat around
a steaming hot grill. All the chinese waitresses we wearing traditional japanese kimono?
The food was delicious except for the Chef ended up cooking for the entire restaurant at our grill.
We left grease splatterd and smelling like Bar-b-Que. Ruby loved every minute of it and every beansprout!
Next, we hit the arcade down the hall and rode motorcycles, skied, and shot guns!
Billy of course has mastered all the games.He had RUby on his lap the whole time showing her how to race cars.
Sophie is the air hockey Champion in China!!!
Our Visa appointment went well and we are Finally off to the U.S. Consulate to have Ruby sworn in as a U.S. citizen today at 3pm.
I have finally run out of clothes to wear and have a moustache. Sophie has offered me some of her clothes, but somehow I don't think that's going to work out so well?

We had a final lunch with our group and the farewells begin. Everyone is very nice and it's be really easy to be together or not.
Most of them leave for Beijing and then the east coast. I can't imagine packing it all up....
We will leave tommorow for Hong Kong, say our good-byes to Eve and Clara then head Billy Sophie Daryl and Ruby head for LA!

Farmers market?

Hi its sophie in china now its my turn to "blog"

I saw ALOT in the farmers market thing today.. I mean ALOT.

I saw, SNAKES, DOGS, CATS, oh by the way there were no beds for the animals or food! Just some plastic bags to put them in.
To start this um..lets say interesting experience, we got down the stairs and saw this circle with like 50 people and like a zillion cops surrounding one guy, on the floor, ripped pants, ripped shirt, and a pool of blood on him and an ocean of blood around him. Showed me how welcoming this market place was!!! Then we saw some nice starfish, snakes, and BEAUTIFUL snake skin..NOT. To be honest, I had no idea china had an ocean!! Then we turned the corner and saw something that looked like either the animal section or the main course. I saw really cute puppies, exept i knew they were all from gross puppy mills. So i gave everyone who was selling them a dirty look, thats how I roll. I must interupt this story. I have to say, ruby is counting right now and it is the cutest thing in the world. When she counts to 10 she says 3 like thabee and 6 like sidey and 7 like seben SO CUTE.CANT STAND IT!
Anyways, where was I, animals, main course...oh ya ok so after the *dinner department*, we shopped around and i stepped in ALOT of spit. Ew, I am eating dried apples and thinking of the snake skin, ok done with my dried apples. So after about 30 minutes of shopping around , eve and my mom were trying to make a "chineese deal" over what I think were fake pearls. I was standing next to Clara and Billy and holding onto rubys stroller. I had like 25 yuons or something sticking out of my pocket, I had no idea. All of the sudden I feel a hand reach in my pocket. I FREEKED OUT. I jumped and yelped. Everyone thought I was crazy. My heart was beating so fast, i didnt know a heart could go so fast. My hands were shaking for like..what 40 minutes somewhere around there. I was SO beyond done being there. I wanted out, so we left and our dogs were barkin. My brother suggested I get pepper spray and a whistle. I thought that was a brilliant idea! But i guess its not sunday and we are not in good old, safe Brentwood, god i miss brentwood! On the way out we saw our lovely friend in the middle of the street yelling and looked so angry.


P.S. our lovely friend is the guy who got beet up in the begging of this adventure.

Off to Guangzhou

5 bags and 3 children! Just traveling lightly once again.
We woke up at the crack of dawn to catch our early am flight to Guangzhou.
Seating by a window Ruby waved bye bye to the Hunan province.
She was smiling and then crawled into my lap and passed out for the remainder of the flight where smoking is not permitted but it is?
At the airport we were happy to find a really clean bathroom with all the latest modern plumbing fixtures!
The only thing was they didn't work?
Thank god for moist towlettes to clean our hands!
After checking into the White Swan Hotel, Uncle Dougie (not my brother, a family member of one of our families here)
anyways-Uncle Dougie and Billy went to a burger joint and brought back REal burgers and fries!
They assured me they were real cow meat ? Uncle Dougie had one two years ago here.
whatever it was -it was worth it!
Everyone was in HEaven! Ruby loves those fries!
Off to the Dr. office for RUby's physical.
It took all of 5 minutes and once again she waved good bye to her Dr..
Still jumping through hoops here waiting for yet another clearance.
We have managed once again to turn our room into a Zoo.
It's 3 am here all is quiet. My girls are fast asleep next to me. I really like the hotel. It's right out of the 60s. Great waterfall in the Lobby! Robert , you would love the giant Koi!
Our visa meeting a the counslate is in the early am.. Hope all goes well.
As our time here is running out, I am so happy to finally find traditional Chinese clothing here in Guangzhou!
Not easy to find, gone are the Mao jackets, hats and black cloth shoes......
P.S. I didn't order the stewed Pig Ball last night.
Instead I went for the steamed fish. The only thing was that it was brought to us first in a clear box waving it's fins before they cooked it.
Fish out of water-?

White out Party!

I had heard about this but of course showed up with out all the" white out" I schlepped to China!
Just more red tape to work on!
Does anyone really read any of this?
I feel like it's 20 different documents with all the same info?
I will say one thing Ruby is worth every minute of it!
Eve watched Ruby while I was downstairs working, Ruby was reluctant to go with her without one of her siblings!
So in between homework they took turns chapperoning their little sister.
We like that a lot!
Who are you anyway? How do you know that already?
She also knows how to blow her nose!
Pick her nose and eat it!
That behavior I have changed (the eating part)
TOday we went to a "duck" lunch spot!
We walked in and there was lunch hanging in the window by a metal hook! Well, how long have they been there for?
Maybe they could have left the feathers on?
Needless to say Sophie turned Green and settled for some rice. Billy decided it was cool and snapped some photos as a keepsake!
Billy and I Loved it -"yum it tastes like bacon" Our french friend was a little disgusted with our taste buds.
Oh well-the american tourist at it's best!
I have been trying to pack up all afternoon!
In this Maze of a hotel room, I am trying to pack. From dirty coffee cups (room service never takes away any of the dishes) to loads of trinkets/clothes/toys/books/shoes/balloons and even a giant box of Cherrios and a lot of noisy plastic bags.....
As I look out the window from our room it reminds me of that film Brazil.
Strange modern yet futuristic architecture. I am sad to leave tomorrow!
We have been through a lot here. I will never forget Changsha and Hengshan our Ruby's homeland. We will be back.
Quite a wonderful time for a us all.

Side trip to Heaven

After a near death experience driving for over two hours we reached the top of Mt, Hengshan.
It's one of 5 most spiritual mountains in all of China.
A one lane road for two lane traffic goes up the side of the mountain along with motorbikes hikers and even 90 year old men carrying very wide loads on their back!
Arriving at the top Billy and Sophie were a little car sick.
We stopped on the way up and bought tons of incense and firecrackers to throw into the furnace.
Climbing the steps to the Temple we watched as the 90 yr. old men and women just strolled to the while we were huffing and puffing?
ALl that Tai Chi really works.
Inside the Temple I had my fortune for future read. I was told that there are three different prices depending on the one you pick and guess what I picked the most expensive one! WHat a surprise...it seems I have the golden touch in China.
It was intriguing that's all I can say.
We bought Jade from a two hundred year old Monk and he blessed us and all our purchases. (ithink he was a little upset that I didn't choose the most expensive one)
A very special time there. I am truly a JewBU.
The veiws were incredible of all the scattered temples-you can spend weeks traveling from one to another.
We stopped at the Laughing Buddha it is a Giant Golden Buddha smiling.
I think it was 50 feet tall. and wide.

After the descend with our eyes closed, we reached Ruby's Orphanage. Very emotional for us. Next stop we arrived at her abandonment spot a clinic with 5-6 mean chinese women who could not have cared why we were there. I wanted a bag with the name and address for a keepsake and they yelled at Eve. we ended buying something weird so we could just have the bag. Looking across the street we spotted HAPPY LIFE MALL. I think that says it all.
On the street around the clinic we did meet some very friendly faces and it was all thumbs up (which means we are happy)

Ruby was counting to ten by the way home sitting on Billy's lap.
Onea two thabee.....
She has mastered wheels on the bus and moving on to itsy bitsy spider.

Off to breakfast with our little Monkey (she is year of the monkey)
xox

Passport!

5pm we received Ruby Dongjin's Passport!
Well, it's 9 pm and we just celebrated the arrival of Ruby's passport.
They are not easy to come by here. One would think it would be cheap fast and a no brainer but this is for real.
Loads of Red Tape.
China.
After a lovely dinner at JOy where the decor is Suzy wong meets the SHeraton-Loved that. great vibe.
We each had are own waitress and we were offered free peanuts and watermelon to start!
After glancing over the menu with Billy we skipped or the steamed tongue. sliced raw pigs ears and decided we would be happy to move on to the main course.
Our choices included Bird's nest soup or salad-maybe just on the brach would be best? Ruby would love to throw the eggs at waitress and Billy.
With a huge smile of course!
The shark fin interested Billy but when we saw they offered raw white dolphin we weren't clear if that was tuna or illegal?
By the way Sophie opted out of the whole night. She is the only one with a head on her shoulders at this point.
Eve was very excited about her jelly fish. I think it was raw not sure she couldn't talk for the rest of the meal because her mouth was completely on FIRE. (as was Billy's he did enjoy some of her dish)
I on the other hand just wanted to take home the menu. I am still trying to pull some strings to get one. It's just very interesting the types of things we are missing out on in our diets.
Ruby had her first giant ice cream bar and managed to eat it with pure delight and not spill a drop!
A girl after her Daddy's heart. "Neat as a pin" We figured out that everyone is so in awe of her because she is so fair skinned. Thank god for her body guards Billy Sophie and now Clara. THey have all learned to say Do not touch Please in 3-4 different dialects so far. She is a magnet. THere is something unique and so lovable about her. She continues to amaze us each and every minute.
Thank god for Passports that allow us to experience turtle soup,sliced toungue,centipede on a stick and so much (oh and lunch today there were black cubes) Shit? it's all so good