They are soooooo in love with their newest grand-daughter that they are just beside themselves.
Grandpa: Are you breastfeeding her?
Me: Uhhhh, no, she is eating soft foods and drinking her formula.
Grandpa: It's amazing how they are letting "OLD" people adopt young babies nowadays.
Me: Kept my mouth shut.
Then came grandpa's version of "Rock-A-Bye Baby ". "Rock-a-bye, baby, on the treetop. When the wind blows, the baby will drop..."
I just chalk everything up to senility and the fact that grandpa is 94 years old.
Needless to say, the girl was a hit with everyone at the center today.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
HOME SWEET HOME
WoW!!! What a month the Putney's had! Despite the horrible trip to China where we were packed like sardines on China Southern Economy flight, things started to look up especially when Mei-Lin became a part of our family FOREVER!
It was the trip of a lifetime needless to say. Mimi also realized how good she has it at our house. There was a time when she said that she was going to move to China and just come home to visit with us. For whatever reason, China changed her mind on that subject. She did however make some real good friends, Bethany and Grace.
Then there was the amazing trip to California, where we got the chance to stay with some awsome folks and friends for life. Will post some pics later. Getting ready to go to bed now. Nighty night.
It was the trip of a lifetime needless to say. Mimi also realized how good she has it at our house. There was a time when she said that she was going to move to China and just come home to visit with us. For whatever reason, China changed her mind on that subject. She did however make some real good friends, Bethany and Grace.
Then there was the amazing trip to California, where we got the chance to stay with some awsome folks and friends for life. Will post some pics later. Getting ready to go to bed now. Nighty night.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
China Update
We are back in Goungzhou. Spent all day today doing Mei Mei's medical exam and completting the forms for her immigration visa. We'll be going to the American Consulate tomorrow. We all went on a dinner cruise on the Pearl river tonite.
Going back in time abit the attached photos are of the Bada Shanren Memory Hall in Nanchang. Bada Shanren was a famous 17th century Chinese painter. He was a descendat of the founder of the Ming Dynasty. When the ruling family was massacered at the end of the Ming Dynasty he went into hiding at a Taoist temple.He becaome a devount Taoist and lived in seclusion at the temple. The temple was turned into a museum of his works.
Going back in time abit the attached photos are of the Bada Shanren Memory Hall in Nanchang. Bada Shanren was a famous 17th century Chinese painter. He was a descendat of the founder of the Ming Dynasty. When the ruling family was massacered at the end of the Ming Dynasty he went into hiding at a Taoist temple.He becaome a devount Taoist and lived in seclusion at the temple. The temple was turned into a museum of his works.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Trip to SWI
We visited the SWI (Social Welfare Institute) which Mei Mei comes from with one other family from our group yesterday. It is located in Tonguu, a rural mountainous area 4 hours from Nanchang. It is a beautiful forested area that reminded us a lot of the outlying areas around Seattle where we live.
We were greeted by the Director and Assistant Directer of the SWI and were indeed fortunate to able to meet with the foster mothers of both babies. The director also hosted a lunch at a local restaraunt with us, the foster mothers, the assistant director, and some of the staff of the SWI. The director was extremely hospitable, produced a bottle of rice wine and led a series of toasts. He reminded us that according to tradition you are to drain your glass in one drink with each toast. He said that when he retires he wants to come to America and visit each family which has adopted children from his SWI. (300 families). He's been having some difficulty obtaining a visa though. They say is very difficult for Chinese to obtain a visa to visit the US. He siad his only requirement is that each having have a bottle of rice wine for his visit.
This SWI seems to be very well run. No children live at this SWI. The residents are all elderly people under care. The children are all under foster care. The foster mothers work for the SWI and the SWI retains guardianship. The assistant director regularly visits the foster families and supervises the care for the children. The directors visits each family once a month. All the babies in our group are healthy and happy and obviously well cared for.
They took us to see the places where each of the babies were found before we returned to Nanchang.
Greg
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Fwd: China Update
On Friday we went to Peoples Park in Nanchang. It is a huge, very beautiful park with lakes, many traditional chinese structures and gardens, and an amusement park with rides. The park is frequented by many retired peaple who go there to do various theriputic activities. Our guide,Sissi, yook us thee to see this because she says this is a big part of Chinese culture. We saw one group of women practicing a folk dance together. There was an area where there was a group of men with long brushes wiith a pointed brush on the end like a giant paint brush which you could paint on the ground with while standing up. They were doing calligraphy with water on the pavement so that they could cover the stones with beautuiful calligraphy without making a mess with chalk. The water simply evaporates. The elderly men got physical exercise as well as the spirtual exercise of expressing them selves with the poetry they made up on the spot. When Sissi told them that we were visiting from America one man wrote in Chinese "Welcome Americans" and another man wrote in beautiful english script. "Welcome to China". People are always very social and friendly everywher you go, especially when have babies which they love. A large group of people will gather around and oogle the babies.
Another group of elderly people were gathered in a group singing a playing folk music. There was one man with an accordion and another with a flute and a group of women signing. We joined them for awhile with them and had a great time listening to them. When Sisi told tham we were from America the man with the accordion suprised us by playing "Old Suzanna". Everyone laughed. You would also see men standing in some of the gardens or on the porch of some of the Chinese buildings doing Tai Chi.
While enjoying talking to these people it was really amazing how content and happy they are in their lives. It really made me see how much value Chinese culture places not only being healthy physically but also making the effort to be healthy emotionaly and spiritually as well. This is what Sissi was trying to show us.
The night before we went to the August 1st Square in Nanchang. Nanchang's historical claim to fame is that the first uprising in the communist revolution, called the August 1st Uprising,happened there in 1927. It is also the birthplace if the red army. Zhou Enlai led 30,000 people to form what became the red army. They took over the city for about 3 days before they were defeated by Chiang Kai-Shek. They fled into the mountains and Zhou Enlai joined forces with Mao Zedong and they started the Long March. They have a large memorial in the square commemorating the uprising. Growing up in the cold war and hearing about the Cultural Revolution all through my childhood the last thing I would have expected would be to go to China twice and stand in a square looking at a memorial to the revolution.
Another group of elderly people were gathered in a group singing a playing folk music. There was one man with an accordion and another with a flute and a group of women signing. We joined them for awhile with them and had a great time listening to them. When Sisi told tham we were from America the man with the accordion suprised us by playing "Old Suzanna". Everyone laughed. You would also see men standing in some of the gardens or on the porch of some of the Chinese buildings doing Tai Chi.
While enjoying talking to these people it was really amazing how content and happy they are in their lives. It really made me see how much value Chinese culture places not only being healthy physically but also making the effort to be healthy emotionaly and spiritually as well. This is what Sissi was trying to show us.
The night before we went to the August 1st Square in Nanchang. Nanchang's historical claim to fame is that the first uprising in the communist revolution, called the August 1st Uprising,happened there in 1927. It is also the birthplace if the red army. Zhou Enlai led 30,000 people to form what became the red army. They took over the city for about 3 days before they were defeated by Chiang Kai-Shek. They fled into the mountains and Zhou Enlai joined forces with Mao Zedong and they started the Long March. They have a large memorial in the square commemorating the uprising. Growing up in the cold war and hearing about the Cultural Revolution all through my childhood the last thing I would have expected would be to go to China twice and stand in a square looking at a memorial to the revolution.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
China update
Please humour me while I give vent to my professional architectural passions. We went to see the site of the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou. The city has turned the site into a huge open square with many beautiful ultra modern buildings. They apparently used the games to showcase the new China similar to Beijing for the Olympics. It also features a large fountain choreographed to music.They whole thing is now only 1 year old. There is one building still under construction. The square is surrounded by a new commercial development of large office buildings. The largest, the Guangzhou International Finance Centre, is 103 stories and is located across the street from the square (see attached photo). The top 30 stories is a Four Seasons hotel. There is another tower under construction next door which will be 116 stories. The who;e thing is built on the site of an old historic airport. This is just a small part of the development going on all over the city. The scale of new construction going on in Guangzhou is mind boggling.
Greg
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