6:42 a.m. , Nanjing, China

Yesterday was an interesting day of sight-seeing. We went to the famous Massacre Museum in Nanjing. It was a tour filled with much remorse and sorrow. During World War II, the Japanese intended to conquer all of the Asian countries. They massacred thousands of Chinese men, women and children. In Nanjing alone, The Taking of Nanjing was a brutal massacre and in only 6 weeks, they slaughtered 300,000 Nanjing (or Nanking) Chinese people. It was truly horrific to see and read. This museum is an important part of Chinese History and people come from all over the world to see it. It is the Unforgotten Holocaust of WWII. The Americans played a role in stopping the Japanese we delivered the Atomic bombs. It left me with a heavy heart.

Upon entering the museum, I was instructed to drink from Jiliang’s water bottle, which was in my purse, as I am trying to keep her hydrated. Fred said, “You must drink the water to show it is not poison. They wouldn’t want anyone to try to sabotage the museum.” I drank the water, more fearful of how suspicious it would appear to Chinese officials if I didn’t , than the fear of getting her bronchitis. Fred instructed me to tour the museum, and he was going to meet me on the other side in 55 minutes.

A guard came up to me and asked me in Chinese if Jiliang was mine. I said yes, “She is my daughter,” pointing to her and I. He smiled and nodded and motioned something to assert that he had a daughter or that he had her age or that looked like her. I could tell that he was trying to tell me something kind.

After about 45 minutes, I took Jiliang to the bathroom. One side had your typical Chinese stalls, and the other side had toilets. I was okay with using the Chinese bathroom, but the one I chose was really dirty. We went to a toilet and I wiped the seat with my tissues, and laid tissues on the seat. Jiliang refused to sit on the toilet paper. She pushed it in the toilet. Finally, every bone in my body quivered as I did what I have never done before, and T.J. will attest to this: I wiped the seat really good, and I sat her on the potty.

We rounded one more corner, and I was certain that we were nearing the end of the museum. Then, we saw Fred. He told us that we had only finished half of the museum and there was still an outdoor portion. It was normally a 2-3 hour tour. Fred gave me the quick Cliffnotes, and we sped through the remainder of the museum.
After the Museum, we went to an embroidery factory when they spin silk. They actually spin silk from gold. I thought that was only in fairy tales. The embroidery factory is known worldwide. Fred asked for a woman to give me a private tour. The embroidery was exquisite.

After hours of touring the city, Jiliang started to become a normal three-year old. She became a little naughty in the embroidery place, and started to grab all of the little purses that I was observing. She wanted to throw them all on the floor. Of course, she did the ‘ol three-year-old grasp on one. Let us grab one, and when Mom grabs my hand, I will use the other hand to launch the other ones on the floor. She did NOT succeed. I took her in my arms and looked her in the eye, and said “No”. Then, I said, “Now, I carry you.” Eventually, I told her that I was putting her down and that she better behave. She complied, so I think she understood. It was a little awkward doing that in front of people, because they do not know what I am saying to her and it probably sounded worse.

Fred informed me that the Travel Approval document arrived at the hotel today, as scheduled. Thank you, Leah and Scott, for coordinating that amazing feat. Next, we went to the Notary Office. The kind Chinese woman, Chen, had my notarized adoption papers needed for my adoption business in Guangzhou. I also need one set for myself and another set to complete my adoption in The United States.

After the business was complete, we ventured off to dinner at a Chinese Restaurant. Fred asked what type of Chinese food I liked. I prefaced my response to the fact that American Chinese food was much different, but told him that I ate: Sweet and Sour Chicken with pineapple, Almond Chicken and Sesame Beef. “Sweet and Sour Chicken with pineapple?” Fred replied. “That is Cantonese food.” He told me that he would see what similar dish he could find.

In this particular area, most of the Chinese restaurants had closed at 2:00 p.m. After our third jaunt down the brick-paved walkway, Fred found another restaurant. We were seated, and then Fred pointed us to a washroom for Jiliang. This time, they only had Chinese stalls, so I held Jiliang over the receptacle and she went, dangling in a squat position in the air. Success!

Fred had taken the liberty of ordering for us. He told me that they did not have the chicken (the other chicken was too spicy), but he ordered potatoes, beef, seafood and Tofu. I asked what kind of seafood it was and Fred told me that it was whatever they decided to put in there. He asked for everything not spicy for “the baby”. The waitress brought hot water, but no tea, so I watched Fred drink the water and did so too. Jiliang had her water bottle and she only drinks the bottled water. As I sat and waited for our food, a pipe from the rafters dripped on me.
Fred made a comment about the wait. He inquired about the wait to the waitress. Shortly after, the plate of potatoes came. They were Julienne sliced potatoes, stir-fried with some peppers. They were so good! They must have been sautéed with chicken broth or something. Then, the rice arrived. Jiliang loved the potatoes. However, I have not been able to get her to eat rice. Maybe she ate in often in the orphanage.

Fred expressed his impatience in the wait. He got up and went to the back. I thought maybe he saw someone he knew, but he was telling them to hurry up and bring the food. He came back and said, “Maybe there is only one cook working.” Soon after, they brought the beef platter. It was a sweet beef with mushrooms. It was delicious. I was almost full when the seafood arrived. It looked beautiful and was more like a soup. I could see crab meat, which I like. Fred said it had crab meat, little shrimp and nuts and Tofu. He said, “It is almost like a soup. It is very good. You can give some to the baby. It digests very well.”

The seafood dish was good. Jiliang loves fresh crab meat. I am not as fond of seafood as the beef, but it was very good. I picked out the Tofu. I was glad that the beef arrived first. We finished our meal and ventured home.

When we got back to the hotel, we went to the clinic. Jiliang has croup or bronchitis. I was expecting to pay over a hundred dollars. The doctor checked her out and said that she had bronchitis, which was not uncommon for orphanage children. I asked about an antibiotic and he said that would be too strong. He gave her some Eastern homeopathic medicine, called Shedan Chuanbei Pipa Gao.

Actions and Indications:
Moisturize and relieve cough, remove sputum and alleviate asthma, It is indicated for the treatment of cough, dry nose, dry swallow, itch of throat, dyspnea and feeling oppression over the chest which caused by dryness-evil.
Composition: Snake’s Bile, Bulbus Fritillariae Cirrhosae, Follum Eriobotryae, Rhizoma Typhonii Flagelliformis, Radix Pladylcodi, Mentholym, Assistant material, Sucrose, mel.

The doctor was kind to me and only charged 53 Yuan, which is only about $7.85 in American Dollars for the medicine and the doctor’s visit. Upon departing, he said in translated Chinese, “A little bit of Eastern meets Western medicine.”

As soon as Jiliang and I got back to our room, I gave her the medicine. I thought it smelled good, but she spit is out. It is a thick consistency like molasses. I gave it to her again and he cried, but I got it in. She was all sticky from the medicine, so I decided to give her a bubble bath. After about 15 minutes, she spit the medicine from her mouth into the tub. She was crying in the tub and I was determined to give it to her. I was going to call Jenny, a nice lady at the hotel who said to call 24/7. However, there was a knock at the door. Our sweet, Chinese housekeeper was there to bring us the paper and turn down our bed. I solicited her help. I pantomimed how she was coughing and went to the doctor. I showed her the bottle of Snake bile concoction and asked if she could translate to Jiliang to drink it. My poor baby. She obediently drank it slowly, gagging. We gave her sips of water to wash it down, but she did it on her own account.

We called home, which was about 8:00 a.m. in Michigan. Scott had already left for work, so we called my parents. She said “Papa, Papa, Papa” to my dad. T.J. said hi to her, and my mom was able to say hello. I informed them that we were flying to Guangzhou today at 3:30 p.m. We will arrive at the well-known adoption Hotel, The White Swan, in Guangzhou. I hope that they have a swimming pool.

In the evening, we packed our things together. Jiliang enjoys opening all of my mini chocolate bars and taking a bite off the edge and putting them back. It reminds me of my unsuspecting younger sister at that age.

Well, we are getting ready for breakfast. I don’t know what to do about my luggage. Not everything fits. I hope that the flight to Guangzhou goes well for Jiliang. This may be her first time on an airplane. Our flight leaves at 3:30 p.m. and Fred said that we only need to arrive a half hour early. I told Fred that in the States, we have to get there hours early. I told him that I would feel better if we got there earlier too. He said that would not be a problem.
Jill :-)