We're Not In Kansas Anymore

This morning, we took a 3 1/2 hour trip north to the city of Dandong, Asher's birth place. As part of the adoption procedures, we need to apply for his passport and we can only do that in the city he is from. We also wanted to take the opportunity to visit the orphanage and experience a taste of the city.


And boy is it different! Dandong is a smaller city in China, although at least 1 million people live here. It sits right on the border of North Korea, with only a small river seperating the two countries. Our hotel room has a wonderful view of the river and of the bridge connecting the two. It's kinda crazy how close we are to North Korea!! Compared to it's neighbor, Dandong is very modern and quite new. Most of the new buildings in the city have only been around for about five years. They're trying to modernize Dandong so that it's neighbors on the other side of the river can admire this great city in China.

The view from out hotel room.
The larger bridge is used by the border patrol and is the only connection between China & North Korea.
The smaller one only crosses the river halfway, and for a small price you can walk on it to get a better view.

I told you we were close to North Korea!!

Courtesy telescope provided by the hotel.

We arrived here in Dandong around noon and quickly settled into our rooms in the Zhong Lian Hotel. Mom & Dad's room even has a telescope and we've already used it to look across the river. A view of out hotel.

Mom & Dad's room.. nice, huh? (It's nicer than my room!)

Sitting area..the first thing Ian saud when we walked in the room was "Look.. there's a Plasma television!!"

Asher and Baba <-- which is Chinese for Daddy

Asher with the alligator in the lobby!
It's not real..

Brotherly love...

Another great view from the 2nd story breakfast room.

Random, but thought I'd throw it in there anyways. There was a wedding going on in the hotel, and as we were walking outside we ran into this beautiful woman. I'm pretty sure she is a bridesmaid, but I LOVED her dress..

For lunch, we headed to a local Chinese restaurant just down the street. This is where it began to sink in that we weren't in Kansas anymore. You know you're finally submerged in China when you walk into a restaurant and you can't recognize a single thing on the menu! Not to mention that the menu isn't in English, like most we've encountered this week have been. Our guides ended up ordering food for us since we probably would have ended up ordering pig brains, thinking it was chicken! The first dish came out, and what I thought was a nice plate of noodles turned out to be a shredded cucumber salad! But after that initial shock, the rest of the food was great.

The chicken legs were a hit!

Can you recognize anything from what we had for lunch?

We boxed up the leftover food to bring to the orphanage and Asher insisted on carrying the bags.

After lunch, we headed over to the police station to apply for Asher's passport. That only took about 10 minutes, and then we were on our way to visit the orphanage.

Dodging traffic!

Asher spent all of his life in the Dandong Social Welfare Institute. These government run facilities house not only orphans, but also the elderly and those who are mentally handicapped. As we stepped into the courtyard of the Institute, we were greeted by the director who thanked us for coming and invited us to a dinner celebration! The orphanage is located in a smaller, seperate building and it houses about 35 orphans. Most of these children are not able to be adopted because they are either too old, have living relatives or are mentally handicapped.

Entrance to the Dandong Social Welfare Institute.
The pink building in the background houses adults who are mentally handicapped.

The orphanage building

We could hear lots of excitement going on as we arrived at the orphanage! About nine of Asher's friends and several nannies came out to greet us. And oh, where they some cute kids!!

Cute boys!

This little boy was sooo cute!
I wanted to take him home with me!

He reminded me a lot of our friend back at home, Ethan M.
Maybe it was because he is so huggable!!

My favorite little girl is Hua, who has white hair because she is an albino. Her eyes are closed in all of the pictures because they are sensitive to light. But she was such a sweetheart. She loved to be held and had the cutest little voice! Our guide told us that she is going to be adopted and is coming to America!

Asher with the little one.

Two of the little boys had down syndrome, and another was deaf. The youngest child has a heart defect and the other boys had cleft lips/palates just like Asher. They were all so sweet and enjoyed posing for the camera.

We also met a precious little boy named Jie, who you will hear more about later. But for now.. just be thinking about him and how much he really needs a mom and dad.


Asher was fiercely protective over all of us. Several of the children wanted to hold my camera and look at it, but if they got too close Asher would tear right into them! He wouldn't let Ian out of his sight while we were there.. almost like he was showing off to the other kids.

We were allowed to go inside the orphanage and see the room where Asher and three other boys slept. Over all, we were very impressed with the orphanage. It was very clean, the kids were well taken care of and the nannies were all very nice. Obviously, they are doing a great job because Asher is doing so well. Not to mention all of the kids seemed happy and loved.

This was Asher's room.
The little boy in orange is sitting on Asher's bed.

These are their little "bathrooms," bowls containing their toiletries.

Two of Asher's room mates.

Asher with his two families.. us and the orphanage.

It's always hard leaving. Realizing that most of these children may never be adopted.
Their faces stick with you for the rest of your life.

After we left, we walked next door to an abandoned printing shop which is where Asher was left by his parents, almost eight years ago. His parents knew he would be found because they left him right next door to the orphanage.

On December 13, 1999, a young mother left her 2 week old baby boy in front of this gate.
Seven and a half years later, Asher stands in front of the gate he was left at with his new brother.

Our next stop on the agenda was to visit a local shopping mall and buy shoes for Asher's friends in the orphanage. An hour and 13 pairs of shoes later, we were ready go go again!

For dinner, we were invited by the director of the Welfare Institute to a nice restaurant where we celebrated Asher's adoption. We had a feast of food which included some type of bugs, snails, duck and several other dishes that I could not gather the energy to stomach! I've been pretty adventurous and tried out dishes I normally wouldn't touch. But some of these, I just couldn't!

Here in China, the tables have lazy susan's in the middle and they bring the food out one dish at a time. Everyone else has a smaller plate, and you grab whatever you want from each plate in the middle. In essence, everyone is sharing a dish instead of having their own. Asher must have felt like a king because he must have tried every single dish (and there were 20 of them) at least twice!! He even grabbed the head of the duck they served us and tried to eat it.

The director of the Institute presented Ian with a piece of jade necklace.

Raising a toast to Asher.

Cheers!

Asher with his two families.

Now onto Asher: As expected, we've experienced a bit more testing from Asher. Tonight, he actually cried for the first time because he couldn't get his way. (He wanted more Sprite.. and after his sixth glass it was time to put an end to all that sugar!! He's still awake right now, by the way!) He has a very sweet and loving side to him, but he has also shown us that he will hit, spit and yell. But for the most part, he is very well behaved. He has such a charming smile, and he knows how to use it to his advantage! I can already tell he will be a ladies man in the future.

Asher is very helpful. For example, whenever we get on the elevator he makes sure he holds the door for everyone and is the last one to get on. He's also figured out all of the light switches and the air conditioning in the hotel room. It was really hot in our room last night, and I just realized that was because Asher turned the a.c. off before we went to bed! Little stinker!! He also makes sure to share all of his food/snacks with us.

We brought Asher a Spiderman backpack to give to him.. and that thing goes everywhere with us. Every morning he makes sure to put all of his toys inside the backpack. And with all of his toys, the backpack ends up weighing close to 20 pounds! He even carries the wad of toilet paper Dad bought at the public bathroom yesterday! I gave him my wallet sized pictures that I have of our family, and he won't give them back! (Which is fine with me.. I think it's very sweet!) He made sure to take our his pictures and show them to everyone at the orphanage yesterday

We're also trying to teach Asher manners and make sure he says thank you to everyone. He's doing really well and every time someone gives him something he remembers to say Xie Xie, or thank you. Also, before we eat we hold hands and pray. And the other night, he closed his eyes and prayed with us. =)

He seems to be picking up English pretty well. He can say Hello, and he knows his name is Asher. He completely understands the meanings of No and Wait! He seems to understand most of what we tell him. I though communication would be our biggest obstacle, but so far it's been manageable. Actually, he's already started to mimic his brother! Ian's always telling Asher "Stop it Fu Peng" and a few seconds later you hear Asher say.."Stop it Fu Peng."

Another funny story- The orphanage director told us a story that once Asher convinced all of the children to throw their shoes out the window. So, being kids, they did and when it came to find out who had started it, Asher told everyone that it was the older deaf boy who had done it. Later, the orphanage directors found out it was Asher... Not only is he charming, but he's wicked smart and quite sneaky! After we left the hotel room, I noticed something in his hand and it turned out to be a disposable razor from the room!

Ian seems to be doing well with transitioning to having a brother. Most of the time they get along quite well, but there are time when I think Ian second guesses having a brother. He gets annoyed at Asher when he wants to play with Ian and Ian's more interested in the gamboy. I think Ian gets frustrated with Asher because he expects Asher to know how to play a gameboy... and this is the first time Asher has ever seen one! Poor Asher.. he just wants to be like the big boys! But when they're not annoyed at each other, Ian and Asher get along great. =)

Well.. off for another fun day here in Dandong!
I'm excited because we're going to the Great Wall today!