Three Sweet Peas in a Pod: Our visit to Qingdao

We just returned from a 2 day excursion to Qingdao. Qingdao is a very beautiful city. Very picturesque. While we were there I had to go to a Chinese police station to file for Celia's passport. I caused quite a scene as I was the only non-Chinese person in the station (with a crying baby at that). The guide and the director told me to wait on a bench with Celia as they went and did all of the paperwork. Several Chinese people came up to me and tried to hold a conversation to no avail. Finally, after going out to purchase a gift for the policeman, we successfully completed our paperwork.

We also were able to visit the orphanage where Celia lived. Everyone seemed to know her by name including the security gate man and the groundskeepers. The orphanage was on the top of a beautiful hill that overlooked the entire city and the ocean. Quite a prime piece of real estate. They took me to the room of cribs were Celia slept. It was lined with windows that allowed lots of sunlight in. There were many caretakers who were working with the babies. As we played with the babies, it was apparent that they were all happy and well loved in this particular orphanage. It was very clean and did not even have an institutional smell that you might find in nursing homes and such. I must admit that I shed a few tears as I was overwhelmed with the love the staff had for my daughter. The vice director then took me to place where Celia was found. She was found under a street overpass at a crowded intersection. It was in a busy area of town where the line between well to do and poverty were very clear. I was able to get out and take some photos.

The director also told us how the babies were named. It seems there is a list of only about a hundred or so last names in China. Every year, the orphanage selects a different last name for babies admitted that year. In Celia's case, that was Chen. In China, the 2nd character of their name (which would be like our first name) is used to identify a generation, and in a family all children of a certain generation are given the same name. So all of the babies in the orphanage had the "first name" Qian (pronounced chien). In China it means heavens (same meaning as Celia). The third character, which would be like our middle name, is individual to the child. Celia's name is Xue (shoe-ay) meaning snow which is symbolic of purity. So all of the children brought to the orphanage the same year as Celia were named Chen Qian ______. Here there is much more meaning and symbolism when naming a child than in America. When referring to people here, you call then by both the 2nd and 3rd character, often written together: QIANXUE. If you are familiar and call a person by their nickname, you would simply use the 3rd character: XUE. The orphanage staff called Celia a derivative of Xue that means snowy.

Next we headed to the aquarium. We arrived just in time to see one of the mermaid shows. It only had 2 mermaids in it, but Olivia was plastered against the glass of the ceiling to floor tank taking in every move. They swam right up to her. She did not have much to say, but it was clear that she was enjoying the show. We were also able to see several animals. As some of you know, Emma Rose loves to read about animals, particularly ocean animals. She was able to get up very close to a beluga whale. It even tried to spit water on her. She had a great time also. We had lunch at KFC.

We were also able to take the girls out to the ocean's edge to briefly look for shells. A cold front was coming through, so we were not able to stay out for long. We did make it to a Starbucks and then took the girls for HaagenDaz ice cream. Before we left Qingdao, we stopped by the Olympic Sailing Venue. We did not stay long as the temperatures were dropping and giant snowflakes began to fall almost as if Qingdao was bidding a farewell to Xue, the Princess of Snow.

We definitely are making progress with Celia. She cried all of the way to Qingdao (over 3 hours). However, the next day, we did see lots of smiles, she finally played with the girls and was quite silly. Seems like she enjoys making people laugh. Today she only cried for about 1 hour (nonstop) this morning and about 3 hours nonstop this evening before finally going to sleep. She got in the bathtub with Em and Liv this evening and had a ball. She splashed and splashed. Here are a few pics from the last couple of days in Qingdao.

Shells on the beach...