April 2004

What will be always remember......

Johanne Ramsay & Michael Lee, along with 15 other families traveled to Nanning (Guangxi province) in mid-April to unite with their beautiful daughters – thirteen children from an orphanage in Yizhou and three from Nanning.
Michael volunteered to write the trip report. Michael’s report was too long to print in full in the newsletter so we present here some excepts – the full report can be read on our internet page at .

The momentous day arrives, our journey begins. How are you suppose to feel and react at this time? Nervousness? Excitement? Anxious? Happy? Scared? These were the questions we were asking ourselves enroute. Answer: all of the above and than some. How are you suppose to feel? Knowing for a lot of the families (if not all), this journey represents hope, resolution, happiness & closure to many years of attempt to have a family. We are going to have a beautiful child on this trip! There is a "pot of gold" at the end of this rainbow! No more disappointments. The feeling was unreal, surreal.

So on April 18th, our group arrives in Shanghai, "jet lagged", tired and mostly thankful that the 16+ hours of flights were over. We had a tremendous group of people that I am proud to say, are friends for life, a perfect combination of experienced adoption travelers and Chinese decent who spoke Mandarin and me who speaks Cantonese (which didn’t help much at all thru the trip). We had two families that were embarking on their second adoption from China and one special family that was on their fourth. As well, we had 3 older sisters traveling with us. No family dog or cat or a bird in a cage though.

The morning arrived very quickly for all, sleepless night for many as our awareness of what the day would bring us. The meeting of our daughters, the beginning of a new chapter and a whole new life begins. At breakfast that morning, a "buzz" in the air, movement all over the place, you can hear everyones’ voices up a pitch. It was great! We made our way to the airport. Smooth flight. We landed in the heat of Nanning around lunch time and headed for our hotel where we had a chance to freshen up and prepare to meet our babies. On the bus, the silence was loud. The tension was building. The excitement and anticipation was mounting. The reality of "parenthood" for most of us was a short bus ride away. OK, now it's time and the nerves are working overtime, gasping for air was normal especially it being so hot in the room. Pacing & waiting for the babies to be brought in. You can cut the emotional air. Suddenly a baby's cry. A scream "they're here" made all our hearts go up 50 beats. A last minute scramble for the toy, camera & camcorders. We are ready for the best moment of our collective lives. The babies were brought in by their nannies into the room. with an announcement of their Chinese name. Yulin would match the baby with the parents and three lives would join as one in the center of the room. The room filled with cries of fright, detachment and discomfort. Parents' faces filled with delight, overwhelming smiles and tears of joy. Fathers moved around the room to capture this moment like cameramen in the Maple Leaf dressing room. I will never forget the pandemonium in the room, the elation, the joy and the shear exhaustion from the “moment”. Arrived: our beautiful baby, the accumulation of all the efforts, disappointments and "let downs" of trying to have a family. This is how it's suppose to feel! Multiply by 15 in the room and we have a “Kodak moment” forever engraved in our minds. A few minutes and a beginning of calm allowing some of us to reflect on what just happened and how our lives will be with these wonderful babies.

A place of sanity and fun was the “Peoples’ Park” just beside our hotel. Here we were able to take our babies for walks, hear traditional Chinese music sung by locals and gaze at the herds of giant goldfish in the pond, definitely a special place in our hearts. Our lasting memories of Nanning would be beautiful people, beautiful park, squeaky shoes in the hotel lobby from all our babies and thousands of thousands of bikes & motorcycles.

After 4 days in Nanning, it was time to go on. We arrived at the Presidential Plaza Hotel in Beijing and cooler temperatures. What a beautiful luxurious hotel this was with its gorgeous front lobby and spacious rooms. We visited such historical places like the Great Wall, Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, a Jade factory, indoor markets and the Beijing Zoo. Beijing was very different than Nanning, a lot more street vendors happy to take your money (our group bought enough "real Gucci" watches to open up our own store). Shopping and eating well, was the name of the game in Beijing, we continued to be spoiled by Fay, our guide, learning history and enjoying great food and feeling embarrassed with the low cost when time to pay.

We unfortunately missed the legendary shopping spree at “Silk Alley” due to our only day of rain, but I think we did all right going to the Russian indoor market and another indoor market the following day. A suggestion; bring lots of money, bring your best bargaining face and enjoy yourself. You will definitely find bargains, bargains you will never get back home, from clothing, suitcases, silk and any oriental gift item you can think of. Beijing is shopper’s haven.

Reflection and reminiscing was the order on our last day, as we gathered at the front lobby. Our last group pictures of the girls with the mothers, was a signal that this  might  be  the  last time that our whole group would be together and this doesn't seem real, with what we've shared and have been through these past 13 days. We're like one big family now, with lots of sisters to keep in touch with. Where has the time gone, this journey is coming to an end and we're going to be parting ways going back to our respective homes in Manitoba, Ontario & even Iqaluit NU.

The journey is complete. But there was a lot of sadness with the joy back home: the missing of the Chinese people that made our trip so special, our new extended families that we will always keep in touch with, to the love and care that Yulin, Bob and their families and friends gave to us while we were in China. This without a doubt was the most memorable journey we will ever experience and our souvenirs from this, are our children's beautiful smiles everyday.

Thank you China for giving us these beautiful children. We will always remember you!

Michael Lee

What I thought about China

Emily Burzynski (7½) travelled with her mother, Barb Burzynski, and grandfather, Gerald Hunt, on the trip to adopt her sister Grace, Her father, Jerry Burzynski, stayed behind with her two younger sisters, Sarah and Rebecca. Sarah and Rebecca were adopted respectively  in May 2002 and February 2000. Emily was adopted in February 1998.

Emily was conscripted to write about her impressions of China.

When I was in China, I saw the great wall of China, tempuls, palaces and mountains. I liked China because I liked a lot of there foods. I thought it was fun because we went on a lot of trips and bus rides and I got to sing with Brenna and Lexey. When ever we sent shopping people always bartered for what we bought. We went lots of neet placeses. Like the jade store or the silk store. They were cool because they showed us how to make silk.

So this is what I thought about China. But the most exciting part was me, Mom, and grandpa getting Grace. Another great thing about China is that I was born there. And I am always proud of who I am.

Emily Burzynski

A Cherished Memory

Susanne & Terry Penner of Steinback, Manitoba travelled in April to meet their daughter Zoe in Nanning. Zoe had been placed in a foster home by the orphanage pending Zoe’s adoption. Susanne tells the story of an unexpected meeting with Zoe’s foster parents.

One moment on our trip that we will always cherish is the unexpected visit of our daughter’s foster parents during our first week in China. As we were walking back to our hotel, one afternoon, after a stroll through a nearby park, a man came walking towards us (my husband, our daughter Zoe Dong Lan, and myself) saying “Dong Lan”. I looked at my husband, Terry, and mentioned in surprise that this man knew our daughter’s name. Following behind him was a lady that I quickly recognized to be Zoe’s foster mom.

Uneasiness crept over me because I was concerned about how Zoe would react to them. Questions filled my mind . . . would Zoe want to go to them? If she saw them would she have difficulty in going back to the hotel with us? These worries were all for not. Zoe was completely fine.

Her foster mother picked her up and with our limited understanding of Mandarin we were able to pick out that she was telling Zoe that we were her mommy and daddy. The foster parents so desperately wanted to communicate with us. They were constantly talking to us, but unfortunately our puzzled faces told them that much of what they said was going completely over our heads. Through a bit of a hand gesturing we did understand that they wanted us to send them some photos of Zoe and that Zoe liked to go to sleep holding a face cloth close to her face.

Not only had they waited by the hotel hoping to catch a glimpse of us, but they had put together a package of goodies for Zoe, to give to us. Included were biscuits, candies,  photos of Zoe with her foster parents,  some face cloths, and their address. We were told later that a package like this is customary, because it’s the foster parents’ way of wishing Zoe a good life.

I look back at this moment now and wish that an interpreter had been near. What a wonderful story to share with Zoe as she grows up. It gives me warm fuzzies to know that people back in China really cared for her. This will always be a cherished memory for us.

Susanne Penner