China Dreaming

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June 14, 2005

Day Four - Nanchang, and Emma

By 5pm Sunday evening, we're on the tarmac in Nanchang. From the air, it looks cleaner and, needless to say, smaller than Beijing. Nanchang is a city of about a million people, sitting athwart a broad river in an open plain. Its airport is regrettably poorly air conditioned.

We stand in the baggage claim sweating, hoping our wine carried as a gift for the orphanage director has made it intact. The baggage claim is trés 80s, and only two carousels, if that gives you an idea of the airport's size. We claim our bags, noting the lack of leaking liquid with relief.

In a further sign that they are cursed, baggagewise, Pam and Burt come up missing a bag (their baggage was lost for two days on the way to Beijing, as well), but it shows up a couple of hours later. Outside, we pile on our bus, noting with amusement the seat covers with Playboy bunny-heads on them, and the word "Playboy" written mirror-backwards all over.

The adventure is now well and truly underway.

A few local kids are playing near the bus as we roll away. They smile, laugh and wave as we pass. The stretch between the airport and the city passes a lot of rural land, flat areas divvied up into rice paddies, and the whole area obviously wet from a recent rain. Tumbledown shanties sit side-by-side with large highway construction projects here and there. Things everywhere have the look that most poor rural areas tend to have.

The roads is, at least nominally, paved. The bus, however, is outfitted with a suspension undoubtedly made on the same assembly line as that of the Citröen 2CV. And we're in the back of the bus. I confess that at least twice during the 30 minute trip to the hotel, I fear the bus will bounce so violently over a pothole that we'll be ejected through the roof.

What's that you say? Buckle your seat belt? As if. Chinese vehicles don't seem to come with them, and this vehicle is definitely home grown. In fact, the only seat belt we've seen all week was in a Korean-made car being used as a taxi cab.

As we ride through the outskirts of Nanching proper, increasing signs of urbanization appear. Construction cranes sprout everywhere (gee, how unfamiliar), and taller apartment blocks start to appear among the lower one-story homes. Retail outlets dot the street level, though I couldn't tell you what any of them were selling (except Pepsi, which seems to pop up regularly on sign boards).

What sidewalks there are seem, along this road at least, to have been torn up to make way for some kind of water or sewer project. Not that it matters. Nearly everyone seems to be riding a bike, motorcycle or scooter. Two of the few people I see making their way on foot are bouncing a basketball. I see them make a left into a large courtyard inside a giant apartment block. There, other teenagers are shooting hoops on the concrete courts.

We ride on. Things turn into a blur as I stop focussing on the city, and start focussing on coming events. We pass over a huge, supermodern suspension bridge adorned at either end with replicas of the famous lions that sit outside the palace at the Forbidden City (the male with his paw on a ball, the female with hers on a suckling cub). Nanchang proper is a city becoming vertical. Skyscrapers dot the skyline, including the tallest concrete structure I think I've ever seen. The cranes, as ever, are everywhere.

We roll through streets that look like any city in the world -- a crowded and bustling mix of residential and business establishments. The only real difference from inside the bus is the traffic. It's incredible, and the Chinese seem to regard traffic laws as something more like suggestions. We pull up at the Hotel Gloria, a spiffy four-star outfit that's the best hotel in Nanchang.

By now, it's 6pm, and we're supposed to meet our babies at 7pm.

Oh.

Shit.

We hustle upstairs, sans our baggage, which we've been told will arrive shortly. We quickly unpack everything we have on our backs and in hand, making as ready as we can. We drink the two bottles of water in the room, and try, with limited success, to breathe. We are about to become parents.

Oh.

Shit.

By five of seven, we still have no bags, and hence no gifts for the director and nannies, no toys or clothes for the baby, and none of the things we need to clean up. But everyone else is moving down the hall toward the conference room, so we follow suit. Lara says "I see babies!" I reply that other groups are here, too...they might not be ours. She responds that someone in the group has seen their kid.

My heart and stomach try to exchange places.

The video camera is cocked and locked, and the still camera is in the other hand. All twenty families, many complete with kids and grandparents, are crowded into the small hall area between the elevators and the conference room. Then, without any warning, it begins. A nanny emerges from the room carrying a baby, and her name is called. A crying family steps forward to receive its newest member.

I remember in the blur that I was trying to videotape for as many people as I could, so I start shooting. The still camera is basically useless in the press of people. Another name, another family. And another, and another, and another.

Halfway down the roster, I hear spoken by Rose the name that I've known on paper for weeks -- Cen Xiao Kun. Lara steps forward, I focus the camera and, just like that, she's ours. As quickly and simply as that, the moment is over.

We back away toward the elevators to make room for those still straining to hear their babies' names over the commotion. Emma is crying to beat the band, and Lara's working on some of that herself, although at the moment things are relatively under control. I work the cameras a bit, and Emma continues crying. She wants nothing to do with Lara right now.

I take her, and either out of terror or curiosity, she gradually stops crying. She's fascinated with my glasses, which I diligently attempt to keep on my face. Lara hovers nearby, and it takes Emma only a moment to discover that she is wearing glasses as well.

She promptly removes them and tries to eat them.

We begin our retreat to room 1205. Over the next hour, we hold and console this new little person, who we knew weeks ago, but never knew. At first, she wants no truck whatsoever with Lara, and won't let me put her down. Then, at Lynn's suggestion (we have iChat running by this point, typing to Lynn and videochatting with Dad and Andy and trying to Skype Mom and others, all at the same time), Lara removes her glasses.

It was as if she had become a different person, and suddenly, Emma was okay with her. After a few more minutes of holding, we try putting her on the bed in a sitting position, propped and cushioned by the large pillows. Glory be, she takes to it.

Over the next hour and half, she gets her plastic keys and her stacking cups, and lots of attention from her new Mom and Dad. We exchange messages with nearly everyone, and leave phone messages for folks we can't reach. Jamie and Jer and Mawmaw and Pawpaw make it to Dad's for video chats. Emma, though still fussy, seems to settle in nicely.

She has a nasty diaper rash, and some chafed, scabby spots that we'll need to clear up, but seems otherwise healthy. She's beginning to add two teeth beyond the eight we knew about. She's alert, watchful, and very, very quiet right now.

It's 8:30, and time for bed, so we start making ready. She's already in her PJ's, so we leave them on and Lara mixes a bottle. She's hesitant to take it until I use some scissors to widen the nipple hole, after which she goes at it like gangbusters.

We notice that her skin is a lot darker than the pictures we have. Then we notice her wrists -- the letter from her foster mother says she likes to be outside, and her hands and feet show it. She's got quite the little tan.

The feeding continues, but she shows no sign of being willing to sleep. Every time we try and lay her down, she screams. Finally, around 10:30 she nods off. Then, we notice her unconsciously fiddling with her diaper. Unwilling to let her sleep in a dirty wrap, we get her up and take her to the bathroom.

Which reveals yet another aspect of her personality -- she hates having her diaper changed. We have no doubt that this is due to the chafing rash on her butt. We quickly apply Butt Paste, slap on a fresh diaper (which is about two sizes too big, despite being the smallest we brought), and work her into a new sleeper. We try to return her to the crib, but she's far too wakeful now, and cries out.

Lara holds her, and we recline on the bed. I doze off and, eventually, so do baby and Mama. At 11:30, I wake up and nudge Lara. "Put her in the crib." Emma has fallen asleep stretched out on Mom. Lara beds her down, and we try our best to get to sleep ourselves -- an activity that has never been easy on this trip.

Posted by brlittle at June 14, 2005 02:28 PM

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