Bullet Train to Shenzhen

Regardless of what province Americans adopt their Chinese children from, all must come through the city of Guangzhou (the ancient city of Canton) to process their child’s visa and ultimate citizenship to America. Most of these families stay on Shamian island, where part of the American embassy and the medical clinic which sees these children is located. The majority of the clientele eating in the restaurants and shopping in the shops are Americans who have adopted Chinese children (we probably have seen 35 families that fit this description in the last couple days).

At breakfast we met our first few families who were channeled here. This was a blessing for us to see what happened. Let me back up: up until this point Joy has been very interested in her brothers; but has not responded much when her sisters are mentioned. We wondered if there is some reason for this. So imagine how delighted we were to see how Joy loved interacting with all the little girls we met at breakfast. She wanted to hold and help with them, so much so that I told the parents to let me know if it bothered them (sometimes she asks to take the girls from their parents arms to hold and coddle them). The girls look forward to seeing her and reach for her when she’s around.

This morning was not a happy one for Joy. This is the appointment where the children receive many inoculations to be eligible to emigrate to America. Our poor daughter received a TB test, two shots in one arm, two shots in the other arm, and one in her thigh. Again, I’d tried to get her to take a Tylenol to prepare for this procedure; but she is very good at saying “no”.

Her reward was that after packing a few of our things in a backpack, we left on a bullet train for Shenzhen. Yongguang’s sister, who is in charge of the Guangzhou train station, wrote out very specific instructions to direct us through the subway to the main train station. Joy resisted; but Yongying encouraged her. Imagine, Joy is only a teenager, has never been outside of Tianjin or Beijing (we don’t think she really got around on her own in Beijing, her boarding school was outside the city) and here’s she commandeering us around a sophisticated and advanced transportation network. We became very impressed with our daughter. First she would consider the directions. When she was unclear, she would ask for help, and inspire the recipient of her question to lead us in person where we needed to go. Still, by the time we finally were seated in our assigned seats on the train, she showed us that her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest.

We were very excited to visit our dear friend’s city of Shenzhen. We visited Shenzhen before when we adopted the girls; but the Chen family was not there at the time. This was going to be our first time to be there with part of the family, and for Joy to get to meet her Chinese auntie, “Liping”.

First, a little bit about Shenzhen: this is the model city of China, inspired by Deng Xaoping, as an open window for free trade to the west. 30 years ago it was a tiny fishing village of about 2,000 people. Today it is called the Paris of Asia and has 14 million people living there. Many international designers manufacture there, so the people are extremely sophisticated and are wearing more fashionable European clothing than Americans. Our friends, the Chen family, have worked there almost since it’s designation as a model city and have watched and been a part of its growth since its inception. So this was really going to be a special chance to be there with our friend Liping and have her introduce it to us.

We were so happy to see Liping, and her sister Limei, when they picked us up at the train station. We were excited to first be taken to their home and see what their real life is like, as we’ve imagined their home since we’ve heard them talk about it these past 5 years that we’ve known them.

Liping really took responsibility to show us the breadth of what her city has to offer. So next, they took us to a sort of outdoor restaurant mall where each restaurant represents a different geographical region of the United States. We walked into each restaurant; but ended up in the most popular one which represents the region and cuisine of the Northwest region of China, Shanxi province. The delicious food featured roasted meats and different dishes made from brown rice.

Our next big surprise was to be taken to the kind of “Camp David” for the high-level government workers located here in Shenzhen. It is like a 5-star resort and we were privileged to get to stay there the night and part of the next day.

NOTE: There are many little miracles that have happened along the way on this trip which we do not feel are appropriate to post on this public blog. If you are interested in these “God” stories, ask us in person.