Cities

I've been away for work for a few days in Melbourne. It is such a beautiful city, I'm totally in love with it. Of course, I checked out Chinatown. I had dinner at a place called Post Mao Cafe. The master chef is 93 years old and used to cook for Chairman Mao. Hrm. Not sure how true that claim is, or why he'd still be working at 93, but I'm pleased to report that there were no false teeth or stray grey hairs in my meal.

At the airport before I left, I bought a book to read on the plane about an Aussie journalist who spent a year in Beijing. Wow, that's another city that blows my mind and I look forward to going someday. It's too late now, but I would like to have visited it before all the preparations for the Olympic Games began. The only city we have experienced in China is Kunming (Yunnan province) - and it's considered to be 'out in the countryside' by most Chinese, so I'm pretty sure life there is drastically different to Beijing.

What about you? What city do you love - and why? What city would you really like to visit?

the rainbow family

Congratulations Angelina Jolie on your precious new son! I hope the world leaves you alone for a while so he can get to know his new family.

All in this together

Generally speaking, there are three kinds of adoptive parents: those who cannot have biological children, for whatever reason; those who already have biological children; and singles who aren't waiting around for a partner to become a parent.

None of these is better or worse than the other. There is no heirarchy of eligibility, and none of these are more 'deserving' of children than the other. We all arrive at adoption from different pathways. How we get here is important, but also kind of irrelevant. We all need to support each other, regardless of the reasons for arriving at adoption.

Having said that, it is also important to connect with others that have journeyed a similar pathway. There's something special about the 'understanding' that can only come through shared experience. You can say, "I know how you're feeling / I know what you're going through", because you really do.

The value of this connection has been heightened for me this week, after reading multiple email posts to our local support group discussion list. There's a stronger link and greater empathy when you have walked a similar path to someone.

This is where we feel out of place. We don't have that connection with others like us. Is there anyone out there? A couple who don't know if you can have bio kids cos you've never tried to become pregnant? The truth is, people don't understand us. They simply can't. It is so beyond the realm of what is normal for so many people we come across. This is clear whenever someone finds out we're hoping to adopt. "oh, can't you have kids?" "don't know, we're choosing to adopt" *blank stare* *blank stare back*

We cherish relationships with all adoptive and prospective adoptive families and know that in the end the pathway is just a detail, yet we would still love to connect with others like us. Anyone?

China Photos

Like lots of bloggers, I use Bloglines. As well as subscribing to the blogs I like to read, i also subscribe to any photos uploaded to Flickr that have been tagged 'China'. There are so many beautiful photos to look at each day. Today I came across a set of 93 photos called 'CHINA in Red and Black' by kurtvansteelant. Just lovely, check it out!

Dreams

Aaron had a dream on Wednesday night that a little Chinese boy was standing next to our bed trying to wake him up.

I wish I would have a sweet dream about a Chinese bubba. (Instead the last dream I can remember having consisted of my mother phoning me at work to tell me, through huge sobs, that Britney Spears had committed suicide. It was bizarre. When I woke up I thought, 'why was she crying?, 'why would she call me at work to tell me that?' 'why is she even interested in Britney?' Bah!)

In other news, I got the book I left on the plane back! What were the chances!

Chinese New Year

Happy year of the pig! We had a great weekend packed full of celebrations for Chinese New Year.

Saturday night we went to a 10pm celebration at the local taoist temple. There was a lion dance and some kung fu demonstrations. Sunday we went to lunch with other adoptive families / prospective adoptive families. The state newspaper was there and took a photo of the gorgeous children - which made it to the front page of yesterday's paper!


Sunday evening we headed into Chinatown, joined by Aaron's brother and his family. We enjoyed watching a dragon dance and another lion dance, before checking out the markets and having dinner at a Chinese restaurant. We thought our 5 year old neice would be scared of the lions and firecrackers, but she was so excited that she was squealing and wanting to get as close as she could!

The local low-down

Five families in Queensland received referrals last weekend. I'm not sure why we find out a week later than the rest of the world, but it must be torture for the families concerned.

That's it for the 2005 LIDs from Qld, so it's not likely that there'll be referrals for a while now. Hangin' in there for Batch 8 & 9 who are next and have a February '06 log-in.

Mandarin Labels

This will probably only be of interest to those learning mandarin - and even then, just those in the early stages. I created some labels to stick up around the house to remind me of what things are called.

I couldn't work out how to add a file for download in blogger, so quickly made a webpage for them. Go here http://mandarinlabels.googlepages.com/ to download them. They are in a Word doc, set up to be printed on sheets of business cards (but will also work fine printed on regular paper or card).

In other news, Aaron bought me a neat book called The Chinese Have a Word For It, about Chinese phrases and culture, but we went away last weekend and I mistakenly left it on the plane! Tomorrow I'm going to phone the airline and the airport of where we went, but I don't like my chances..!

Simpsons Episode - Goo Goo Gai Pan

There was a Simpsons episode showing tonight (repeat from 2005) about adopting from China. Selma adopts baby Ling. It was cute. Completely inaccurate and all that, but all in good fun.

China banned the Simpsons from prime time tv last year (read one of many articles about it here from ABC).

Nì Hǎo Pod-buddies!

Hey, Checking Boxes is famous! We got a shout-out on Chinese Pod's Saturday Show this week. Thanks Aric, Colleen and Jenny.

You can listen here: (it's at about the 20 minute mark, but you should listen to the whole show... afterall, it is the 'greatest saturday show in the world')

	周六35 The Saturday Show for February 03, 2007
	Visit ChinesePod.com