Guanghzou

Sunday 1/19

We are loving Guanghzou and have had a very good last day and a half!  Yesterday afternoon we went for a long walk with another Minnesota family who adopted a girl who is almost 4.  Our hotel is located on Shamian Island, which is a great area for walking as many of the streets are closed to vehicles.  The US Consulate was previously located here, but has now moved to the more modern area of town.  Its long term presence as an adoption hub did create a lot of shops catered to tourists.  This isn’t necessarily bad as it does contain more of the traditional items many of us would like to take home for our children.  A park area contains lots of sculptures and a nice walking path along the water.  Teagen and the other girl, Mihn Jou (I’m guessing on the spelling) spent most of the afternoon walking hand in hand.  It was very cute!  Teagen is very outgoing and loves to run, while Minh Jou is more timid and slow paced.  Despite this, they were a good balance for each other. 

Today our agency representative took us to Yun Tai Garden, which is a huge arboretum. It was sunny and 21 degrees Celsius.  I felt like I was on spring break, yet many of the locals still wore winter coats!  I’m sure Teagen was well underdressed in just a long sleeve shirt and sweater.  Our agency rep, Molly, brought her 3.5 year old son with her.  He had on at least 3 layers under his winter coat.  She then explained to us how they always put an extra towel between his skin and bottom layer to soak up the sweat from when they run.  Seems to me it would just make more sense to put less clothes on them.  He and Teagen ran non-stop and it was hard to get good pictures of her.  Unfortunately, Minh Jou was having a rough day so her family decided not to go with.  Another CHSFS family who adopted a 1.5 year old girl did come with us.  I think they were amazed at the energy Teagen has.  It would definitely be a big change for a family without children, but I think she will fit in very well at our house! 

Everyone here agrees that Teagen has a very strong, outgoing personality.  She is definitely a leader who loves to talk and is quick to let you know when you aren’t doing something her way.  Our agency representative said that she seems very mature for her age in how (and what) she talks about. Unlike Minh Jou, who spent the day crying because she misses her caregivers and other children at the orphanage, Teagen’s emotions seem to be expressed more when she is angry.  She was very mad last night when I turned off her Boonie Bears show.  She tried to grab the remote from me and then sobbed for quite some time.  I am sure this was more than just not getting her way.  She has been handling these changes very well, all things considered.  I know that her foster family prepared her for this by looking at the photo album we sent her.  She can identify us all in pictures.