Monday morning, 3/5/07

Geez, I'm forgetting the time and date! It's 3:45am at the moment and I'm up again. (big surprise) I have to tell you about yesterday afternoon into the evening! Oh how the pictures will tell you even more!

Roy, Rebecca and I ventured out on our own yesterday morning! YEAH! It was nice. We went to so many shops and stores. I loved a store called Ito Yokado!! Oh wow, it is a store that is 5 stories high and each floor has certain items. Like the fifth stores had all childrens stuff.
Rebecca made out there! Plenty of barettes for only 1.50 yuan! (18 cents) She also got herself a Chinese barbie! (I'm so glad) Then we went from floor to floor....4th had all electronics/linens/towels, 3rd had men's stuff, 2nd had all women's stuff (got a hairbrush there since we can't find the one we packed) and the bottom level had everything else. (No food there though, thank God for small favors!) Yes we were stared at something fierce, yes we ended up being a crowd attraction which lead a British lady to us for help. (The airlines lost all her luggage and she needed help finding things within the stores, so we helped her.) It was a fast 3 hours!!! Again, children LOVE to see Becca with us. They ask so many questions!!!! (We also hear, lucky baby alot too.)


Yesterday afternoon, we went to a Buddist temple in the middle of Chengdu! That's right, the middle of the city! Surprised me. I was thinking it was in the quiet countryside but nope! These monks within the temple are different from say, the Tibetan monks. Here in China, they have two types of monks. The Tibetan monks will NOT talk. The ones here will talk and do things. They keep the temple up. Incense was burning EVERYWHERE yesterday. Becca and myself had a hard time with all the smoke. It was horrible! That and the smells in there. Well, they sell food in there and leading up to the temple is an actual open market. You can buy things, food, toys, trinkets, you name it. I tell ya, some of the foods they cook, the smell alone just knocks you over! Horrible!


We spent about an hour and a half there. It was nice. The grounds are VERY well maintained and clean. Fire extinguishers and hoses are EVERYWHERE. WONDER WHY!?!? To be honest with you? Every person who was worshipping those golden idols, of Buddha (7 Buddhas to be exact), at one point a very small little girl was doing what her mother was doing and I just had to start crying. (Marina thought it was the smoke, which some of it was, but more like.....worshipping false idols.) The hearts of all those people are in the right place, just misqued a tad. It was sad if you honestly thought about it too long. Our guide Marina is Buddist as well.
BUT.......who starts singing songs to the people, in English, and CHRISTIAN at that? Our darling Rebecca (GO BECCA! GO BECCA!). "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, WHERE?" and then follows with "Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, PRAISE YE THE LORD!" *surprised Roy and I like crazy!* She sang her little heart away and people just stared at us even more. Gotta hand it to my little missionary, singing in her homeland for everyone to hear!!!! (She can get away with much more than Roy or myself could!) For being 3, she loves being here in China! I'm so glad.

Ok, from the Buddist temple, we went to McDonald's for dinner. *Comment from the peanut gallery: Good thing Ronald and Colonel Sanders are speaking Chinese.* (Had Chinese for lunch) Our guide, Marina joined us. That was nice. We ate, used another squatty potty, then proceeded to go to the Lantern Festival!
OH WOW! Marina said not alot of parents get to see this because you have to time it just right at the end of Chinese New Year. SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL and unforgettable! Lanterns everywhere, for as far as you can see, in all colors, shapes, sizes. They were in the air, floating on water, suspended above the ground......truly something unique and fascinating.
With Rebecca on Daddy's shoulders, BOY did we stick out! *kinda funny* Met some more Brits along the way and one Canadian. As I said, we'll let the photos show you what we saw. Around 8pm, it was so crowded, Roy was following Marina and I was trying to keep up. Kinda got lost in the shuffle because I'm just as short as most Chinese folks. Kinda scary. After that, I told Roy, time to go. Just wall-to-wall people. Then it was Mr. Wong to the rescue! LOVE this man!!!! He comes outta no where. Whisks us away and Rebecca falls asleep in the van as we drive back to the hotel. Nice huh?!

TODAY WILL BE THE DAY! GOTCHA DAY! Matthew and the director of Yibin (so we think it will be, not sure) will arrive at the Civil Affairs Office at 2pm and we will meet our boy for the first time! Oh wow are we excited! Rebecca wants to bring the Tigger we have for Matthew. Apparently he HAS been told we are adopting him. That he is going to America. Let's hope he is ok with this and alot calmer than Rebecca!!!! Please Lord! I beg of you!!!!! After that, we will fill out paperwork, then see if we need to go to the stores to get him clothes. We have no idea how big he is. He's 2 1/2 now and we've had NO update. I've been praying for Matthew for so long, and now is the time to make his entrance into the family. Just knowing that God planned this before the world began is just so mind boggling to me, but I thank him thoroughly!!!! OUR BOY IS COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!

One happy mommy!!!! Pray for us! This part of the transition can be tough. Prayer coverage would be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks......

Sunday morning, 3/4/07

Ok, it's 4:15am in the morning again and I'm the only one up. I've slept about 12 hours now. Roy brought to the hotel last night, KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) and I forced myself to eat. Literally. I ate chicken, but other than that, don't ask me what else I ate, because I was just plain out of it.


Last night we visited the DuFu cottage. DuFu was a very famous poet here in Sichuan. Everyone in China knows about him. He is more famous in death than in life. The cottage reminded me of how some of the older homes in Norway are built. With hay/straw in the walls and thatch on the roof.
I thought that was interesting. The memorial they have built to this man is remarkable. Flowers and trees and bamboo everywhere. It was just lovely!
***One extra note from Kristen and Rebecca? WE DID IT! We actually used a Chinese potty!! All I have to say is OH MY!
That was quite an experience but I will say this, Rebecca, when she saw the bathroom, was scared of it, I told her not to be, and I held her over the potty and she knew exactly what to do with her legs and how to "go". VERY interesting beings we got her at 15 months old and she remembered this?!?!?! INTERESTING!! (Hey, when you have to go, YOU HAVE TO GO!***


After spending an hour and half there then Mr. Wong and Marina took us to the "People's Park" in Sichuan. OH WOW! Some park!! AWESOME PARK!!!!
Flowers everywhere and in pattern formation for the Beijing Olympics and music, all different types that the locals just get up and do......DANCING........oh boy do we have pictures of dancing. Rebecca saw people dancing and just starting begging to dance!! So we did for a while.
It was fun. Thing was, the music was coming from a CAR BATTERY and some tape looking machine. Imagine that. People of all ages, young and old, just dancing for exercise. Over to our left and our right people, mainly women, were doing something similiar to Tai Chi except it was a faster movement, all doing it together. It looked like Jazzercise to me, but it was just captivating to watch! Not one woman was outta sync! Not one!!

The park also had things for the children to do. We drew attention no matter where we went!
Young and older mothers/grandmothers took to us. Some just stared at us and left us, others just wanted to try and talk to us. Or their babies were wrapped up in about 4 layers of clothes but yet their little bottoms were just a stickin' out because of the split pants! I find that so funny!! That park I could have stayed in all day and all night and still found things to see and do. Vendors were everywhere wanting to sell you things. (Balloons, chinese art, statues, jade, toys, ice cream, food (oh no!), bottled water, etc.) I loved it there. I truly did. People flying kites as big as me! Taller than Roy! Rebecca was fascinated with those. And as much as we loved it there, we had to leave.

Thank you God for Mr. Wong! Thank you for his driving and safety and protection on us. Driving in China, in rush hour......well, I consider myself an assertive driver, but here? NO WAY! Absolutely not! People driving on the wrong side of the road because the stopped cars in front of them won't move! Even though there is a light!! Drivers weaving in and out to get ahead of others, busses doing whatever because no one lets them in or cares about them. WOW.....seatbelts are a MUST! Trust me! We feel blessed and relieved to get to the hotel again.

OH YEAH.........we asked what was the reason for us not getting Matthew on Friday? Well, it has everything to do with the Lunar year. (New Year) Timing has to be everything here. They take their New Year, very serious here. That's why. Something to do with someone (a dignitary) coming and well, you know the rest. It's ok though. We'll get him tomorrow, 2pm, China time!!!!! 1am your time!!! WA HOO!!!!!!!!!!!

It is always interesting / Det er alltid interessant

It is always interesting to post to the blog here in China. Not because of the fact that we are here but because when we log into the blogger account every button, link or explanation is in Chinese characters. I have to say that our Chinese reading is quite rusty. Translation... Non existent. So whenever we want to post something we go by memory, scary as it is, to figure out what is what. Right now the girls are out for the count and snoozing away. I on the other hand just know that you loyal followers want to see pictures from our flight and first day of Chengdu. Oh by the way Peter, we won't be seeing the Great Wall this time but we'll see some other stuff so stay tuned. Enough yak already. Get ready for some pictures after the Norwegian portion.

Det er alltid interessant å laste opp innlegg her i Kina. Det er ikke fordi vi er her men på grunn av at alle knappene, linker og forklaringer er på kinesisk. Vår kapasitet til å lese kinesisk er svært begrenset. Rettere sagt.... ikke eksisterende. Så for hver gang vi legger opp innlegg prøver vi å huske hvordan alt er plassert på siden og det er skremmende i seg selv. Akkurat nå ligger jentene å sover kvelden vekk. Jeg på den andre siden bare vet at dere loyale tilhengere ønsker å se bilder fra flyturen og første dagen her i Chengdu. Nok prat, her er bilder.


In Chicago we tried to tire out Rebecca by letting her run around and do acrobatics to let out steem.


With a girl like Rebecca we draw attention pretty much everywhere we go. This young man was on his way home to Beijing after a two month stay in Michigan to study English. He mostly wanted to talk about basketball which is a thing that I don't know to much about. I do know that Yao Ming is playing for the Houston Rocket but that is pretty much my knowledge of NBA.


Once we boarded the plane and got under way, Rebecca was up, ready and alert. No relaxing there, no siree.


After 27 hours awake with pretty much only Japanese warsleep Rebecca finally hit the wall and crashed. Our little girl is such a little trooper.


After only three hours of sleep she was ready to go again. When we meet Matthew Mommy?


China is a land of contrasts and right outside our hotel room window we have the proof. This is a building that is built in the traditional style surrounded by concrete boxy highrise and semi highrise buildings.


As I mentioned earlier, we are recipients of quite a bit of attention. This entourage followed us out from Carrefore and were asking both us and the guide questions. They wanted to know why we were pale and Rebecca was yellow? Why did Rebecca only speak english and not Chinese?


Our guide, Marina, has so far been excellent when it comes to frendliness, efficiency and service. Great job Marina.

Saturday, 3/3/07 - Man, it's early!

It's 4:35am here and we are all up and totally awake. It's that body clock thing again. Why can't everywhere be on the same time?! It would make it alot easier, you know?

Ok, I'm sitting here thinking of little details I can tell you about yesterday. I did think of one because of a good friend, Deb H. from our yahoo group. She mentioned something about always being "watched" because not many Americans go to certain provinces. Well, as modern and huge as Chengdu is, I'd have to agree with this statement. Not many Americans must come here much. One detail I failed to mention was the men who are dressed in pea green uniforms with red flaps on their shoulders! Marina, our guide said this was the actual military. Well, WONDERFUL! While Roy and Marina went to cash in some travelers checks (yes, you can exchange travelers checks in Chengdu at the bank, not the hotels), of course Roy had all of our passports (which you NEVER leave without, by the way), these green men came up to the bus and were staring at me and Rebecca. I was a little uneasy about them staring, but then again, MOST people stared, so I didn't think twice about it until our driver Mr. Wong got out and spoke with them. After that, they did another "inspection" of the vehicle we were in and left. I tell ya, after Marina explained to me who they were, DO YOU KNOW THAT COULD HAVE BEEN A "not so good" thing if they asked me for my passport?!?!? *oh man* The men in blue are police and the men in green are military! GOT IT! Won't forget it. Honest.

Oh.....another small detail was us praying in the McDonald's in Chengdu. Marina was ok with it and waited until we were done, but everyone around us were very curious why were praying. OH, and the fact that REBECCA did the praying really caught their attention. I find that fascinating! When the Lord says to preach the goodnews to all the ends of the earth, I'm pretty sure he meant China too. Communist or not. Alot of these folks just don't know about religion except Buddha. Sad.

Today, Saturday, 3/3/07, we have free until 1pm. Then we will go to the cottage we mentioned about yesterday, spend about an hour there, and then we will go to the "People's park" in Chengdu, where all the locals hang out. Marina said it was a beautiful place, you can get plenty of tea there, and check out how folks spend their time. (Whether Tai Chi, playing with the hacknsack ball thing with their feet, or chess, or whatever.) Hey, if nothing else, maybe we can get FRESH AIR (boy, did I make a funny there!) and let Rebecca run around a bit. (The fresh air thing is because 1.3 billion live in China, and 1 billion of them smoke! NO JOKE!)

Ok, until we meet again..........I'll sign off here. Be good.

Kristen

Friday evening, 3/2/07

Ok, itinerary change yet again. I think we will have changes until we get to Guangzhou. LOL......anyway, our guide Marina, took us to the local Carrefour (a mega SuperWalmart with everything you can think of). OH MY GOSH, I never dreamed in a million years we would leave the place with a bunch of people around us. We had little girls around us trying out their English, older women apparently scolding us because we were out and about with NO jackets (especially w/Rebecca as she was literally sweating like crazy) and men who were just plain curious why everyone was around us. Marina I don't think liked so much attention. She kind of called for our driver and whisked us away.

Back to the Carrefour......When I say don't read this if you have a weak stomach, or just ate, PLEASE DON'T READ THIS PART. It started out very nice. On the floor with lots of clothes, electronics, DVD's (yeah Toni, we found some stuff for Faith), and then we went to the FOOD area. One word, EW! EW! EW! EW! The open meat market and what you could get was just so bad to me and the smell? Oh just don't go there. Nothing live mind you except for the seafood area, but the meat area? Who would have thought you could cook a whole chicken, well, WHOLE! Or a duck! Or, oh forgive me kitties at home, other things.......including dog. I said, ew! I literally told Roy that if he didn't move it and move it QUICKLY, I was going to mow him down with the stroller w/Becca in it.

Carrefour is great for the snacky stuff you must have. Oh and SAFE bottled water. We got a case of the good stuff, some Pepsi's, juices for Rebecca and PEPSI LIGHT (Diet Pepsi) for me. (YAY GOD!) When I first woke up this morning, well, I thought I had drank some water from China (which you DO NOT DO or you get the "runs"). Turned out, moving my meds was a little harder than I thought. (One of my diabetes meds is a booger if I don't time it just right. Well, it was off and you know the rest. Hate metformin sometimes!!!!!)

Anyway, back to the good stuff.......yeah, we had people coming up to us wanting to know why we were in Chengdu, the little girls were asking us why we were white, why did we have Rebecca, why would we want to come to Chengdu, then came the fashion police!!! Yikes, and I thought I was being good because it's almost 70 here! NOPE! These folks walk around in 68 degree weather with WINTER COATS ON! We have the a/c on in our room! Good grief. It's hot here and they walk around with coats, some full length. Man, the fashion police, for those of you who don't know, are mostly made up of older ladies from China who KNOW how every child should be dressed! (In 15 layers of clothes and have red rosy cheeks.) NOT THIS CHICK! Poor Rebecca, she had an undershirt and a long sleeved shirt on and was sweating like crazy. Roy too.

Anyway, after eating at McDonald's, which was VERY interesting to have a quarter pounder with cheese and have HOT SAUCE on it!! *oy* We looked around the shopping area. LOTS to do around here. LOTS OF PEOPLE EVERYWHERE! I mean LOTS! Rebecca took to the Disney store real well. I liked the Nike footwear store (as my traveling shoes messed up my toes and being diabetic? Well, your feet are your SAVORED limbs to have!!) I loved how the vendors just automatically come up to you because you are foreignors and expect you to buy their stuff. Interesting.

Ok, enough rambling.......Rebecca is sleeping, Roy is sleeping and I'm up because I'm pigheaded and fell asleep a little earlier. Turning the body clock is NOT FUN!

Be blessed guys cause we are! Thank you for your prayer support. We love how many folks are following us!

Kristen

Take off pictures / Avreise bilder

Here are a few pictures from our departure. A huge thank you to "Aunt" Toni for taking us to the airport and making sure that we have some memories from that day.

Her er noen bilder fra avreise. Tusen takk til "Tante" Toni. Hun tok oss til flyplassen og sørget for at vi har minner fra den dagen.

Enough yak already here are the pics. Nok snakk. Her er bildene.

Hello from CHENGDU, CHINA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Matthew's MOMMY here. It is 5:30am in the morning China time and we are dirt tired! After 30 hours of either flying or waiting to fly and 1 small meltdown from our princess darling, we are safe and sound in a city that is bustling with 12 million people in a square footage that YOU DON'T want to know! People are EVERYWHERE.

We ventured out at 11:30pm (china time), to see if we could get something to eat, but alas, NOTHING! We have no yuan, and NO one takes VISA! Nice! (not) So we got nothing to eat and went to bed on empty stomachs.

Our flights were good except for the Chicago to Beijing flight. We started off LATE, then we made some headway getting onto the packed plane and because it was STIFFLING at O'Hare airport, at the gate, then it was HOT on the plane, one of the older ladies sitting about 1 row up from us to the right, fifth seat, got sick as we were taking off. The plane ALMOST didn't take off. We ended up taking off about an hour late BUT........we had an AWESOME pilot! He made up the time in the air! YES! YES! Turbulence was definitely felt in the Beijing flight and MOST DEFINITELY felt in the Chengdu flight. (Almost hard to lose your stomach when you have nothing in it.) We did eat in the flights, but once we got to Chengdu, they just served CHINESE stuff! (ain't happening here, and Roy didn't either)

All-in-all, we did well and for Rebecca waking up at 2am, Wednesday morning and going until Thursday night, she did VERY WELL!!!!!!!!!!! Awesome little girl!

NOW......for the itinerary update, NO MATTHEW until Monday morning. No reason was given (as to why), but this is ok with us because of jetlag and wanting some "us" time so we aren't dirt tired for him to see us. Today we will have a half a free morning to eat breakfast, exchange money, get water and some FOOD! Then around 2pm we will go to the Dafu cottage. Don't ask me what it is! I have no clue but we're going there. Our guide Marina was waiting for us just outside the baggage claim area with a big sign that read, WELCOME MR & MRS IVERSEN. Couldn't miss that! She speaks EXCELLENT english! (or Chinglish as the Chinese call it) Our driver Mr. Wong, is an AWESOME driver!!!! If you have ever driven in China, DON'T! You have no lane markings that you HAVE to follow, the horn works, and the people on the bicycles? Well, let's just say they are there but don't have to be if the cars to them first!! In Chengdu, it is ALOT like Beijing. Very modern as modern can possibly be.

Yes we are tired, DONE with plane rides (Rebecca does NOT want to get on a plane for at least a week, which is about right, for when we will).

ALL OUR LUGGAGE GOT HERE and is in one piece! HALLELUJAH LORD! Thank you for your prayers people! Trust me, during those "turbulent" times on the planes, THANK YOU!

Ok, I end here......OH, the Prime Hotel, for those of you leaving for Chengdu soon, is nice! The bathrooms are outta this world! See through EVERYTHING! Including the walls! (you can pull a shade down.....thank goodness)

Until we meet again, today is Friday morning, 5:30ish AM in China! Matthew will be meeting us on Monday around 2pm.