Yesterday (Tuesday) was a super LONG day. We met our guide at 8:15am, and headed back to the civil affairs office to finalize everything. From there we left and grabbed lunch (or food to go) and headed to Datong. Datong is 4 hours from Taiyuan, and it is super desolate out there. I mean--super desolate (worse than driving from Chas to Cola for all you SC people). We made it to Datong at 2pm and toured the orphanage for an hour. We did not get to see where Evan grew up or stayed as we learned that not only was he in foster care, he lived in a foster village located about an hour from the orphanage.
After going to the orphanage we headed over to the Datong police station to apply for his passport. That took about 15-20 minutes. After leaving the police station we headed to the approximate area of where they found him when he was abandoned. We could not locate the exact location as no one at the businesses in the area really remembered him being found there (over a year and a half ago). But we still got pictures and video of the area so we can show him in the future.
We left Datong around 4pm, and headed back to Taiyuan. We made it back to our hotel at 8pm, and we were all super exhausted. It was a long day, and honestly, I hate to say it, but it was kind of miserable as well. Kathryn hit her wall, and started to have some pretty nasty meltdowns (they parent differently over here--they give in to the kid's desires so they get a little freaked and stare you down when they're having a meltdown). Evan also started calling out for his foster Mom on the car ride there, which shows us he is starting to grieve her loss some.
Today (Wednesday) was much quieter. We didn't have plans until 2, when we were to meet the guide to go to a park. After breakfast I spent about an hour washing clothes in the sink/tub. They are all now strewn about the hotel room with clothes pins in hopes they dry out before our next flight on Friday. Anyway, about mid morning my stomach started cramping something fierce, and I realized that I had eaten something at breakfast that was not cooked all the way through (I believe it was a fried chicken leg--I stopped eating it when I realized it was not done, but still 1-2 bites did me in). I ended up spending 2 hours this afternoon in a warm bath, which helped tremendously. David and the kids went to the park, which he says was more like a mini-amusement park. Anyway, by late afternoon I was feeling much better.
Tomorrow we're heading to the museum. It'll be another quiet easy day. We'll be getting the remainder of our paperwork and his passport tomorrow or Fri, and then we'll be heading to Guangzhou Fri to start completing everything on the US side.
I want to take a moment and give David a huge shout out for his amazing Dad skills. Evan has really taken to him, which is great as I have not been feeling the best over the last couple of days. I hate that i'm missing the bonding time, but grateful that i've been able to rest some to overcome my stomach thing and some fatigue i've been having from travel. It has been a hard trip on all of us--it seems like Kathryn and I have had a harder time adjusting, though.
Anyway, I will post some pictures later. It is only 8:20pm, but it is time for bed.
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