Some Q & A

We just had our first phone conversation with someone back in the US--Christie Needham, Gigi's paternal grandmother. We called at 8:00 AM Guangzhou, China time on Monday, June 13, and, crossing the date line, reached this excited grandma on Sunday at 6:00 PM. In just 10 minutes of chatting, we used up the phone card we'd purchased. Christie has been emailing daily with questions about her new granddaughter. For everyone's benefit, here are our answers to some recent questions:

Q: Does Gigi ever let you hold her? How about Georgina, can she hold Gigi?

A: Yes, Gigi lets all of us hold her, but prefers Amy and is warm to her aunt Georgina. She's obviously had limited exposure to men. But John Lewis can soothe well enough.


Q: So is Cleo doing all right?

A: Cleo’s doing wonderfully. She is definitely going through the adjustment of a former only child. Since the honeymoon period of the first few days, she now she tries to nudge out her new "sister," as she calls Gigi, just a couple times a day.


Q: Do you eat duck?, dog?, sweet and sour pork like from Panda Express (just kidding)?, rice?, fried rice?, shark?, whale?, squid? What do you drink? Is there Coke or Mountain Dew?

A: We've eaten many great Chinese and Western meals. Breakfasts at the Hong Kong and now the Guangzhou hotels have been the best. Tremendously diverse, gourmet selections, from European cheeses, custom omelets, to French toast, and, of course, all manner of exotic fresh fruits (which we can only eat if there's no peel involved).

Some of more interesting Chinese dishes we've eaten: stir-fried rice noodles (yum!), perfectly crisp, chilled green beans with garlic, ginger and clove chicken (in one case, we were served the *whole* bird, a la Christmas Story), some sort of Chinese spinich that tastes like grilled asparagus; and, not least, congee--a versatile rice poridge that Ginger, and some of us, eat a couple times a day.

We drink only Coke, with no ice, and bottled water. Cleo's now addicted to apple juice. Some in our group have really suffered for lack of ready access Diet Coke. Mountain Dew junkies are even worse off.


Q: Are all the families still with you?

A: Interacting with our fellow adoptive families has been one of the trip's highlights. It's like a 24-hour support group, complete with a baby goods exchange--we've received much-needed PJs, teething medications, digital camera cable, etc.


Q: Is Gigi about the same age as most of the little girls?

A: She's a bit younger than the average, but looks very much like the others, except that she is the smallest and most fragile of the bunch. She passed her medical exam for the US visa today, weighing in at 14.8 pounds. She was judged healthy, but we were urged to fatten her up, as it appears she didn't receive complete nutrition in the orphanage.


Q: Is Dad speaking Chinese to anyone after his crash course?

A: Yes, John Lewis's Dad the polyglot is making solid progress with Mandarin. When asked yesterday how you say “please," he proceeded to offer a mini-lecture on the two ways of saying please, one of which corresponds to the German “bitte.”