Day 6

What a day.

We woke up early (again), and ended up Skyping with some folks while we waited for it to be 6am, when the breakfast buffet opened. And when I say buffet, I'm not playin'. Our hotel had a huge selection of pastries, veggies, rice, dumplings, salads, lunch meats, and American breakfast fare. If it wasn't being served for breakfast, you didn't need it. We were a little adventurous with breakfast, but we mostly concentrated on filling ourselves up so that we could make it through the day.

While we were eating, we saw a man out side the window who had a cage with about two dozen pigeons in it. He opened the cage and let the pigeons fly around for a while, and then put them back in their cage. Not something you see every day.

The rest of the morning was kind of a blur. We were all anxious to meet Ruthie. We took a nap after breakfast, and walked around the mall that is attached to our hotel. It is a BIG mall, full of interesting stores. Strangely enough, they have a Cold Stone Creamery. And a Dairy Queen that serves Wasabi Blizzards. Hmm...

Finally, it was time to meet Ruthie. We drove to the local government office that handles foreign adoptions (and foreign weddings), and we waited for the children to show up. There were 4 families all waiting, including us. One by one, kids were brought in and began meeting their new families. We waited and waited, growing more anxious by the moment. Finally, our guide called the orphanage director to see what was taking so long. Shortly after that, she arrived.

From the start, she was very reluctant to see us. That leads me to believe that she knew what was coming. She didn't want anything to do with us and then she started crying. And crying. And crying. I'm happy to report that she has very healthy lungs.

We had a brief conversation with the orphanage director, and we could tell that they genuinely cared for Ruthie. They gave us a scrapbook of photos from throughout her time in the orphanage, which is pretty rare. They also gave us quite a few clothes for her. Again, not the norm. It is nice to know that they cared for her. The orphanage director also wanted to make sure that we were going to get medical attention for her, which was touching. 

After they left, she still was pretty upset, but eventually started to take to Anne. The two of them walked around the building for a while (I think Ruthie was looking to see where her nanny went). They began to bond slowly, and then we left.

On the way home, we stopped at Carrefore, which is like Wal Mart. Only dirtier. We got a few essentials there, including a potty seat. She said she had to go when we first got her, but wouldn't go in the public toilet (the public toilets in China are literally a hole in the ground. You put your feet on either side and you squat). Ruthie is definitely a Harrison because she wouldn't use the hole/toilet.

By the time we got back to the room, she was starting to get a little more comfortable with us. We bought some of her favorite snacks, which no doubt helped.

In the hotel, we just focused on having some fun with her and making her feel comfortable. The thing that finally broke through was cartwheels and break dancing. Our kids started dancing for her, and she really enjoyed that. I've tried to attach a short video to this, but I don't know if it will show up on our blog or not. If you can't see the video, then click the link below and you should be able to watch it: 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21147169/IMG_2029.MOV

After some dancing, we ate in our room, and then we read that her normal bedtime is 7:30. Conveniently, that is when we have been crashing into bed ourselves, so that is what everyone did. We're grateful to have her, and anxious to see what tomorrow holds.