The Big Debut that Didn't Happen

Our adoption agency, Children's Home Society, let us know a couple weeks ago that they would be hosting a delegation from the Chinese Government to discuss the current state of affairs about international adoption (severely curtailed but with important child-safety safeguards finally put in place) and how Chinese kids are doing here in the United States. Tonight, for families so inclined, they were hosting a dinner for the Chinese team and we were certainly invited, and if we wanted to get up and say something, even better.

We replied with an enthusiastic "yes" within about an hour of getting the invitation.

For the past week, we have been discussing with Wynn what she would want the Chinese Government and the people in the orphanages around that country to know about her life. With our help, she wrote a speech that we would all get up and say. Over this weekend, we practiced it several times!

Here is the outline of that speech:

Our family cares about making sure we all know we’re taken care of, are learning new things, and are happy.

I.               Wynn knows she’s well taken care of because …

a.     She gets lots of hugs from her family.

b.     She eats a lot of delicious, healthy food.

c.      She goes to the doctor, dentist, and speech therapist to keep her strong and healthy.

II.             Wynn is learning new things because …

a.     She goes to a great school, Yinghua Academy, where she learns Chinese, English, math, art, and music.

b.     She travels around the world with her family to see all kinds of people and places.

c.      She helps around the house and in the yard, so she’s learning about cooking, gardening, and responsibility.

III.           Wynn is happy because …

a.     She has a lot of friends.

b.     She does fun things like dancing, swimming, and rock climbing at summer camp.

c.      She has a dog who loves her and who she loves right back.

Wynn has changed our lives and filled them with learning and happiness. We are so proud of her and honored to get to see the amazing person she will grow up to be.

So, we got to the agency on time this afternoon (I took the afternoon off to pick up food for the potluck & to get Wynn early from school) and found our seats. Ann was feeling ill but was able to make it about halfway through, so all of us were together.

No surprise that there were quite a few kids from Yinghua Academy there! A few of the older girls even knew Wynn!

 

Conference room beginning to fill up

So this is what a typical Chinese delegation looks like. Everyone dressed in black suits; a few know English but most are Mandarin-only. Everyone has an iPhone or video recorder and about a third of them are checking their laptops. Nothing unusual...

The delegates were visiting a number of cities around the US and were here for one day only, so they wanted to document as much as they could. Little conversations going on and people wandering around is not atypical - nor by their standards disrespectful - behavior in large group meetings and assemblies.

Yinghua's directors and a group of students opened the meeting with a greeting song & dance; very sweet and well-received.

So nice to see most of the people who worked with us on Wynn's adoption still on the job!

 

This fellow was the leader of the group (translator to the side) and gave a very long speech in Mandarin (seriously, almost 10 minutes) which I'll sum up here: "don't forget who you are, we're very proud of you, come visit us sometime."

Food time; pandemonium at a big buffet is something both our cultures have in common!

 

The family speeches began while folks were still getting their food. We had been told to keep our presentations under 5 minutes - and to be aware that anything we said would need to be translated of course, so really a 2:30 presentation. That's what we kept to with Wynn's speech.  The first lady took 10 minutes in English. Whole story of her daughter's adoption and everything.

There were three more 10-minute long speeches. Bless these families but they weren't ... strong presentations or ... edited well.  While the speeches are going on,  I re-wrote our notes and coached Wynn on what phrases to use in Mandarin so that we could skip the translator and get the full attention of the group.  Some of the delegates wandered the floor and a few wanted to get their picture taken with Wynn of course.

 Meanwhile, several of the delegation were in and out of the hallway on their mobile phones (again nothing at all unusual about that), but then suddenly the group got the signal that it was time to pack up and head out to the next event.

The director went around to all the kids and handed out little gifts.

The packing-up-to-go process took about 20 more minutes and none of the families were in any big rush to go ... some were still eating dinner. And it gave the kids a chance to hang out with each other outside of school time.

Wynn took it well enough but Ann and I were disappointed at the disjointedness of the "American" side of the evening. Wynn didn't get her chance to send a message to the 'homeland' and her hard work had evaporated.

 

So very ready for summer

Summer Vacation starts for Ann next week and it couldn't be coming at a better time, unless you're thinking of two or three weeks ago, in which case, yes, I guess it could have come at a better time.

About four times per week we've strapped on our hiking shoes & put Wynn in the backpack to do a vigorous 40 minutes at the nearby park. These walks are something we did before going to China to improve our stamina and endurance; it worked for us then & it is working now. (I've lost six pounds so far this season and dropped a pants size.) With a little over two weeks to go before the Tokyo trip, we are putting more miles on on our nightly hikes than we're likely to walk each day while overseas.

Frustrating story developing with our government about getting Wynn's passport. We put her application on April 25, before we even booked the trip, and with plenty of time for processing. We know that there are more applications being processed than usual because of new border-crossing rules, but as we hit Week 6 of waiting, we started getting antsy. Well, two days ago we received a letter from the State Department saying they couldn't process her application further because they needed her Certificate of Citizenship issued by the US CIS back in 2007.

Now, I'll note what the passport application instructions say we have to provide for a child:

STEP 2: Submit Evidence of US Citizenship (One of the following):

• Previously issued, undamaged US Passport
• Certified birth certificate issued by the city, county, or state
• Consular Report of Birth Abroad or Certification of Birth
• Naturalization Certificate
• Certificate of Citizenship

We included the birth certificate from the State of Minnesota. That would seem to meet what the rules spell out - after all, it says ONE of the following... but apparently, if you've adopted from overseas, there are Super Secret Rules you don't get told about.

All the more frustrating: the letter was written from the Passport Center on June 2, not mailed until June 3, and took a full five days to get here. Why, I ask then, do they want us to give them phone numbers and email addresses on the application form, if they're not going to use them when there's an issue?

Doing the math, it seemed dubious that I could get Wynn's Certificate of Citizenship down to the Passport Center (Charleston, SC), have them finish processing, and get the completed Passport up to Minnesota before the trip.

So, Monday night I called the National Passport Information Center looking for some clarification: was the Minnesota birth certificate not good enough? Doesn't the Homeland Security computer talk with the Social Security computer and the two of them talk with the State Department computer?

After an hour on hold, I finally got through to a live operator who quickly established she really couldn't help me at all, outside of proving that our government's computers do not talk with one another. "What does the letter say? Well, that's what you should do, then."

As this was now well after 9 pm, the only thing left for me to do was to run down to the nearest post office and send her Certificate of Citizenship out via overnight envelope. (I just checked the tracking code and it arrived in Charleston this afternoon.)

I'll have to call the NPIC on Friday (during work hours, I'm afraid) and sit on hold for who knows how long to find out whether they've resumed work on her application & when we'll get her actual Passport.

Meanwhile, I've been fighting a miserable cold since Sunday. Wynn just barfed up a bellyful of snot, and Ann is beginning to feel it in her throat and chest. No fever in any of us, so we think this is merely a cold. They're scanning for fever among arriving passengers at Narita Airport in the H1N1 "crisis", so this had darned well better be a cold.

More later this week - still much to do. --Scott