Today we left Wuhan - for Alice perhaps her last day in her birthplace. We spent most of the day packing and getting ready, then after lunch we went down to the civil affairs building to collect the kids' passports. I thought that Fontana would just pick them up, but Jane Ottman and I were asked to go into the building where we met with a regional official - the same woman who conducted the interviews (and was worried I might be a peasant). We were asked to sit down at a large conference table and then she made a brief speech officially thanking us for adopting the kids and congratulating us on behalf of the People's Republic of China for the new additions to our families. We were presented with the adoption documents, Alice's passport and receipts for all the fees we'd paid - including the donation to the orphanage (now that we have a receipt, I wonder if we can deduct the cost of the donation?). We were asked to verify the authenticity and accuracy of each document, asked if we were satisfied everything, officially thanked once again and walked to the door. As we left, Fonata apologized saying that they were a little rushed at the Civil Affairs building and normally they would have had a proper ceremony! In Jiangxi with Gracie, they just dropped everything off in our hotel room - of course Jiangxi is the backwoods of China while Hubie and Wuhan in particular are uptown, civilized places where they go through the proper motions even for foreigners.
The `brief ceremony` tied us up a bit and we hit rush hour traffic on the way to the airport. We arrived in time, but were a little rushed. Alice started to get fussy and since everyone, including Fontana was occupied with getting all the bags, kids and carry-on schlepped to the various gates and check points, I carried a protesting Alice all the way (who wouldn`t protest if Darth Vader had to carry you through airport security). She kept saying one of her Chinese phases over and over again with greater intensity, but I thought she was just being extra fussy. When we finally got to the terminal gate I passed Alice over to Jennifer, who Alice usually likes playing with, but Alice turned around and motioned for me to pick her up, saying her little Mandarin phase again with greater intensity. Well, this is progress I thought until Fontana came running over shouting `she says she has to poo!!!` Alice then immediately proved Fontana`s translation correct by pooing all over the airport lounge. Alice then looked at me with her eyes more or less saying `you may now officially be my daddy, but you`re still a stupid foreigner`. Jennifer and Fontana got her cleaned up in the ladies room and we dressed her in a spare pair of Quinn`s pants because for the first time since picking up Alice, I didn`t have a change of clothes with me.
The flight was mainly uneventful, although again lots of turbulence, but when we landed, a cool thing happened. Quinn, who was sitting with his family about 4 rows behind us starts calling out: `Shi Zi Qiu! Shi Zi Qiu! Na faiti zi la!!` (Alice, Alice - look at all the planes!). Alice called back `yes yes, I see the planes (Fontana gave us a play-by-play) This went on for some time as we were now coasting up to the main Beijing terminal and Quinn wanted to make sure his little friend Shi Zi Qiu didn`t miss a single plane. As parents we thought this exchange was cuter than anything, but a number of grumpy Chinese business man sharing the flight with us failed to see the humour.
We`re in Beijing now, back at the hotel TinTin, but in much nicer rooms on the tenth floor. We have a week of sight-seeing with the kids, Alice`s citizenship and more kite flying coming up and then its one more plane flight until we`re all back in the Great White North.
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