One of the days we had scheduled in China, we were going back to my orphanage. Unfortunately, the one that I had been in had been torn down, but a newer one had been put up in it's place. When we were taking a tour, somehow, my nanny recognized me !! Even though it had been ten years, she recognized me and came and gave me a hug.
When I was in school and girl scouts, I got my classmates and my troop to raise money and make posters for my orphanage, and we brought a bunch of vitamins and fun wall art for them. When we were talking to the orphanage director, there was a girl there who was missing half of one of her arms, and my mom told me that she remembered her. She said that she had been about 14 when she left with me, and that she had watched us leave.
After we left the orphanage, my mom wanted to go to the city hall or something to see if anything had been found with me when I had gotten to the orphanage or something. I have no idea where we ended up, maybe a police station, but our translators were speaking to a guard in this building. While they were talking, a lady in a blue dress walked by us and waited for the elevator. It turns out that she was eavesdropping, and she turned around and joined the conversation. My mom and I had no idea what was going on.
Eventually, she led us all up to her office, and she got on the phone. We were told that she had worked on orphans in 1995, and said she could help us. A few minutes later, I was asked if I wanted to meet the women who took me away from my family. This was back when I didn't really understand why I hadn't been able to stay with my family and was still a bit bitter, but I did say yes. Then, they brought me a red piece of paper with some Chinese on it, apparently saying when I was born. When the women who took me got there, they were very nice. They also looked at the red piece of paper and told us that they had written it, and that they had lied about my birthday to keep me from being tracked back to my birth family so they wouldn't get in trouble. Turns out I was actually born four months earlier than my birth certificate says.
Next thing I knew, I was asked if I wanted to meet my birth parents. I of course said yes, as did my mom, as long as they weren't going to get into any trouble, which we were assured they weren't. By this time, other people who worked in that office had been filtering in and out to see what the commotion was all about, and there were also some news reporters and cameras that would come in every so often. The office was getting a little crowded, so we moved to an office across town, which we presumed was the mayor's office.
When we got there, we were greeted with a whole bunch of cameras, reporters, and more cameras. And after a few minutes, they walked in !! My mom noticed the resemblances right away. They looked at my hands, because they remembered that when I was a baby I had very long fingers, and they checked my hairline because I guess it's weird in the back.
They invited us back to their house, and I got to meet my sister, my brother-in-law, my sister-in-law, my sister's son, and my brother's son. They were very hospitable, and nice, and I forgot that I had been dreaming of that day since I was little. It is very rare to meet your birth parents if you're a girl adopted from China, and we did it all by accident.
Their duckies !!
My sister and I in their kitchen.
My birth family !! (My brother couldn't get off work ..) Those little ones are now 17 and 13 !!
Farewell pic :
A kite in Tienanmen Square. Those kite flyers can get their kits like a mile up.
~ Cici
No comments:
Post a Comment