September 7

The last day, trying to get ready to come home, leaving on the train to Hong Kong, getting in late and getting out early pretty much slowed us down. But, I thought we would take a minute to give everyone one last group update. After the consulate, we had one more night and most of the next day in Jinan. We did a bit of shopping and organizing and then hopped a train from Guangzhuo to Hong Kong. This was about a 2 hour trip. The kids all played and everything went fine. Then We got to Hong Kong and everything went at light speed. We must have been the last train and we were the last people, taking our time to make sure we had everything, and the customs people really, really wanted us out. They skipped a lot of steps and pushed us out the door as they locked the turnstiles. Then we got (or were gotten by?) a cab. He drove almost as fast as he talked and tried to short me 400 Hong Kong dollars. He was pretty funny. The hotel was in the airport (very helpful!) and we ordered a bit of room service and then crashed. The next morning was early, but probably not early enough. Delta was super helpful in getting us to the gate on time (Hong Kong is a big airport). Then we were off to Tokyo. That was fine and Tokyo airport was interesting. Next time we will schedule longer layovers - there was an origami museum and some interesting snacks. We said goodbye to Roseann there. She was off to Minneapolis and we were off to Atlanta. The Atlanta flight was less good - there was a passenger who was sick about 5 hours into the flight. Keely was caught in the crossfire and that was not pleasant (to say the least). She kept her cool even though she slept only about 2 hours the entire 23 hour trip home. It was crowded, fussy, and long - but it was half-way around the world. Got to Atlanta in a bit of a daze, crashed out on the 45 minute flight to Tally and got out, glad to be home. Karwen was a champ the whole time with only a bit of fussiness at the touch screens that were mis-behaving. We were met by several people from our church and I cannot express how nice it was to walk out and see some friendly faces. Michael Zhang picked us up and surprised us with a pizza dinner. Today we picked up the dogs, went shopping and met the cousins for a bit. Pretty mellow day - the kids played and played and played - kitchen set, play-doh, card games (or 'poker' as Karwen refers to it). We expect to take it mellow for a while, although we have a few things next week that will have to creep in. But mostly we will take advantage of this time and settle in to life here. Thank you for all your thoughts, prayers, wishes and help through all of this process. It already seems like the new normal, but we are getting ready for the next few steps which should present their own challenges. If we don't get pictures/updates out to any of you - just let us know! We all learned a lot during the trip - a bit more Chinese, a bit of the culture that I am not sure you learn unless you are there, how strong children are, how strong our family is... To represent this I am attaching a picture of Kolya's chopstick abilities with a peanut and KG considering his third bite of Jellyfish! Love to all, The 6 Cogans  

September 4

Ni hao! My name is Wen Xiu. I am going to come to America and meet you day after tomorrow. I am so excited to meet you. You are going to be my very good friends. You can call me Shoo Shoo. I like to swim - can you swim? Do you have bothers or sisters? I like to eat oranges. My favorite colors are pink and yellow (and a long list of other colors). Now we are going to go eat dinner! Zai jian! (Translated by our local guide - Kenley).

September 4

Well, we did it! Today we went to the US Consulate and signed our papers! No questions, no problems. We are very relieved! She won't actually be a US citizen until we step off of the plane in Seattle and they stamp her passport. She is very proud of it all. We just went for a swim and now the "big girls" are playing in the tub in their suits. It amazes me how fun an empty water bottle can be in there! Seeing her get sheer enjoyment out of something like that or a bead toy, or a pair of socks, is something I hope will never dim in my memory. I know that she will have so many more firsts and then they will become less and less. The tiny things that are no big deal to us will become less and less astounding. We take so very many things for granted. Seeing them through her eyes is a great lesson. We took the subway to the bookstore and stocked up on activities for the plane. We have the whole trip back during daylight hours- about 23 hours before the next "night". So, we wanted to be prepared. She is definitely a Cogan. She got airsick on the last flight and then just went on without a complaint!! Karwen is still very excited about the trip and she tells us frequently how much longer we have until we fly. Tomorrow we take the train to Hong Kong. We stay the night there and then fly out the next morning Thurs. at 8:45am and we arrive in Tallahassee at 7pm the same day, although it will actually be the next day for us- very confusing! We are looking forward to our last Cantonese meal this evening with the group. We didn't know how that part would be but it has been fantastic! The families are all so supportive and I think that it helps tremendously seeing all of the families like ours. We didn't really get to do as much local shopping as we would have liked but that's not really what this trip is for. It was so wonderful today to watch her walking. She is standing straighter and moving with much more ease. She has been kicking a ball back and forth and is trying so hard to swim that it is scary. She is completely fearless and tries everything that the other kids do. She saw Kolya go under the water and she promptly went under too- only she didn't see the whole breath in first thing. She figured it out with the next try though and never panicked. We love you and and miss everyone! We thank you so much for your support, prayers and positive thoughts!!! Keely

September 3

Sorry that it has been a few days since we updated. Guangzhou has been where we have done a ton of paperwork and running around. Guangzhou is where the US consulate is. It is a coastal city of about 13 million people. It used to be called Canton (hence our Cantonese dinner tonight). If Jinan was gritty like New York then Guangzhou is upscale like LA, but without the smog. The past two days were harder because we had the medical exam and tests (which took two medical visits), visa paperwork, the one week anniversary and the consulate appointment. Everyone is getting a bit tired, but we are having some fun too. We went shopping at Shamian Island and walked through the herbal medicine street. The former is quite nice and the latter was really interesting. We saw scorpions and centipedes (live and dead - all sizes), dried sea-horses, frogs and snakes, deer feet, fish bladders, caterpillars and much that we did not recognize or ask about. We have had a lot of good food (although Jinan was the best!). Guangzhou has more variety, less traffic (no motorcycles/mopeds allowed), less honking (there is a 10 year ban on horns in the city), and lots of glitzy malls. Karwen is asking daily when we are leaving to come to our home in America. She has been asking about friends there. It would be great if any of you have time to send a quick photo that we could show her. She started a letter today introducing herself to you all and seems very excited. She now knows about as much English as Nick knows Chinese, but with a bit less accent. She has fun counting and made us all laugh by spouting a long run of nonsense English words together yesterday (one, two three - teacher, hello, teacher, good-bye!, thank you, sister, brother, mother, father ...). She has a great sense of humor and fits right in with the kids. The pictures are of Karwen's first plane ride, the view from our hotel room in Guanzhou, Kolya and Karwen at a strange shopping mall (they love to ride together), the herbal medicine street and the small scorpions (as opposed to the really large ones in the bin next to this one) for sale

August 30th

We are getting ready to fly to Guangzhou in a few hours. Yesterday we had a 'free' day. We went to Damming Park, which is a huge park with a lake, classical pagoda and a few small islands. There have been several famous poets who stayed there and considered it one of the most beautiful places in China. We took the boat tour. It was a lot like Wakulla Springs without alligators. Karwen spent the afternoon trying to teach Keely's mom Chinese. There was a lot of laughing about mixing up the Chinese words for splash and frog which sound very similar. Actually, there was a ton of laughter yesterday. She got a kick out of swimming and splashing at the same time the big kids jumped into the pool. Keely had a classic outing to the police station, complete with a jam-packed bus, pushy man with a suitcase, rain and rush hour traffic. By the way, traffic in Jinan makes any other city we have been in look like a small jaunt. Absolute madness is the word that leaps out. I saved the guide from being smashed by a scooter going on the sidewalk around a bus going the wrong way to avoid the taxi that stopped in the middle of the street. Cars driving on the sidewalk are definitely something that we are not used to looking out for. I did see one parking ticket though! We have an enormous trek ahead - the mountain of luggage is still a mountain, but we do have helpers. We have been in China now for about sixteen years and only have a dozen or so left... so it is nice to see the end of the tunnel. Since the emailing/blogging stuff has been weird, if anyone would like off the email list just let me know. Also, if you all could look through the list above and if we missed anyone (how could we miss something in all this chaos?) please let me know. We have a few more days here. Love to all! P.S. The picture of KG with the corn ice cream is for the Churchills. It was pretty good. They also had pea and red bean flavors. We did not get those yet.

August 29th This is the end of our third day in Jinan. A day of firsts. Karwen's first time on a swing, her first merry-go-round ride and feeding the pigeons. The kids spent the morning with her singing us the ABCs and Happy Birthday on her own, saying 'thank you' and 'teacher'-all in English. She learned to count to 5 already, backwards and forwards. We found that she likes to be called xiu-xiu (sort of sounds like choo choo). Kenley is pretty amazing at communicating with her, but we are all getting much better. I expect her to learn english faster than I am learning Chinese though. We also found out that she knows a lot of characters and can recognize many English letters. Today, KG, Keely, Karwen and I went to the notary to sign for the final papers to take with us. Then we had a nice lunch (that oddly included chicken feet in the bowl at one point). The guides have been terrific. We said good-bye to 'George', who has really been a major source of help. I was a bit sad, but we got his email and promised pictures of Xiu-Xiu playing soccer. Then we all went swimming and had a late night snack that turned into a pajama trek downstairs to have some ice-cream. The staff think that we must be a bit odd and locked the ice-cream bin after we sat down. Karwen is singing a lot, getting a bit stubborn and teaching us lots of things. She had some sad time today, but she really likes all the kids. Kenley is a big help and we all ask her too much for translation. KG is a great big brother with pushing the wheelchair (which is not going to last long - she does NOT like to ride in it). Kolya is her Mei-Mei and they are constantly holding hands. It feels like we have been in China for several years now - I am almost not disturbed by the smog (and I mean SMOG), crazy driving and stares that abound. People stop and take pictures all the time. The pictures that are attached are from today's park and yesterdays outing to see the mountains (I mean fountains, as George kept saying). We then ventured into a grocery store and got some provisions. KG got durian and it does stink and none of us liked it. But that is one more off his life-list. We had haws and some weird apple - both good. Cucumber chips and what seemed like corn-pops with spice on them. We refrained from the swallows nest and sea cucumbers. Food is mostly amazing with a few ...ummm... surprises? Water is an issue, as are toilets out in the world. Really the bus is the thing that freaks me out the most. The horn must be stuck and lanes seem optional. Especially for pedestrians. Motorcycles/scooters can go where-ever they want and cars usually stay on the street although they do seem partial to sidewalks sometimes. I did see one parking ticket and a traffic cop. Nobody seemed to notice him though. Well, I think we are off to bed as you all are off to work. Love to all!

August 27th: We are now on the morning of our second day in Jinan. Yesterday we went all over the city doing paperwork. First was the consulate where we filed the official paperwork for the Chinese government. This was a bit of a madhouse. Along with the two other families that are traveling with us, there were at least a million other families. Really I think it was about 8, but lots of kids - some happy and some not so much. Several families from outside the states (Italy, Brazil and somewhere else). Jinan accent is very harsh and loud - maybe like New York? The room was small and pretty hot. Kenley came with us and, even though she is not feeling very well, she was a great help. My new advice is that a digital camera for the child is a great, GREAT idea. We brought one for Karwen and were not at all sure that she could use it, but she figured it out in no time at all. So far she has taken about 1000 (literally) pictures and videos of the traffic. The camera has become the one thing that she really needs to know she has with her. Once she thought it was lost, and I thought that might be our first big trouble. After the consulate, we ate a bit of lunch (at California Beef Noodle King). I was interested to find out how she would eat noodles. Her elbows are free to bed, but don't have nerves to bend voluntarily. So she swung her legs around the chair and did it all by herself. Then we went to the passport/visa place which was far across town. Paperwork, waiting etc. We were again convinced that life here would be very hard for her. There are no ramps and bumpy sidewalks. Her wheelchair blew a tire and had some other issues. When we got back home, and while the kids swam I went to a sidewalk repair place and for about 1.5 usd we got a new tube and nut. Then I went to a grocery store to get some fruit. Then we had pizza and played with balloons and then went to bed. Other than that, she is eager to show us that she is capable of doing anything. She made me coffee and cleared her breakfast place. She tried to make the bed, but we convinced her to come to breakfast instead. She would not sit in her wheelchair today, but wanted to push it down to eat. She also is running around and playing with the kids. We had a bit of sadness today when we talked about her new house. She really shut down for a few minutes- it did not take very long, but there is a peak into some of what we will be working through in a while. Other than that, there have been no troubles and we are in the 'honeymoon' period - at least for now. Today should be slow, with a bit of sightseeing, swimming and resting up. We stay here for a few days and then fly to Guangzhou after that.