Top 10...finally!

Sorry for the delay on this, but here it is, the top ten lessons learned from our experiences in China:

10. You don't need to bring your entire kitchen! Many of the lists circulating tell you to bring snacks for yourselves, food for the baby, formula, etc... While you might want to bring a little bit of this, just in case, if you are going to be in Beijing or any other major center, you won't have any difficulty finding food for yourselves and the baby. There are grocery stores, and you can buy Doritos or Heinz baby food if you want it. So leave the suitcase full of food behind. The only thing we used of the food we brought for ourselves were a couple of granola bars and we had one night where we huddled in the room over Cup of Soup and Nutella and crackers. For the most part, even our in-room meals were either room service or instant noodles from the local grocery. For Kiyomi, we used the Arrowroot crackers, the babymums and cheerios. For convenience sake, I would say it was nice to have all that close to hand, but the rest, you don't really need to bother. I think everyone in our group felt that we had brought too much stuff and that things could more easily have been bought there on an as-needed basis.

9. Expect the unexpected and go with it. It's absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to control all the variables, even though your guide will do her best to control most things. So, if the trip day's excurtion takes a little longer than planned or the restaurant was not exactly what you had in mind, don't fret too much about it. This is possibly your only chance to be in China and visit the land of your child's birth.

8. Chances are good that if you forgot it at home, you can find it in China. You aren't heading into the backwoods. If you happen to forget the baby wipes or didn't pack enough underwear, you can find it there. As long as you have the adoption paper work and your passport, you'll be fine. It's nice to have the stuff you want from home, but don't stress about remembering everything and don't stress if you've forgotten something.

7. You will get alot of advice from adoptive and non-adoptive parents alike - and I mean ALOT. They mean well, are trying to be helpful, and they know a hell of a lot. Be gracious. If you agree with it, take it with you; if you don't, just listen. And in the end, go with what feels right for you, your family and your baby.

6. Bring a tupperware tub for doing dishes in the bathroom. Makes it way easier to ensure you're sticking to bottled or boiled water for dishes. Also worthwhile to bring a small bottle of laundry detergent. It's possible to get laundry done, but the hotels seem to be developing a monopoly on sending out laundry, it can be expensive, and even if it is arranged by the guides it can be inconvenient to have to be in your room at the appointed times.

5. We were very happy we brought the laptop - not only for blogging, but also for emails and Skype. It was nice to have the contact with home. For those of you who haven't heard of it, Skype is a voice over internet thing that allows you to talk long distance for pennies. It's free software, easily available on the internet (www.skype.com). We called home a number of times and probably spent less than $3 Cnd for over at least 2 or 3 hours of talking. If you end up calling someone with skype on their computer, it's free! Well worth lugging the laptop.

4. Getting the third airplane seat for the trip home was well worth it! The travel agent also gave us the tip to book seats in the middle row - the two aisle seats and one in the middle. If the plane isn't full (and ours wasn't), chances are good no one will be seated in that extra seat and you can get 4 seats in a row. It was great to have Kiyomi sleep for 5 hours lying across those two middle seats instead of on our laps. Even if you don't book the third seat, ask the agent to book you two seats in the middle row with one seat between you. No one is likely to book that empty seat between the two of you and then you'll at least have one seat for her. Many couples booked their two seats on the side of the plane (window and aisle). However that means having a baby on your lap for 13 hours, and that's no fun.

3. We were happy to have brought lots of stacking bowls with lids, lots of baby spoons and baby washclothes. The bowls were used for carrying around lunches, dinners, etc. The breakfast buffets are fantastic, so we often grabbed food for Kiyomi's dinner from the buffet, put it in a plastic bowl with lid, and stored it in the room fridge. I brought 6 baby spoons, and was down to two by the time we left. We used the baby washclothes for everything from dishes to bath time. They're a perfect size and dry quickly.

2. It is really worth it to make use of the resources you have while there - the guides, other families. We found it really helpful to talk to people about everything from poops to feeding to fevers. Everybody is going through the same stresses and asking the same questions. Biggest tip here is don't be afraid to talk about anything and everything with your travel mates or the guides - from your tummy troubles to baby's constipation.

1. We were very happy we went a few days early to get used to the surroundings, get over jetlag and get to know some of the other couples. We also appreciated the chance to get to know some of the other folks from Ottawa before we went. Given how foreign everything will seem (including looking after your baby!), it's very comforting to have some familar faces around you. HIGHLY recommended.

That's about it. Some of you have asked for packing lists. We'll try to provide that in the next posting. Hope this has been of some use (and if not, please refer to #7!)