Dim Sum

February 14, 2012

Today we met with Jonah’s adoption unit social worker.  It was mostly just a formality to deal with declaring at what day and time we will be responsible for his care going forward.  She gave us some documents with specific information about his birth parents and told us how to contact the Hong Kong government if he ever wants to look for his birth parents when he grows up.  It was a great meeting and even though there are things we don’t understand about timing – I completely believe the government here has the kids best interest in mind.

I’m sure Jonah would tell you his favorite part of the day was lunch.  We went to a dim sum restaurant.  His favorite dish there is siu mai (sounds like sue my) and it is basically a shrimp dumpling.  I think he ate like 6.  It was funny watching him down them.  Maybe we can find a restaurant in Memphis that makes it.  We got Christine to write it out in Chinese so we can take it somewhere and ask.  After we finished I taught him how to use a toothpick.  There are so many new things to learn.

Definitely the most emotional part of the day was when we visited his school.  Right before this we were all at our flat.  We asked him a couple of times if he wanted to go visit his friends at school and he said no.  We think maybe he was confused.   His last day there was Friday so he had already said goodbye to them.  I think they scheduled for us to go with him today just so we could see it.  It was actually one of the most heartwarming experiences I’ve ever been a part of.  Everyone was sitting in a circle.  The teachers introduced us.  Then since it was Valentine’s Day they let Jonah pass out candy to all the other kids.   They sang a few songs.  When we got up to leave a couple of the teachers were crying.  Katie was crying.  It looked like I was crying even though I was really just having an allergic reaction to the shrimp dim sum.  But it was very moving to see just how much these teachers loved Jonah and how special they said he was.  He is basically a celebrity at this school, it seemed.  They thanked us for taking care of him.  They were sad to see him go because of how much fun he is to be around, but genuinely glad to see him have a family.  It was a strange emotion to put your finger on.  Happy, sad, thankful.  This was probably a preview of how tomorrow is going to go.  Tomorrow he is packing up his things and saying goodbye to the orphanage and will be with us full time for the remainder of the trip.  He is so beloved at his current home.  Many of the staff told us he is their favorite.  But they have also expressed how glad they are that he has a family now.

Tonight Katie and I celebrated Valentine’s at a restaurant on the other side of the harbor.  Jade Garden.  It was in the Tsim Sha Tsui area which doesn’t mean much to me except I remember seeing Anthony Bourdain go there once.

We bought groceries again today because we realized we didn’t have enough food that he may like once he moves in with us tomorrow.  We were showing him around the flat today and he appeared to be very excited about staying with us.  When we left him today and Christine was telling him (in Chinese) that he would stay at his home tonight but then tomorrow he would stay with us, he said he wanted to go to America.  He’s a funny little boy.  We can’t wait to get home with him.

With the adoption unit social worker:

 

Sui Mai

 

Learning how to use toothpicks:

At the flat:

At his school with his class: