Sorry this has taken so long. I didn't have internet in Taiwan so I had to use Tom's computer. And whenever we had down time where I could blog, he was working! So I never got to blog. But I really didn't have a chance. So, I will continue on detailing our trip.
Day 2,
Gotcha Day for lack of a better term. We got up, got ready, and our driver picked us up at 9:30am. We were suffering from jet lag. I had that sore throat that I get when I don't get enough sleep. It was warm in Taiwan, like 70 degrees but everyone was wearing winter clothes, sweaters, boots, scarfs. So, we dressed wintry too. Tom was dying!
We arrived at Chung Yi, with our driver and our coordinator. Very nice ladies. We went into a conference room with a huge table. I think about 12 people could have sat comfortably. Present were, our coordinator, our driver(interpreter), two Chung Yi social workers, one Taichung City Social worker ( a man interestingly enough), Meghan's nanny (care giver), and Tom and I. They told us what would happen that morning. We were notified that Meghan's aunt and brother and sister were there to say good bye. We were not prepared for that since we had asked last week if we would be meeting any family and told no.
So we went through all the documents they had. They gave us a cd with all her pictures and a photo book of all her pictures. We have medical records, school work, court documents, everything. One neat thing we got was her stamp. In Taiwan people do not sign their names, they stamp the Chinese symbols of their names. Pretty cool.
Then the aunt and brother and sister came in. It was very emotional to talk with the aunt, she was very sad to see her go. She said that she had wanted to adopt Meghan but couldn't take care of her. We tried to assure her that Meghan would be loved and cared for as if she had always been ours. The sister and brother are about 10 and 11. They have some issues which we really aren't sure of. They live in another institution. Meghan has never lived with them and doesn't know them, nor they her. But they still came to say good bye. The aunt then gave us our most treasured gift, a small photo album of baby pictures. They asked us to ask her any questions we had about the birth family but we were unprepared because we didn't know they would be there. We asked some basic stuff but I wish I had that opportunity again, now that I have hind sight.
Finally Meghan came in and she came right over to us. She got on Tom's lap and we all talked for a little while longer and then it was picture time. We had a lot of pictures taken and then we got a quick tour of Chung Yi- Meghan's floor only and they wouldn't take us in the back because the kids were there.
Actually, the big table we were sitting at was a bunch of smaller tables in a big square.
The aunt, brother and sister with us.
This is the playroom. Eating area.
This is where they sleep, on mats. Here is Meghan and her cubby.
See how sterile the rooms where Meghan lived are? This explains a lot of behaviors we have observed which I will post about later.
So it was time to leave. We all said good bye and that was it. This post is now long so I will start a new one.
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