The Great Mrzena Adoption Adventure

 I feel a little like I'm walking in the footsteps of Anakin Skywalker as I switch to The Dark Side (Chuck & Lu, this is just for you). I am battling with the decision to move my blog to the competition, strictly based on scalability and functionality. I have all these grandiose ideas about how I want it to look and my fear is that neither will fit the bill. There may be a geek lurking under this cloak after all. Before long, I'll be talking in code and waving Linux flags before long...however the roof over my head is awfully nice, so I think I'll stop just short.

Although it is technically taboo to use a Google product under the Mrzena roof, I think I can slip through a loophole if I update my blog from work or the library (my boss isn't reading this, I hope). If I don't tell Shawn that this is a direct competitor to a MSN product, maybe he won't notice... after all, we're die hard iPod customers, despite owning 2 Zunes. Something's got to give at some point, right?

For a while, I'll be updating both blogs until I decide which is better. Good golly, you would think I have a lot of free time on my hands, but alas, that couldn't be further from the truth.

I will, however, be adding updates and anecdotes about Polli, our wonder-frenchie, on the new blog. She deserves some street cred, yo.

The link to our new blog is: http://theboyandthebulldog.blogspot.com/

 I often wonder what year our son will have been born in. Based on the age range we are aiming for, he'll most likely be a Rooseter or a Monkey, but who knows? This time next year, we will have already celebrated CNY Rat!

New Year Zodiac Calendar:

The below facts were taken from Wikipedia. Click Here to view the entire entry.

 New Year practices

 Red packets

Traditionally, red packets (Mandarin: 'hóng bāo' (紅包); Hokkien: 'ang pow' (POJ: âng-pau); Hakka: 'fung bao'; Cantonese: 'leih síh' (利市)) are passed out during the Chinese New Year's celebrations, from married couples or the elderly to unmarried juniors. It is common for adults to give red packets to children. Red packets are also known as 压岁钱 (Ya Sui Qian, literally, age suppressing money) during this period.

The red envelopes always contain money, usually varying from a couple of dollars to several hundred. The amount of money in the red packets should be of even numbers, as odd numbers are associated with cash given during funerals (白金 : Bai Jin). Since the number 4 is considered bad luck, money in the red envelopes never adds up to $4. However, the number 6 is considered lucky, and $6 is commonly found in the red envelopes.

 New Year markets

Markets are set up near the New Year especially for vendors to sell New Year-related products. These usually open-air markets feature floral products, toys, clothing, for shoppers to buy gifts for new year visitations as well as decor for their homes. The practice of shopping for the perfect plum tree is not dissimilar to the Western tradition of buying a Christmas tree.

Firecrackers

Firecrackers come individually or strung on a long string. They are cased in red paper, as red is auspicious. The loud popping noise created by the explosion is thought to scare away evil spirits.

In Singapore, firecrackers have been banned due to safety reasons since 1972. However, in 2003, the government allowed firecrackers to be let off during the festive season. At the Chinese New Year light up in Chinatown, at the stroke of midnight on the first day of the Lunar New Year, firecrackers are let-off under controlled conditions by the Singapore Tourism Board. Other occasions where firecrackers are allowed to be let off are determined by the tourism board or other government organizations. However, they are not allowed to be commercially sold.

Malaysia banned firecrackers for the same reason. However, many Malaysians smuggle them illegally from other neighboring countries such as Thailand.

Fireworks

Fireworks are banned in Hong Kong for safety reasons, but the government will put on a fireworks display in Victoria Harbour on the second day of the Chinese New Year. Similar displays are also held in many other cities in and outside China.

Clothing

Red clothing is commonly worn throughout the Chinese New Year, as red will scare away evil spirits and bad fortune. Also, people typically wear new clothes from head to toe to symbolize starting anew in the new year.

Symbology

During these 15 days of the Chinese New Year one will see superstitious or traditional cultural beliefs with meanings which can be puzzling in the eyes of those who do not celebrate this occasion. There is a customary reason that explains why everything, not just limited to decorations are centered on the color red. At times, gold is the accompanying color for reasons that are already obvious. One best and common example is the red diamond-shaped posters with the character 福 (pinyin: fú), or "auspiciousness" are displayed around the house and at the fronts of doors. This sign is usually seen hung upside down, since the Chinese word 倒 (pinyin: dǎo), or "upside down", sounds similar as 到 (pinyin: dào), or "arrive". Therefore, it symbolizes the arrival of luck, happiness, prosperity or all together.

Superstitions during the New Year period

The following is a list of beliefs that vary according to dialect groups / individuals.

Good Luck

• Opening windows and/or doors is considered to 'bring in' the good luck of the new year.
• Switching on the lights for the night is considered good luck to 'scare away' ghosts and spirits of misfortune that may compromise the luck and fortune of the new year.
• Candy is eaten to ensure the consumer a "sweet" year.
• It is important to have the house completely clean from top to bottom before New Year's Day for good luck in the coming year. (however, as explained below, cleaning the house after New Year's Day is frowned upon)

 Bad Luck

• Buying a pair of shoes is considered bad luck amonst some Chinese. The word "shoes" is a homophone for the word for "rough" in Cantonese.

• Buying a pair of pants is considered bad luck. The word "pants" is a homophone for the word for "bitter" in Cantonese. (Although some perceive it to be positive, as the word 'pants' in Cantonese is also a homophone for the word for "wealth".)

• A hair-cut is considered bad luck. The word "hair" is a homophone for the word for "prosperity". Thus "cutting hair" could be perceived as "cutting away your prosperity" in Cantonese.

• Washing of your hair is also considered to be washing away one's own luck (although mostly hygenic concerns take precedence over this tradition)

• Sweeping the floor is usually forbidden on the first day, as it will sweep away the good fortune and luck for the new year.

• Talking about death is inappropriate for the first few days of Chinese New Year, as it is considered inauspicious as well.

• Buying books is bad luck because the word for "book" is a homonym to the word "lose".

We had our long awaited fingerprint appointment today. It couldn't come too soon, but OH MY GOSH are we glad it's over!

The day started out a little different than the average Tuesday. For the first time ever, I woke up at some point in the middle of the night and shut off both alarms. I must have thought it was the weekend for some reason, who knows. I do know that it threw off our day when I rolled over and looked at the alarm...2 hours late! I rarely even snooze, so this was really odd and must have been an omen of things to come.

I picked Shawn up at his office an hour before our scheduled "appointment" in Seattle, giving us plenty of extra time. Our paperwork stated to be there at 11am, but to arrive early to complete paperwork. We had already filled out some forms, so we were pretty sure it would go fast.

When we arrived, we walked right through security, but were quickly ushered into another line. There were 5 lines for different appointment types and ONE man behind a desk to help about 30 or 40 people. After about 20 minutes, we were called. He looked over our paperwork, stapled a numbered ticket to the top sheet, and told to sit in the next waiting room....which contained about 200 other people, many who... how can I say this nicely... should have spent a little more time in the deodorant aisle at the grocery store.

Eyes watering as we adjusted to the state of the room's lack of ventilation, we quickly realized that we were about 30 numbers back. It became evident that they were calling about 5 numbers at a time, every 20 minutes or so. After about 2 hours, our numbers finally came up. We then stood in another line to get to ONE woman who was running the entire show for all these people. 20,000 more troops can be deployed to Iraq without a blink of an eye, yet Homeland Security for Seattle is being run by one woman. Nice. I'm glad my tax dollars are getting used appropriately.

She looked over everything AGAIN and asked if we know the orphan we are adopting. Of course the answer was no. She scribbled something on the paper, stamped it, and stapled yet another but different numbered ticket to it. We were then asked to sit back down and wait for that number to be called. Our numbers were 110 and 111...at that time, they had just called 70 and 71. I'm not Jewish, but OY VEY! 

Without much of a choice, we sat back down and continued watching the solo TV on Disney toons. It's a good thing I like KimPossible. I may look a little like her, but I don't have her charm or powers against the Seattle INS bad guys! It was now past 1:00pm. And we truly couldn't feel an end in sight. I was beginning to imagine the number of strains of colds and flu converging here from all corners of the world. Hmmm. Is my throat getting scratchy?

We had been there since 10:30 and were starting to tire of the process (understatement). Shawn said a few things he may not have with something in his stomach, like "you didn't research this very well" and "in another 30 minutes we're rethinking this adoption"... He took it back later in the day after he realized how much I also had sacrificed to do this, too. Needless to say, we were both getting cranky. To make matters worse, I used my last 2 dollars to buy junk I wouldn't normally eat from the vending machines. Shawn's chips came out OK, but my Twix got stuck in the machine. I had to scrounge for enough change to buy what was behind it. Luckily, it gave me both, but wouldn't you know it, Shawn didn't want chips and ate both candy bars. Doesn't he understand the need for chocolate during trying times like these? Men!

Moving forward, at about 2:30, our numbers were finally called...again. Don't get your hopes up. We were simply ushered into a smaller room where we had to sit again and wait. Like the last room, there was one person running this show, too. I truly don't understand the government. We were tired, eyes and nasal passages strained from various smells (none good), and we were both dwelling on what we were missing at work...sure that we'd never actually make it out alive. Have we updated our will recently? When was the last time I told my mom 'I love you'? Is Shawn wearing clean underwear? Who will take care of the dog? Luckily, we didn't have to wait too long to find answers to these questions. Our names were called within 30 minutes. Four hours previous, it would have seemed like a moderate amount of time. Now, it seemed like a beautiful beam of light at the end of this horrific immigration tunnel.

Once called to the fingerprint station, the tech had to actually hand type our forms into the computer before we could continue! With the amount of technology at their fingertips (pardon the pun), I couldn't believe it. Had no one heard of bar coding? Scanning? Even a hammer and chisel would be more logical at this point. FINALLY, he started with the fingerprinting. This part is pretty high tech, much like an ultrasound machine. A laser type tool scans across the fingertip, showing the print on the screen. A red light indicates that it isn't good enough. A green light indicates that it's a good print. I only needed 2 done over and I was out of there. Overall, the printing process took less than 5 minutes. After 5 hours, it took less than 5 minutes!!

Upon walking out (more like a dead sprint), the line just to get through security was out the door and around the building. Unbelievable! They should have suicide counselors on staff to ensure that those people make it to the end. Ironically, we chose not to drive over to Eastern Washington and walk into the smaller office, thinking we couldn't afford the time off work for the trip. As it turns out, we could have driven over and gotten back in less time than this wait in the Seattle office.  For anyone reading this in the Seattle area still waiting for USCIS appointments, take the time and drive to Yakima! At least you'll have access to Starbucks, ventilation, and you're Ipod along the way.

Child 2? Maybe you'll be 4-Legged, unless breeders start requiring fingerprints!

Our agency reported that some paperwork (I-171-H) is coming back in as few as 4 weeks. Seattle is known for long waits, as long as 3 months, which we can't afford right now. If 4 weeks holds true, we should have no problem getting our dossier off to China by April 30th.

Let's just hope they don't ask us to come back to the INS office for some reason. We never want to see the inside of that building again if we can help it!

Next steps: Wait for the arrival of the I-171H (what today's circus was about); send with pictures and final few documents to our agency...and then we wait for a batch of dossiers to be sent to China!

I wanted to take a minute and talk about a great charity called Half The Sky.

It is a non-profit organization with one goal: to make sure every child feels the love and security of a loving adult even before they find their permanent home. Through donations, hundreds of representatives in China develop programs that directly benefit institutionalized children by providing physical and cognitive interaction and supplies that they may never normally receive otherwise. They provide medical and nutritional resources, and most importantly the interaction and stimuli that only one-on-one attention can provide.

Because orphanage workers in China are often asked to care for a dozen or more children, the most they can do is feed, potty, change, nap...feed, potty, change, nap... Depending on capacity and work load, kids are often in a crib or play pen for hours on end with one or two toys, and sometimes none. Orphanages are typically kept very cold and children are often bundled to a point where they can barely move their arms and legs. So many kids come home with little muscle tone, under developed motor skills, and without the capacity to understand simple play.

Half the Sky sponsors Social Welfare Institutions (orphanages) and provides them with the above mentioned supplies and resources as well as training for caretakers (aunties), preschool programs, learning programs for older children, and foster homes for children with special needs. It provides these kids with one-on-one attention that they so desperately need at that stage in their lives.

In many cases, kids from HTS sponsored SWIs come home close to or on target developmentally. That's a big deal.

A 10-year old girl mentioned on their website has sponsored 40 kids simply by asking for donations instead of gifts on her birthday since age 4. How cool is that?

The above picture is from their website. I think it is not only beautiful, but communicates the red thread proverb. I've mentioned it in the past, but here it is again...

An invisible red thread connects those destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break.
-- Ancient Chinese Proverb