Today we got up and went back over to the orphanage office to sign more papers and give more money handouts. Seems like all we do! The paperwork took everyone most of the morning, because all of it was on official government letterhead. We returned to the hotel in time for lunch so we fed Tess a bottle and went to find a place to eat.
In the center of Kunming there is a lake, Green Lake, that is surrounded by lots of unusual evergreen trees and lined with cafes and shops. Appropriately we had lunch at the "Manhatan All Cafe" (yes, spelling is correct). The food was great, beef fried rice. After lunch we walked through the park which has many bridges criscrossing the lake. Returning to our hotel we met two other families and left for the Administration Service Center, Public Security Bureau of Kunming City to get our official Chinese Adoption document.
Interestingly, the orphanage that we have been working with hasn't been that great and according to our guide, Miwah, not one that American agencies use often, as evidenced by our experience today. For every payment we are supposed to get a receipt for proof of payment, however, the director of the orphanage withheld two receipts forcing us to return to her office before going to the Kunming Administration Office. It turns out that this was a scam, she made us come back so that she could get a ride home as she lived near the Admin office and had no other way of getting home! The shouting match on the mini bus between the director and the our driver was classic. He stopped the car in the middle of a highway off ramp and threatened to kick her out of the car!
So today was spent waiting in lines.
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