We do not speak Mandarin

It may at this stage be prudent to add we do not speak Mandarin to a level where we would be be able to have achieved this trip alone.

I have tried to learn some of the basics and have achieved a level, on a scale of 1 to 10, of about 1, and that is after over two years of learning. I am not disheartened because I know I am going forward, but at 53 learning does not always come as easily as it did when I was 23.

For those who would try and follow a non formal path to learning Mandarin there are a number of resources out there, many of them free.

Online it is good to look at podcasts: MandarinPod.com, I love learning Chinese, Learn Mandarin Now, Learning Chinese through Stories, www.melnyks.com and ChineseClass101.com are some good examples.

I have used Pimsleur up to level 4, with the first 3 levels being brought second hand as a job lot and purchasing the fourth new. Level 4 will be talked about later on but I still have about 10 units to go.

Jin Bu 进步 book 1 has helped and I am now looking at book 2, it is handy as our daughter is now doing Mandarin at GCSE and these are the primary texts, so knowing them will help me help her learn and progress.

But the best help has come from www.gospeaky.com or Speaky, it has put me in touch with a Taiwanese gentleman who has helped me significantly in my learning journey and I have gained a good friend to boot. I owe him a debt of gratitude.

Day 1 was the 16th December 2016

Day 1 was the 16th December 2016. We had organised visas, I will add an additional post on the rigors of visas later, airplane tickets and 8000￥, three suitcases and a taxi to the airport.

So here we were, almost 10 years later to the day, going back to China with our daughter. She did not remember China in any way, shape or form as she was 18 months old when we adopted her. So returning was to allow her to see, feel and touch her land of birth, to dip her toes into the culture and for once not to stick out in a crowd, that was now Mum and Dad's turn.

Saying goodbye to our son, two dogs and cat was difficult but  at 10.30 am we left to start our journey, I rang him at 11.30 to remind him to feed the dogs!

Getting through Heathrow was fairly straight forward and before we knew it we were on a flight, mainly of Chinese nationals, to Shanghai.

We had organised and paid for a guide to meet us at the airport on arrival. I will talk about Chris as we go on, but without him the whole trip would have been much harder and his fees were well within our budget.

His details are Chris Tao Ping (Interpreter and Consulting) and he is based in Nanchang 南昌.
christaoping@hotmail.com or christaoping@foxmail.com

2016 年 12 月 16 日第一天。我们办理好了签证，另外补充说明那是严格的签证审查，带着机票和 8000 元人民币，三个行李箱和一辆出租车到机场。

几乎是 10 年后的某一天，我们和我们的女儿回到中国。我们收养她时她才18 个月大，她无法记得中国是什么样子或形状。所以回去中国是为了让她看看、感觉和触碰她出生的土地，体验文化，且这一次要她不在人群脱颖而出，现在换成妈妈和爸爸了。

依依不舍告别我们的儿子，两只狗和猫，在上午 10:30我们踏上我们的旅程，我在上午十一时三十分打电话给儿子，提醒他记得喂狗 ！

我们直接往希思罗机场，在飞行途中我们知道大部分的乘客，主要是飞往上海的中国国民。

我们之前连络过一个付费的导游已到达机场迎接我们。我接下来将谈谈克里斯，他的收费还在我们的预算之内，但是没有他，整个旅程将是很难走下去。

Returning to China with our adopted Chinese daughter

This blog has been created to collate our experiences whilst returning to China with our adopted Chinese daughter. It is designed to capture our memories and to share those experiences with those in a similar position who want to return to China and/or the originating orphanage. It is written from our perspective and it must be understood we live in England and, although my wife is originally from America, we like to walk and explore, we are not hotel dwelling, coach trip loving couch potatoes.

Although flying from London to China and back, we chose not to use internal flights and opted to use trains, taxis and due to the isolated nature of Ning Yuan 宁远 the odd minibus.