Number Nine

Before I get too much farther into our tale, I have to tell you about Frank, our guide in Hefei.
Frank is from Shanghi, where he attended a university there and majored in tourism. He works for a travel agency, but specializes in helping families who are adopting children in Anhui Province and other areas of China.
Frank knows all the ins and outs of the adoption process, and we could have never done this without him.
He has taken us everywhere we needed to go, prepared us for everything we would face, handled mounds and mounds of paperwork and walked us through everything.
Though he has never been to the United States, Frank speaks very good English, though with a heavy Chinese accent. He is fun to talk to and listen to, though I don’t know if he would say the same about me. Luckily, he doesn’t know the difference between Southern slang and proper English, but I think he struggles with my accent as much as I do his. Missy swears I’m driving crazy with all my questions.
He has been a most gracious host, though, teaching us a lot about the country and Chinese culture, and asking us a lot of questions about America. He is a very intelligent, well-educated man who likes a good joke and who is a pleasure to be around.
He took us to the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), one of the top 30 colleges in China. He lives nearby and goes there a lot to walk and read, so I asked him to take us there so we could buy T-shirts. (Got a XXXL, but, just like at the Great Wall, it doesn’t fit, and it’s not because I’m too fat. They just don’t know their sizes over here.).
We bought two T-shirts, some Chinese newspapers and a Chinese edition of Sports Illustrated.
We went to dinner tonight with Frank and his wife, Yao, who speaks only a bit of English. Yao is a beautiful, pleasant woman who loves people, especially Children. She brought Emma Lee a special necklace with lovelocks, and brought Missy and I packs of Chinese postcards. Though she could understand little of what we were saying, she smiled at Emma Lee all evening and clearly adored her.
Frank and Yao are about the same age as Missy and I and have a 20-year-old son who attends a university in Shanghi. Frank and I had a fascinating conversation over dinner about the difference and similarities between Chinese and American universities and the two education systems.
Though we’ve only known him a few days, and have a business relationship, I feel like we have become friends.
Peter, our driver, has also been with us every day. He drives for a living and drives for many families adopting Chinese children.
He picked us up today wearing a Georgia Tech T-shirt, which blew my mind. We are in the middle of Anhui Province in Southern China, and our driver is wearing a T-shirt from an American university in Atlanta. I asked where he got it, and Frank said from another family who adopted a child.
I promised I would send them T-shirts from my university – the real Carolina.