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Monday, August 17, 2009

Backdated - Pre-Zhengzhou trip

(I penned this post last Friday but posting is delayed for unfathomable network connection reasons that denied me all access to all things Blogspot. Drat.)


Woohoo! Can’t believe it – I was actually quite downcast from learning that Rosabelle’s exit permit needed step 1: 2 weeks (for Zhengzhou officials to review) plus step 2: 10 days (for Beijing officials to process), meaning we would only get back to Singapore in mid-September, hopefully not missing my brother whilst he’s in town.

Wayne went to get Rosabelle’s birth certificate translated last Thursday to submit all necessary documents to process the exit permit, and I only found out on Friday they errorneously translated the crucial line ‘The child is a citizen of Singapore at the time of birth.’ as ‘The child is not a citizen of Singapore at the time of birth.’ HELLO!!! Where’s the QC eh? My interns could do a better job at such simple translations – the whole purpose of the birth cert translation is to obviously prove that she’s a Singaporean, right? DUH…

Anyway, he made another trip down this morning to get the translation house to correct it and re-submit the translated copy, and we just got a call this afternoon asking why he did not submit everything else to get the exit permit in place? Meaning – when he was there this morning, the Zhengzhou officials had already given the nod for step 1, but the Beijing folks did not tell him that everything’s a-ok for him to go ahead with step 2 already. Sigh…anyway, good news, so he quickly rushed down within the hour to get everything in place before we head off tomorrow to Zhengzhou. I had actually already prepared all the necessary documents to see if we can speed up the process by doing it in Zhengzhou (though we weren’t too optimistic that the officials there will do things more quickly than those in Beijing), and can now save the hassle. Next step is to get the exit permit next Wednesday – heh!

Now, if only the Chinese embassy in Singapore will pick up my calls (their consular services line remain either engaged or has nobody picking up the phone), I can then settle my queries of what documents are required for Rosabelle to renounce her Chinese citizenship in Singapore, as well as what steps we’d need to (painfully) go through for her to get back into and stay in Beijing again. I have resorted to asking my family members to make a trip to the Chinese embassy in Singapore and call me from there so I can speak to somebody on the phone. After I can finalize the documents required, as well as the amount of time needed to get them in place, I can then confirm our trip home – yaaaaay!!!!

In the mean time, I have been also pottering around these few days getting ready for our trip tomorrow – Rosabelle detested the Heinz chicken/mushroom puree I fed her on Saturday. I actually let her taste a few spoonfuls, and also bread-dipped it, but she only liked the bread, and didn’t take to the puree. I gave up the idea of trying the fish/vegetable puree on her for dinner, and resorted to making the instant vegetable porridge she so liked the previous Saturday – she slurped the whole bowl up quickly.

I was quite fretful about her meals on the go – I really don’t wish to have lousy food and disrupt her good momentum of eating three good meals a day, yet it’s impractical to prepare foods for her whilst away. So at the airport, we’re going to feed her apple/egg cakes, and sticks of boiled carrots (nanny’s going to have to prepare them before we leave in the morning), and make sure she has a filling breakfast of prawn noodles (cannot let her over-eat before/on the flight, or she’d feel queasy). Whilst there, I intend to ask the hotel if they can make steamed egg for her breakfast, and maybe cook some porridge (not sure how much it’d cost!). Rest of the meals, I have some chicken/vegetable cereal, milk cereal with banana, snow fish/vegetable puree (hotel can steam some potatoes for us to mix together?), and the instant porridge. Of course, will arm myself with fruits bought there, her favourite biscuits, and white bread. I’ve heard of babies getting heaty during/after trips, all from not eating well or having regular meals - hopefully Rosabelle will be an exception.

So… fingers crossed, and hope I did not miss out on packing any essentials. Until Friday, folks!

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