Adoption

Looking Back: China and Inner Mongolia

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A trip that I will remember forever and had enormous impact on me was my trip to China in 2008. It was my first international trip without my family or friends from back home and really inspired my future travels and helped me reconnect back to the country I was born in and one of the many places in the world that I call home. I went on a three week trip throughout China and Inner Mongolia with four other Chinese Adoptees, a guide and a driver doing various activities…mostly having fun and exploring the country we were all born in. It was such an amazing trip and I feel so lucky that my mom trusted the universe enough to send me out there and let me learn from experience independently! Adoption is so special and I found some forever friends on this trip and cannot wait to go back! Hopefully ASAP!

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Trent C.

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While in Hanoi, Vietnam I had a morning off from work and decided to meander around the city and see where my feet took me with no conscious plans in mind other than writing and enjoying the day. My feet ended up taking me through the twisted streets of the Old Quarter and up a floor to the balcony of a vegan restaurant where I sat perched outside writing and drinking a blended green  juice. Wanting to capture the moment, I went back inside and asked the first person I saw (there were only four people there) if it would be okay if he took a picture for me. Here enters Trent. Trent was one of two bearded men in the restaurant (the other one was wearing plaid) and had he been there a moment too late or soon, I would have gone with the other lumberjack. I’m so glad Trent was there when he was. We soon discovered that we were one of the same and had kindred souls. I have never had a conversation with anyone ever where we immediately were thinking and conversing on the same wavelength. It was inspiring and a unicorn moment to say the least. After realising that Trent was a fascinating and compelling person after a hot minute, I asked if I could intentionally interview him.

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Walt J

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You know when someone shows up to Vietnam in cowboy boots, blue jeans, a leather hat and button down shirt, they are a Republican…I mean a character and are going to have great stories. That first impression remained true as I got to know Grandpa Walt the last two weeks traveling through Vietnam with him, his daughter and granddaughter who is adopted from Vietnam. Grandpa Walt is the kind of person that wakes up at six in the morning every day to go walking just because he can and would feel to stagnant if he wasn’t moving. Everyday he carried his go pro with him while photographing every moment with his other fancy camera. He sees life through a lense, literally and figuratively that is his own unique brand of Grandpa Walt.

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