In His Element

With the pace that everything has been happening, it is hard to keep an up-to-day account. We are now back in Bangkok, which is the last and longest part of the trip. In Bangkok, we need to get Eli a passport, finalize the adoption with the Thai government, and get medical clearances to travel internationally. 

I (Claire) am taking over for this post. Jon is stuck under a napping baby... During one of our final days in Nakon, we met Eli's foster parents. They live on the outskirts of the city. Eli's first foster mom lived across the street so we got to meet both of his mom's together.

They were very sweet, and they love him very much. Eli is especially close with his foster dad. Every morning they get up at 5 am and watch the news together.

Then go out and do the gardening. They had rubber trees, banana trees, eggplant, mangosteen, and many other tropical foods. They live a farming self-sufficient lifestyle. They use well water to drink from, and rain water for washing. All of the doors on the home were wide open. Eli (Ang-Pao) shooed chickens out of the house while we were there. It was pretty cute. He also picked us cucumbers!



This is a cut open mangosteen fruit. Before this trip I had only had mangosteen candy. Fresh mangosteen is sour, I really liked it.



They told us Eli (Ang-Pao) is very generous and always shares. He regularly shares his food with the family cat. After gardening he goes to pray with his foster dad and then takes a nap.

Buddhism is the dominant religion and there are shrines at many homes and on many streets. This is a shrine in Bangkok. The ones in homes were much smaller. Eli and his foster dad prayed beside pillows.

 His foster mom showed us how they bathe him. It was more like a shower, scooping water with a bucket. (No wonder he cried when we tried to give him a bath in a tub full of water the day before.) She then held him on one knee upside down to wash his hair. He stayed very still and was very cooperative. He helped with dressing and his foster dad brushed his hair. He was more vocal in his own environment. We dont know if he was babbling or speaking Thai. He appears to understand much more than he can express. He had very few toys, but he knows how to play with a ball.

It was nice to see what his real personality was like, when he was comfortable and in his home. This was little Eli's last night with his foster family. The following day he was brought to us by the social workers at the hotel.