We're in China!!!

We are in China!  I had planned to post a little each day we were here, but that was before I knew just how busy we would be, and how exhausted.  Today is the first chance I've had to sit down and think about posting.  So here's a summary of our trip so far: Day 1:  Chip and I got up at 1 am on Thursday and finished up last-minute packing.  We got Miles up at 3, then the shuttle arrived at 4.  We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to have some breakfast before getting on the plane to San Francisco.  In San Francisco, we met another couple traveling to China to adopt their second child.  I also saw two or three more couples later on the flight to Beijing who were doing the same, though none of them were with our agency.  The flight to Beijing from San Francisco took about 12 hours.  Miles was such an angel on the flight, and has been on the rest of the trip too.  I just imagined that as a 6 year old, he would be whining and complaining and asking to go home, but amazingly that has not happened.  He sat quietly on the first flight for a while, soaking the experience in, I think.  Then he colored in his coloring book.  On the Beijing flight, we surprised him with the Leapster we had bought just for the trip.  He absolutely loves it, and it has kept him occupied and happy. On Friday evening we arrived in Beijing.  Our flight had been delayed and we were the last family to join our group.  We met our guide, Grace, who has such an outgoing personality, and is a little bit of a comedian.  She is also just about the most lovely Chinese woman I have ever seen.  She's in We were also introduced to Chinese drivers and traffic we had heard so much about.  Believe me, it's true!  There seem to be no rules on the road.  Our driver weaved in and out , honking any time cars or pedestrians were in his way.  We came so close to some pedestrians sometimes, it really made me nervous, but the pedestrians themeselves were unphased.  It's so normal for them. After we got to the hotel, the Poly Plaza, we went up to our room and Chip went down with our guide to a grocery store, and later he went and got McDonald's food for us for supper.  I'd heard that even the McDonald's food tastes different than in the U.S., but I couldn't tell any difference.   Day 2: We got up early on Saturday and ate breakfast at the buffet restaurant in the hotel.  It was an interesting mix of western and eastern style food.  I had pancakes with syrup that seemed a little like honey mixed with something else maybe, a boiled egg, bacon, and a bowl of raisin bran.   They had things like vegetables and fish out too, which didn't seem very appetizing to me for breakfast, so  I stuck to things that were familiar to me. Around 9 am, we met Grace and our group and boarded the bus headed for The Forbidden City.  On the way, Grace taught us a few Mandarin phrases, such as "bu yao", which means "don't want."  She taught us this because she said we will come across a lot of street vendors trying to sell us things.  And sure enough, just as the bus finished parking there were people waiting outside the door waiving caps with "Beijing" embroidered on them and t-shirts, and other products.  As soon as we got off the bus, a man offered Miles a toy, and being only 6, he took it.  Chip immediately handed it back and used the phrase Grace had just taught us.  Seeing the Forbidden City was so awesome.  Chi p and I had watched the movie, The Last Emperor , last week, which was actually filmed there on location, and it was amazing to see the actual places from the film, and also to think that the real emperors used to live there.  If you haven't seen the movie and will be going to Beijing soon, I highly recommend seeing it before you go. After the Forbidden City, we headed across the street to Tian An Men Square.  It was really neat to see this place in person after seeing it on TV so many times.  From the square, you can see the front gate of the Forbidden City, which has the portrait of Chairmen Mao on the front. Then we went to a jade workshop, where we got a tour of their jade art gallery.  After the tour, we got to see jade pieces that were for sale, and I was so excited to see the very pieces I had dreamed about getting on this trip, little figurines of the Chinese zodiac!  So we got an ox for Chip, a rabbit for me,  a monkey for Miles and a dog for Hannah.  I am so excited about these!  I can't wait to get home and display them on a little ledge on the wall.  We went out to lunch at a restaurant that was very oriented to westerners, but also had a few authentic Chinese dishes.  We sat at a round table, and all the food was put on a huge lazy susan, and you just turn it and get what you want.  I liked most of what I tried of the Chinese food, although I didn't care for what looked like egg drop soup.  The beef with onions and bell peppers was very good, and the sweet and sour fish was good too. The restaurant was in the building of a place that specializes in making cloissone items.  Cloissone is a method using copper to make designs  on the surface of an object, filling it in with color, then putting a shiny enamel over it.  You've probably seen vases in this style.  We ended up getting a few Christmas ornaments there, a panda for Hannah,  a cat for me,  a fish for Chip and a traditional knot-style one for Miles, which he picked out himself. Next, we headed to the Great Wall.  On the way, what was mostly flat land suddenly gave way to beautiful, jagged mountains.  Now this is what I was thinking China would look like, I thought.  When we got to the Great Wall, we realized the part we would be climbing was incredibly steep and that each step is very high, so we didn't make it very far.  But still, we can now say we have stood on the Great Wall of China! An interesting thing happened for the first time while on the Great Wall.  We had been told that since Miles and I had blonde hair, people would want to stop and take pictures of us.  Well, they didn't seem to care at all about me, but several people stopped and asked if they could pose with Miles while we take their picture.  Many people passing by would look at him and smile.  They just thought he was so cute!  One teenage girl, after having her picture taken with him, knelt down and pinched his cheeks!  It was adorable!  Beijing Olympics, you'll be familiar with those.  We only saw them from a distance, but they were impressive nevertheless.  We went back to the hotel and just ate snacks we had brought with us, then we all crashed. Day 3:  After an exhausting day yesterday, we all had to get up early again and have our luggage ready for pickup at 5:20 am.  We rushed to the airport and our flight left around 8.  We arrived in Changchun after only an hour and a half, then it took us about an hour to get to our hotel.  On the way, our new guide, Veronica, talked some with us about how things will be tomorrow when we pick Hannah.  She said to expect a lot of crying and her testing us, and that our body language will be very important when dealing with her, to show her that we love her. After arriving at the Jixiang Hotel, Chip and I took a nap while Miles colored and played on his Leapster.  Then we met Veronica downstairs and took a walk through the streets of Changchun.  At first, we were in a part of town that was pretty quiet and went inside a fruit and vegetable market to look around.   There were just a few people here and there, but later we came to a shopping area, which was very crowded and loud.  This was our first experience dodging traffic in a Chinese city, and I have to say, it was a little scary, but we stayed close to Veronica, and she was so good about making sure we crossed streets safely.  Then we came to a grocery store, and it was nothing like any grocery store I've ever been to.  It had 3 stories, so it had a flat angled escalator that you can ride up and down on with your cart. And the people with their shopping carts were a lot like those driving cars, expecting other people just to get out of their way, no kidding! J So here we are now, the evening before we finally meet our daughter.   It is more real now than ever, and not only am I excited, but nervous as well.  I know it will more than likely be hard for Shi Lin, and I hope that Chip and I can be what she needs to help her adjust and bond with us. I really didn't mean for this post to get so long, but so much has happened and it's hard not to tell it all!  And I didn't even tell it all; I'd need to write an entire book to do that! J Please keep us in your prayers for tomorrow.  We'll probably be meeting Shi Lin around 10 am China time,  9 pm U.S. Central Time.  So before you go to bed on Sunday night, please say a little prayer for our family. Hopefully, my next post will have pictures of us with Shi Lin!!! P.S. I had planned to post pictures on this post, but for some reason, I can't get it to work.  I'll see if Chip can figure it out before my next post.