So we have made it to Beijing, and are settle into our hotel room. With a little help from the hotel staff, we have established an Internet connection and, somewhat, of a lifeline connection to everybody back home. We had about 3 hours of sleep last night in Beijing. As previously described by others traveling here, the Poly Plaza hotel beds are ROCK hard. I don't mean to be dramatic, but they are definitely not much softer than 3/8 inch padded carpet on the basement floor.
We have had a couple of chances to Skype with the kids already. This has been helpful, probably more for us than for them. Jen wrapped gifts for each one for everyday that we are gone. So Caedon was anxious to open his up before we left. In fact, he kept telling us to get going so that he could open his present. How we each process this journey is going to be way different, but for Caedon his eyes were on his prize--a new Cars 2 car with a launcher. Norah was a little sad when we left. She was sort of whimpering as we said our goodbyes, I believe mostly because Jen and I were both crying and she didn't know what was going on with mommy and daddy.
It was hard to say goodbye to Caedon and Norah.
So many miles separating us. A huge ocean. 16 time zones.
But connected with the thought that we can affix and be attached again in an instant on Skype. Love the Internet!!!
Our flight to Seattle seems like ages ago. It was a very full flight. No open seats. We watched an old classic movie...Stand By Me. We both hadn't seen it in a long time. So many good laughs. What a great coming of age movie. We had a few minutes between flights in Seattle, so we grabbed dinner and Skyped with the kids before they went to bed.
The flight to Beijing was less enormous than my mind had made it out to be. Although it was the coldest flight I had ever taken. We flew from Seattle and headed North to Anchorage, Alaska and over most of Western Russia, skirting North Korea (little scary to think about that) and finally landing in Beijing. The flight was very light, I would guess only 50 people at most. So there was plenty of space to stretch out. The food was palatable, in-flight movies were less than interesting, so we watched some of our downloaded rentals. I was able to sleep for about 3 hours until midnight, Jen watched a movie. We piled on the blankets and pillows and got some more sleep after dinner. Before landing the flight crew gave us a breakfast croissant sandwich...egg, cheese, peppers. Jen tried it and couldn't finish a bite, so I used mine as a hand warmer. No issues getting out of the plane or through the concourse. It was very barren, more so than I was expecting. Almost a ghost town at Beijing Capital Airport when we arrived. We got our passports stamped with no issue and customs was simply walking past a couple of people because we had "nothing to declare".
Initially, we didn't see our guide, Michael, or a Green GWCA flag as we were told. So we waited by a set of chairs until we saw a woman with a green flag. Veronica, a GWCA guide, met us at the airport because Michael had already brought a bunch of families back to the hotel. She is so sweet, just as many families told us. She promptly asked us if we needed any food or water, and she bought us two bottled waters with her Chinese Yuan as we hadn't exchanged US dollars yet. We waited for almost an hour in the airport for 3 other families who were arriving from Detroit. During the wait at the airport, we saw some interesting things including a man (in the red shirt above) doing what looked like Thai Chi initially, but then it turned into something like a Michael Jackson Thriller zombie move. I thought we were going to see a Chinese flash mob, but no luck. Jen had her first encounter with a squattie pottie. Chinese public restrooms have these holes in the ground that women squat down to use the bathroom. Fortunately, further down the stalls had American toilets. We sampled our first Chinese delicacy, KFC Original Recipe chicken breast. Veronica exchange some money with me so I could get some food. I told the counter lady I wanted one order of chicken, by pointing to a picture. I thought one order would be more than one chicken breast, but it sufficed for 9 yuan ($1.32).
Once the other families arrived, we jumped into a van and drove about 30 minutes to our hotel. The Poly Plaza Hotel is very nice. The other families were from New York, Alabama, and Rhode Island. Keith and Miriam are from New York and they have a 3 year old son adopted from Vietnam. They told us this experience has been totally different from Vietnam. In Vietnam, they had to take a taxi from the airport to the hotel, which was located directly adjacent to the US war crimes museum! Even better, the taxi driver was drunk and got lost on the way to the hotel. Yikes!!! So glad we decided to adopt from China!! The other two families we didn't spend much time with yet. We have plenty of time later today to meet other families on the tour. We are planning on taking a large bus to Tianamen Square, Forbidden City and after lunch driving to the Great Wall.
Only two days until Hannah Day, Gotcha Day, Forever Family Day!!! We are so excited, wish it were tomorrow. Hannah, sweety, we are going to be there soon to see you, hold you, hug and embrace you. We can't wait to begin our journey together forever!!!
