Saturday, July 31, 2010

Hello from the land of the censored blogs. I found a way around the Peoples Republic of China firewalls so if you don't hear from me~you know why. What a trip and what a place! I will start with the flight-uneventfully but long and well just long! We got off the plane in Beijing and started noticing two things right off-I was hot and it was smoggy. I mean heat indexes at night around 100 to 110! We arrived at our hotel around 12:30am Chinese time and our body clocks at about 10:00am CST. It was a very weird night sleep. I think this will be easier if I just lay this out with a list.

-July 28-29 flight
-July 30 woke up around 7:30am local time (CT)
- had a good breakfast in hotel then to orientation meeting and meet and great other families (19 families total) then to lunch with new friends ( we found this GREAT Chinese restaurant) the bank was next to change our money and wire adoption fees to orphanage; that night Chinese acrobat show (very good) dinner at a KFC (very long walk in night time heat) then to bed, Angie slept great all night I woke up around 2:00am local (my body clock is not letting go...
July 31 breakfast then to a Cloisonne Factory ( look it up) then to the GREAT WALL (very cool)
dinner in hotel and got online to write.

What's Next

Aug. 1 Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City and Hutong Tour
Aug. 2 Flight to Nanchang and GET BAILEY AROUND 12:00 noon!!!!!!!! Adoption Registration in afternoon then JOY JOY and CRYING CRYING all night!!!
Aug 3 Adoption notarization
Aug 4 FREE DAY
Aug 5 Visit Teng Wang Pavilion
Aug. 6 Receive documents and fly to Guangzhou
Aug. 7 Medical exam for Bailey and a meeting to prepare consulate documents
Aug. 8 Visit Guangzhou Folk Art Museum and Yuexiu Park
Aug. 9 Visa appointment
Aug 10 To the consulate to take oath
Aug 11 Consulate to get visa then start the long flight home!!!!
Aug 12 in B'ham Airport at 9:10am!!!


So much in so little time! Big big city!!! Lots of people!!! Traffic is bad and getting worse ever year. It is NASCAR on the roads not just with cars and buses, no they throw in pedestrians and bikes. The drivers are always inches away from a major pile ups or death. I had to stop looking out the front window of the bus!! The Great Wall was awesome but very crowed and very steep! Food so far has been great. Most restaurants have English words and photos. When we arrived the smog was so thick you could not see the sun but today a front moved in a cleared it all out. It was the worst air I had ever seen; you could almost feel it going down your throat in to your lungs. We went through the Olympic Village today and saw the Cube and the Bird's Nest again awesome. Angie and I want to thank you all for your prayers and support and please continue but please add a single lady named Cheryl to your prayer list. She traveled here alone and had never even flown on a jet plane till she gets on a plane to China. I could not fathom coming to adopt a child alone. Pray she gets a GREAT CHILD (happy, content)! Sorry am sorry this is so random but I have not had a lot of sleep and ......................we are good and amazed we are here and we get our little girl in two days! More to come!

3 comments:

  1. It sounds like you all are having an experience of a lifetime and what a precious end result...Bailey in two days!!!!!! GISG Keeping you all in our prayers and adding Cheryl to the list. What wonderful stories you will be able to share with Bailey when she is older. Love, Hugs and Prayers,

    Tina

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  2. We spent some time with Raleigh last night. He is doing great. He was in such a sweet mood. We enjoyed having him.

    We are praying for the three of y'all plus Cheryl.

    Be careful.

    Love,

    Karen

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  3. SO excited for you!

    Also, if you get to Nanchang and they don't have English menus and/or McDonalds, I recommend:

    Gong Bao Ji Ding, (pronounced like it looks) aka Kung Pow Chicken in the states - Peanuts, chicken, cucumber, carrots and possibly pepper balls depending on the region.

    Dan Chow Fan (Dan and Fan rhyme with "non") - It's just fried rice with egg ("dan").

    Love you guys! Can't wait for more pictures and updates!! Praying for you

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