Sunday in China

Hello from Hefei!  We are here.  In Anhui Province.  About 2 hours drive from our girls.  We are SO close.

I had written such a long blog post at the airport this morning but it got lost in cyber space I guess. I'm so bummed because it was a good post.  LOL  And it was um, 8 hours ago and I don't remember what I wrote.  So I'll just type something new.

Yesterday was a fun day. I enjoyed meeting the 3 other families.  I think God put these families with us because they all are adopting the older child.  (they all are adopting boys though).  We connected with 1 family and they are now in Guangzhou meeting their son tomorrow. We will meet up with them on Friday when we arrive there.  They are sweet and have a 9 year old daughter.  Their new son is 2 months younger than Hope.  I'm so curious to see if our girls will get along with him at all.

So, about the Apple store.  Yeah, that was fun.....for Bill.  LOL  As I might have mentioned, we did not bring a cord to plug the laptop in for internet.  And it's a new Macbook so it takes a smaller one than what the hotel provides.  So we were going down to the lobby for their WiFi.  Well it was a horrible connection.  So, Bill looked up to see if there was an Apple store close by.  And there was!  So we hailed a cab and went.  I was praying the guy understood where we wanted to go.  We were in the cab maybe 10 minutes (but it felt so much longer).  He brought us to this outdoor mall.  Bill spotted it.  A HUGE Apple logo.  He lit up.  We paid the driver (14 yuan, about 2 dollars or so) and got out.  Bill was beaming.  He was in heaven. I could hear the angels singing. LOL  This store was HUGE. And it was packed with people.  If you think the Apple store in Brandon, FL is busy, well you ain't seen nothin!  This store was 2 stories tall with glass walls.  We were greeted by many smiling, friendly Apple associates.  They helped us and we were able to buy a cable for the internet.  Not only was Bill happy, so was this mama!  Our next thought was, how do we get back to the hotel. There is no bellman here to get us a cab.  We were walking out of the mall and saw people get out of a cab on the street. We ran over and asked if he could take us.  He did.  5 minutes later and 10 yuan and we were "home".

Today we woke up at 4 AM.  Got dressed and met our guide Grace & the other family at the hotel lobby. We left at 6 AM for the airport.  We said our goodbyes. Grace helped get us checked in.  We flew China Eastern.  Not too impressed with them.  We have NEVER had to pay for overage in our baggage.  We have 3 bags and they charged us this time.  They did not care that we are adopting or anything. They charged $20 US dollars.  A total rip off.  Then we go to security. RUDE.  We finally got to our gate.  We chose our seats.  Window and middle. There were empty seats all around us when we checked in. I had prayed it would stay that way.  NOPE.  In fact an older man took my window seat.  :-(   Bill sat in the middle and I on the aisle.  I'm so glad. Because the older gentleman started talking to Bill.  In Chinese.  Bill kept saying "I don't understand".  Then he started writing a pinyin symbol on his hand.  Yeah, like Bill could understand that.  Then he got out his phone and typed out what he wanted in pinyin.  Um dude.....We don't speak or read Chinese.  The old man was laughing.  He was very nice.

I giggled most of the flight.  Most of the men on the plane reminded me of little boys who get excited over big planes & cars.  There was this HUGE plane parked next to our gate (picture below) and they were drooling over it.  Then they were all fascinated over the take off and landing of our own flight.  I have a feeling most of these men have never flown before.  It was funny to watch.

Breakfast on the flight.....well not edible for me.  Ewwww.  But I'm trying not to be negative.  LOL (picture below).

Our guide was waiting for us.  Her name is Shelly.  Have not taken a photo of her yet. She is new.  But sweet.  Her English is hard to understand.  But she's trying.  She told us the plans for the whole week.  We are leaving here at 9 AM tomorrow to meet the girls. She said they do know we are coming.  I don't know if that is true. Well see.  She told the director to have them there no later than 9:15 AM.  We will do the official "meet" and then we take them back with us.  She will "take us to hotel so we can have time to get know each other".  So I guess we'll be on our own.  Tuesday is official stuff and then hopefully orphanage.  We are concerned because she had no idea we PAID to go visit the orphanage.  And she was shocked that we had to pay so much.  So, Bill said "we WILL be going to the orphanage on Tuesday".  Wednesday we're going to the zoo. Thursday we're going to a park. And Friday we get the girls passports and we fly to Guangzhou at 7:15 PM.

Bill tried to exchange our money for tomorrow.  We need it all in Chinese.  The bank will only do so much a day.  Well, it will take us 3 days to get what we need exchanged for the adoption.  We don't have 3 days.  We are upset.  They even said "Why you not wire the money?"  I wish we could have.  So please pray about this for us.

I have requested that Hope & Maggie do not see the exchange of money this week. She said she will do her best to make it not seen.  I also requested the mini fridge be cleaned out.  And it has been. :-)  they brought in 1 cot for the girls.  I think they will be okay both sleeping on it.  If not, Bill said they can sleep in the king bed with me and he'll sleep on that one.  From what I've heard, they share a bed now, so I'm sure it will be fine.

I had a down moment today.  I've been on a high this whole trip.  Just in awe that we are here again.  But when we got here I just felt down.  We walked across the street to a "supermarket" and found some sodas, and snacks. (oh and supermarket here is not same as supermarket at home. It's literally a "super market". Like a department store with groceries too). And a KFC is attached so we picked up some popcorn chicken & french fries.  After I ate, I felt better.  And the experience was good.  The check out girl was so funny. She was trying to use her English on us and others were giggling with her.  It was cute.  We will be going to this supermarket a lot with the girls.  We'll most likely go tomorrow so they can get snacks for the room etc.

So now, we have free WiFi in our room.  YAY!  I don't feel so disconnected from my kids. Oh how I miss them.  We skyped for 5 minutes the other night.  I'm ready to talk to them again.  I'm thankful for the friends watching them. For the fun they are giving my kids.

I will do my best to post again before the girls arrival.  And will do my best to have a post up before the US wakes up Monday morning.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all you have done for us.  The encouragement and prayers mean so much.

Oh forgot, I also got the gifts ready for the orphanage director/nanny's and officials.  Yay, something accomplished.  LOL  Unfortunately there is not a dresser in this room so I have to figure out how to get the girls clothes laid out  nice for them to see them all.  Oh the joys of living out of a hotel room. :)
Here are some photos!

My "delicious" breakfast on the plane.

Gotta get a photo of where we are going

The monster plane next to our gate

Our little wimpy plane

Me typing up a nice long blog post, that got lost in cyber space

Our hotel room. 

The bathroom. A little tight. Toilet is behind the door

Gifts.  A TB Rays ball cap for director, a bottle cap necklace that we made and also some pistachios for nanny's, and chocolate & pistachios for officials.  I have also included photos in the directors bag of children who have already been adopted from Huainan. 

Our "healthy" lunch.  Never tasted so good. 

Seeing the Rays on TV helped me A LOT!  Cheered me up.