We had a 31 hour travel day(s). The flight from Chicago to Beijing was full, so even though we were in Economy Plus with extra leg room, we really weren't much more comfortable than if we had been in the "cheap" seats. Neither of us slept much on the plane - any of them. Alice was able to sleep during our 4+ hour layover in Beijing. I was afraid she wasn't going to wake up enough to board the last flight, but she got enough energy to make walk on by herself.
Nanchang (from our hotel window at least) looks like the other Chinese cities I've seen - large, rather gray and the air looks thick. We'll see if there's more to it than meets the eye over the course of the week.
It was very VERY nice to see a familiar face when we exited the airport last night. Elsie is our guide for this week (I was hoping for both weeks, but she goes to Shanghai next week while we go to Guangzhou. Rather atypical, she gave me 3(!) hugs when we met, she was so happy to see me again. She was our guide in Guangzhou for both previous adoptions. She remembered Alice and that she liked chicken from our first trip in February 2012.
The plan for today is a quick trip to Walmart for some basic supplies (not sure what we need yet) and then lunch at a noodle shop at Walmart (fast food Chinese style). We will meet Amy (Jian Jian) here in the hotel lobby at 4 pm. Looking forward to getting to the whole reason for being here! Please pray for Amy, that she is as ready as she can be and for us that we will have the wisdom to comfort her through this upheaval in her life and know how to comfort her as she grieves what she is giving up to gain a family.
Welcome to china sandy!! I know how you feel now as you anticipate meeting Amy. May your week be peaceful and full of wonderful moments of bonding. I hope to see you in Guangzhou on Saturday!!
ReplyDelete