Saturday, April 7, 2012

ZZZZZzzzzzzz

....got up at 3am yesterday.  In the car, one of our favorite songs was playing, "Let faith arise"by Chris Tomlin and Scarlett was belting it out from the back seat...  can't imagine a more perfect way to have started our trip.  Our first flight to Newark was practically empty and we got to see a gorgeous sunrise from the clouds (well, most of us did...one was sleeping...EJS).  The flight to Beijing was a whole other story and I guess I should have known it would be rough when I glanced at my watch and we weren't even a third of the way in.  13 hours on a plane is waaay toooooo loooong, especially when you can't sleep, but we arrived safe and sound and exhausted.  The Beijing airport was beautiful, customs a cinch and we found our luggage and driver easily enough.  An hour's drive led to the airport where we checked in and spent about the next two hours locating the appropriate bank to use to exchange traveler's checks...a comedy routine worthy of
Saturday Night Live (oh, and did I mention how we initially "lost" the check cancellation form even before we left home...apparently there is something worse than "leaving home without them"...not being able to locate them in the first place. 

We returned to the hotel exhausted, ordered room service and tried to Skype with the folks, but quickly gave up and hit the hay around 7:30 pm . Scarlet woke up around 2am, and after a while of chatting and singing fell back to sleep for a couple more hours.

Today, Friday, was fantastic and I was so glad that I decided not to follow through on my plan to jump out of the airplane ahead of schedule.  We had a delicious breakfast at the hotel...mostly Americanized and I loved it Scarlet, not so much until she discovered the Asian noodles.  After that we met 6 other adoptive families and headed to the Great Wall, which was spectacular...awesome scenery, majestic mountains, not to mention interesting toilets...practically on the ground.  Our workout on the wall was followed by a more typical Chinese meal (Scarlet incidentally ate everything on her plate; mommy was a little more picky) and a tour of a jade factory.  Afterwards, we got to visit a Hotung alleyway, a piece of history in China, something akin to our colonial Williamsburg, but still used as homes.  The highlights of the trip included riding in a rickshaw and visiting a local family...not to mention a whole new world view and a renewed appreciation for
the blessing of livivg in the states. We purchased jade chops for our family, a stamp with our American and Chinese names and a carving of  our birth year's animal: Erik, the dragon, gifted, idealistic, intelligent; Tracy, the horse, quick-witted, sympathetic, amusing; Scarlet, the pig, trustworthy, confident but innocent, and little Saylor, the tiger, stubborn and contentious, daring, but intensely loving...can't wait to get my arms around that little firecracker.

Afterwards, we ate dinner at the hotel and took S swimming in the pool.  What a marvelous day...my two traveling buddies are already asleep next to me, so I guess that's my signal to turn in.  Tomorrow, we have our adoption orientation where we'll get new pics of our little tiger and then on to the Forbidden City and a silk factory and maybe an acrobatics show.  Sweet dreams, everybody.  :-) 

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