May 6, 2013: 7:20am,
Guangzhou
This has to be the most surreal feeling in the world: waking up, and knowing this is the day we
become parents. Truly, truly
surreal. It’s quite indescribable, I
must say.
Yesterday our group split up as we all flew to our
prospective provinces to meet our kiddos.
Three couples will meet their children, stay with them in their child’s
province, and then meet us in Guangzhou in five days where we will all finalize
our adoptions. We are thankful because
not only were we able to fly directly to Guangzhou since Zia Mei’s baby home is
within driving distance, but we have one other couple on the journey with us,
and our main guide, Zhou as well whom we have all grown very fond of. We have it easy!
The plane ride from Beijing to Guangzhou was about 3 hours
long…not as long as I was expecting from looking at the map of China. The boarding process is very different from
the states. While we all had assigned
seating, it didn’t much matter until we were on the plane. We stood in line and handed our ticket to the
agent, where we were given a boarding card.
We then filed onto a very crowded bus, and taxied over to our
plane. Then in cattle call fashion, we
exited the bus, and filed up the ramp to the plane, handing our boarding card
to the next agent. There were several
buses of people, and by the time we took off, the plane was completely
full. They served us lunch, which was
nice, but I’m still not entirely sure what I ate. Let’s just say, I enjoyed the rice, and we’ll
leave it at that.
Guangzhou is a gigantic city, and nestled within the third
largest province in all of China. It is
huge! Luckily, we are staying on the edge
of paradise on a small island. The
island reminds us of a cleaner, more laid back New Orleans. It’s absolutely beautiful, and we are so
happy we have the luxury of settling in to our “first home” with our new
daughter in such a serene location.
After checking in to our hotel and relaxing for a bit, we
took a stroll around our neighborhood with Zhou and the other couple, where we
saw everything from kids playing badminton in the park, to photo shoots, to a
restaurant that had live snakes, giant shrimp, and other interesting creatures
in tanks. Zhou took us to an American style restaurant for dinner that served
everything from traditional Chinese dishes to all American cuisine. Kathi (my fellow mom) ordered fried chicken,
onion rings, and French fries. I guess
she is missing home a little bit.
We can hardly believe the day has finally come, and that in
just a few hours we will finally become parents to our beautiful little tiger
princess. Thank you all so much for
following along on our journey. It means
so much to us to have your love and support.
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