Trip to China
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Saturday, August 23, 2008 Today we took a very limited number of photos as it was a big travel day to move 11 families with clearly oversized luggage and 11 babies from Nanning to Guangzhou. Highlights of the day; Michael telling us about the history and culture of the Guangxi region as we head to the airport by bus - about the largest minority group - the Zhuang people and their rituals including a festival on March 3 where young women select the men that interest them by tossing them brightly colored silk covered and brocaded wedding balls (we bought 8 for Eva) and about histories of war in the region including the Vietnam war in 1979 and about how Nanning means peaceful border town which is the hope for the city and about how sad they are to see the Chinese babies go but that how they know the American families bring them home to good lives and families and yet sad, discussions about please bring the girls back to China to see where they are from, to go to Beijing, to see the terra cotta warriors and the limestone cliffs of Guilin - about place, country, race and culture. Then we arrive at the airport by bus a bit late (have I mentioned how much Eva enjoys travel by car or bus - she tries to stand and look out the window the whole time and press her head on the window to get the vibrations) and there are long lines (think Dulles) and we are the second family in line and passports are handed over to our guides only to watch the airport officials shaking their heads that no, something is wrong with the babies' tickets and they do not match passports and we cannot go. Deep breath. Michael takes a deep breath, asks for a manager, pulls out a cell phone. We are thanking the foresight to have an agency with excellent guides and I whisper to Dan that we actually do not need to be in Guangzhou until Monday for our US visa appointments so we could drive if we had to as paperwork won't get fixed on a Saturday. But then there is nothing really wrong with the paperwork just the tickets. So new boarding passes are issued for all of the babies and they are flying under the names Bruce Arbaugh or Suzanne Arbaugh (whoever they are bless them because Hannah hands Daniel the passes and it is clear we do not say anything and just hand everyone the papers and smile our way through security and the gate). Of course, during this long wait babies are busy - at least half require a bottle - Eva gets a very large 10 ounce bottle prepared for her on the floor of the airport and happily drinks it while riding in the front pack on Mommy. Other babies need diaper changes. And did I mention the overweight luggage. And then we are on the plane - a few very large bumps but normal ride and lots of attention to our babies - a few thumbs up, curious questions about why Americans adopt Chinese baby? But mostly smiles and cooing over our girls. We land and see Jocelyn our CCAI guide - so happy to see her and Guangzhou feels like home as you could be in LA or New York from the largeness of the airport, flashing neon, and all. It is raining and we board the bus to journey back to the White Swan Hotel home of so many American families, babies, and more and more older adoptees. Jocelyn asks about the flight and notes that we managed to miss the typhoon - the typhoon? - only when we get back to the hotel and have a chance to read China Daily do we see that Southern China just experienced a fairly significant typhoon _ um, how did we miss that? Back at the White Swan. Eva just looks more and more the picture of health, happiness and really joy - she is smiling a lot, bouncing around, and lifting herself to a stand and dancing around - happy baby, everyone sees it, happy baby with an increasingly full tummy, smoother skin, restful sleep and seemingly more and more recognition that we are someone special to her - probably still cannot comprehend yet the concept of parents but we are certainly fun and patient and supportive caregivers and well, that is enough for now. I think she sees she fits and we cannot wait for her to meet her brothers!!

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