Saturday, July 22, 2006
CHINA AT LAST!!!

Well, this daughter of China has come home….even though technically I probably am more at home in Minnesota than in China….but we are here nonetheless among my peeps…and more importantly that much closer to Gracie’s peeps! I have to say that both John and I have noticed that being in this culture brings out a very competitive nature in me that has not been all that attractive.  There is no queuing up really…you just sort of push and shove and take advantage of any small crevices in a line to get ahead. And as impatient as I naturally am, it plays right to my weaknesses! I am constantly hurrying us up, trying to get ahead of the crowd, walking crazily through airports to get to customs/boarding/ shuttles first. John did not seem to appreciate my prowess in this area and so we had a rather rough day as we went through all the different transit transitions to get to Nanning.

It was a long day of travel and it also seems that jet lag has finally hit so we are headed to bed early in hopes for a good night’s rest and less crabbiness and impatience tomorrow. The Guangxi Wharton International is very, very nice and has a beautiful outdoor pool, and borders a gigantic lake that is so pretty….I think we will really enjoy our stay. John especially likes the Chinese restaurant downstairs, where we stuffed ourselves silly with four entrees for only $10 total…including beverages! It’s a long way from the China Buffet in Altus!

Lifeline has set up guides to care for us the entire way, which is a real treat! Rebecca, our Guangzhou guide, actually showed up at the Guangzhou airport today JUST to meet us outside of customs and walk us to our gate for our connecting flight to Nanning…just to make sure we knew where to go. Isn’t that something? We felt like royalty! Then Bella met us in Baggage Claim in Nanning with a car and driver to get to our hotel. It is such a nice treat to have someone pamper you like that. And we all know I loves me my pampering!

David, our Nanning guide, met us at the hotel with the most wonderful news! He came to the room shortly after checking us in to show us new pictures of Gracie that he himself took last week. Apparently, another family was coming to Nanning to adopt their daughter and so the orphanage director called David, knowing we were coming this week and he was to be our guide, and asked if David would like him to also bring “Fu Qingrong” to Nanning so that David could meet her and take pictures of her for us and also get some answers about her for us. We had sent a list of questions about a month ago that we requested they try to answer for us about her daily life….what a treasure. David is translating the answers to our questions now and will give them to us in the morning. She is just so pretty in her little pictures, although he could not coax a smile from her. He laughed, saying she is sooooooo shy that she cried when he tried to talk with her! He said, “Be prepared! She is going to cry on Monday!”  It is good to know that she is attached to her Nannies though and won’t easily go to strangers….to know she has been loved and feels comfort with them is a very good thing. Anyhow, it was a wonderful surprise and encouragement in our tiring day.

I have to include this picture of me from this morning….for those of you who need a good guffaw or have deluded yourselves into thinking I might like to retire my flat iron :) …we include exhibit A. No, I’m not hanging upside down. That is my natural scary, angry hair. It has only gotten bigger in China! So, I think I will be ponytailing it from here on out.

Off to bed. Two days to Grace’s Gotcha Day!