Nanning arrival

We arrived in Nanning around 6 pm this evening. The weather is Miami like, very mild and tropical. Nanning is very different from Beijing as it is considered one of the cleanest cities in China. It has streets that are lined with beautiful flowers. The other thing that line the streets are motor bikes-they are everywhere. Driving here would be a challenge--the lines on the road mean nothing and cars, bikes, motor bikes and those on foot weave in and out. It's chaos but it seems to work.
Our visit to the Forbidden City was a lot of fun. It is an incredible structure that seems to go on and on. The weather was sunny and brisk and everyone had a good time.
It's 9 pm and we're going to hopefully get some sleep. Grace slept the entire flight from Beijing to Nanning ( 3 hours) then on the bus ride from the airport to our hotel. So, we want to sleep but her clock is not in sync with ours.
We are ready to meet Mary tomorrow at 2:30. We will go to another hotel where the babies will be waiting for us. There's lot of paperwork tomorrow morning to finish.
Hope all are well.
The pictures that I'm posting are from the Forbidden City, a few of the group we're traveling with and Grace and her new friend, Kelly.

It's about 4:45 am and we are all wide awake. Grace is taking a bath and singing the Star Spangled Banner rather loudly...we expect the police at our door any minute. Today, Sunday, we go to the Forbidden City then on to the airport to fly to Nanning. Our flight leaves around 2 or so. Nanning weather is very warm, in the 80's, which will be nice. And, there's a nice outdoor pool at the hotel.
We had fun exploring Beijing yesterday. As we walked down the street, we got lots of stairs since we were caucasions with a little Chinese girls. More than a few people asked us if Grace was Chinese. Then they would say, does she speak English. They were surprised that she could not speak Chinese. I'm not sure that many folks know about Americans adopting kids from here but when we tell them, the responses were very positive.
Plus, lot's of college students stand near the markets and want to practice their english. We were easy targets but enjoyed talking with them. A couple of them took us to a nearby building to show us their art work, which was very beautiful. We didn't buy any of it though that didn't seem to matter.
Mel is learning lots of Chinese words and now considers herself part Asian. Of course, the waitresses and waiters that have to translate everything for her and help her pronunciate want big tips since they spent so much time at our table. Many of them speak English fairly well. When I ask them, do you speak English, they always respond, "of course." When they ask if we speak Chinese, we change the subject.
Supposedly, we got a break from the pollution yesterday as it was very windy. It was sunny and you could see the sky, which was different from the last time when we were here when we only saw a huge gray wall of smog. It will be interesting to see how the air quality is when the Olympics are here next summer.
One of the most memorable things from yesterday was meeting a young couple from upstate New York who just received thier adopted son who they named Simon. Simon is 3 and has Down Syndrome. The mother is a physical therapist who has spent lots of time in Chinese orphanages. Simon is a cute little guy and has very loving parents.

Day1

Well, we made it. Of course, there was some adventure along the way. First, Grace, who has been healthy for several months, woke up with a cold on the day of our departure. As we started the long flight from Detroit to Tokyo, she puked! We then put on her only change of clothes in our carry-on luggage and I proceeded to spill a cup of water all over her. So, for most of the flight, Grace was in her underwear and a shirt. Everyone around us got a kick out of it and it didn't phase Grace one bit. She was a real trooper and seemed to feel better by the time we got to Tokyo.

When we arrived in Tokyo, we discovered that our flight to Beijing had been cancelled due to problems with the plane. Northwest switched us to a Air China flight and we arrived in Beijing only about two hours later than planned.

However, our adoption agency contact in Beijing thought that our flight being cancelled in Tokyo meant that we were not arriving in Beijing until today (Saturday....we're 13 hours ahead of you) so our group of 7 families arrived in Beijing with no contact person waiting for us. Fortunately, one family had a cell phone that worked and contacted the adoption agency person in Beijing who came to our rescue. We got to the hotel around 1 in the morning and everyone was wiped out. Needless to say, we couldn't wait to get to bed.

Our hotel is very nice. Grace slept until noon so Mel and I took turns eating breakfast alone while someone stayed in the room with sleeping beauty.

Mel and I feel great after a good nights sleep and we're going to check out Beijing this afternoon. The rest of our group is at the Great Wall but we opted to pass on going with them as they left very early this morning. We are the old folks of this group so we needed our sleep.

I am posting a picture of Grace and her new friend, Kelly. Kelly is 5 and is the daughter of one of the other families travelling with us. She was adopted from China also and is very sweet little thing and as cute as can be. She lives in Maryland. She and Grace had a ball playing together in the Tokyo and Beijing airports while the adults looked like they were ready to drop.

Finally, that 13 hour and 4 minute flight from Detroit to Tokyo is tough. We were in the cheap seats and the plane was packed...not one empty seat. We exited the plane through the first class section and I almost tripped over the slippers that we located at the foot of the sleeper seats....that looked very roomy and comfortable. Oh well.

We're heading out on the town. The weather is sunny and about 45. The pollution here is terrible. Even from the plane you could see it sitting on top the city.

Hope all who read this are well. We send our love to family and friends. We are excited that in only two days we finally get our hands on Mary.

TRAVEL SCHEDULE

November 15: Travel to China via Charleston to Detroit; Detroit to Tokyo; Tokyo to Beijing
November16-17: Beijing
Evening of November 17: fly to Nanning, Guangxi Province
November 18: Gotcha Day; we stay in Nanning until November 23
November 23: Fly to Guangzhou
November 28: Fly Home (arrive in Charleston at 3:45 pm)

Pictures of Mary Hai Ting

Fang Hai Ting, our Mary, was born August 7, 2006 in the Guangxi Province of China. Our gotcha day is November 19, 2007.