We all woke up early today and I was really wishing I could have slept longer, but my mind was racing. We got dressed and headed down for breakfast since we were being picked up for the airport at 8 am. I found out that the breakfast that has been included with our room each morning cost $66 a day! So the sweet deal on the room got even better. And each night we ate our dinner during the happy hour on our floor. That was so nice to be able to just walk a few steps, eat and then head back to our room and go to sleep.
It had snowed a lot overnight in Beijing so our driver was very careful on the road taking us to the airport. We got there in plenty of time, checked in for our flight on China Eastern and settled in to wait to board. A lot of people were giving us double takes since there were so few Westerners waiting on domestic flights and especially to Yinchuan. They said that our flight would be 90 minutes long and they would serve lunch. I told Mike it confirmed the amazing thing about Chinese airlines – they are fast. We boarded the plane and they gave Nadia a cute little bird puzzle, then we took off and they brought Nadia’s meal first like Korean Air. Then they served all the adults, came back through and gave everyone a drink and had plenty of time to spare before the plane started to descend. The only really weird thing was that they had us bring our stroller on board and put it in the overhead bin instead of gate checking it.
We got to Yinchuan and our guide Tony was there to meet us. He showed us to the van and said that this would be our driver for the week. We got to see the Yellow River on our way into town. He told us they call it the Yellow River because of all the dust from the desert. And flying in all you could see for miles was the desert going every direction. We drove into town and got to our hotel and boy were we getting looks of confusion everywhere. Tony got us checked in and told us that he would be back to pick us up at 8:40 am. He said there were 2 other families adopting in the morning with us and that one family was from Italy and they had their own guide. In all the years I have been involved in the Chinese adoption community I have never even heard of anyone from Italy adopting so I think that is neat.
We got into our suite and I started getting things unpacked while Mike got the girls beds set up. I like all the extra time we have this trip. (For Nadia’s adoption we got off the plane, had about 15 minutes in the hotel and headed to meet the children. I felt very disorganized and rushed and it added to how frazzled I was feeling that day). We all took a nap and then there was a knock at the door. A man delivered a fruit tray and a bottle of milk with a straw for Nadia. A while later we walked down to the restaurant in the hotel for dinner. They had a buffet set up and so we looked at everything and started to sit down and eat when several of the staff members got really stressed out. They couldn’t speak English and we couldn’t speak Chinese and she kept saying “Western Restaurant”. At that moment I was so thankful that I had a China SIM card in my phone and I called Tony to have him translate. The problem was that they were worried we wouldn’t want to eat the Chinese food on the buffet and wanted to offer us the Western menu. Tony told her that we were glad to eat the Chinese food and then she was so happy and relieved. The food was great and the best part was that they had random American music like the Eagles and Eric Clapton playing during our meal.
Once dinner was finished we headed off down the street in search of a grocery store to buy bottled water and soda and of course more snacks. People in the grocery store were practically breaking their necks looking at us and then at Nadia and then back at us. Little kids were getting their parents attention and then they would look startled at our family. Wait until tomorrow I kept thinking 🙂
I have everything for tomorrow morning packed up. Amelie’s stuff, our paperwork, gifts for the officials and camera equipment. Time for bed. Then next post you see will be really exciting!