Monday, October 21, 2002

Malia and Evie telling secrets

Monday was a hectic day. We had to be packed up and out of our hotel rooms by 11:30 a.m. However, we had to just wait around for an hour while the hotel checked our mini bars to make sure we didn't owe them more money. Waiting...
Finally we got on the bus for the airport. The ride was about 45 minutes. This was definitely the highlight of our day, since Daphne talked the entire time. She spoke of the bond between China and the U.S., now that we have adopted. How we should work to be the bridge between the two countries. She said that now that we have adopted Chinese daughters, we have Chinese relatives. (This makes me cry every time!) And she spoke of the love that we will give our daughters, and of the pride we will give our daughters of their Chinese heritage. She had the entire bus in tears.

The airport went smoothly. The plane was crowded. There is very little room between you and the seat in front of you. When you add a toddler on your lap, it is even more tight. I was nervous about flying with Malia the first time. She was terrific though. Although she was squirmy and wanted to move around, she didn't cry---not even during landing.

When we got off the plane, I was one of the first CCAI people off the plane and was carrying Malia. The plane did not pull up to the airport. Instead, you walked down to the tarmac and then rode a tram to the airport. As I started walking towards the tram, I noticed that it was getting pretty full. I was still about 50 feet away when I saw an elderly gentleman sitting on a seat and pointing at me. I started pointing at him and running to him. He saved the seat for me! I was so touched! And during the entire ride to the airport, he kept waving at Malia. What a kind man.

When we got to GuangZhou, our new CCAI reps, Alice and Maggie, were waiting for us. We got our luggage and boarded the bus. Finally, after a 40 minute bus ride, we arrived at the famous White Swan Hotel. We were about 3 hours late with Malia's bottle by this time, but she was such a trooper that she hung in there with a minimum of fuss.