Early Morning on the BIG Day

Hi Everyone,

Being the highstrung person I am, I am up --have been up since about 3:00 am. I did sleep well and got about 5 hours last night, probably 7 hours the night before that.

I figured, I would take some time to write a little more-- we'll try to post a few later today-- but we are quickly becoming very busy.

Wim and went for walk around Beijing yesterday before we had to pack-up for the airport. It is a very clean city-- not much litter at all. There are also a lot of bicycles and people use them for transportation. It is a little scary crossing streets because there doesn't appear to be any right of way for anyone-- you just kind of go with the flow and stay in the middle so if someone gets squished by a car or rammed by a bicycle-- it won't be you.

We came upon what we first thought was a children's park. Actually it is a fitness area used mostly by older adults. Wim and stopped to try out some of the machinery and an older man approached us and motioned for us how to do different exercises-- he was very friendly and we had to try each machine. Of course, being the doltz that we are, we did not take the camera with us on the walk.

We flew from Beijing to GZ in the afternoon and arrived safely to the White Swan. There was a slight confusion at the airport-- I had to open my luggage and show them my deodorant. The airport lady was trying to ask me or tell me something and our guide was with someone else-- I said to her (phonetically) "Waw boo ming bai, ni shaw shama." (I don't understand what you are saying).

Her and the airport guy chuckled and said I was ok. Then they helped me close the luggage.

White Swan is a pretty swanky place. The website doesn't do it justice! Although, I've had some difficulty with a few things like figuring out the lights. It seemed as though several of our lights were burned out-- the bulbs and we could not find the switches for several of them. I woke up around 3:00 am and could not sleep-- so I decided to read. I thought the light for my bed was burned out-- so I tried swapped the bulb in it with another bulb-- "squeak, squeak squeak" goes the bulb.

Guess who got upset? Since he was up, I turned on the big light and was trying to figure out what was wrong with all the other lights and why there are NO switches for them. How the heck can we care for a baby with this kind of light system.

Then . . .

I noticed that the knobs on the table-- the ones I thought were for a radio-- were actually for all the lights. Wim is having a hey-day with this.

Next-- I could not find a hair dryer in our room. Since we were up, I coerced Wim into go in search for one. The early, early morning staff don't really speak English and told him to come back later. He came back to the room and armed with his handy Mandarin/English dictionary went back out equipped with words for electrial appliance, wet hair, and dry.

He came back and told me there is a drawer in the bathroom with a hair dryer. The drawer looks like a towel rack!!!!

This is pretty much the extent of our Hotel exploration thus far-- Wim just laughs at me when he looks at me. I fail to see that it is all that humorous. I mean, I'm in labor!!!

We will leave at 3:00 today for the Civil Affairs office where we will meet and assume care of our daughter. I spent a few hours last night preparing our room for her.

Here are a few words from Wim:

On the way to the hotel, seeing the city of Guangzho it was weirdly nostalgic as I was reminded of some storybooks from my childhood that had sketches from China, probably from this city. There are a lot of art deco buildings, palm trees, and the air smells nice. It is warm too, 70's and maybe even 80's. It looks like life is less structured here than Beijing, and there is more wheeling and dealing and street life in the way Westerners think about it. I also noticed that some of the locals have obvious partial European ancestry which makes sense sue to our proximity to Hong Kong, only recently in British hands.

We are really enjoying the other families and i even met another social worker from Texas.
We have two pilots in the group too so I guess we are safer on the plane. Some families brought their kids which makes me miss Gabrielle and Xavier a lot. I think Reena will be in good company when I leave, and will get a lot of support from our new friends. I think she will mostly miss 'managing' me, but obviously she will have her hands full, so maybe she won't miss me after all!

We really like our guide, Veronica, and I am extremely impressed with her organization, composure, and kindness. When Reena is getting nervous I can always remember some reassurance or instruction that Veronica gave us and it helps.

Today is 'gotcha' day, as they call it, and we are obviously very excited and ready to stop thinking about being Josie's parents, and actually being her parents. I'll try not to look too scarey but I am the complete opposite phsyically of what she is used to all the way down to eye color.

They tell us to expect a lot of crying which they say tends to improve on the 3rd or 4th day.
It doesn't really matter, we'll be crying too we'll be so happy.


Reena and Wimt