Memories

Five years ago on March 7th we left our home to travel to the other side of the world to finally meet our Asian princess.  We headed out of our hometown at 9:10am bound for Chicago.  We departed Chicago at 1:00pm with me praying that the jet had enough fuel to stay in the air for 13 hours.

I remember watching these screens pop up in between the movies that were shown on our flight (all 5 of them).  I longed for the "Time to Destination" to read "1 more second".

Zombie man somewhere over Syberia.  Poor Daddy-to-be.  I was used to not sleeping (since I have always been a quasi-insomniac) and could get along on little sleep, but Jim is a solid 8-hour-per-night dude and I knew it would be tough on him.  Good thing he could fall asleep in 10 seconds or less, anywhere - anytime.

We landed in Beijing some time on March 8 and this truck was the first thing I saw out of our plane's window.  We met "Frank" (our trip coordinator) and had a brief layover before our next 2-hour flight to Helaina's city, Xi'an.

Quick pic in Beijing airport next to an Olympic mascot.

Oh yah, this was one of the second things I saw inside the airport.  I remember walking into the bathroom (TOTALLY forgetting about the squat toilets) and thinking to myself "why are all the stalls elevated and the bathroom doors so low to the ground?"  I stepped up, opened the door and said out loud "Oh cr*p!"   And compared to most of the other squats I saw in China, this one was immaculate and in pristine condition!

Getting to Xi'an from Beijing was filled with funny moments.  I think back now and laugh but at the time, being jet-lagged and exhausted, it wasn't funny.  After already being on 2 planes for a total of 15 hours in the air, last thing we wanted to do was get on another plane.  When it was time to board, we were herded with many others onto a small bus that was overcrowded and pitch black inside.  I remember hanging onto a pole trying not to fall over while telling Jim not to take his eyes off of me.  The bus drove us to the middle of the runway where our plane was waiting.  When the bus stopped it was a mad rush to board the plane.  We finally got on, found our seats and waited to get going.  Very quickly and without warning the plane started to move - fast, very fast, so fast I couldn't believe it.  Pulling my seatbelt tighter I said to Jim "Are we taking off?  He said "No, I think we're taxiing."   He was right - taxiing at rocket speed.  The plane went straight for a while then made a sharp turn to the right.  I looked out the window and said "My God!  We're going over a bridge!"  Out the window I could see a road below the bridge with cars driving on it!  I'm petrified, Jim's laughing saying something about a Kamakazi pilot.  Over the bridge, another abrupt turn then the plane comes to a halt.  My heart's pounding while I brace myself for when the crazy pilot speeds down the runway for takeoff.  With a quick start we were tearing down the runway like a space shuttle.  We lifted off and I was on edge for the first 3 minutes (I read somewhere that if there's going to be a malfunction on a plane that it most likely occurs within the first 3 minutes after takeoff).  No malfunction (except for my heart).  We landed 2 hours later at about 9:30pm in Xi'an where we met our guide and driver.  After about an hour long ride we arrived at our hotel.  Got our bearings (sort of), unpacked a little then collapsed onto the rock-hard bed to try and sleep.  Jim was snoring Chinese style in about 45 seconds.  Despite being up for about 26 hours straight, I couldn't sleep.  The room was hot, the bed rock-hard and I couldn't get out of my mind the monumental change that would occur in our lives the next day.  I kept thinking about little MenYing asleep in her crib with her nanny's.  Little did she know that it would be her last night in the only home she'd ever known.  We were about to rock her little world whether she wanted it rocked or not.  I did get some sleep that night, but not much.  Even though I was exhausted, I had too many thoughts running through my mind that I just couldn't turn off.  Imagine that.