While today was a travel day, and much time and energy needed to be devoted to seeing whether we could get everything in the suitcases and closed, Liann and I did not want to miss the opportunity to see some tai chi at a local park. About one third of the families left at 6:30 am to go to Ko Hill, located behind the Forbidden City.

What a lovely park. Persimmon trees, lots of rock sculptures and winding paths. Even at the crack of dawn, it was relatively populated. We found one man willing to let Westerners imitate his moves badly for a few minutes, and then we climbed the hill to the top, from whence you could see the entire enclosed Forbidden City in one direction, the rest of Beijing in another.

After the loveliness and calm of the park, we dashed back to the hotel and lost all that lovely calm trying to get checked out of the hotel and get everyone on the buses. Then it was off to BLAS (Bridge of Love Adoption Service) and CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) for a tour. It was surreal to see rooms that we'd imagined for so long during the adoption process:

The matching room

and the Eligibility Records room.

After the CCAA tour, BLAS had activities scheduled for the children (BLAS is located in the same building as the CCAA). The younger kids made paper airplanes, did a puzzle of China, and watched a sweet animated story. Liann was happily ensconced at the head of the table (where else?:)) in doing her puzzle and had one of the videographers of the week recording her every move. 

At the end of the morning, the entire BLAS staf, including the Director, gathered outside and waved goodbye to us all. Thinking of everything they have done for us - giving the children presents, arranging the ceremonies, etc. - it was enormously moving to see them all out there sending us off like royalty.

We had lunch at a Thai-style restaurant where Liann played drums with her chopsticks and some of the girls gathered on the steps afterward for a photo, all the while chanting "Cheddar Cheese."

Some of them also thought it would be fun to play Ring Around  the Rosie.

Finally, it was off to the airport. The Beijing Airport is the biggest thing I've ever seen. Absolutely mammoth. God smiled on us all, however, and had put a really cute children's play area literally right next to our gate. A fairly long crowded flight later, we were in Chongqing, where the next leg of our journey begins.

Tomorrow - PANDAS!!! 

Posted by heartstringsoh at 9:37 AM EST

Updated: Monday, 24 November 2008 10:15 AM EST

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Ni hao, everyone! It's currently 2:55 am China time, but as I've gotten 6 hours of sleep and am still on U.S. Pacific time, mostly at the moment, we're just killing time until breakfast.:)

To backtrack to our travel day a little. We arrived at SeaTac to find another traveling Fuling family had already beaten us: Maya and her mom Laurie. It's always so neat to meet other families with the same heritage and history.

Then onto the flight, a twelve hour nonstop on Hainan Airlines. I'd been hoping Liann would get a few hours sleep on the flight; sadly, she napped about an hour and that was all she wrote. However, she was the most wonderful travel partner a mom could ask for, and had lots of fun watching travelogues about China and short little odd Chinese cartoons on the seat's television. And of course, many Spongebob episodes from my laptop. The plane was not crowded, but the coveted middle 4-seat areas were claimed from the get-go.

The only minor setback to the trip was in the pre-arrival meal, when Liann - overtired I think - got sick in her seat. Fortunately, I had an abundance of Wet Wipes and we were able to get cleaned up with a minimum of discomfort, and Liann seemed fine after and continues to seem so.

We were picked up at the airport and experienced the Beijing traffic as we traveled to our hotel, the Joy City Hotel. According to our guide, traffic - always a challenge in Beijing - has gotten even worse. I want to say he said something like 4 million cars driving through daily, but don't quote me. I could have been jet lagged:). Although it did seem like we saw a quarter of that number on our drive to the hotel. The weather last night was very temperate - mid 50s - and the lights of the city were brilliant and quite lovely. Liann and Maya made each other giggle uncontrollably throughout the ride.

Liann and I have a beautiful corner room up on the 11th floor.of the Joy City Hotel. She was fast asleep about 20 seconds after her head hit the pillow (and some FINE pillows they are).

Today, when everyone else wakes up, we are touring the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, and - hooray - SHOPPING! So leaving you on that cliffhanger - What will Toddie buy and for whom? - I'll report in later.

Posted by heartstringsoh at 2:25 PM EST

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