We were able to sleep in this morning, solely to Andrew sleeping until 6:30 a.m. Very nice.
Bringing us up to date, we were able to visit the Great Wall, north of Beijing about an hour, or at least only a portion of the over 5,000 miles of it. I may have that number wrong. Also, we visited a Jade factory, drove by the Olympic Stadium and then finished it off having dinner at the truest of all restaurants serving Peking Duck.
Andrew fell asleep in his chair midway through dinner. This trip has been quite taxing on him, or should I say that he's actually been soaking up every aspect of it and it's just worn him out.
Today we were able to enjoy a leisure breakfast and left Beijing around 11 a.m., but not before arranging to purchase a camel's hair blanket from the hotel for $20.
We arrived Tainjin around 2 p.m. in which there was an immense amount of construction going on all over the city. This appears to put the "the Big Dig" of Boston to shame. Nonetheless, our hotel is an oasis amidst all the chaos.
On the ride over, our new guide, Wendy, gave us instructions on what we could be met with over the next few days. We found out that our little girl has actually been in foster care directed by the orphanage. A bit of information we thought would have been nice to know, not changing anything, but it will be good for the child, given the home she is in is positive.
Wendy taught us some Chinese words, expressions and a kid's song on our trip over. We were traveling with two other couples from our original group to Tianjin. I failed to mention that, in Beijing, there were about 7 couples that were going to different regions to pickup their child.
We're being told that the first day, two or three can be difficult with the child accepting us and dealing with the separation from her foster family. We're quite anxious.
Anyway, tonight, after having a final meeting with our guide about preparation for tomorrow, when we finally get to meet Emily, we tried to relax. I can't say how successful we were in accomplishing that, but we went down to dinner and it took our mind off a little. The restaurant in the hotel here put us in a private room, closed the door and served us. If I had't ordered a bottle of Merlot, our dinner would have been only $17 for 5 of us. However, somehow, the bottle cost us $50. Not a big deal, but truly interesting in how all of it played out.
I will probably have more to say about the last 2 days, but truthfully tomorrow morning, I'm certain we will be engulfed in accepting our new little girl into our lives. We will have the opportunity of having her in our hotel with us until Saturday before we all fly down to Guangzhou, where we do the final paperwork. In Tainjin, we apply for her passport, pay some fees, place an official announcement in the local paper and submit paperwork to the orphanage and local government. From what I understand, they allow us to bring her with us immediately and give us 24 hours to decide for certain whether we wish to keep her. I don't remember the hospital in Plano giving us that option with Andrew.
There will be more tomorrow and obviously some very important photos to post, but until then, here's some shots over the past few days.
3 comments:
Thank you for keeping us up to date with the events of the trip.
As I write this you guys are probably a couple of hours away from meeting Emily for the very first time. Probably a little scary but very exciting moments. Just know that we are all thinking of you and praying that everything goes well. We can{t wait to see a picture of the whole Snyder family together!
Hi! We are so happy to be able to keep up with you via your blog! We have been reading your posts to your mom. She is happy that you are all well.
The news has had stories on China for the past few nights and Greg has been looking for you. (Like Where's Waldo?)
Love to you all!
Greg and Minette
Alina's favorite picture so far was the one of Andrew making a face. I can't wait until Emily learns those tricks, with such good teacher as criterboy.
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