Our Arrival In Nanning China

Today was another long day and our sleep pattern is still off but getting better

every day. After we got back to the hotel in Hong Kong from touring with our

group, we took another nap around 4:00pm. I woke up around 1:30am and could

not go back to sleep. This was the day that we would be catching another plane at

4:40pm and heading to Nanning, the baby’s province. At 6:30am, we headed down

to the lobby for breakfast. The day was cloudy, rainy & cold in Hong Kong. After

breakfast we walked around the hotel and took pictures. We then headed back

upstairs to pack and rest, as we didn’t need to be ready until 2pm. At about

1:00pm, we walked downstairs to the lobby to meet with the Cole family and also

with Matthew, whom was taking us to the airport. Our ride back to the airport was

uneventful. Check-in was fine; I had a coffee from Starbucks as we waited for

our plane to begin boarding. We flew Hong Kong airlines from Hong Kong to

Nanning. When they issued our seats for some reason they had me sitting in a

three seat row with Jay & Bonnie Cole and then they had Herb sitting in the row

of front of us with two other ladies. It turns out that upon boarding our plane,

when getting to our seat after settling in, the two ladies that Herb was sitting

next to were from my Sept 2006 L.I.D. group. I knew of a lady that was going to

be traveling just days after us to pick up her 2.5 yr old daughter and she told me

she would be traveling with her sister and they looked alike. So, when I got to my

seat I see these two ladies that looked very similar, she then asked me “where

are you from”? And I said, “We are from Fl”, she then said “Are you Ileanna”?

hahaha, “yes, I am Ileanna, you must be Joan”. We then said “hello” with a warm

smile and began talking. The cool thing about belonging to an adoption group

online is that you are bound to eventually meet some families in person during

this journey.

Our flight was 1hr 20 minutes long, we arrived in Nanning airport. I mentioned to

the Cole family that I had to go to the bathroom really bad so while the plane was

still taxing in, I ran passed them and went to use the airplane bathroom. Thank

God I did because Bonnie used the bathroom in the airport and she said it was a

hole in the ground with no toilet paper, welcome to China I say.  Upon landing at

the airport, you don’t connect directly to the airport, you have to get out of the

plane and take a shuttle bus to the main airport. So, we all got on the bus and

headed to the main building to clear customs & immigration and pick up our bags.

We were then greeted by our CCAI Rep. His name is David Shu. Nice young guy

and really funny. I have to say that our first impression when we got to the

airport was very intimidating. The Chinese people are very serious and they will

run you over if you don’t act fast. The government officials mean business and

you can see that from their firm body language and facial expressions. We got in

the van with the driver and our guide. The ride to Wharton International Hotel

took about 35-40 minutes. The streets are well developed and we were on one

main highway, not many turns. So I did not get car sick. On our ride, David talked

to us about what would take place today. He said that we are to have breakfast

downstairs anytime between 6:30-10:00am, we then are to meet him on the 20^th

floor of the Wharton with our adoption paperwork. We will fill out documents and

then we will head to the bank to exchange our funds to Chinese money. We are

going to exchange $7000.00 U.S. into Chinese funds to cover our adoption fee /

Nanning. This is the breakdown he gave us in Yuan;

Orphanage donation: 35000

Notary: 2500

Passport: 900

Registration: 250

Finding Ads: 200

Family Pic: 100

Totaling: 38950 YUAN = Approximately $6,172.00

After the bank, we are going to head to Wal-Mart to buy the babies or ourselves

things that we may need. Our guide provided us in our rooms with lots of bottled

water, apple juice & drink yogurts that the babies like.

We will then head back to the hotel and wait until 3:00pm (China time) 2:00am

U.S. time to head to the Civil Affairs Office. Isabella should be in our arms by

3:30pm (China time) 2:30am (U.S. time).

So, David did get some information about our babies, since there are only 2

families (Us and the Cole family) we almost get personal service which is great.

He said that he knows one baby likes grapes and the other baby likes oranges but

he didn’t remember right now which baby liked which, he said he would have all

this information in the morning. Apparently, he already has Isabella’s passport

with her picture because when I showed him who she was, he already knew. He

was telling us to have a lot of patience with the babies when we get them, he

shared information with us that I already knew and was mentally already

prepared. He said that because the babies have been in foster care and not in the

orphanage, they have been attached to their foster family. He said they may cry a

lot and very loud and just to be patient. He also said it is very common for the

babies to not poop between 24-48 hrs. and he said that is due to the amount of

stress that they will undergo and not to worry. He brought us apple juice to

loosen the bowels if needed (this mama brought apple juice just in case this is an

issue). He also said to dress the babies very warm, the Chinese people dress

warm and like everything hot. (This is something I also already knew and I am

prepared for).

So this basically sums up everything up to now. Right now it is currently 5:30am

in China and 4:30pm U.S. time. I am already up, feeling good and going to jump in

the shower to begin our day…Today is the big day, OMG’osh.