We also saw a famous Catholic church built by the French in the 1800's. I was always under the impression that the Chinese government didn't allow Christianity but that's not really the case. The government, we are told, allows any religions just monitors some closely.
 |
| I didn't bring my camera. No reason, just a doofus. |
We got Talitha's visa around 330 pm and hopped in a van to Hong Kong. I showed our guide the name of the hotel on my reservation and he conferred with the driver to make sure he knew where it was. The traffic was the usual awful that we have come to expect in China. At one point there were 8 lanes going through a toll and they merged into 2 lanes. That was fun. Customs into Hong Kong went pretty fast. Our driver was bored with the whole process and texted during the checkpoint. When we got to Hong Kong the driver had no idea where the hotel was.
"Take your time, don't worry about us. We just spend 3 hours in this car feeding crackers to our baby so she won't cry. Please, drive as slowly as you want. We love this van. Let's stay forever."
We finally got to the hotel. The next morning, we got to the lounge right when it opened at 6 am so we could catch the 7 am bus to the airport. The guy in the lounge was still setting up for breakfast. It says something about your increasing level of snobbery when you're irritated that all you got for breakfast was a wide assortment of fresh cut fruit and pastries.
We packed up quickly and I couldn't find my deodorant anywhere. We had to leave though and I knew we weren't going to be home for about 30 hours so I took a swipe of Matt's deodorant. Although I didn't fully appreciate the extremely manly smell, I felt comforted by the words "Power Stripe" on the tube.
At the airport, we tried to get the person at the United counter to sit us all together. The kids and I were together but Matt was by himself. To his credit, he acted like he truly wanted to sit with us. The person at the United counter (Motto: Fly the Mediocre Skies) was adamant that they can't rearrange seats without asking people's permission. Talitha started crying and fussy and as I wrestled with her and imagined a 15 hour flight alone with the 2 kids I thought "Power Stripe my left foot."
We got on our flight no problem and even managed to get seated together. It was a long and tough flight, with one of us holding her wriggly self or walking her around most of the time. There was another adoptive family with their 2 year old on the flight and the mom told me she overhead a passenger complain about the babies (there were 4 total on the flight) to a flight attendant. The flight attendant responded "Yeah, they're getting on my nerves too."
You know, flying with small children is a tricky thing and your point of view changes depending on whether they are yours or not. If they are yours, you feel a righteous wrath and think "Hey, they deserve to fly too! Flying is tough for babies." If they are not, you feel a righteous wrath and think "Hey, I didn't pay to listen to some baby scream for 15 hours." What makes adoption tough is that you've only known your child for about 10 days. It was like playing that game with the timer and the little shapes that pop up unexpectedly - Pefection. We never knew quite what the problem was or what set her off. After awhile we turned on each other:
"Why did you make direct eye contact with her right foot? Now she's crying."
"Now you've set her off. You know she hates when you use the word 'the' yet you keep saying it."
Going through customs in Newark was pretty simple. We stood in line for awhile, constantly snaking our way to the front. There was a big tv with news playing and as we passed it, the anchor stated "Kindergartners getting the sex talk? How young is too young?" Jack turned to me and said "Mom, what's the sex talk?" Thanks for that, CNN.
An officer pulled us out of the line and two other adoptive families. He ran us through the little customs booth quickly and led us to a room. After a few minutes of him talking to other officers, he called us back up and gave us our children's passport and told us he didn't want us to wait in that room for 2 hours and we were all set to go.
It was an incredibly kind thing to do for families traveling with small kids after such a long flight. I'll never forget you, Officer Austin. In fact, I may name something after you. Not anything big, like a kid. Maybe a houseplant. Austin the cactus. I'll think of you when I water it. Although it is a cactus so it won't be too often but you just need to take what you can get.
We spent about 9 hours in the Newark airport before our flight to FL. By the time we boarded, Talitha was spent. She had reached her limit of planes and tiny little windows. She cried and then slept fitfully the last flight.
We finally got in around 12:45 am and took showers and ate a little something. We are very happy to be home and thankful for our friends and family in this difficult but amazing journey. More tomorrow on the transition home but I've got to get off the computer now. Kate and Noah will be here soon to meet Tali. I have nothing more funny or witty to end with. Jet lag makes me feel like there are marshmallows in my head. Or how I imagine that would feel.
We finally got to the hotel. The next morning, we got to the lounge right when it opened at 6 am so we could catch the 7 am bus to the airport. The guy in the lounge was still setting up for breakfast. It says something about your increasing level of snobbery when you're irritated that all you got for breakfast was a wide assortment of fresh cut fruit and pastries.
We packed up quickly and I couldn't find my deodorant anywhere. We had to leave though and I knew we weren't going to be home for about 30 hours so I took a swipe of Matt's deodorant. Although I didn't fully appreciate the extremely manly smell, I felt comforted by the words "Power Stripe" on the tube.
At the airport, we tried to get the person at the United counter to sit us all together. The kids and I were together but Matt was by himself. To his credit, he acted like he truly wanted to sit with us. The person at the United counter (Motto: Fly the Mediocre Skies) was adamant that they can't rearrange seats without asking people's permission. Talitha started crying and fussy and as I wrestled with her and imagined a 15 hour flight alone with the 2 kids I thought "Power Stripe my left foot."
We got on our flight no problem and even managed to get seated together. It was a long and tough flight, with one of us holding her wriggly self or walking her around most of the time. There was another adoptive family with their 2 year old on the flight and the mom told me she overhead a passenger complain about the babies (there were 4 total on the flight) to a flight attendant. The flight attendant responded "Yeah, they're getting on my nerves too."
You know, flying with small children is a tricky thing and your point of view changes depending on whether they are yours or not. If they are yours, you feel a righteous wrath and think "Hey, they deserve to fly too! Flying is tough for babies." If they are not, you feel a righteous wrath and think "Hey, I didn't pay to listen to some baby scream for 15 hours." What makes adoption tough is that you've only known your child for about 10 days. It was like playing that game with the timer and the little shapes that pop up unexpectedly - Pefection. We never knew quite what the problem was or what set her off. After awhile we turned on each other:
"Why did you make direct eye contact with her right foot? Now she's crying."
"Now you've set her off. You know she hates when you use the word 'the' yet you keep saying it."
Going through customs in Newark was pretty simple. We stood in line for awhile, constantly snaking our way to the front. There was a big tv with news playing and as we passed it, the anchor stated "Kindergartners getting the sex talk? How young is too young?" Jack turned to me and said "Mom, what's the sex talk?" Thanks for that, CNN.
An officer pulled us out of the line and two other adoptive families. He ran us through the little customs booth quickly and led us to a room. After a few minutes of him talking to other officers, he called us back up and gave us our children's passport and told us he didn't want us to wait in that room for 2 hours and we were all set to go.
It was an incredibly kind thing to do for families traveling with small kids after such a long flight. I'll never forget you, Officer Austin. In fact, I may name something after you. Not anything big, like a kid. Maybe a houseplant. Austin the cactus. I'll think of you when I water it. Although it is a cactus so it won't be too often but you just need to take what you can get.
We spent about 9 hours in the Newark airport before our flight to FL. By the time we boarded, Talitha was spent. She had reached her limit of planes and tiny little windows. She cried and then slept fitfully the last flight.
We finally got in around 12:45 am and took showers and ate a little something. We are very happy to be home and thankful for our friends and family in this difficult but amazing journey. More tomorrow on the transition home but I've got to get off the computer now. Kate and Noah will be here soon to meet Tali. I have nothing more funny or witty to end with. Jet lag makes me feel like there are marshmallows in my head. Or how I imagine that would feel.
No comments:
Post a Comment