Sorry I didn't get a chance to update yesterday, we were super busy from sunrise to sunset. But right now we are in Jiangxi province (pronounced jang-she) where we will be getting Isabella in just over 3 hours. The hotel we are at right now is amazing. The next few days are going to be MUCH more relaxed than the past couple, so I'll have a lot of free time. I'll update everything from yesterday and today either tonight or tomorrow.
The next time I post I'll have two sisters. Whoo!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
I should be sleeping now
I'm exhausted. The rest of my family is in the room sleeping, but I'm dutifully giving the daily update. If I have redundant words or awkward sentences, it's because I've literally had 5 hours of sleep in the past 50ish hours.
We woke up bright and early this morning, got ready and went to our free hotel breakfast. It's a buffet with quite a lot of good Western food, so no complaints there (unfortunately, it was the only decent tasting meal I've had all day... but more on that later)
Once we finished up with that, we headed out to Tien'amen Square. This is where China likes to be communistic. The Square is right next to the building where all the "politics" takes place, so we got to see that as well.
After that it was off to the Forbidden City. 1000 years ago or so, this was the place to be. Well, sorta. It was where the royal family lived, but the interesting thing was that if you were born into the city you could never leave it, and if you weren't born in the city you could never enter it. Kinda cool.
Our family at Summer Palace.
By this point in our day, we were so dead from lack of sleep that we were barely able to function at the Silk Factory. It was neat and all seeing how they make silk (okay, that was a lie) but we just wanted to get to the hotel. And that's exactly what we did. My sister was fast asleep, so while the rest of the group went out for pizza after the Silk Factory, we grabbed a cab and headed back to the hotel. We saw a Pizza Hut down the street, so my dad and I decided to go grab some while my mom stayed in the room with my sleeping sister.
This actually turned into quite the excursion. We ordered the pizza (3 small pepperoni's, or as it said on the menu "The American Special") and they said it would be 30 minutes. We then went to the supermarket to grab some soda, but it was absolutely packed. Imagine Super Wal-Mart the busiest you've ever seen it, and then make that mental image about ten times worse. While the store was huge, all the isles were tiny, all 20 or so checkout lines had at least 30 people in them, and the smell was downright repugnant. So we bolted and eventually made our way to a dingy drink store were we somehow got three sodas and two waters for $1.78. The unfortunate thing was that ever since we left the market, we noticed that awful smell persist. I guess it's from all the smog and pollution and dirt of the city, but it's far and away one of the top three worst things I've ever smelled in my life. "Whatever", I thought to myself. "We'll just get the pizza, go back to the room where there is no smell, eat and go to sleep." I did the first two things on that list, but the trouble came when we got to the "eat" part. As soon as I opened my Sprite, it fizzled and spilled everywhere and got all over my pizza (no wonder the dude sold us everything for so cheap, he shook it beforehand.) But it was okay because my dad took a couple bites and decided he wasn't going to eat anymore. I raise the pizza to my mouth, absolutely starved, excited to be finally putting something delicious into my body... and then I smelled it. It was very innocent; I just like the smell of fresh pizza. Unfortunately, this was not the smell of fresh pizza that I love oh so much back home. It was the exact same stench that fills the streets. And it was my food. By some divine miracle I was able to eat two pieces, but then I smelled my third piece and it was downright offensive. I took a bite and almost threw up. My dad and I promptly gathered the remaining 2.5 pizza's, went outside and threw them away. Then he went to bed, as did my mom, and I came down here to start this blog.
So there you go. That was our day.
Although there was some awesome Olympic stuff we got to see. First, there was this big countdown sign to the Olympics, which of course was at zero. Not too cool on its own, but we saw the exact same thing four years ago in China, when the countdown seemed like it would never get to zero.
So we meet again, you fiendish sign
But that sign wasn't nearly as cool as driving by and seeing the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. Unfortunately the Cube pictures didn't turn out to well (we were in a crazy bus) but the Nest shots are pretty decent.
Yay Olympics.
Even though we only drove past and I only saw them for a minute or so, that's probably the highlight of my day. Maybe it's because I saw all the other stuff last time and so this is new, or maybe it's just because the Olympics really are that awesome.
A few random musings:
It's funny trying to communicate with people who know very little english. After spilling Sprite on my bed sheets, I went down to the lobby to try and get some more. After trying to explain to the guy what I needed in the most simple ways I could think of ("the thing you cover yourself with when you sleep... you know, like a blanket?" Not only that, but I was also doing hand motions as well, so I was going the full mile) I ended up with him suggesting something about going out to a store to buy something.
Also, the driving here is absolutely insane. If people drove this way in America, there would be no cars anywhere because everyone would have their license permanently taken away. And this is with half the amount of traffic (they have some weird law now where you can only drive on certain days if you have an odd numbered license plate, and on the other dates if the number is even) But there are tons of bikers and pedestrians everywhere, walking and riding so close to moving traffic that it's amazing none of them were hit. Not only that, but the driving is just crazy. Zooming around cars, weaving recklessly, etc.
The smog compared to last time is significantly less, and that's mainly because of half the cars being taken off of the road.
The tour guide was talking about communism, and it was funny. She said "That's one good thing about communisum... if they tell you to do something, it gets done... and if you don't do it..." then she made the sign of a gun, pointed it at her head and made a "BOOM" sound and laughed.
We drove by and saw the tower where that American was stabbed and then the murderer jumped off of. I think this took place a couple months ago or something, but I remember reading about it in the news.
Here's one more cool story from today. As we were getting ready to leave the Silk Factory, one of the group members got on the bus with one of the employees (a mid-20's looking gal), and said that she had told her that she knew Jesus. After the group member found this out, she asked the employee if she'd like to come onto the bus to meet us (since this adoption group is a Christian one, and so everyone in it is a Christian). She told the group member that she'd love to "come on board and meet her brothers and sisters in Christ." It was just really cool because you can't be a Christian over here, and I can't imagine how hard it would be not having ANYBODY of the same faith as you to talk to or whatever, so I'm sure she was more excited than the average person would be to meet a big group of Christians. It's so rediculous over here that, when we go to church tomorrow morning, we have to show them our passports to get in so they know we are foreigners since Chinese citizens are not allowed to practice Christianity.
Here are a few random pictures to wrap this entry up.
We woke up bright and early this morning, got ready and went to our free hotel breakfast. It's a buffet with quite a lot of good Western food, so no complaints there (unfortunately, it was the only decent tasting meal I've had all day... but more on that later)
Once we finished up with that, we headed out to Tien'amen Square. This is where China likes to be communistic. The Square is right next to the building where all the "politics" takes place, so we got to see that as well.
After that it was off to the Forbidden City. 1000 years ago or so, this was the place to be. Well, sorta. It was where the royal family lived, but the interesting thing was that if you were born into the city you could never leave it, and if you weren't born in the city you could never enter it. Kinda cool.
Nick's Forbidden Love in the Forbidden City: An Autobiography
From there we continued to the Imperial Garden, and then back to the bus for our lunch. I had a couple bites of rice, a warm sprite, a tiny strip of bland meat, and a slimy crunchy black item that's identity was not disclosed to us. Mmmm.....
After lunch we headed to the Pearl Factory, which was of course a chick place, but they had some okay stuff there (I guess). The Summer Palace was our next spot we checked out, and it was awesome. It's 550 acres, about five times the size of the Forbidden City. Basically, there was some dynasty that decided to leave the Forbidden City every now and then and wanted a Summer Resort, and so the emperor made this huge garden with designs from other gardens from all over China.
Our family at Summer Palace.
By this point in our day, we were so dead from lack of sleep that we were barely able to function at the Silk Factory. It was neat and all seeing how they make silk (okay, that was a lie) but we just wanted to get to the hotel. And that's exactly what we did. My sister was fast asleep, so while the rest of the group went out for pizza after the Silk Factory, we grabbed a cab and headed back to the hotel. We saw a Pizza Hut down the street, so my dad and I decided to go grab some while my mom stayed in the room with my sleeping sister.
This actually turned into quite the excursion. We ordered the pizza (3 small pepperoni's, or as it said on the menu "The American Special") and they said it would be 30 minutes. We then went to the supermarket to grab some soda, but it was absolutely packed. Imagine Super Wal-Mart the busiest you've ever seen it, and then make that mental image about ten times worse. While the store was huge, all the isles were tiny, all 20 or so checkout lines had at least 30 people in them, and the smell was downright repugnant. So we bolted and eventually made our way to a dingy drink store were we somehow got three sodas and two waters for $1.78. The unfortunate thing was that ever since we left the market, we noticed that awful smell persist. I guess it's from all the smog and pollution and dirt of the city, but it's far and away one of the top three worst things I've ever smelled in my life. "Whatever", I thought to myself. "We'll just get the pizza, go back to the room where there is no smell, eat and go to sleep." I did the first two things on that list, but the trouble came when we got to the "eat" part. As soon as I opened my Sprite, it fizzled and spilled everywhere and got all over my pizza (no wonder the dude sold us everything for so cheap, he shook it beforehand.) But it was okay because my dad took a couple bites and decided he wasn't going to eat anymore. I raise the pizza to my mouth, absolutely starved, excited to be finally putting something delicious into my body... and then I smelled it. It was very innocent; I just like the smell of fresh pizza. Unfortunately, this was not the smell of fresh pizza that I love oh so much back home. It was the exact same stench that fills the streets. And it was my food. By some divine miracle I was able to eat two pieces, but then I smelled my third piece and it was downright offensive. I took a bite and almost threw up. My dad and I promptly gathered the remaining 2.5 pizza's, went outside and threw them away. Then he went to bed, as did my mom, and I came down here to start this blog.
So there you go. That was our day.
Although there was some awesome Olympic stuff we got to see. First, there was this big countdown sign to the Olympics, which of course was at zero. Not too cool on its own, but we saw the exact same thing four years ago in China, when the countdown seemed like it would never get to zero.
So we meet again, you fiendish sign
But that sign wasn't nearly as cool as driving by and seeing the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. Unfortunately the Cube pictures didn't turn out to well (we were in a crazy bus) but the Nest shots are pretty decent.
Yay Olympics.
Even though we only drove past and I only saw them for a minute or so, that's probably the highlight of my day. Maybe it's because I saw all the other stuff last time and so this is new, or maybe it's just because the Olympics really are that awesome.
A few random musings:
It's funny trying to communicate with people who know very little english. After spilling Sprite on my bed sheets, I went down to the lobby to try and get some more. After trying to explain to the guy what I needed in the most simple ways I could think of ("the thing you cover yourself with when you sleep... you know, like a blanket?" Not only that, but I was also doing hand motions as well, so I was going the full mile) I ended up with him suggesting something about going out to a store to buy something.
Also, the driving here is absolutely insane. If people drove this way in America, there would be no cars anywhere because everyone would have their license permanently taken away. And this is with half the amount of traffic (they have some weird law now where you can only drive on certain days if you have an odd numbered license plate, and on the other dates if the number is even) But there are tons of bikers and pedestrians everywhere, walking and riding so close to moving traffic that it's amazing none of them were hit. Not only that, but the driving is just crazy. Zooming around cars, weaving recklessly, etc.
The smog compared to last time is significantly less, and that's mainly because of half the cars being taken off of the road.
The tour guide was talking about communism, and it was funny. She said "That's one good thing about communisum... if they tell you to do something, it gets done... and if you don't do it..." then she made the sign of a gun, pointed it at her head and made a "BOOM" sound and laughed.
We drove by and saw the tower where that American was stabbed and then the murderer jumped off of. I think this took place a couple months ago or something, but I remember reading about it in the news.
Here's one more cool story from today. As we were getting ready to leave the Silk Factory, one of the group members got on the bus with one of the employees (a mid-20's looking gal), and said that she had told her that she knew Jesus. After the group member found this out, she asked the employee if she'd like to come onto the bus to meet us (since this adoption group is a Christian one, and so everyone in it is a Christian). She told the group member that she'd love to "come on board and meet her brothers and sisters in Christ." It was just really cool because you can't be a Christian over here, and I can't imagine how hard it would be not having ANYBODY of the same faith as you to talk to or whatever, so I'm sure she was more excited than the average person would be to meet a big group of Christians. It's so rediculous over here that, when we go to church tomorrow morning, we have to show them our passports to get in so they know we are foreigners since Chinese citizens are not allowed to practice Christianity.
Here are a few random pictures to wrap this entry up.
Just one of the ways China keeps you safe; playing brass instruments and driving cars that have spontaneously combusted is strictly prohibited.
My sister rockin' it with a Pikachu
Me being my sister's lackey by carrying her stylish princess backpack at the Detroit airport
Okay, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow we're going to church (which should be interesting), the Great Wall, a Duck Dinner, and then the amazing Chinese Acrobatics show (which is incredible, can't wait to see it again). And then of course Monday is the big day, we should be getting her sometime after lunch.
Just in case you were wondering, it's 9:30 Saturday morning for you guys reading this, but 10:30 Saturday night for me. I'll be able to get a full nights rest though and will be able to function as a basic human being tomorrow. Yay.
Thanks to everyone who has commented so far, I've read and enjoyed them all. Maybe soon I'll stop being rude and respond to some, but for now just keep them coming.
...
I know I said I was going, but I'm now hearing bad (english) karoke coming from the restaurant in the hotel. Or maybe I'm just hallucinating. I need sleep. Bye.
EDIT: For some reason I can't get rid of this huge blank space. Sorry. And I just heard the words "Your mother hit you your mother hit you!" coming from the karoke. That's my cue to get out of here.
EDIT 2: Fixed. And an awesome picture to go with it.
Word up, China.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Chillaxin' in Beijing
Wooooo what a day. Got up pre-dawn on Thursday (at like 545), and it's now 11:30 on Friday afternoon. I'm running on >1 hour of sleep, but I dragged myself all the way down to the lobby of our hotel to post an update. You're welcome.
The flights for the most part went very smoothly. Peoria to Detroit was quick. Then we had a couple hour layover in Detroit. That airport was actually kind of awesome. I have some pictures to post, but I'm way too lazy to do it now so I'll get around to it in the next couple days.
The 12 hour flight from Detroit to Tokyo was incredibly boring but somehow seemed like it only took about 8 hours. The in-flight movie was What Happens in Vegas, which was cool because I was planning on renting it sometime, and now I don't have too. It was pretty cliched and predictable, and I probably wouldn't recommend it. I didn't sleep at all on that flight. I only had one of the three meals they served, but it was actually delicious (it was chicken with veggies and shrimp). But all airline food, regardless of taste, has that sickening smell to it so I couldn't take anymore.
Tokyo airport was cool, I'd like to actually vacation in Japan someday. We were there for another couple hours before our four hour flight (which was delayed an hour due to storms) from Tokyo to Beijing. This is the flight where I caught about 45 minutes of sleep, only to awake and see people around me watching Iron man on their screens that are built into the seats. So of course I started to watch that, but then realized it comes out on DVD in September so I switched over and started to watch Shallow Hal instead. I only got through half of it before the flight landed, so I'll definatley have to rent it to see the rest. It was funny.
But I'm guessing no one is reading this to hear my opinions on movies (although maybe you are, in which case you're very strange), so I'll focus on some of the more interesting things.
Our family sticks out like you wouldn't believe. My dad is lugging his cameras around everywhere, filming and taking pictures at the most inconvenient of times (like when we're trying to get our luggage to go through customs, and there's a big sign that says NO PHOTOGRAPHY, and he breaks out the camera anyway...) The problem is that I've seen a couple of good photo ops that have gone without pictures. When we were leaving the Beijing airport, there were two security guards at one of the entrances. One had his face flat on the table they were sitting at, asleep, and the other guy was playing a PSP. Classy.
Even though I've done this all before, it feels different. I think I'll be able to appreciate the culture and the experience much more this time. The vast differences within this society are awesome. This whole vacation is adventuresome, at least compared to all the other ones I've been on.
Before I go (battery is almost dead and I've had 1 hour of sleep in the past 31 hours), here's our schedule for the next few days. Tomorrow we get up at 830 (its about 1240am here at the time of this post) and go to Tiennamen Square, Summer Palace, and some other place which I'm forgetting at the moment. Sunday we go to the Great Wall and an Acrobatics show. Then on Monday we leave Beijing and go to the province where Isabella is at and pick her up. We stay there for about 5 days before going to another city.
Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to post again tomorrow night with some pictures. But as for now I've got to go enjoy my five hours of sleep. Later everyone.
The flights for the most part went very smoothly. Peoria to Detroit was quick. Then we had a couple hour layover in Detroit. That airport was actually kind of awesome. I have some pictures to post, but I'm way too lazy to do it now so I'll get around to it in the next couple days.
The 12 hour flight from Detroit to Tokyo was incredibly boring but somehow seemed like it only took about 8 hours. The in-flight movie was What Happens in Vegas, which was cool because I was planning on renting it sometime, and now I don't have too. It was pretty cliched and predictable, and I probably wouldn't recommend it. I didn't sleep at all on that flight. I only had one of the three meals they served, but it was actually delicious (it was chicken with veggies and shrimp). But all airline food, regardless of taste, has that sickening smell to it so I couldn't take anymore.
Tokyo airport was cool, I'd like to actually vacation in Japan someday. We were there for another couple hours before our four hour flight (which was delayed an hour due to storms) from Tokyo to Beijing. This is the flight where I caught about 45 minutes of sleep, only to awake and see people around me watching Iron man on their screens that are built into the seats. So of course I started to watch that, but then realized it comes out on DVD in September so I switched over and started to watch Shallow Hal instead. I only got through half of it before the flight landed, so I'll definatley have to rent it to see the rest. It was funny.
But I'm guessing no one is reading this to hear my opinions on movies (although maybe you are, in which case you're very strange), so I'll focus on some of the more interesting things.
Our family sticks out like you wouldn't believe. My dad is lugging his cameras around everywhere, filming and taking pictures at the most inconvenient of times (like when we're trying to get our luggage to go through customs, and there's a big sign that says NO PHOTOGRAPHY, and he breaks out the camera anyway...) The problem is that I've seen a couple of good photo ops that have gone without pictures. When we were leaving the Beijing airport, there were two security guards at one of the entrances. One had his face flat on the table they were sitting at, asleep, and the other guy was playing a PSP. Classy.
Even though I've done this all before, it feels different. I think I'll be able to appreciate the culture and the experience much more this time. The vast differences within this society are awesome. This whole vacation is adventuresome, at least compared to all the other ones I've been on.
Before I go (battery is almost dead and I've had 1 hour of sleep in the past 31 hours), here's our schedule for the next few days. Tomorrow we get up at 830 (its about 1240am here at the time of this post) and go to Tiennamen Square, Summer Palace, and some other place which I'm forgetting at the moment. Sunday we go to the Great Wall and an Acrobatics show. Then on Monday we leave Beijing and go to the province where Isabella is at and pick her up. We stay there for about 5 days before going to another city.
Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to post again tomorrow night with some pictures. But as for now I've got to go enjoy my five hours of sleep. Later everyone.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
T-Minus 13 hours
It's getting close to departure time. I mainly squandered today slacking off when I should have been cramming on my make-up work instead of waiting until now to finish it. Oh well.
Also, the name of the blog is supposed to come across as snarky and witty instead of sentimental and emotional. When we went the first time to China, I had so many people say "Oh you'll have such an amazing time! This is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity!" Well, they were all wrong. Oddly enough, no one has said that to me about this trip. So the name of the blog is just my way of saying "Hey, don't make innocent comments that may end up proving false years down the line. Because if you do, I'll blog about it and laugh at you." (My life is so pathetic)
And yeah, the word opportunity is spelled wrong in the title/url. I was about to collapse from exhaustion when making this last night, so I wasn't running on maximum brain capacity, but I'm going to pretend it was an intentional error. I'll let you all come up with your own ideas as to why I would do that.
Seriously though, thanks to the people who have left comments. It's encouraging to know others are excited as well and are praying for us.
Back to work now. I guess my next update will take place on the other side of the world.
Also, the name of the blog is supposed to come across as snarky and witty instead of sentimental and emotional. When we went the first time to China, I had so many people say "Oh you'll have such an amazing time! This is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity!" Well, they were all wrong. Oddly enough, no one has said that to me about this trip. So the name of the blog is just my way of saying "Hey, don't make innocent comments that may end up proving false years down the line. Because if you do, I'll blog about it and laugh at you." (My life is so pathetic)
And yeah, the word opportunity is spelled wrong in the title/url. I was about to collapse from exhaustion when making this last night, so I wasn't running on maximum brain capacity, but I'm going to pretend it was an intentional error. I'll let you all come up with your own ideas as to why I would do that.
Seriously though, thanks to the people who have left comments. It's encouraging to know others are excited as well and are praying for us.
Back to work now. I guess my next update will take place on the other side of the world.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Prologue
Hey Everyone
Our family is adopting a little girl from China, and we'll be gone for about 16(ish) days. My mom is doing her own blog about the trip, but I figured some people would rather not read something made by a middle aged woman who doesn't even know how to use the copy/paste function on a computer. Thus, I am providing an alternative. I'll try to update this daily with whatever zany/awesome things happen over there. We don't know for sure yet if there will be WiFi in our various hotels, so if not then this whole blog will become instantaneously pointless. But we're guessing that there will be, so it should turn out okay. Also, there will be pictures.
Here's a quick background for those who don't know: I was an only child up until my Freshman year of High School. During that year, my family adopted my first sister from China. Her name is Eliana, and she's probably a whole lot cooler than any preschooler you've ever met. About 17 months ago, my parents started the process for our second adoption. And now, finally, the time has come for us to go over and pick her up.
Adoption is awesome. It's even cooler when I think of it as "an epic rescue mission that will end up saving an innocent child from a life of poverty and hopelessness". So, all of that being said, I hope you guys enjoy this. We have about three or four flights starting Thursday, ranging from a 2 hour flight to a 13 hour flight. So don't be surprised if I don't start updating until Saturday. Also, China is like 13 hours ahead of the good ol' United States, so my updates will probably occur while you are all fast asleep.
One last thing: post comments. I want to know who's actually reading this and what you think of it. I made it so anyone can post a comment. That's right, you don't have to sign up or sign in. You're welcome. But don't forget to leave your name. Kthx.
Our family is adopting a little girl from China, and we'll be gone for about 16(ish) days. My mom is doing her own blog about the trip, but I figured some people would rather not read something made by a middle aged woman who doesn't even know how to use the copy/paste function on a computer. Thus, I am providing an alternative. I'll try to update this daily with whatever zany/awesome things happen over there. We don't know for sure yet if there will be WiFi in our various hotels, so if not then this whole blog will become instantaneously pointless. But we're guessing that there will be, so it should turn out okay. Also, there will be pictures.
Here's a quick background for those who don't know: I was an only child up until my Freshman year of High School. During that year, my family adopted my first sister from China. Her name is Eliana, and she's probably a whole lot cooler than any preschooler you've ever met. About 17 months ago, my parents started the process for our second adoption. And now, finally, the time has come for us to go over and pick her up.
Adoption is awesome. It's even cooler when I think of it as "an epic rescue mission that will end up saving an innocent child from a life of poverty and hopelessness". So, all of that being said, I hope you guys enjoy this. We have about three or four flights starting Thursday, ranging from a 2 hour flight to a 13 hour flight. So don't be surprised if I don't start updating until Saturday. Also, China is like 13 hours ahead of the good ol' United States, so my updates will probably occur while you are all fast asleep.
One last thing: post comments. I want to know who's actually reading this and what you think of it. I made it so anyone can post a comment. That's right, you don't have to sign up or sign in. You're welcome. But don't forget to leave your name. Kthx.
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