So many girls, so little time

This trip has gone by incredibly fast. Before I left, I thought these two weeks would drag on and on. I was dead wrong. Most families leave tomorrow, but we leave Friday. Still, it feels like the "vacation" is over. We've done everything except our consulate appointment (the last part required of the adopting process before we can leave), but we've done all the main stuff.

And it especially feels like it's done because, as I said, all but two other families (out of 16 I think) are leaving tomorrow. In fact, it already feels like they're gone. It's 8 pm here, and the other families have to leave at 6 am tomorrow, so I'm sure I won't see any of them again. What a strange feeling. The last time I came to China, the families we were with were great too, but this time seems different. We've connected with them more, and it's just a special group. It hasn't just been normal life lived with other groups of people for two weeks (though I'm sure that would bring people close together too), but this is an actual life changing experience that we all went through at the same time. Not only did we enjoy two awesome days in Beijing with everyone, but then we were with five other families on the actual adoption day. It's like 6 mothers giving birth at the exact same time. That sort of thing doesn't happen every day, and it's sad realizing that all of these people who we went through this with are now out of our lives already. Weird. There are a couple families in particular that we may get together with in a few years to visit, so hopefully that happens. But if not (which is probable, as we made plans with some families from our last group to visit and that never happened), we'll have to wait until heaven for the big reunion. Which is fine I guess, as that's a better place to have it than Disneyland (which is one of the places we discussed going to).

Anyway, enough about the people we were with. I'm sitting in SpaceBucks (don't ask me why I sometimes call it that... even I don't know) and I have some time to kill. My iPod's battery is dead and I must charge it. But I have to actually be on the computer for it to charge. This laptop goes into sleep mode after 10 minutes of non-use, and once that happens my iPod stops charging. Since it's 15 bucks a day to use internet in the room, but free at the starbucks that's about a minute walk from the room, I'll probably be here for a while. I need my iPod for the crazy plane day on Friday. I'm so sick of flying. Takeoff and landing is kind of cool, but it smells horrible on airplanes, and the past two times I've gotten kind of sick after landing (which is weird, since I don't have motion sickness or anything). Plus it's boring. Especially the 12 hour flight. Ugh. Half a day in the sky. That sounds like it could be the name of a sleazy romance novel.

Even though we leave Friday, we'll get home Friday at about 4 in the afternoon. Time changes are so confusing. It will be rough only having a weekend to recover from this absolutely exhausting journey (which was seriously tiring enough without adding 13 hours of jetlag into the mix) but Monday it's back to normal life. Everything will be over. This whole experience that we've been waiting for for almost two years will be through. It's surreal that this whole process is going to abruptly end once we get back to our house. These past two weeks have been so different from anything I've ever experienced before. Yeah, I did this whole shebang four years ago, but this time was wildly different. The places we went, the things we did, and the stuff we saw was largely the same as last time. But I'm different than I was four years ago, and these two experiences are almost not even remotely similar in my mind. I can say that I did enjoy myself immensely this time. I think last time I only noticed touristy/vacation type aspects, where as this time I was much more focused on the emotional experience and the relationships formed (especially with my awesome new sister). Only a few months ago I didn't want any kids when I was married; now I want as big of a family as possible. I almost wish I was done with the whole immature teenager part of life, and that I could just move on to family life right now. Of course I definately need to grow up a lot more before I'm ready, but hopefully I'll work on that more now once I'm back.

All my thoughts are sort of running together here, and I'm too lazy to reread what I just wrote, but I don't think I've gone through what we've done since my last post. Basically, it's been a shopping extravaganza. We went to Shamian Island yesterday for three hours with the whole group, and then my family and I went by ourselves (while the other families went to their consulate appointment... ours isn't until thursday, thus why we have to wait to leave until Friday). We took a taxi today and stayed on the island shopping for a good 3 1/2 hours. It was exhausting. And in fact, I'd like to go to bed now. But not only do I not feel like it (which doesn't make sense, since I just said I want to go to bed now) but I have to wait for my stupid iPod to charge so I'm not super bored on the plane. Anyway, the shopping wasn't as fun as last time. In fact, it was a hassle. Last time it was one of the big highlights. Like I said, last time I cared more about that sort of stuff; this time, not so much. We had tons of things to get (mainly for other people) but I haven't really gotten much this trip. I got those four pictures (which I think I already talked about) and today I got a deck of cards and a keychain, but not much else. They mainly just sell junky stuff at those shops. And after all, who needs more stuff? You can't take it with you so why bother (if only I could always have that mindset)

This morning all the families met in the lobby for pictures. That was kind of neat. Before that though was our continental breakfast we've been enjoying since we came to this hotel. It's awesome. Everything is super delicious. And today we broke our streak of eating McDonald's three days in a row... we ate at a very American type restaurant on the Island. In fact, it was weird, because they were playing American pop music that went out of style ten years ago. It's strange being on a Chinese Island and listening to Brittany Spears and Spice Girls.

Tomorrow is pretty much another free day for us. We have to stay in our room for a couple hours in the morning while our guide goes to some interview on behalf of us (we have to stay in the room in case he has to call to ask us something), but then we have nothing. We're probably going to go to a park that's nearby. And then Thursday we're going to our consolate appointment, and then back to Shamian Island again (ugh) to pick up some stuff that won't be done until then. For example, I ordered The Dark Knight DVD (don't judge me, I'm still going to buy the real version when it comes out in December) and that will be in Thursday. It's only $2.50. Amazing. I hate piracy, and I don't steal music or whatever else even though it's so incredibly easy to do, but I refuse to wait an extra 3 months for that movie when I can get it that cheap now. Sure the quality will be poor I'm sure, but it will be good enough to last until the official DVD release.

Friday, as I've already said, is our long plane day. I'm not going to be sleeping on any of our flights. I'll be essentially skipping all sleep (on what would be Thursday night back home) to sort of force my body to adapt back to our time. If I sleep on China time on the plane, I won't be tired at nighttime back home. This went on for like five days last time. I would stay up until about 5 or 6 am, sleep all day, be up all night. Last time I just had to stay up all night (like I'm doing this time) in order to readjust. But I don't have as many days off as I did last time, so I'll have to get back into the routine as quickly as possible. Monday I have all five of my classes, Tuesday I'll be cramming on makeup work, Wednesday and Thursday I work, so I won't really get a break again until after classes Friday (hopefully I can be all caught up on my make up work by next weekend... that would be totally amazing).

Speaking of college, I think I'm going to change my major. Criminal Justice, while necessary (and to me, very interesting) just isn't my thing. It's not the type of life I want. I would love to go into ministry, but I also want to make enough money so that I can live in a state that actually has activities to do, and so that my wife doesn't have to work (my kids will not be going to daycare, period). One of the guys in our group is a communications major, and he said it's great for a broad range of jobs. I don't know though, I'm sure it will take me a while to figure it all out. I would actually almost like to only do 1 year at ICC (but I'd have to really get my stuff together during that time... as of right now there's no way I'd survive away from home).

I think I'm going to start a general blog when I get back to the states. It's fun blogging. I know there's that stereotype of bloggers being overweight nerds who still live with in their parents attic or basement (a stereotype which, incidentally, I fit on all three accounts), but I don't necessarily care. I don't even care if anyone reads it. I hope people will, but even if they don't it might be a cool way to organize my thoughts (even though this current post is incredibly unorganized).

The traffic over here is absolute insanity. In Guangzhou it's not as bad as the other areas (our guide said Guangzhou has the best driving in all of China) but it's still terrible even here. Seriously, I feel like such a wuss for ever thinking I've been in tricky or "dangerous" driving situations back home. It's literally like there are no rules. I keep imagining ye olden days of driving, when cars first were put on the market. Back then, when you bought a car, the only lesson you got was from the salesman, who would only tell you which pedal was the brake and which was the gas. It's as if everybody has the right of way here at all times. Or as I like to say, everyone is constantly in "dodge" mode. Basically, if you don't dodge another vehicle (especially the pedestrians, who are heeded as much as a German Nazi heeds decency) you get hit. Astonishingly though, despite the countless hours in our various tourbusses this trip, I've yet to see any sort of wreck. Chinese drivers are hands down either the absolute best drivers, or the absolute worst. It's a tough call.

Hmm... I think I've adressed just about everything except the title. Chinese chicks are digging me. In total, I had seven chicks surrounding me today (pictures are below). For those keeping track, that beats my previous record by seven. And it wasn't just today either. There have been several other times here where a Chinese girl would say strange things to me. For example, one gal said she really liked my voice. Another said she remembered me from last time (yes, all the way back in '04), because I was "so handsome". And the chicks today had this to say. "You're realy big and strong", "You're really mature", "You'll be able to get a good job", etc. etc. They asked my dad if he was afraid of me, hah. They also seemed amazed when I told them adopting from China costs between 15-20 thousand dollars. Over here, that's probably more than fives years of an average persons income.

Warning: tangent incoming. America is awesome. Everyone in America sort of has this abstract concept of how awesome it is, but until you really see firsthand how incredibly hard the vast majority of people have it, you truly understand. Sure, I can't stand half of our government (that would be the democrats, for those who are wondering) and half the time I can't even stand the half that I do like (the republicans) but even the most pressing political issues in our country are but small squabbles compared to what life could be like. Living on two dollars a day, or only being allowed to have one child (I found out the penalty for each additional child is three years of the persons sallary, which of course isn't even an option for the vast majority of the population). Even if you do have a decent job, you work so much harder and have so much less than you would in America. In fact, the McDonald's workers here are phenomenal. They work super hard at taking your order (the language barrier makes some of my nitpicky things like making everything plain harder for them to understand) but they've only messed up like one thing out of the thirty or so we've ordered the past few days. Back in America the mess-up rate is MUCH higher, and that's with people speaking the same language. Pathetic.

Wow, I wrote a ton. Yeah, I doubt anyone read all of that. If you did, be sure to post a comment so I can give you a cookie. Time to wrap this thing up.

Pictures:


The death glance of the Snicker's made my face melt

This is some creepy dude who was taking pictures of my family from afar, then asked if he could get a picture with them. He said we were "very beautiful"... Don't ask me why we actually let him get the picture.

With my mighty blade I am prepared to do battle with even the toughest of foes. Huzzah!

Yes, this is the closest I've ever been to a real group of girls before.

I will be cropping my sister out of this one

Me being unhappy about having to sit at SpaceBucks. Although most of the times I've been here I've just hogged their WiFi without buying anything. This makes me feel better, as they donate money to Planned Parenthood. I won't be giving them any blood money!

This is an awesome guy named Jordon. He runs a small shop on the Island, and he's a Christian. He got very excited when we told him that everyone in our group was Christian. He's probably never seen a group of believers that big before. Just one more way that America is blessed.

Our main guide Lineker with his lovely wife Amy. I'm going to give one of my children the middle name of Lineker. Not only is the name awesome, but he's an awesome guy. There are a few people that I happen to not like for any reason (something I'm trying to stop) and there are a few people that I really like for no reason. Lineker was one of these people to start with, so once I actually got to know him more it was all the better.

A picture of us with the five other families that adopted from the same province. Totally awesome people. Why can't everyone I meet be as cool as these guys?

A photo of the six babies from Jiangxhi. Isabella is the second from the right.

Hopefully my iPod is charged by now and I can go. I've been typing for a lot longer than I meant to. This will probably be the last BIG update, and thanks to anyone who actually read all of it. Like I said, it feels like the trip is already over. I so wish we were leaving with everyone else tomorrow. Oh well, I'll make the most of these last two days in China. After all, I probably won't get to return until I adopt!