So you want to know about our trip?

Let's see.....it was the longest 2 weeks of our lives. I swear hours passed and it was only 10 minutes. Would I go again to adopt? In a heartbeat.

First off all, as a heavy woman, I was scared to death. I figured I would be shoved into a plane, bus, chair, etc. that was too small for me over and over again causing the greatest of embarrassment. Well it never happened. Phew!!!! It was fine.

The Chinese people are kind and rude. Depends on the person. Sorta like the good US of A. Some of them were so sweet and loving. Some couldn't stop staring. I kept thinking someone was going to flip their bicycle over just staring at me. That would have been funny. Call me mean, whatever!!!!!! Staring at a Westerner is very common. It is unnerving. You just have to remind yourself why you are there. You are there to form your family. The first two days were hard. It then got easier, then got annoying! LOL. There were groups of women and men and they would all give each other an elbow to the ribcage, so you would have groups of people looking. Sometimes I waved. To the rude ones, I stared back, even looked over my shoulder. To the really rude ones, I grumbled at them like "look at yourself!" Why did the ones with the yellow teeth or no teeth stare? How about the ones with their faces covered in pimples or stains of some sort. Shouldn't they be the kindest? Oh well.

The weather was crappy and great! Ping's province is Shanxi. It was snowing when we arrived. It is dirty as heck too. The coal mining in the town covers everything in black. Walking a block would kill our lungs. It was tough. We stayed in the hotel room for most of the day every day. Who wants to go to China and stay inside? After a week there we went to Guanghzou. Well, that was like Disney World. The weather was gorgeous. It was green everywhere. There were shops galore and there were other adoptive families. My kind of place. We enjoyed being there. We shopped, ate with the other families, shopped some more. If I had to just stay there, well, I could have!!!! Some people never get to experience province life. Every province is different. Some are great and have lots to do. Some aren't great and have zero to do.

Our daughter came to us late due to snow. We were supposed to receive her at 10:30. We didn't get her till 5pm. It was only us in the Civil Affairs office which was kind of nice as we got to have some time with her without all the craziness. Bill immediately got on the floor and played. She immediately fell in love. I was odd duck out. I gave her some Goldfish and that warmed her to me, but not by much. She was a butterball!!!!! She had 5 layers of clothes on and she is tall as all heck!!!!! She looks 4 or 5, not nearing 3! When the women left that dropped her off, I cried like crazy. You could tell it was hard for them to let her go. We never met her foster parents:( We would have like to thank them for never teaching her the word no. LOL. Nah, we just wanted to thank them for being such wonderful loving parents to our baby!

We were asked to bath her as she had an accident on the way. I wasn't going to as it has been recommended in the past to not strip and bath them. It's too scary for them. Well, I decided to do as they asked. So while Bill went for juice, I took off the first layer. OMG. Screaming and crying. I felt awful. As I mentioned before, she tried to get away from me by squatting and pulling her arm. Well needless to say, she was getting away from me AND going to the bathroom. So there I am with a scared little girl who is filthy from the coal, huge from layers and stinky. I have a floor patch that I have to avoid and a husband out getting juice. HELP!!! So I did what anyone would do. I put her in the bathroom and just looked at her while I figured out what I had to do. Well the calvary showed up. Thank goodness. "Hi honey, know what? She just #$% and it's all over the carpet." He moved me out of the way and took over. He put her on the toilet and she has been going ever since. YAY!

Did I mention that she came with a terrible cold. Oh yeah. Drippy nose, drooling mouth and a terrible cough from the bottom of her lungs. She was really nice about it and shared it with daddy and then they shared it with me!!! Sweet family! Sign me up! So I got a terrible sore throat. Then stuffyness, then they stuffyness but nose dripping like a faucet, then I lost my hearing which was awful and it was finished off with losing my voice. YAY! Must be where she gets it. I knew I was going to get sick. I always do when I get on a plane. It's gross and people rarely believe in using their damn hands to cover their mouth. I covered my mouth when I could and Germ Xed myself to death, but it didn't matter. Now I still have a sore throat on one side occasionally, but I am definitely better. I am exhausted though. I was so tired today that I told Bill to take Ping to daycare. LOL. I am DAYCARE!!!!! Who signed me up for that????

Traveling was pretty smooth. Our guides really transitioned us from one area to the other area well. There was always a bus or van waiting on us. They took us to the airport and got us all checked in. We never felt alone in that respect.

The paperwork was smooth. The guides told you what they needed and when they needed it. That was so helpful. I am glad that part is done. You don't dare leave the paperwork in your room, so you carry it everywhere.

It's hard living out of a suitcase for 2 weeks. Downright awful. We never did the laundry as I was nervous about some of my stuff shrinking. Can you imagine the shirt issue I could have had. I would have been walking around in a bra. The stares were already there, so I should have embraced the idea. LOL. I was also afraid that my special Lympadema stockings might get ruined and at $90.00 a pair, I wasn't willing to risk it. So Bill decided to do the laundry. It was just going to be underwear. He ended up doing it all. The tub was BLACK! The clothes never dried either. Oh well. We smelled delightful. I kept joking that we were on Survivor China and no one warned us! Anyone can suck it up for 2 weeks!!!

Food. UGH. UGH and UGH. Food in Beijing first night was fine. I was afraid and willing only to have white rice. However, another couple that was there adopting felt comfortable eating as the wife was Chinese. They were so helpful. They are Siany and Phong. They are an adorable couple and they adopted a baby that is 11 months old by the name of Megan. She is so delicious! Anyway, I was discussing the food. Siany and Phong encouraged me to eat more than just rice. Well it ended up being great. The next night we ate at a buffet. We did okay there. Not worth the price, but was worth the company. Then we headed off to Ping's province. The first day our guide Michelle brought us to a place for lunch. We had noodles. They were great. Let me warn you that if you have a salt problem as I do, there is MSG in everything. My feet were so swollen from the salt and my Lymphadema, I was very uncomfortable. After that lunch, we really didn't eat again. Michelle went with Bill to pick out some food across the street but we didn't go that night. I think we were just too tired. We did go there another day and tried to eat, but we had Ping at that point and she was out of control. Nothing like having the Chinese watch you struggling. So we ordered and left. Well we got some gross dish and threw it out. We tried this place again with a wonderful couple, Tammy and Chris and their beautiful children Tiana and Connor. Well we ordered some stuff that was good and some that was wrong. Even with pictures, it's hard to communicate what you want. I ordered sesame chicken and got sesame walnuts!!!!! The company was good anyway. It was nice to talk to others that understood our language!

So for the most part we lived on granola bars and goldfish!

When we got to Guanghzou we ate at Lucy's. It was okay. Nothing great. We were more happy to be with our other families. We had the best small group. There was James and Michelle and their baby Caleigh who is such a love bug. There was Jane and Jim with Hope. She is just a living doll. So soulful. Then there was Siany and Phong with Megan, the delicate swan! I love these girls!!!!! We went to the Cow and Bridge and that was wonderful. We went to a Chinese restaurant another night. It wasn't great, but again, we were glad to be with others. The last night we were there we sat on the water and watched the neon lights on the boats and the buildings. The food was so so, but the place to sit was devine!

Breakfast was always good. We did find ice cream one day before leaving. I had mango and Bill had coconut as did Ping. She loves ice cream.

The shopping was decent. There is a lot of stuff to see, but a lot of it is the same stuff over and over. We had to get a lot of gifts for the wonderful friends we have at home that took care of our four furbabies and took care of the snow in the driveway and also the heating issue we had. We can not say enough or thank them enough for the way they came together and checked on our house daily! We are so blessed.

Some of the stores were fantastic, while others were not. Jennifer's is the place you leave medicines. However, when we were there, the place was filthy as were the medicines. Some medicines looked like they were from the 70s, so I was a tad nervous. I also found their merchandise to be dirty. I kept trying to buy a Christmas stocking and it was a mess. Things that were folded were faded when I opened them. So in my opinion, the place is worth passing. We went to Jordans and not only is he great, but his stuff is neat and you can see it all. We went to Lily's inside of the Craft building. They were great as was the Little Bit of Love place and the Beijing Olympic store. One store that I really would stay away from is the one in the Crafts building. This place had two stores. On that was on the sides and back and one store was in the middle. The middle one was awful. They would not leave you alone. I felt like they were scammers. So stay away. Even my husband was annoyed and told me we would never go back there!!!!

Shopping was only good in Guanghzou. We did go to a market in her province. It resembles a flee market. It was odd. It was crowded and the staring was unbelievable!

We did go to the Square and also the Great Wall. Personally it's great to see, but not only was it freezing, but it's a very busy day and hard to do before picking up your child. Personally I wouldn't have minded skipping it. Although it's nice to see the landmarks of my daughter's country!!!! My feet hurt for two days after. I was afraid I did something seriously wrong, but they got better.

I will say that while we were in Shanxi, I got a Thai Massage. Holy wow! I held my breath for 45 minutes as it was so painful. LOL. I did feel good after though. A few days later I was in pain and bruised!!! I don't regret doing it. How can you not do it for $24.00! It was odd though. I called, they didn't speak English, I attempted to say what I wanted, they didn't get it, I hung up. 1 hour later someone arrived at my door asking if I wanted the massage! I guess they got it! She kept motioning me to get on the floor. Well NO WAY. It was filthy. So I left with her following and she brought me to a room. I think she sleeps there. There were a bunch of people in two dark rooms with the tv going. She motioned for me to lay down after she got a fresh sheet. At first I thought for sure she had no idea what she was doing. She got better though. They massage a lot with their elbow and then they jump up on you and use their feet to massage your legs. It was odd.

I can't think of anything to add right now. If you have any questions, please contact me!

For now, I need to get into a routine with my Ping Ping!!!! It's amazing how much she has changed! She likes me, she really likes me!