Well, as they say, the best laid plans rarely survive first contact with the enemy.... not to suggest that China is an enemy but I am not liking their internet firewall system. They have, for likely valid reasons, blocked access to social networking sites including facebook and my blog site..... so, no blogging while in China. The following are therefore copies of the mass emails I sent while in China.
OK, so we left the house in Ottawa at 730 am on the 26th of August. Our flight to Toronto left on time (this is notable as it was Air Canada). Arrived in Toronto with no difficulties. A lovely four hour layover allowed us to visit the airport, have some lunch and read a little. The flight to Beijing was on a Boeing 777 (pretty darn big aircraft) and we got three seats on the port side of the plain just behind the wing. We were rather jealous of the business and first class as they had `pods`to sleep in. We, however, were compelled to sit upright for the 12+ hour duration of the flight. Not great for the boys and kind of sad for me as my feet dangle and don't reach the floor. Much stiffness resulted, but well worth it in order to visit the middle Kingdom. We arrived in Beijing having slept very little and watched many many movies (Ryan watched 4 movies and three tv episodes). While we had been fretting about how much cash we were allowed to bring to the country and whether we would get in trouble with customs... we found the customs to be very relaxed and informal but boy were they concerned about swine flu. We went through at least two visible) temperature scanners before being allowed in the country. We were met at the airport by our Guide Lily and escorted to our hotel. The hotel is lovely and rather luxurious... except for the cot that we had for Ryan. We are all sharing the same room and it has a king size bed and a portable cot. Hard is not quite accurate when describing it. It is actually made of wood boards with a cloth cover and a very slim mat over it. Good for the back i guess. The king size bed is not much softer. However it came with nice soft pillows. Ryan's bed, well my mom would have loved the pillow as it was stuffed with beans and probably very good for you but a bit hard and bumpy for those of us used to soft squishy pillows.We managed to stay up for supper then a quick shower and off to bed. In the morning I discovered that my converter has two settings: high and low, and that my hair straightener should have been set on low.... I have a bit less hair now..... The back was fried a bit and 2 months later still hadn't recovered and a whole section just above my ear came off in the straightener! The room smelled a lot like burnt hair. Just added to the ambiance. Must be off, will provide more about our first full day in Beijing once we return from our trip to the temple of heaven. Val
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Travel Day
Well, it took a lot longer than expected to get ready to go. The weekend and Monday were spent prepping to pack, cleaning the house (including the dog) finding storage space for all the stuff I brought home from the office and cleaning up some unexpected doggie mess (he mistook the grass green rug in Rebecca's room for, well, grass...).
I was doing pretty well until Monday when it became clear we still had lots to do, I had no idea what I was getting into and I still had to get to the office to finish off a few things.....
I think Pete and Ryan were searching the house for a paper bag for me to breath into...
I think I checked the list for packing 10 or 12 times, revisited the paperwork several times adn then finally, packed.
Rebecca is already on her way to becoming a high maintenance gal and she doesn't even know it yet. Pete and I boht packed two pieces of luggage each. One large rolly piece and one smaller one. In both cases our personal stuff (toiletries and all) fit into the smaller piece and REbecca's acoutrement took up the two large suitcases! OK we are following a list provided to us by the adoption facilitator and I do think some of it is superfluous but I don't think Pete was crazy when he said we would not be travelling with her again utnil she was out of diapers and could eat adult food!!! (actually he said we would never travel again but that seemed a bitr extreme to me so I edited for him).
The boys went out for a good pre-trip haircut and I headed to work. Theoretically for a few hours..... OK so the clear demonstration that I am stressed: I pakced up my stuff, got in the car and headed to work. Parked at the Rideau centre and stopped to pick up a latte on my way in.... while putting away the change I noted that there was a lack of house/office keys in my purse! One frantic call to Pete to make sure he didn't lock me out of the house and I sped home.... I presume I broke a speed limit but didn't look too closely. Got the keys and back to work again. This time a bit more successful.
I thought I just had a few files to print off for my replacement but it turns out I can't resist answering email queries... so after orgnaizing the files, providing some legal advice etc, I finally got out of the office at 9 pm or so. My office is now spic and span and all my files are organized. A shame I don't have that initiative on a regualr basis ....
The boys took care of the last cleaning of the house while I was out and so there was little to do once I got home. Slept fairly well and got up at 6 am to head out.
Pete made a point of booking a van/taxi for our trip to the airport given that there were three or us and 5 pieces of luggage. The taxi company even surcharges 12$ for the privilege. You would think, then, that they would send a real van. Nope, it was a mini van , emphasis on the mini. The driver hadn't bothered to clean out the back so he had to move his junk out of the way before he could load the luggage. He genuinely seemed surprised that there were three of us and that much luggage...
Well, we made it to the airport and checked in easily. Ran into one of the adopting couples in teh airport. They are travelking directly to Shainghai and to the province where they are adopting, so on top of the fun packing they had to manage to fit everything in 1 suitcase each which wieghed no more than 20 kg (in country rules). I have no idea how they managed, but they did. We have 4 pieces of luggage, though they do all weigh less than 20 kg each. We'll be leaving soem stuff in Beijing at the hotel and only bring the absolute necessary items to Nanchang. The extras will be waiting for us when we get back to Beijing.
We wished them luck and proceeded on our way to Toronto.
That's where we are now. In a little over 2 hours we'll be boarding our flight to Beijing. Will update once again once we get to the hotel.
If the next blog is incoherent, blame it on the jetlag! We will be 12 hours ahead after all.
I was doing pretty well until Monday when it became clear we still had lots to do, I had no idea what I was getting into and I still had to get to the office to finish off a few things.....
I think Pete and Ryan were searching the house for a paper bag for me to breath into...
I think I checked the list for packing 10 or 12 times, revisited the paperwork several times adn then finally, packed.
Rebecca is already on her way to becoming a high maintenance gal and she doesn't even know it yet. Pete and I boht packed two pieces of luggage each. One large rolly piece and one smaller one. In both cases our personal stuff (toiletries and all) fit into the smaller piece and REbecca's acoutrement took up the two large suitcases! OK we are following a list provided to us by the adoption facilitator and I do think some of it is superfluous but I don't think Pete was crazy when he said we would not be travelling with her again utnil she was out of diapers and could eat adult food!!! (actually he said we would never travel again but that seemed a bitr extreme to me so I edited for him).
The boys went out for a good pre-trip haircut and I headed to work. Theoretically for a few hours..... OK so the clear demonstration that I am stressed: I pakced up my stuff, got in the car and headed to work. Parked at the Rideau centre and stopped to pick up a latte on my way in.... while putting away the change I noted that there was a lack of house/office keys in my purse! One frantic call to Pete to make sure he didn't lock me out of the house and I sped home.... I presume I broke a speed limit but didn't look too closely. Got the keys and back to work again. This time a bit more successful.
I thought I just had a few files to print off for my replacement but it turns out I can't resist answering email queries... so after orgnaizing the files, providing some legal advice etc, I finally got out of the office at 9 pm or so. My office is now spic and span and all my files are organized. A shame I don't have that initiative on a regualr basis ....
The boys took care of the last cleaning of the house while I was out and so there was little to do once I got home. Slept fairly well and got up at 6 am to head out.
Pete made a point of booking a van/taxi for our trip to the airport given that there were three or us and 5 pieces of luggage. The taxi company even surcharges 12$ for the privilege. You would think, then, that they would send a real van. Nope, it was a mini van , emphasis on the mini. The driver hadn't bothered to clean out the back so he had to move his junk out of the way before he could load the luggage. He genuinely seemed surprised that there were three of us and that much luggage...
Well, we made it to the airport and checked in easily. Ran into one of the adopting couples in teh airport. They are travelking directly to Shainghai and to the province where they are adopting, so on top of the fun packing they had to manage to fit everything in 1 suitcase each which wieghed no more than 20 kg (in country rules). I have no idea how they managed, but they did. We have 4 pieces of luggage, though they do all weigh less than 20 kg each. We'll be leaving soem stuff in Beijing at the hotel and only bring the absolute necessary items to Nanchang. The extras will be waiting for us when we get back to Beijing.
We wished them luck and proceeded on our way to Toronto.
That's where we are now. In a little over 2 hours we'll be boarding our flight to Beijing. Will update once again once we get to the hotel.
If the next blog is incoherent, blame it on the jetlag! We will be 12 hours ahead after all.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Countdown: 2 days until China
Rebecca Lu Peng Saunders at 6 months
OMG I have finally entered this decade (less than five months before it ends)!
Ryan has helped me to set up (read he did it and is now guiding me through the process) a blog!
This is where we will keep folks up to date on the momentus trip that is looming ahead.
This is going to be it for today's blog as I have to finish the instruction session and get the packing done.
Ryan has helped me to set up (read he did it and is now guiding me through the process) a blog!
This is where we will keep folks up to date on the momentus trip that is looming ahead.
This is going to be it for today's blog as I have to finish the instruction session and get the packing done.
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