Sunday, Jan. 12, 2014

Sunday, January 12, 2014

We made it to Nanning. We had an uneventful flight from Seattle to Beijing. It was nice to have the extra leg room on the exit row. I finished my book “The Selection” and started reading “Mansfield Park” and also the second book in the Mistborn trilogy, “Well of Ascension.” I can’t believe I’m saying this but, after about 10 hours of reading I was ready to do something else . . . and get off that plane.

We arrived in BJ and we were at Terminal 1 (sad face). I love Terminal 2 it is new and has all the bells and whistles, I loved being there in 2011. Terminal 1 was kind of run down and had lots of stairs. They pushed the stairs to the side of plane for us to exit, so we had to walk down a long flight of stairs to get to the tarmac. Once on the tarmac we took a bus to T1. Upon arriving we went through entrance to face 4 flights of stairs going up.

Normally I wouldn’t be too bothered about it, but all I could think of was doing this without Dave on my way home, with a 3 year old who has some orthopedic needs and might be riding in the stroller for most of our trip. There is no ADA in China. I just hope we can successfully navigate the airport on our way home. Thank goodness on the way back I will check 2 bags and only have to manage a backpack and a purse (along with Ella and a stroller.)

Our flight touched down in Nanning at 12:30 AM this morning. It seemed like a small airport, or perhaps just the part I saw was small. Nannning has 3 million people (but a total of 6 million counting the suburbs.)  Our guide met us and whisked us away to the Marriott. It was about 40 minutes away. Cindy, our facilitator, gave us a preview of the week and has been doing this for about 6 years. She was very competent and I am looking forward to working with her.

She said that most children are really scared on the “gotcha day.” She told us to expect crying and to remember it will be a wonderful day for us, but a hard day for her. Good advice! She also told us about the ethic groups here in Guanxi provence. About 2/3 of the people here in Guanxi are Han and about 1/3 are Zhuang. Based on her physical characteristics, I think Ella is Zhuang. She said in China about 90% of the population is Han.  (Jacob is Hui, which is the second largest minority behind Zhuang.)

Once we got the Marriott, it was great. The rooms are a little smaller, but very well appointed. This will be a great place to hang out. The bathroom has a tub and a shower, very grateful for that. The shower has a rain head and is all in natural stone and looks lovely. Cindy told us the Marriott is considered one of the nicest hotels in Nanning. I agree.  China is notoriously known for hard beds. Our beds here are more American. Our beds are firm, but not rock hard. Last time we were here in China my back ached after being on those slabs of concrete they call beds. I am so so happy for a comfy bed.

We have a non smoking room, which is truly non-smoking! Every other time we have been to China the hotel rooms always, always smelled like smoke. It did not matter if they where “smoking” or “non-smoking.” So, I am quite pleased that we have a room without that smell.

One thing that totally annoyed me was that our suitcase, with all the gifts, had been riffled through. We are bringing art supplies to give to the children at Ella’s orphanage. Boxes of crayons had been ripped open and crayons were broken and rolling around loose. We also brought gift boxes of perfume & lotion and cologne & aftershave. All the boxes had been opened and some torn. We purposely left all the gifts unwrapped, all of it was unwrapped with a clear plastic window to show what was inside. The suitcase smelled like cologne, clearly the gifts had been sampled.

The hotel itself very is nice. We went to the buffet breakfast this morning and it was great. They had more Chinese foods then Western food, but it was all very good. They had steamed buns, black rice, bean curb, lots of fresh fruits, bacon, omelet bar, breads, cheese and meats, assortment of juices. . . It was just a perfect breakfast. It was also not crowded at all, very few people there this morning. The buffet is included in the price of our room and it is great to have such an easy meal each day. The hotel also has a swimming pool and exercise room. We brought a suit for Ella and will see if she is up to swimming. It could either be way fun or very scary, it nice to have that as an option is she likes it. It is an indoor pool and no one was there this morning when we checked it out.

We also spent some time in the lounge this morning just hanging out (since our room was not quite done being cleaned after breakfast.) Lots of chairs and big windows to admire the passersby. Dave even saw a pink Hello Kitty car drive by. . . I love China.

The location is awesome!  Today we went out to do some shopping to stock up on some things.  Around the corner, literally, there is a huge variety of shops & restaurants. There is also a Wal-Mart and KFC. We walked to Wal-Mart and picked up some items, mostly snacks and water. (Who wants to pay $$$ for bottled water at the hotel to brush your teeth?) I also wanted to get Chinese New Year things. We got a bunch of red envelopes, spring poem banner and some “year of the horse”, horses for the kids. It was great to stock up on those things, since it was a better selection and price then our Asian market back home. We also looked at strollers. Lots of people said, buy the stroller there, so we waited and I am not impressed with my choices at Wal-mart. Oh well, we’ll spring $25 for a stroller and hope it lasts 2 weeks. Also the Wal-mart was a "bring your own bag" kind of place. So we got this great CNY reusable bag. . .

Overall I am really pleased with Nanning, it is a lovely city. There is lots of green and it feels quite tropical and humid. The streets (around the hotel at least) are clean and people seemed friendly.

Tomorrow is THE DAY! We are so excited to meet Ella. We meet our facilitator at 1PM and then off to the Provincial Office at 2:30PM. We should be meeting Ella at 3PM.

Finally!