Nanchang--the REAL China

When we arrived in Hong Kong, we actually were not IN China yet, so today we went through customs again and arrived in Nanchang after a short flight.  We spent most of the day unpacking and getting used to our new surroundings, which are much different than westernized Hong Kong.  Nanchang has a population of about 5 MILLION people, just a smidge bigger than Poky.  There are bicycles and motorbikes everywhere, instead of parking lots there are bike lots.  And thank goodness we are not driving ourselves, it's a bit wild out there.  Horns are honking here, there, everywhere, to quote Dr. Seuss, and I am thinking they are more of a friendly courtesy here than the road rage honks you find in the US.  We are right downtown so the noise level from our room is at a pretty decent level, as is the smog.  No where in the US is the smog anything like this.  Most cars run on diesel fuel, and there is really no such thing as smoke-free environments, even at the airport.  We also got to experience the market, just around the corner, and when I say market, visions of produce or fish stands being tended by local merchants may come to your mind.  This market was really like a Super Walmart on steroids.  This multi-level store had just about anything in it and sure felt like every resident in Nanchang was in it, did I mention that was 5 million?  There are store clerks at the end of every aisle to help you find what you need, but as none of them seemed to speak english they mostly stared at our large, bewildered group and chuckled whispering comments to each other, which in turn made me giggle.  We found bottled water, juice, and some interesting Chinese snack cakes that we hope help soothe Madeline tomorrow.  Dinner was quite the adventure as we all headed to the restaurant without our Chinese-speaking guide.  Our waitress was very patient with our group of 12 high-maintenance westerners.  At one point, to cross the language barrier, we did animal noises back and forth with the waitress to figure out what meat was in what--I kid you not.  Leo would have been great at this game.  We both tried just about everything and it was satisfying and not overfilling like some american food can be.  Of course, we were thankful to top it off with the oreos in our room!

Two families got their babies today, we have not seen either one as they were taking some time to bond alone, and the rest of us will have our babies tomorrow!  We meet at 11 am China time and travel to the Adoption Center, where I expect mass chaos.  Please pray for us and for all the families, as well as the babies.  This a wonderful experience with a very challenging beginning, especially for the babies, and for the first time parents in our group.  I am glad we had an afternoon to settle in and relax a bit before things get crazy tomorrow.  Look for pictures of her tomorrow!!