Dear Cora,
It is so exciting to finally be on my way to china to bring you home. We have waited so long to get to meet you, to hold you, and to love you forever.
It was very hard to get out of the car and leave my family behind. I wanted to have everyone there to say good bye. Once I was in the airport the excitement of being on my way to get my daughter and bring her home took over. I will be holding her in one more day!
The flight went faster than I thought it would. I watched a few movies, read my book, and ate often. I think they were trying to keep us busy by feeding us. The flight was about 7,100 miles in 14hours (give or take a few min).
When we arrived, our guide Sofie was waiting for us. She was very nice and ready to help. She helped bring our suitcases to the taxi. The train station was next to the other airport that was about an hour away. Sofie got the tickets while we waited. The trains run every hour or so but they were full so we had to wait 3 hours for a train. We told Sofie we were good and she could go home, there was no reason for her to wait too. She was happy to stay and talked to us about all that we could do, where to eat, and who to ask for help. We did finally talk her into believing we would be OK if she left.
Waiting was horrible! We were so tired we were falling asleep sitting in our chairs. There was nothing we could do because we would have to drag all of our luggage with us. We did a lot of people watching, they like to watch us too. Then we decided it was time to get up and move or take a chance on falling asleep and missing out train. We went in search of a bathroom with all luggage in tow. Of course they were squatty potties. It is always a new adventure. Ukraine had them too but we were lucky that we always could find a normal toilet when we needed one. Not so lucky this trip. I am just going to say that as a woman our bodies are not capable of shooting a straight steam and it is almost impossible to judge where you need to stand to keep in the potty, it is different every time. Try holding up your pants legs so they do not touch the floor but keeping your pants down and out of the way so they stay dry.
Getting to the train was a whole new adventure. We had to go down a long flight of stairs with two suit cases each. They are on wheels but there are a lot of people and no room to move. We put the suitcases one on top of the other but on the stairs they would not stay. We were getting worried about missing our train when we rounded a corner only to find out we needed to go right back up the same length of stairs! It was quite the workout but we made it. The ride was only 45 mins. The ride was very smooth. It was dark out so we could not see the sights.
Emma was waiting for us when we got off the train. It was nice to have help again. She got a taxi and while driving to the hotel she talked about what we would be doing the next day and the time that we would meet. We would be meeting at 8:20 in the lobby and travel a short distance by taxi to the Civil Affairs Office to wait for Cora.
The hotel was very nice and after calling home to let them know we were safe we went to bed. Well, not exactly right to bed. I had to put together the children’s backpacks and stuff them with gifts and then put together the nannies gifts. I still had to put together what I wanted to bring for Cora. It felt like forever before we went to bed but at least we were so tired that the worry about the next day did not keep me up all night.
I am so close to finally holding my daughter!
