This is our last full day in Nanchang. Gracie Lin’s passport will be here at five o’clock today! Yeah!! Tomorrow morning we leave our luggage outside our doors at 9:30AM and then depart for the airport at 10:30. In a way it feels like we’ve been here for months but our nine days really has flown by so quickly! I think I could visit different cultures for months just to soak it all in! I love the people in China! They are always so friendly to us. We have had terrific service everywhere. The main downside to me is that so many people smoke. We were really fortunate until the last two days that there weren’t smokers on our hall.
Today we went for a walk by the river and then to the zoo for a couple of hours. It was great to be outdoors again and the weather is terrific! Carter has a great friend next door, Victoria, who is seven and she has a little brother who is three. She is good at chasing him around and is a huge help to us! We were warned that the zoo wasn’t very good but we thought it was actually pretty nice. Not as many trees and landscape that we are used to but it was much nicer than I expected.
When we got back from the zoo, the Turner’s suggested that we go out for lunch to a great restaurant we had eaten at a few days ago. Dave & Cary Williams joined in as well. Evelyn hailed cabs for us and called a head to order the meal for us. We had a great time eating the pepper steak one last time before leaving this town. Jenna is an amazing pepper eating woman!!! It was such a fun time and such great food. Our meal as a family cost 100 yuan which is about $16. It will be hard to go home and head Chinese food in the states! The meals are so inexpensive (except for the hotel) especially compared to our $130 laundry bill for the week!
I think tomorrow will be very emotional considering we are leaving behind our babies home province. This country is so beautiful! The climate is very much like Atlanta, GA. The ground is red clay and much of the vegetation is the same as we have at home. Gracie Lin should feel right at home in that sense. She is already a Southern girl! Sissi told us today that Southern girls are beautiful and that some of the signs of beauty are a watermelon seed shaped face and a small mouth.
Cute, cute! It hit me kind of by surprise, the day we left Ethiopia. I was suddenly overwhelmed with sadness for Caleb...not knowing when he would return to his birth country and that when he did, he would be like a visitor...not knowing the culture, language, etc. Adoption is like that...so many unknowns...but consistently - each joy attached to a sorrow. We are happy for all of you though and know you will be ready to be home. Can't wait!
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