Safe and Sound in Urumqi

We're here!  Somewhere in this very city, my little boy is sleeping.  Or trying to.  I should be too, but I gotta get this all out of my head and into the blog before I can sleep.

We left Beijing this morning.  We were ready bright an early with everyone excited to get moving.  We had fun in Beijing, but we were all ready to get out of the big city and head out across the desert. 

Our flight was smooth and uneventful.  The best thing about it was watching what was below us.  Much of the route was along the Chinese portion of the Silk Road.  Let me tell you, the Gobi desert is ginormous and I can't imagine trying to make it across in anything but an airplane. 

The most amazing and impressive part of the flight though was just prior to landing.  I was looking out the window admiring the mountains below.  Of course, I was attempting to stare straight down and was missing the forest for the trees.  When I leaned back against my seat and changed my perspective, I realized that the mountains were not just below us...  if I looked straight out, slightly above the clouds rose the most unbelievably huge mountains I've ever seen.  They were ice-capped... in August.  I need to find out the altitude because I simply can't wrap my mind around how enormous they appeared.  And I can't imagine Marco Polo's reaction when he first encountered that range.  I would have turned around and high-tailed it back to Italy, for sure. 

We landed shortly after that in Urumqi.  It's really an interesting place.  More on that later when I'm not fighting the clock, but suffice it to say it is VERY different than the other parts of the country we have visited.  Our guide, Jessica (Xiaofan), is young an cute as a button.  She seems to be a bit new to the adoption guide position, so I've been making sure to ask her questions that help her think through every aspect of the process.  I'm so glad I've done this before and am at least somewhat familiar with what needs to be taken care of and in what order!

When we got to the hotel, Jessica got us checked in and then she and I met to get started on some of the paperwork that will be needed for tomorrow.  Steve took the rest of the crew next door to eat.  He returned just a few minutes later with Coke, Pringles, and peanut butter in hand.  (He obviously didn't realize the volume of snack food we had waiting for us up in the room... I packed an entire suitcase full!)  Apparently, the Chinese restaurant has no English or pictures on their menu and no English-speaking staff.  Steve met a complete and total communication breakdown, surrendered, and went to the snack shop instead.  :)  We did end up later going to a little restaurant in the hotel and met with similar communication challenges, but through charades and a lot of laughter (on my part and the part of the staff), we ended up with some noodle soup and vegetable dumplings.  I think.

No silverware was in sight, so I encouraged everyone to make use of their chopstick skills.  After less than a minute, the half dozen wait staff hovering over us to watch how this might all work, took pity on us and hunted down some forks.  Dr. Jiggles was so relieved.  His technique leaves much to be desired.

We are now unpacked, everyone is sleeping, and I think I have everything ready to go for our big day tomorrow.  It will be a long one.  It goes something like this:

Meet Jessica at 8:30 to go over more paperwork preparations.
Stop at the bank at 9:30 to exchange US dollars into Chinese yuan to pay fees.
Drive to Civil Affairs office to meet Samuel.  Sign temporary guardianship papers.
Drive to photo studio for photos to be used on his adoption certificate and his passport.
Drive to notary for adoption registration.
Swing by the police station to apply for his passport
Work our way back to the Civil Affairs Office to complete the adoption.

At least I think that's how it's supposed to go.  We shall see...

Off to bed.  Please keep us all in your prayers!