Touring the Great Wall of China!

Sat. 5/30/09

Today we walked on the Great Wall of China! It’s a unique experience that we’ve been able to experience twice at the Badaling site. Today, the sky was a beautiful blue, the landscape was green, the temperature was in the 80’s, and the wind was howling. Four years ago, we climbed in snow and ice with the temperature in the 30’s and a howling wind. Seriously, the wind gusts can almost blow you sideways. You need to watch every step since no two steps are the same height. There were lots of other tourists to dodge on the way up and down. Jenna did a great job climbing with us. She got a little scared on the way down because it’s so steep.

We also toured a porcelain factory and a couple of the Olympic venues. We saw the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube up close.

We leave for Guangzhou in southern China on Sunday, 5/31, at 12:15pm. It’s a 3 hour flight. Monday afternoon is “Gotcha day” where we’ll finally meet Sarah. We’re very excited!

We haven’t been sleeping very well. Guess we’re still adjusting to jet lag. Hopefully, tonight we’ll all get a good night’s sleep.

Greetings from China by way of Minnetonka

Friday 5/29/09 (5:00 am)

Title: Can’t Sleep, Might as Well Update Our Blog

Tim here - I think it’s 5 am on Friday (MN time). I’m trying to put some thoughts down from the last couple of days. I’m not sure this will make much sense, since I’m low on brain power, but wanted to give everyone an update on our trip so far.

Jenna and I are wide awake. Two hours ago (3 am), I got out the Ipod for Jenna. She’s watching movies while Marg tries to sleep some more. Rough night with the time change and trying to catch up on all the sleep missed from the long flight from Chicago to Beijing.

Today’s plans are to see Tianiamen Square and the Forbidden City in the morning, eat lunch, and then go to the Panda exhibit at the Beijing Zoo. Several new pandas have been born recently. Jenna, Samantha, and Mandi should enjoy the zoo.

Thurs. 5/28/09 (I think)

Title: Our Flight Ends in Beijing, China!

We passed over the International Dateline enroute to Beijing, China. We jumped 13 hours ahead in time.

The flight was really long . . . . . but we finally made it to Beijing. Yippee! Jenna was great for most of the flight. The last 4 hours were tough. She was so wound up and overtired that she didn’t get to sleep until 10:30 p.m. (MN time). She finally slept for 1 ½ hrs. until the overhead lights came on and woke her up. It was time to eat again. Not sure if we were eating breakfast, lunch or supper at that point in time! None of us slept very much on the plane. We’d take 30-60 minute power naps every couple of hours.

We had a little excitement once we landed in Beijing. We were told to stay in our seats while a medical team in white smocks, goggles, face masks and rubber gloves entered the plane. We were all individually checked for elevated temperatures with a scanner device held to our foreheads. We'd heard anyone registering over 100.6 degrees F would be quarantined. Three rows behind us, a college student was scanned repeatedly by the medical team. They finally decided she was OK and everyone was able to leave the plane. We had to turn in a medical questionnaire and get scanned again with thermal imaging as we walked to get our luggage.

The Beijing airport was much bigger than when we were here four years ago. It was expanded for the Olympics. Wow . . . . it was huge!! We were looking forward to seeing Peter, our guide from 4 years ago, but he had a family emergency and couldn't make it. We were bummed. Our replacement guide, Chandler, met us and took us to our hotel. We’re staying at the Novotel Peace Hotel. Our group (three families) quickly dumped the luggage in our rooms and headed off to eat our first authentic Chinese meal.

We went to bed around 8:00 pm. Marg and I woke up every 2-3 hours. I finally got up at 3 am when Jenna announced she was wide awake.



Hi, this is Uncle Bill blogging for Tim, Marg, Jenna & Sarah

Due to the paranoid nature of the Chinese government, access to external blogs has been prohibited from China. Tim and Margaret can't access their own blog. I'll be updating the blog site via their e-mail posts.


Wed. 5/27/09

Title: Our Journey to Sarah Begins

Wednesday morning, we got up at 4:00 a.m. Woke up a sleepy Jenna at 5 a.m. Ate a quick breakfast and packed up the last of our stuff. Uncle Bill got to our house at 5:40 a.m to drive us to the airport. We took a couple of quick photos outside before we left our house. Just think . . . the next time we come home there will be four of us. Our flight from Mpls. to Chicago leaves at 9:15 a.m. No problems on the flight. We happened to meet the Barths when we were eating lunch at the airport restaurant. They were on our first adoption trip. Their daughter is from the same orphanage as Jenna. It’s quite a coincidence that we are both adopting again at the same time. It’s good seeing them. Our flight to Beijing leaves at 12:45 pm. The plane was full and arrived in Beijing at 2:38 pm (Beijing time). I would love to calculate how long the flight was, but my brain is on overload. Take care everyone.

Tim

Oh, Oh - Is Jenna Ready To Go?

Jenna’s right ear has been plugged for 4 -5 days. She's had a lingering cold, she's been taking swimming lessons, and we think she has allergies to tree pollen. We make an appointment with her pediatrician. Bad news, Jenna has an infection in her right ear!! We get a prescription for antibiotics and pray that her ear will clear up before we fly to China. If you're reading this, please say a prayer for Jenna, too.

So Many Details . . . . . So Little Time

There are so many things to do before we go to China!! Hope we don't lose our sanity (what's left of it anyway) before we leave the U.S. We're going to need our wits about us on the trip. Keep us in your prayers, please.

Here's our first attempt at packing. We're trying to keep our suitcases light on this trip.

We're Leaving On May 27th!

We’re leaving for Beijing, China on Wednesday, May 27!! We’re finally going to meet Sarah and bring her home. “Gotcha Day” is Monday, June 1. We can’t wait to hold Sarah in our arms.

Plane Reservations are Made

Our U.S. Consulate date has been confirmed. It’s June 9. We can make our plane reservations!

More Swine Flu Reported . . . . . Bummer!!

Another swine flu case has been confirmed in Chengdu, China. Our adoption agency makes us sign a disclaimer document before they’ll give us our TA document. We sign it. We’ve waited over a year to adopt Sarah and we don’t want to wait any longer. Besides, there's no guarantee that things with the swine flu will get better if we wait to travel. They could get worse. We pray that our trip will hold no unpleasant surprises. If you're reading this entry, we'd really appreciate prayers for a safe and uneventful trip to China. Thanks!

Travel Approval

We receive Travel Approval – TA!! Our adoption agency requests a U.S. Consulate appointment for us in Guangzhou, China today.

Passports Come Back to Us

Our passports are safely returned to us with our new Visa pages. We now have China’s permission to enter their country.