The End

Hello Everyone!

A couple of people have been bugging me to finish writing about my trip! Once I got back to the States, life went right back to normal, meaning obnoxiously busy:) I have a free evening though, and decided not to put this off any longer...Here goes!

After saying goodbye to our guide at the Naning airport, the Cody troupe made it through security once more, and boarded an airplane headed to Guanzuo. We arrived late in the evening and didn't arrive at our hotel on Shamian Island until about 10:30 pm. Once again the place we were staying was very nice, and this time there was a door between the girl's room and the boy/adult room. This made it a lot easier to send the kids back and forth between the bedrooms when we needed to.

Shamian Island is pretty small. I don't know exactly how big it is as I am terrible at measuring distance. There were three main streets running east/west the length of the island, and smaller streets going north/south between the main streets. It is a very touristy island, with tons of little shops all selling pretty much the same things: chop sticks, fans, chops, toys, paintings, silk clothes, etc. In the center of the island is a public park surrounded by the coolest trees! They have curvy branches, and some of them have the funniest aerial roots! There was a playground for the kids, and a work out park for the adults, a fountain, and tons of bronze statues of tourists.

On our first day there I was walking around poking my nose into little shops and taking pictures of whatever caught my attention. I happened into a store selling baby clothes, baby shoes, chopsticks and purses. The girl who worked there followed me around for a bit, then finally asked me where I was from. When I told her, the questions just kept coming. She was so curious about my life in America! We chatted for quite awhile, asking about and comparing each others cultures. I had to get going, so we exchanged email addresses, and I left.

A while later I got an email from her asking if I had any free time. I did, so the next night we went out on the town! We left the island and went into the main city of Guanzuo. She took me to the mall to meet some of her friends. They were a bunch of giggly, beautiful girls, all very friendly. After that we walked around for a while then had fried rice at a small restaurant where she often eats. After that we walked a while longer, then called it a night.

I learned some interesting things from her. Her name is Ming, and she speaks pretty good English. It was interesting trying to communicate more complicated ideas sometimes as she is still building her English vocabulary, but she was really quite good! After graduating from high school Ming moved from her family home in the Yunan province to Guanzuo where she and a roommate found an apartment together. She spends six days a week working at the little shop on the island, and on her day off she likes to practice her cooking, shop, and watch TV. Her evenings are spent with friends at the bar, shopping, or watching TV at restaurant near her apartment. An interesting side note, I asked her how old one must be in order to go to a Chinese bar. Surprised, she asked me what the age is in America. When I said twenty-one, her jaw dropped. Apparently the official age in China is sixteen, but that isn't a hard and fast rule. IDs are rarely checked, and as long as one "Looks old enough" he is permitted in the bar. It's funny how laws vary from country to country...we didn't go to a bar by the way:)

The few days we were in Guanzguo were spent touring some huge botanical gardens, wandering the island and going into the main city to shop. The Cody's also had several things to accomplish for the adoption, such as a doctor's exam for Justin, and lots of paper work. They also had to take an oath of citizenship for Justin, as he is too young to do it. I thought that was pretty cool.

The day before we left China I again went out and about with Ming. This time we mostly chatted, knowing it was the last time we would see each other for a long time, possibly forever. She wanted to show me her apartment, so we met early in the morning and grabbed breakfast at some little roadside stand and ate while we walked. As for the breakfast, I don't know what it is called, but it looked like a roll, only it was made out of steamed rice. Inside there was a piece of hot dog, a slice of carrot, and a small bite of chicken. Strange, huh? not my kind of breakfast food:)

We walked for several miles (Not an exaggeration, the Chinese walk a ton!) until we were in a section of the city that was quite run down. There were many old apartment buildings with stores on the first floors. Ming led me through a maze of a street to a dingy cement structure. We climbed five sets of stairs, and as I did, I saw what I could. Some of the concrete walls were wallpapered in old newspapers, and some of them were bare except for water stains. Most of the entrances to the apartments had metal gates in front of them. They were so rusted that I was sure I could just reach out and pull them off their hinges.

When we finally reached Ming's apartment, she said, "It is very plain and small. I hope that is ok." She seemed to have a funny mixture of pride at having her own place, and embarrassment that it was so small. The rusty gate guarding her living space was already open because her roommate, Joy, had not yet left for work. Ming and Joy live in a single room. If you were to set two queen sized beds next to each other, you would see exactly how big their room is. One half was filled with their bed, and the other half had a very tiny desk and a small wardrobe, leaving almost no walking space. The room was decorated very randomly with a few posters and funny figurines. They have no kitchen, and they have to share a bathroom down the hall with the rest of the floor. Even so, they seemed content, and were very hospitable. After hanging out at the apartment for a while we again went to the mall where Joy works. Again there were several of Ming's friends at Joy's shoe store, and we all took lots of pictures together!

I am so excited to have met Ming and her friends, and Windie back in Naning. Windie and Ming are both keeping in touch with me through email. It's pretty cool to hear what they do in there everyday lives, half a world away, and tell them what I'm up to over here. We may do many things differently, but when it comes down to it, we have a lot in common, being twenty-year-old girls trying to figure out what our places are in life and learning how to be adults. It's pretty cool to be able to share that with a couple girls on the other side of the world!

The night before we left China was spent packing. Bridget and I also managed to squeeze in one last stroll around the island. The next morning we left our hotel a something like 4:30. After meeting the other adoptive families, we all rode a bus to the airport and boarded the plane successfully. After switching planes in Tokyo, we continued our journey home. We arrived at the Sea-Tac airport at 8:30 Wednesday morning, April second. Funny thing is, our plane took off from China at 8:30 Wednesday morning, April second. Talk about time travel. Once again, we went trough security, customs, and immigration. The kids were great, stumbling along with their backpacks, doing their part to help out. After finding our baggage, we stepped on an escalator and rode it to the next floor where our welcoming party awaited! The Cody's were very happy to see their Grandpa, and I was so excited to see my mom, Bethany and Justin! After rounds of hugs they took our baggage from us, loaded it and us into vehicles and took us home!

Going to China was such an amazing experience, I can't wait to go back! Thank you for taking the time to read all these blogs, and for all your prayers.

Have a great evening!

jubilee