Ni Hao from Nanjing City, China

Ni Hao from Nanjing!  I survived the 15 hour flight from NYC to Shanghai and all the other (3 to be exact) flights, and finally arrived at my hotel around midnight Saturday night (noon Saturday to you).  To say I was exhausted is an understatement - I took a hot shower, two tylenol pm and then slept 12 hours.  YES! That is exactly what I needed after my crazy 28 hour travels with no sleep!  

The China Eastern flight to Shanghai was PACKED - we were in there like sardines, and hot sardines at that.  We were so close together that I constantly had someone touching me - I was in the back row in a middle seat.  The man who sat to my right was from Shanghai and knew about 30 words of English.  Poor guy, he tried so hard to hold a conversation, but we really couldn't make it work.  The people on the other side of me didn't seem to speak English at all.  Actually there were only 3 - 4 non-Asians on the entire flight - it was so different from the Delta flights I am use to taking to China. 

Thank goodness for a Nook, a computer and an IPOD (all of which had run out of battery life by the end of the 15 hours!), because without them I would have lost my mind!!  When I first got on the flight and realized that we were slam packed and there were no TV's on the flight I nearly lost it.  Tears welled in my eyes and I really wondered how I was going to make it through 15 hours of this without a panic attack or two.  Whenever I felt panic'd by the claustrophobic conditions I would just put my Ipod on and my sleep mask (stick your head in the sand theory in practice) and then I'd listen to Christian music as loud as I could without bothering those around me.  

In case you haven't noticed from other posts and past adoption trips, I get a lot out of music - a calmness and a feeling of peace and safety came from the music on the plane.  The first two songs that I heard on my Ipod (during my first panic) were "Be Still and Know" and "Follow You".  Here are a few of the lyrics, and you can see why it really did calm me - almost like He was there talking to me directly. 

Be Still and Know

Let the noise and clamor cease
Be still and know that He is God
Be still and know that He is faithful
Consider all that He has done
Stand in awe and be amazed 

Follow Me

All my needs you have supplied.
When I was dead you gave me life.
How could I not give it away so freely?

And I'll follow you into the homes that are broken.
Follow you into the world.
Meet the needs for the poor and the needy God.
Follow you into the World.

After the longest flight EVER, one fun thing is that I had two different young girls stop me in the Shanghai airport - they each seemed interested/curious, and definitely seemed excited to practice their English.  The first one to stop me was so sweet - I really felt a bit sad when she had to go a different direction; she spoke really well and was the first person I had held a conversation with in nearly a full day!  Later I met two American men who were on a business trip to Nanjing, so again, I relished speaking to someone!  

Finally I was to my hotel, and zonked until what was noon on Sunday (midnight Saturday for you).  Below are a few photos from my hotel window.  My guide told me that this area is very safe, so I think later today I will go take a little walk and look around.  It appears that there are some open markets near, so I may go see what those are like, I also heard there is a mall a few blocks away with a Starbucks in it.  Oh thank you God!! :-)  There is an American ice cream shop below us (can't remember which one she told me) and also a few good restaurants (good restaurants - not the KFC shown below).

Most important news of the day - there are four children being adopted from the Nanjing City orphanage tomorrow, and my sweet Gabe Zi Qian is of course one of them.  We will receive the children tomorrow afternoon - all four families at once.  I am so excited!!  My guide met Gabe a few weeks ago and said that he is very sweet and smart.  I just can't wait - only 24 hours from now I will be a momma again!!