Hanna Had an Accident

We got an email from our adoption agency on Wednesday that Hanna had a bicycle accident last weekend and her foot was hurt pretty bad.  We received a photo of the injury and for the sake everyone else we will not include it.  They are treating the injury well, but I have doubts she can even wear shoes with the abrasion.  It's a pretty deep scrape.  I hate to think we will deal with cleaning this wound on top of our getting to know one another, but we will be patient and of course do what is best for her.  Now that work is over, its really sinking in that I am about to meet our daughter for the first time.  It's an amazing feeling.

The past few days in Beijing- 3 days to Gotcha day!

Vince and I have had a wonderful time in the big city, but must admit we have had a hard time adjusting to the time zone differences.  I didn't have as much trouble the last visit.  Vince explored the city solo on Wednesday.  He met a friend named Jack from Hong Kong who was on holiday and they toured together and went to a traditional tea house for tea.  He bought 3 bins of tea!  And he thinks I am buying too much!  Here are some pictures of his exploration.

While Vince is touring I have been productive working with my Beijing collegues and visiting the silk market after work.  What an amazing place.  The photos below are of me and my colleague eating a traditional chinese breakfast, my new friends at the silk market and Vince and I enjoying a brew after a long day of work and shopping.

The last picture is just too funny not to include.  This was in the tunnel to cross the street below the highway.  Funny thing is, I went in this same tunnel daily during my last trip in March to walk to our office and never noticed it, but Vince sure did because he nearly knocked his head on the sign!

We tour the Great Wall of China tomorrow, as well as Summer Palace, Forbidden City and Tiananmen square.  It's a packed day of tours that starts at 7:30 AM.  Then we leave early Sunday for Hangzhou.  I will try to update the blog, but adding pictures is proving to be a challenge.  Miss you all!

FYI on Photos

We are discovering that updates are only allowed via our Blackberry. Blogging is being blocked so picture updates maybe few and far between.  For now, here are a few.  The cake was provided by our hotel for Vince's birthday.  What a nice surprise!  They realized it once making a copy of our passports.  The other two are of the views from our hotel.   Brandi is off to work for the day and I am off to explore the city.

 

Arrived

We have made it to Beijing. Fourteen hour flights are a piece of cake. UAL flight 897 took us North over Montreal, Greenland and over the North Pole. (Santa was not seen as the cloud deck was blocking visability.) We continued through Siberia , Mongolia and into Beijing. Glad to be back on the ground with plenty of reduced weight luggage in tow. Its work for Brandi this week and exploring for Vince with official tours scheduled on Saturday.

Next stop Beijing

We are in Dulles awaiting boarding. Next stop Beijing. All the madness of this morning has passed and we are on time for departure.

We love United and TSA

Our journey started this morning at 3am. Up and out the door with a hug and kiss for Davis. We arrive at RDU to be greeted by the ever personable kiosk. After three attempts to check in .... Success! Only to find out that UAL was so happy that our luggage was 5 and 7 pounds over limit. A quick rearrange saved us $400.00. Now it is 5:25 and the mad rush is on to clear security. 35 minutes later we are screened with a dash to the gate for our 6:10 departure. We arrived just in time to wave at the pilot from the terminal. After missing the flight we learn the next flight leaves at 10:13 so we are advised to go check in again outside of security and start the mayhem over again. We're loving the Monday morning staffing for United. Rebooked at no charge,surprisingly, and headed into security,again! By 6:50 the TSA is showing signs of being a well oiled machine and we cruise right through. So instead of killing time in Dulles we are twiddling thumbs in RDU but we take comfort in knowing we are not a terrorist threat after being screened twice.... Breakfast, Starbucks and a shoeshine, that can use as a mirror, later we are only an hour away from boarding.