The plane was a really nice 737 China airline. We were the only white people on the plane. Everyone else was Chinese. We only mentioned that because we have been noticing how much people stare at us and then when we catch them, they quickly look away. They might be noticing Larkin's blonde hair because it really sticks out here. The flight was only 1.5 hours to Wuhan and we could really feel our excitement building every time we saw or heard Wuhan because that meant we were getting closer to Mila. We noticed on the plane that they pronounce it Ooo-han instead of Wuu-han like we thought it was.
The airport we landed at in Wuhan was a little different. The plane did not park at a gate. Instead we had to go down steps and get on a bus to ride to the terminal. But once we got inside, our bags came out really quickly and we were on our way. Just as before, another guy, this one named Charlie, was waiting for us with a sign. I guess he knew who we were without having to ask because we were literally the only white people in the entire airport. Definitely more immersed in Wuhan than we were in Beijing.
Charlie turned out to be the sweetest guy possible. He told us that a lot of Chinese people really read and study a lot about America and dream of going there some day. He said he liked reading stories about Native Americans and really lit up when we told him we are from Delaware because he knew that was named after an Indian tribe. They learn a lot about us through our movies and when Bobby talked about making spacesuits, he was able to relate because he had just watched the movie Gravity. The ride was about 1.5 hours from the airport to the hotel (a lot of traffic in the city) so we had time to talk about many things. We had noted right away before even landing that the smog in Wuhan is every worse than in Beijing. It just looks really bad hear with a constant cloud of gas hanging in the air. He said he really likes when it rains because it clears out the air and then they get 1 day of blue sky after before it fogs up again. We kid you not the sky is just constantly grey here and you can't see the sun at all. We talked to Charlie a lot about our adoption. He has worked with many families adopting as well. We learned about China's one child policy and he explained that he already has one child and that to have another he would be heavily taxed (6 times his annual salary). But he said despite this, he longs to have a little girl and he has been trying to convince his wife to have another kid despite having to pay the tax. Now that is devotion! He got really quiet when we showed him a picture of Mila and he commented about how he thought it was really great what we are doing. Any ways, we really appreciated the time with him because we feel like it gave us a look into the time of world Mila is coming from.
Wuhan is a pretty rough place. The city is fairly run down from what we could tell. There are a lot of abandoned buildings that are just half finished. There are a lot of really bad looking apartment high-rises where people live. The traffic is really bad and we just get this different feeling here then we did in Beijing. And of course there is the horrible pollution constantly over the city. It made us feel a little better thinking that we are rescuing Mila out of this world and bringing her home. This is really making us appreciate what we have at home and we will never take our house, car, or city for granted again. The hotel we are in, however is one of the nicer ones we can see. Its considered a 5 star hotel and it is very nice. When we walked into the room, it was a little "out of body experience" to know that Mila would be here with us the next day.
We met our in-city guide for Lotus in the hotel lobby. Her name is Lily too! We are starting to think Chinese people like to use that American name. Lily introduced herself and told us the other family adopting from Wuhan, the Beikers, were already in their room and that we could go up and meet them. She also said that she would be back to get us at 8:50 in the morning to go meet Mila. Time for the real freakout to begin!!!
The Beikers are a super nice family from Oregon that we had already connected with on Facebook and knew that they would be here to adopt their daughter too. The mom, Allizon, dad, Michael, and two sons decided not to come to Beijing first so they flew into Hong Kong on Saturday and then strait to Wuhan. So when we saw them, they were still really feeling the jet lag. It was so nice to be able to talk to them thought because they can totally identify with what we are feeling. We are sure they will be a valuable asset through the week as we are here. Their daughter is 2.5 like Mila too.
For dinner, Charlie told us that there was a shopping mall a few blocks away so we headed there to find some cheap food. It was kind of weird on the walk there with all of the pollution and people staring at us on the street. There were some street vendors selling food from carts like in NYC but there is definitely less English here than in Beijing. We were rewarded with our walk because we totally found something that would comfort any American in distress...a Wally World! Yes folks, they are Walmarts here in China. So naturally we had to go check it out. It was very weird. Some parts of it were familiar like the signs and lay out of the store (it was underground btw) but other parts were weird like the huge alive seafood section up front. The store was very crowded and hectic. We found a case of bottled water and a few other goodies and decided to get out of there. On the way home, we stopped to eat at a KFC. It was also very crowded. I asked the girl at the counter if she spoke English and she just grabbed the manager. He tried to say a few words to me but he was very difficult to understand. He kept asking me "on the side?" which I though he was asking what sides I wanted but I finally figured out he was asking if we were eating in the restaurant or taking it to go (we think he was truing to say "inside?" but was saying "on the side?"). It is weird because they have these two Chinese popstars advertising the chicken so their pictures are all over the restaurant.
Anyways, needless to say we have finally made it here. Tomorrow is the big day and we are already planning on no sleep tonight. We have a million things going through our heads and we're sure that will all be flipped upside down when we get our precious little one tomorrow!!!
