from Choosing to See by Mary Beth Chapman pg. 94
We made it to China! Oh my gosh, I'M IN CHINA! The flight was long, but all flights were smooth. Food was great on all flights except for Air China. Chris took a bite of a mystery meat sandwich and gagged! It was such a sight to see, I could not stop laughing. I have the giggles now over this as I write!
Our hotel is fabulous! We are staying at the Hilton in Xi'an. I have never stayed at a five star hotel (especially for a 3 star price) and it is NICE! We had a huge breakfast buffet this morning and breakfast is also included in our hotel price.DOUBLE WOW.
We've had some good laughs along the way. One thing we have noticed is Chinese men working up which sounds to be a really big lugey, and it seems totally acceptable socially! There's a lot of spitting. It sounds like Mimseigh when she gets all snorty! One unnerving thing in our hotel closet is two gas masks in case of emergency! Wow.
We just got back from the Bank of China exchanging 7K in 100 dollar bills into six times as many bills so we insisted we go back to the hotel to put it in our safe box since we won't be giving the money to the civil affairs office until tomorrow. No way did Chris want to walk around with that many bills. We are here in Xi'an with another family using Madison and they too exchanged their money. I was a hot mess of nerves, and at first the bank was questioning why we needed so much money! I know Shaanxi doesn't have a lot of adoptions, but still. It worked out fine with the other couple completing their transaction first.
We leave in about fifteen minutes to go meet Ellie! Our guide asked us if this was our first visit to China. We said yes. She asked if it was everything we imagined. I told her I couldn't even imagine what it would be like so I didn't try. I still can't believe I am in China.
