Our travel agent from Ottawa had wisely booked us on an early flight, that way if the weather was poor and we were delayed that we wouldn’t miss our flight to Beijing. Despite the snow and a de-icing delay we quickly arrived in Vancouver to await the next , much longer leg of our adventure.
We sat next to an area cordoned off as Santa’s workshop, where a volunteer presumably would come to take photos with airport visitors. Since it was empty, Todd and I snuck in and took a picture on Santa’s chair, knowing exactly what we wanted for Christmas this year.
Later, as we wandered around the airport to stretch limbs that would be cramped into an airline seat for 12 hours, I happened to notice a lady that I had seen in Edmonton. I noticed her because she had been wearing a fabulous pair of boots, and as I passed her in the airport corridor I stopped her and told her how much I liked them. I was surprised when she immediately asked“ Are you going to Beijing ?” . “We are --are you?” Turns out, not only was she also headed to Beijing, but was also on her way to adopt a little girl. We invited her to join us and we sat down and connected quickly over our shared adventures. We learned that she and her husband live in Edmonton and are the parents of 5 ( and soon 6) children, 4 of whom are their own , their youngest , a boy adopted from China about a year and a half ago. Last year, when her husband asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she told him, and here they were again, on their second adoption journey. All the more admirable as she was making the trip alone while her husband remained at home with their children. She was friendly and funny and I completely admired her and we visited until we boarded the plane.
We settled into our seats and tried to arrange ourselves the best we could for the long flight ahead. I couldn’t help but remember when we took Grayson on his first international flight and as we walked through the front of the plane he said, “ I’ll take that one,” pointing to a first class seat. We told him that not only could he not call shotgun on a plane, but that we were going to the back of the plane, B class he called it. You’d never seen such a disappointed kid in your life.
Perhaps because our expectations of Air Canada were so low to begin with, it was a surprisingly tolerable flight - not the space pods the first class passengers were enjoying, but comfortable nonetheless. Also not surprisingly, the majority of the passengers were chinese. Every once in a while we’d hear a baby cry or see a little chinese toddler walk past and I couldn’t help but think , that, in just a couple of days we’d have a little chinese toddler of our own.
We literally flew through space and time -- China being roughly 15 hours ahead of us -- so it was late Saturday evening when we arrived. We grabbed our bags and boarded a train with a tangle of people to another part of the airport.
As we stood in line at customs I looked up and saw the bright red neon signs: marked Chinese Nationals on one side and Foreigners on another.. For a moment I felt a tinge of panic and doubt. Here we were, foreigners, to take home one of their Chinese nationals. I hope we made it through security.
My ridiculous fears, as usual, were unfounded. We were met by Joan, our Chinese guide arranged through Children’s Bridge, our agency and ‘midwife’ who has helped us navigate the bureaucratic gestation process that is International adoption. We loaded our bags into a van and headed off to our hotel.
As we began our descent into Beijing, the flight captain told us the temperature ( 5 degrees) and that there was a ‘light mist’. That light mist, as it turned out was a dense pungent smog that explained the bumpy landing that we had experienced. Visibility was difficult and traffic was as thick and heavy as the smoke so it was a combination of strategic driving, prayer and crossed fingers that got us safely to our hotel.
We were at the Crowne Plaza in WaiFuJing, an area that Todd and I had remembered from our first trip to China to see his parents during their missionary service. While he remembered the street, I remembered the sights and smells, of skewered bugs, squid and even scorpions along a bustling night market. It was good to be back.
We had booked a suite to give us a little extra room and to accommodate my unique sleeping circumstances for my old rheumatic bones. We were tired and hungry so ordered room service, a combination of chinese, thai and italian dishes, ate quickly and dropped into bed by 8.
No comments:
Post a Comment