We're on our way home!
We survived the first leg of our trip, and right now we are in the Tokyo airport! After a very early morning wake-up call, we flew out of Guangzhou, China at 9:00 a.m. and are connecting through Japan.
The past two days have been simultaneously long and a whirlwind. On Wednesday we took our oath at the US Consulate. On Thursday we toured around a bit on our own.
Although we were discouraged from leaving the island of Shamian, where our hotel was, we had island fever, so we disobeyed. We took a ferry across the Pearl River, and it was a highly different experience. On Shamian Island, every fourth person is carrying a baby that they are adopting. Everyone is preparing their final paperwork for Citizenship and Immigration. Once we stepped foot off the other side of the bridge, it was like they had never seen Westerners before. The stares were thick, and everyone was a little dumbfounded by the Chinese baby in our arms.
On Thursday afternoon we received Orli's visa. Outside of that, all we needed to do was get on the plane, which we are rather happy to say that we did.
The flight from China to Japan was…interesting. Although this was actually Orli's second flight of the trip, the first one was short and she slept most of the way. This one offered us a bit more chance to be the annoying couple on the plane with the screeching baby. :) With the generous help of the two Chinese women behind us and one Japanese couple, Orli's crying was cut short, and like I said, we survived. We were also in good company, since there were a few other adopted (and crying) babies on this flight.
Now it's time for the big leg home--10 hours from Tokyo to Los Angeles. But for now, Orli is sitting in a large leather chair in the Admiral's Lounge, surrounded by businessmen who seem to be talking about very important things, and working on their laptops. Meanwhile, she is working on her stacking cups and chewing on her stuffed monkey--but she does look very distinguished in the big leather chair, :)
So as you read this (assuming you're not up at midnight), we are somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. Thank you so much for joining us on this rather incredible journey of ours. We'll continue to update the blog on a sporadic basis as our lives begin to take shape in Sunny Southern California.
Lots of love and blessings from Corey, Ted, and Orli Jia-Mei.
We survived the first leg of our trip, and right now we are in the Tokyo airport! After a very early morning wake-up call, we flew out of Guangzhou, China at 9:00 a.m. and are connecting through Japan.
The past two days have been simultaneously long and a whirlwind. On Wednesday we took our oath at the US Consulate. On Thursday we toured around a bit on our own.
Although we were discouraged from leaving the island of Shamian, where our hotel was, we had island fever, so we disobeyed. We took a ferry across the Pearl River, and it was a highly different experience. On Shamian Island, every fourth person is carrying a baby that they are adopting. Everyone is preparing their final paperwork for Citizenship and Immigration. Once we stepped foot off the other side of the bridge, it was like they had never seen Westerners before. The stares were thick, and everyone was a little dumbfounded by the Chinese baby in our arms.
On Thursday afternoon we received Orli's visa. Outside of that, all we needed to do was get on the plane, which we are rather happy to say that we did.
The flight from China to Japan was…interesting. Although this was actually Orli's second flight of the trip, the first one was short and she slept most of the way. This one offered us a bit more chance to be the annoying couple on the plane with the screeching baby. :) With the generous help of the two Chinese women behind us and one Japanese couple, Orli's crying was cut short, and like I said, we survived. We were also in good company, since there were a few other adopted (and crying) babies on this flight.
Now it's time for the big leg home--10 hours from Tokyo to Los Angeles. But for now, Orli is sitting in a large leather chair in the Admiral's Lounge, surrounded by businessmen who seem to be talking about very important things, and working on their laptops. Meanwhile, she is working on her stacking cups and chewing on her stuffed monkey--but she does look very distinguished in the big leather chair, :)
So as you read this (assuming you're not up at midnight), we are somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. Thank you so much for joining us on this rather incredible journey of ours. We'll continue to update the blog on a sporadic basis as our lives begin to take shape in Sunny Southern California.
Lots of love and blessings from Corey, Ted, and Orli Jia-Mei.
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