OK, so I am way, way behind in posting but for my own sake I am going to post a bit on each day I missed in China.
On monday 11/2 it was a very quiet day. Dina's flight kept getting delayed so it was pretty much me and noah all day. We did a lot of walking the island, quite a bit of shopping and hanging out in the room. Noah had been testing...alot. It is very hard to be firm and correct some of his behaviors when we are in the dining room, park, bus, restaurant so this morning I decided to spend some time in the room and just let him tantrum when he felt the need. This way I had some control and could just let him scream a bit when he needed to. Well it worked very well and I think we both felt a bit better after getting that off our chests and then were able to enjoy the day together. I found out today that Noah seems to have Excellent Gross motor skills, even was able to kick a moving ball when we played in the hallway!
Dina ended up getting in at about 7pm or so at night after spending 6 hours on the runway in Beijing d/t weather!
OK, Tuesday...Off to breakfast, was so nice to have another person there so I could get refills on drinks etc when needed. We did some exploring around the island this day and it was really nice to have someone else to photograph and video the scenes. Dina is sending me the photos on a disk and the video and I will include it later on.
We ended up having an early lunch since today was our day to go with Ann from Red Thread China. She is the one who assisted us with sending care packages to Noah during the wait to get to china. She is a spitfire!! For 20 dollars US she took us to the wholesale markets for Pearls, Jade and Silk! She kept telling us how easy we were since I pretty much had a list of what I wanted to get. We hit the Pearl market first and frankly I thought after that I would be limiting my spending quite a bit....wrong! The pearl market is where I spent most of the money that day, but I got a LOT of stuff in the silk market including some traditional clothes for the kids, and some things for me too! I know Dina took photos so I will try to include them as the inside of this HUGE mall was just lights and floors and floors of wholesale stores. We really had to hustle to keep up with Ann, she's tiny and very fast!
Two hours later we were back to the hotel for a brief rest before hitting the stores on the island...so much more fun to shop with a partner!
That night we returned to the Thai restaurant for some filet and some pad thai.
After Noah went to bed (at least I think it was that night) Dina picked up some local beer for us to sample while we watched a movie and we had a bit of a slumber party.
OK, Wednsday....we had really, really wanted to visit the Qing Ping Market in Guangzhou. This was off the Island and both of us had seen the market on shows such as Anthony Bourdoin, Bizarre foods with Andrew Zimmerman and Samantha (cant remember her name) from the travel Channel. We were pretty gung ho to find those scary foods such as starfish and scorpian's on a stick...especially Dina! We walked and walked, found lots of small pools FULL of live scorpians, snakes, turtles and other "edibles"
Even found some turtles hanging out to dry (they have VERY long necks). We also found the Pet market- contrary to what you may think, this really is a pet market as the dogs, cats, fish etc were along side, dog beds, dog food, fish tanks etc. Either that or they really tried hard to cover up the real purpose of these animals.
I know I mentioned that Noah LOVES dogs, well, one day I must have been looking at one of his little books with him and I told him the sound a dog makes, I didnt go overboard, just mentioned it a few times.
So....if the sight of two white woman with a chinese boy isnt enough to draw attention to us, as soon as Noah spots a dog...and there were MANY, he started this really high pitched barking...we were cracking up! Dina did manage to get some on video and be both said "so much for blending in" (as if we could!). Noah barked and barked, and barked....when he saw another animal such as a bird or cat (there were cats walking around everywhere there) he made a sound that I can only describe as being a Siren...really, really loud! Again pointing out "LOOK AT US!" All we needed was a huge blinking Arrow pointing down at us...we were quite the side show that morning! The market was huge and we just wandered for awhile. Dina had us go down some small alleys thinking this is where we would find the "good stuff" but no luck!
That afternoon we did some more shopping and ended up eating dinner with some other families at this really good Cantonese restaurant.
One of the other families had offered some holistic alternative to "calm" Noah so we were ready to try that out to see if it would help with the anxiety of the plane.
Before dinner though we wanted to try benadryl to see what type of effect it had on him. We figured it would really make him crazy, or knock him out. Better to find out now than on the plane right?
So...there we are at dinner, sampled some delicious food, best so far, Dina and I even tried chicken feet! Though both of us stated there was no way we were eating the pad of the foot...it was pretty much just rubbery with a ton of small bones and tendons. Nothing horrible, nothing fantastic, but since we never found our scorpian's on a stick this would have to do!
I was mentioning to Dina that I didnt think the Benadryl was working when Dina cued me to look at Noah...whoa. His eyes were glazed and I could only think he looked...stoned? We had a very peaceful dinner and I got to enjoy my food for the first time...and I thought the flight could be manageable!!
On Thursday we wanted to find a restaurant that ann had recommended. she said it was where the Locals on the island ate and we would get good, cheap, authentic food. Off we went with another family, up 5 flights of stairs...yes 5 flights! to a small "restaurant" The food was really good and it cost less than 9 dollars total for the 7 of us to stuff ourselves, and there were leftovers! This was definately a highlight of the trip and we felt like we finally got to sample some real local Cantonese food!
We just laid low this day, got some laundry done...I laid out all my purchases...gulp! I then went and for 15 dollar purchased another suitcase! That evening at dinner, Dina and I were delighted to find out we still had a tone of Chinese yuan left!! More shopping!
Of course this was the first night Noah had trouble sleeping...an omen I find out!
Friday our wakeup call was at 4:30am...the car ride to the airport was fine and we did the benadryl at the airport. Noah did fall asleep while waiting to get on the plane, screamed a good chunk of the flight to Beijing, and then the real fun began!
Dina got everything edible taken from her carryon during the checkpoint...this included our meal bars, noahs gerber puffs, Noah's formula!! We JUST made our flight after running through the airport...and then...well what can I say about the flight...it was 13 hours, it was my worst nightmare and then some, but it's over now and someday I will think back and laugh...Ummm..No, I dont think so. There was a lot of crying on both parts and we spent most of the flight standing in the back of the plane. There were many, many kind people of all nationalities on the flight that were very helpful to me offering me beverages, blankets and places to sit. Most importantly was Dina who I never, ever could have done this without!! Even so, I WILL NOT be flying again anytime soon!
So...the happy part of our day....when we finally arrived at the Rochester airport to all of our family...I could have have been more suprised by the obvious love and empathy displayed by Ephram and Frances. Noah just ate it up! It brought tears to my eyes (still does). There you have it!! So, I was going to hold from publishing this post until I get the photos/video from Dina but I may just add them later (or not) at least it's documented!
In conclusion, I would really like to say again how thankful we are to everyone who emailed me privately, posted, or just prayed and supported us while we were gone and to all my online friends who have been going through this process with me...I NEVER would have made it through any of this without you! This was a wonderful, crazy experience and I can confidently say now that not only was it well worth it, but that Noah was meant to be part of our family!
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