Our trip~

**I realize I haven't posted in a while, and I also realize that this post is super long! I'm guessing that at this point, only those most dedicated to us are reading anything here anymore, but that's ok with me. Glad to have all 2 of you aboard! :D **


Well, we've been home from our Shanghai/Hainan trip for a few days now, and things are returning to their normal Christmas season pace. We got home on Wednesday but were too tired to put the tree up that night, so we did it Thursday night. Nita is so fascinated by the tree and especially some of the ornaments on it. We got some snow yesterday to complete that holiday feeling, and Brant took the girls out to play in the snow earlier today. Both of our girls love to play in the snow!

I'm not sure how to define how our trip was. Some of it was fantastic, and some was super frustrating. We were able to get our paperwork in Shanghai done in super fast time, and so we had time to visit one of my favorite stores there - Ikea! We spent one night there in Shanghai in a Holiday Inn Express hotel. Then we flew down to Haikou the next evening.

Some friends of ours put us up while in Haikou, and they were at the airport waiting to take us to their home. We were so thankful for their generous hospitality! Haikou had that same fresh almost tropical smell about it that I remembered from the very first time we landed there over 6 years ago. The weather was awesome while we were there - not too hot but not cold either! We wore short sleeves much of the time that we were there. It was so nice to see the palm trees and flowers growing and feel the fresh breezes. Our hosts made our stay in their place so refreshing and comfortable, and the girls fell in love with them! We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with a number of American friends both old and new, and we also got to go out to eat a few times too. We visited our former teacher's house for a meal and had a good time catching up with her and her family. While we were there, Nita fell and got her first fat and bloody lip! She was ok after a little nap though. Our teacher lives on the 9th floor of an apartment overlooking a pretty little park/courtyard, and I took some pictures from their apartment. We also got to spend a little time with some other Chinese friends who started having babies just around the same time as we did, and it was fun to see our kids play and interact together.

Our trip home was where the frustration began. By the end of the last day, I was so ready to just get home again and catch up on sleep and recover from the bad cold I had caught. My cold was one of the worst I've had in quite a while, and it made the trip all the more miserable. We had a mix up on the date of one of our flights because it was so close to a midnight flight, so we ended up missing a connecting flight because of it. We ended up having to buy other tickets to get home because of the mixup! So instead of leaving late Sunday night, we stayed that night and left Haikou on Monday afternoon instead. The new tickets were with no layovers, so we expected to fly right home. But China does things a little different, and they add quick little layovers on flights without giving you much warning. So we ended up making a stop in a city called Xiamen. It was supposed to be a quick stop! Xiamen is right across the water from Taiwan, and it seemed like a very nice and modern city compared to most Chinese cities I've seen. After much waiting in the airport, it became obvious that we weren't going to fly that night. We had to wait and wait in the airport as the airline made arrangements and found our luggage, and then we headed to a hotel. We had no clue what the hotel would be like, but it ended up being quite a nice hotel - so thankful for that! We found out that we'd be leaving on a bus at 6:30 in the morning. We hurried down to sleep, and Brant and I got up in good time to be ready to go in time although we got a call in the morning saying to sleep a bit longer and that the bus wouldn't go until later. Then we got another call at 6:48 telling us the bus was leaving at 7:00! We scrambled down there in time, and soon we were on our way to the airport. We got on a flight and were so glad to be flying home even if it was a day late! As we were approaching our home city, there were some announcements, but they are very hard to understand if you're not super fluent in Chinese. Brant thought he had heard something about them having to circle around, and I figured it was because we had to wait to land. Then after a bit, we landed, and I was so glad to be home! We got off the plane and followed the crowd that was on our plane, but they all started sitting down here and there in the airport! Brant got a guys attention and asked him what was going on, and he informed us that we were NOT in our city, but rather in a city still far away from home! He said the fog is still bad in Shenyang, so we would have to sit and wait and see if the fog would lift so we could fly home. I had a sinking feeling about this! We waited and waited and waited in that airport in a city called Yantai in Shandong province. Finally we got the news that we'd be going to a hotel for the night. After more waiting, we boarded a bus and went to a hotel not near as nice as the night before. I was feeling pretty sick after a while that night and very cold too. Brant and Eden went out, and when they got back, he told me the room was so warm, but yet I was still feeling so cold! I went to sleep in my coat and under a thick blanket. Then I woke up later and of course was so hot! Let me tell you, that room was so warm! I slept good until about 3, and we were to go meet our bus at 5:40am. I had a little bout of morning sickness that morning since I hadn't been able to eat anything the night before - fun fun! Anyways, we left that hotel and were able to get on a plane, and we sincerely hoped that we'd be flying to our city that morning! Brant and I joked that we should ask the flight crew, "so, where are we going today?" Our plane went to my dearly desired destination that morning, and we landed in spite of it still being a bit foggy outside. We arrived to our home sweet home in good time after that, and we were all so glad to finally be home!

There were many other little things that happened on this trip that are hard to explain unless one is very familiar with culture shock. I can handle being out in the culture in little snippets here and there, but on the journey home, we were immersed in it for hour after hour, and it really wore on me. At one point, there were two guys sitting across from us just a little ways, and they were observing our little family like a tv show and commenting and laughing over this and that about us, and I just wanted to grab my girls and run and hide! I finally waved at the guys to give them a little reminder that we're actual for-real people. After that, we moved a little ways over so that there was a pillar between us and them. But we just couldn't escape all the people who were interested in observing the foreign family. It was just so frustrating that we were so intensely observed at a time when we were at our worst! I had a miserable cold, we all needed baths, and we were all tired and showing it!

Anyways, it's all behind us now, and I've been counting my blessings! It's just so nice to have a nice cozy home for our little family, and I've been sleeping very well, and my cold is much better now! The girls are rested up again and pretty cheerful, and Eden especially is so excited about the Christmas season! Brant is in the homestretch with his classes and will be done with this term right around the New Year. We had a wonderful time in Haikou, and it's been wonderful to be home again too!