China Day Nine -- On to Wuhan!

Savannah trying out the boiled chicken foot at our Wuhan
restaurant

Today we left Beijing and headed off for the real adventure of this trip -- our adoption of sweet Minsy. I had thought that I had requested a 9:30 train ticket for us to take out of Beijing, but when our guide from Lotus showed up to take us to The Great Wall last week she brought tickets for 7 am. That meant that we needed to leave super early today. I had arranged for our hotel to get two cabs to pick us up at 5:30. Luckily I had gotten all the packing done yesterday so we basically just woke up and headed to the front of the hotel.

It is a bit more of a process to check out of a Chinese hotel than we normally encounter when leaving a hotel in the US. The problem was made worse because it was so early, so their staff wasn't quite prepared to check us out. The housekeeper had to inspect both rooms before they could give us the go ahead to leave.

While we were going through this process Cab Driver #1 showed up. I should have known that something was wrong when he came flying into the parking lot, almost taking Katie out in the process. He jumped out of the car and immediately started yelling at us in Mandarin. This fellow, who I will now call Fred for the sake of simplicity, obviously had skipped his morning coffee. He was irate. We just sat there staring at him as he threw a giant hissy fit right there in the parking lot of the Days Inn. I know that we are told over and over that we are supposed to make sure that the Chinese do not lose face, so we are to be respectful always, but at that moment I was tempted to either give Fred a big slap across the face or shoot him with a tranquilizer gun to help him relax. We just sat there and smiled at him because we could not believe this was happening. That probably ticked him off even more.

It seemed that he was upset that there were so many of us with our luggage. We explained that we were taking more than one cab, but that didn't appease him. He yelled at us. He yelled at the security guard. He yelled at the bellboy. He yelled at the lady at the front desk.

We packed the girls and half of our luggage into the cab. I was getting ready to jump in front when the hotel clerk called me back inside so that she could run my credit card again. Well apparently this sent Fred into a higher level of anger. I missed all of the excitement, but when I got outside Fred was gone. Herman explained that Fred had had the mother of all freak outs and was forcefully demanding that Herman or me get into the cab. At that point Herman had had enough. After all, Fred was working for us, not the other way around. So Herman grabbed the luggage, told the girls to get out of the cab, and sent Fred on his way. This really ticked Fred off, and he squealed his tires as he tore off. Another experience for us to have while in China.

Now that Fred was gone we had a problem. We needed to get to the train station, but we had no cab. It was still super early so cabs weren't running regularly through the city. The hotel called new ones for us. It took them forever to arrive. In the meantime I was getting more and more nervous. I didn't know what to expect at the train station, so I wanted to arrive early.

Our two cabs arrived pretty soon, and we were on our way. These two drivers were super nice, thank goodness. Our cab driver listened to some sort of Chinese comedy station as we drove. That was kind if interesting. We were so happy that these two cabbies were nice that we tipped them generously when we arrived at the station.

With our luggage unloaded and the cabbies gone we headed to the train station entrance. We had no real idea what to do. I was assuming it would be a similar process to what occurs with trains in the US. I was tip of the spear for this, so I led the way in. I just followed a group of Chinese who had also just arrived and did what they did. Luckily for us, the security wasn't too rigorous. It made our entry into the station smooth.

Luckily there was enough English on the arrival/departure boards that we could tell where we needed to be to board the train. We headed to that waiting room and got in line. I have never, ever felt so under a microscope as I did as our family made the long walk through the large waiting area to where people were beginning to line up for boarding. We were definitely the only foreigners there. We stood out for that reason, but also because there were eight of us, each of us carrying a backpack while dragging a carryon bag behind. No one else in the place had nearly as much luggage with them. Everyone, EVERYONE, stared at us and got silent as we passed. It was unnerving to say the least. We just smiled and said "Ni Hao" to everyone as we passed, and eventually things returned to normal.

As we waited for boarding to begin we spoke to each other, wondering if we were doing this right. The man standing in front of me turned around and spoke in perfect English. He told me just how to read my ticket and what to do. Bless him! I was so grateful for his help. Since the rail station didn't really have as many foreign passengers as you would find at the airport, they weren't really set up to help us out.

We made it on the train without problems. We got first class soft seats because they were so inexpensive. It was so nice to have room to spread out during the ten hour ride. We were in the very last seats on the very last car of the train. It worked wonderfully for us because we didn't disturb anyone on our journey.

Herman and Spencer relaxing on our train to Wuhan

This train did not even attempt to cater to any special language needs we might have. They offered no translation of anything. As the workers came by they would say something to us in Chinese, and we would just smile and nod in return. They didn't try to use hand signals or anything to communicate with us. But it was just fine. The ride was smooth without any issues at all.

It was interesting to see the Chinese countryside as we passed. We got to see a bit of rural life in China. There were farms all through the countryside. I thought it was interesting that I never saw any farm equipment, not even a small tractor. It was simply men and women working the land by hand as they have done for thousands of years. I saw men carrying crops on their backs from the fields to carts on the side of the road. Then they would wheel the cart wherever it needed to go. Interesting to see. It made the train trip worth it for me.

We really enjoyed the extra room to relax.

I took the opportunity on the trip to rest after a busy week in Beijing. It was a very quiet train. At one stop a little boy and his mom got into the seats in front of us. JoJo kept saying hello to him and giving him little gifts. A few stops later they got off, but the little boy went back to JoJo's seat to say goodbye and give him some candy. Awe! JoJo was asleep, though. But I understood the mom as she told her son to just give the candy to JoJo's brother. Hurray! I really think that with some immersion I could figure out this language -- eventually.

After ten hours we eventually arrived in Wuhan. We had no idea what to do when we arrived. There seemed to be several exits to the Wuhan station. We walked to what looked like the main exit and stood there. We knew we were supposed to meet our agency rep at the station, but we didn't see anyone looking for us. We decided to just huddle together and see what happened. I was just getting ready to walk the parameter of the station when a security guard came up to us and held a sign saying "Welcome Blau Family.". Our guide wasn't allowed inside the station without a ticket, so she was standing at the edge looking in. We were obviously who she was looking for, a family of eight looking lost, so she couldn't miss us.

Shirley is our guide who will walk us through the first stage of the adoption. She is wonderful. She led us to the big bus that the agency hired to drive us around. Then they drove us to our hotel. Wuhan traffic seems crazier than the traffic in Beijing. There aren't as many walkers and bicycle riders weaving in and out of traffic, but the cars seem to be completely nuts. But Mr. Chen, our driver, got us there.

With Shirley before check-in at the White Rose Hotel

Shirley checked us in, and then she left us so we could go to our room. We'd meet her again tomorrow for Gotcha Day!

We are staying at the White Rose Hotel in Wuhan. It is very nice, much nicer than our Beijing hotel. I couldn't figure out how to work half of the electronic items in the room. The nicest thing about this hotel was that the rooms are much larger than the ones we had in Beijing so we weren't on top of each other. That keeps things more organized and relaxed.

With the bellhop at the White Rose Hotel

After we got settled we headed out to find something to eat. The traffic around the hotel is very busy and crazier because there is a lot of construction nearby. We decided to stick to the same side of the block and find a local place to eat at.
I think we turned the wrong direction from our hotel because we were walking through a district with lots of shops that seemed like auto repair shops. But after walking a bit we found a nice policeman who interpreted our sign language question and directed us to a local restaurant.

Hyrum working with his learner chopsticks

I don't know what the name of this place was because it was written in Chinese. We had no idea what sort of food they served. We sat down at a table and were handed a menu. It was entirely in Chinese without translation or pictures. It was so funny to see the staff there. We were an unusual group -- maybe the only large American family they had ever served. So while the one lady tried to take our order, there was a group of four others standing right beside her and laughing at her as she tried to communicate with us. I'll bet it was funny for them to see. She spoke to us entirely in Chinese, and we just smiled in return. Finally we just pointed at the menu and said "boo la" which Shirley told us meant 'not spicy.' We had the restaurant just bring us something good. At least we hoped so. They went away and soon brought us a variety of dishes. They were delicious. I think it was the best food I've had in China. I'm not sure if the rest of the family feels the same.

Trying out the new foods at our Wuhan restaurant

Laney trying out the chicken foot

As we ate the staff stood around our table and watched us eat to see if we liked it. Most of the time this wasn't a problem. We tried and liked it well enough. However there was a soup dish that they put in the very middle of or table. It was placed over a hot burner to keep it hot. It was a thicker chicken broth with chunks of chicken in it. The chicken pieces were just as if a whole chicken had been chopped and added, bones, skins, and all. As the staff watched on Herman reached in and pulled out a giant chicken foot. It was totally unexpected. None of us have ever seen anything like it before, so we all gasped in horror. Herman quickly told us that we needed to be careful and not offend the restaurant as they watched. He explained that in Brazil this was considered a delicacy, and when it was served to you by a family they were giving you a great honor. So he asked us to overcompensate to make the staff think we were highly pleased and loved the chicken foot. So we proceeded to pass it around the table and take a nibble, all while putting on our biggest happy face. It was not my favorite thing ever, but the waitress managed to explain that eating this would make me beautiful, and I could always use help in that area.

Boiled chicken foot -- Yum!

We left after having a great meal. It was a fun restaurant full of happy people who treated us well. We survived our first outing in Wuhan without a problem.

The family at the restaurant with the super nice waitress

Once we returned to the hotel we headed for bed. I worked to get things ready for our Gotcha Day tomorrow. I'm not really nervous at all. Instead I kind of feel the same way I did right before my younger babies were born. I walked through our hotel rooms and looked at each of my children, thinking about who they are and how the events of tomorrow would change the dynamics if the family. These changes have always been for the best, but they are changes nonetheless. Our family will never be the same again. But I know that this is what we are supposed to be doing. I hope that I am up for the challenge. I hope that I have enough love inside me to help our little Minsy grow up happy and confident, knowing that she has a family who loves her so much that we traveled halfway around the planet to find her.

Tomorrow is the day we've worked toward for the past 15 months. I can't believe it has arrived. I hope I can sleep tonight.