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Our Trip
November 22, 2001 - Day Five: D-Day (Dad Day) minus four click HERE for Day Five Photos Questions for Ms. Foster's Classroom: How did you and your family celebrate Thanksgiving? What are two things you are thankful for? Can you say Ni Hao (pronounced: nee hao)? First, a major "Thank You" to Paige's niece Sarah, up on the tundra of northern Minnesota in Brainerd, for designing the website and for posting the daily updates. We have to imagine that a high school student has far more exciting things to do with her time than dealing with a couple of idiots like us. And also, in addition to a 1st grade class in St. Paul who are following along, one of Paige's Radio buddies, Luka, who does mornings at Q-102 in Cincinnati (in addition to living on the second floor. We think you've seen her before) is honoring National Adoption Month by having her listeners follow this little soiree' on the web. Go Bengals. Paige's Comments: Thanksgiving Greetings from Workers Paradise. We made it. We're here. We're in China. And now it's time to settle down to the business of Getting The Kid. But first… …last night we landed at Inchon Airport outside of Seoul at 6:30 p.m., deplaned, walked to an elevator and were in our room in about eight minutes. After a quick Cass (Korea's Budweiser) from the airport bar, I hit the pillow at 8 p.m. (2 a.m. in Los Angeles, where we started the day) and was out in seconds. We rolled out of bed at 6 a.m., checked out and went to the hotel restaurant that overlooks the concourse. Ann got a "smile face" stamped on her Adventuresome Eater Report Card by having a traditional Korean breakfast called Bi Bid Bam, which is a fried egg on a bed of mixed vegetables and rice. She slathered it in some nuclear-temped Korean hot sauce and ate it all with chop sticks. A pro. We then hit the internet plaza in the airport, which is essentially a free bank of computers for world travelers to send e-mails. Then we checked in at Asiana and took the elevator up to the First Class lounge. We enjoyed free food, free international phone calls, and killed some time waiting to board our flight to Beijing. We clearly stood out: us…surrounded by high-powered Asian business moguls with assistants and bodyguards, doing billion dollar deals in the lounge. I felt like I should have been outside, detailing their armored limos. It was Ann, me and one other guy in First Class on the Asiana 747 flight which got us across the West Sea to Beijing in just 90 minutes. First Observations Of China: ·
Rows and rows of vineyards as we came in to the airport. Wine in
China? Marginally Frightening Chinese Experience (MFCE) #1: Went through customs. First Ann, and with a flick of his head, then me. My passport disappeared behind the counter and out of my view. Clicking of keys and I saw him keep referring to info on his computer. The thought that flashed through my mind; in 12th grade, Mr. Gavin said that an "incident" in class was going to end up on my "permanent record". Oh no! Was I going to be grabbed and hustled onto the next flight out of the country? After a few tense moments, he handed me back my passport and gave the next person in line the Head Flick. Once through customs we entered the Waiting Hall where there were hundreds of people waiting for friends and family. We scanned the sea of hand-made signs, looking for our driver. Nothing. So we wheeled our cart, loaded down with luggage, off to the side and I started wandering through the crowd, looking for the driver dispatched by the adoption agency. (The rest of our group is arriving tomorrow, so our reception committee was going to be much more low-key.) After ten minutes, a guy who spoke pretty good English came over and asked where our driver was, and then said he'd take us in his cab. We put him off and continued to wait. He made another pass at us and I went, bought a phone card, and called the agency's "local guy" who assured me that the driver was on his way. When I rejoined Ann, the guy came up again. I said that it our driver wasn't there in ten minutes, fine, he could take us. He wandered away and out of the corner of my eye I saw him nod to three guys leaning against a wall, and point a thumb at us. They sauntered over, and took up casual positions on all sides of us. His next approach was much more aggressive and it was at that moment that our driver rescued us. And we QUICKLY hustled out of the terminal. We're both pretty savvy international travelers, and I just thought that he was an aggressive cab driver, trying to protect his fare…until we got outside and saw the extremely regimented system for how the cabs move in, get customers and move out. So I have no idea what the deal was, but it's nice to be in our Radisson room, getting set to go down stairs and have a Chinese Thanksgiving dinner. Four days to Sophia! Now, Ann can tell you about burning eyes and Paige And Ann's Excellent Adventure In The Market (soon to be a major motion picture.) Ann's Comments: I'll start where Paige left off first. That's if I can see. The air pollution is a bit…well…overwhelming. Not use to it so Visine has been my friend. When we arrived, it wasn't terribly bad - we could see the buildings, but as the afternoon turned to evening, the buildings became more engulfed in pollution. The sunset was incredible though…I guess one of the side benefits. Anyway…that's my only major challenge. The best part of today (after the Bi Bid Bam for breakfast) was visiting two shops and exploring the streets close to the hotel this afternoon. We went to a baby store that is kitty-corner to the hotel. I think we shocked the three women who were there. They greeted us in unison with "Ni Hao" (hello). Of course, we hadn't learned that word yet, so we simply said, Hello. Now we know our first greeting. We purchased three picture books for Sophia. One had cute pictures of common things like fruits, vegetables, and plants. Another had various airplanes and boats - recreational and war. And yet another featured weapons of mass destruction along with pictures of silks and a palette. We figured that we just couldn't get these unique picture books in the United States. Our next stop was the corner market where we wanted to purchase some bottled water (you can't drink any of the water here). We have to use the bottled water to brush our teeth; and to boil to make coffee and hot chocolate. We use anti-bacterial wipes to wash our hands. I put a bag over the faucet to remind us not to use to water. It's easy to forget - we take tap water for granted. Anyway…back to the market. There are various sections in the market, just like at Rainbow or Cub. The difference is that each section has people to wait on you and cashiers to pay. It would be as if the produce section at Rainbow had a service person and cashier. They bag your order and you pay right there. Then you'd go to the canned vegetable section, and they'd bag your order and you'd pay there. We're going to go back tomorrow now that we know how the market is set up. Today was just a gradual introduction for us. There are TONS of people on bicycles here. The people dart in front of cars and pedestrians - without a care for their life. Pedestrians do the same thing. Kind of unnerving to watch. We're going to videotape the intersection right in front of our hotel because it has amazed us that no one has been killed yet with the risks they take. People park their bicycles in different "parking" areas along the street. There is a special lane on the road for bicycles. What's cool about these bikes are that they are the one-speed ones that children ride. Typically they are black with a basket in the front, and they carry only one person. Other bicycles have an attached seat in back to carry a passenger. There are others that are completely enclosed that carry a couple of passengers (like rickshaws in the past, but which are no longer seen now). There are also people who ride bikes with an attached cart that is piled with stuff. For
Thanksgiving tonight we wanted to eat at the Chinese restaurant,
but it was closed. (We went down too early.) Instead we ate at the
café. Paige had a hamburger and I had pizza. It will definitely
be a Thanksgiving that we'll remember.
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