Touch Down Shanghai!!!

I remember over the last 2 years, there are things that I have that still smell of China. I keep them sealed up in baggies and when I open them I just pause as I feel I am back there again. Well, that is the first thing I noticed upon stepping off of the plane today, the smell of China, WE ARE IN CHINA!!! I am not sure I can put it into words what it feels like this time. It is different. Our first trip everything was so new, it was so overwhelming. This time it felt so, well, normal. Almost as if I was coming home in a way, if that makes any sense at all. Because I have now gone almost 72 hours with no sleep, and so I may make no sense in this post! It just did not feel so different to get off that plane today, it just felt natural. I am where I am supposed to be at this moment right now. The land of my daughters.

If I never get on another plane in my life I will be ok with that. Of course I have 4 more flights to go this month, all with Mavery. I have decided that a 14 hour flight is way more comparable to childbirth than it gets credit for. Except they don't have epidurals on the plane, believe me, I looked for anything to put me out of my misery. That plane ride is exactly like birth in the fact that you remember it was bad, but exactly how bad it is, fades away till you are doing it again. I just don't like flying. It is so unnatural, a big old plane being that far up in the air for FOURTEEN HOURS! This time we flew coach on American Airlines, last time we flew China Southern business class. I honestly think we had the same amount of room as before, which is not alot. I enjoyed the movie selection better this time, and the fact that they had pizza for lunch today. But it really is just a miserable flight. I could not sleep, how do you all sleep? My friend Renee told me last week she slept the ENTIRE flight. Her husband had to wake her in Beijing. Mark BEGGED me to sleep! ;0) And it was bumpy, VERY bumpy for the first 6 hours and then some after. About 4 hours in I was done, I could not imagine how I was going to make it. And Mark is no help, turns on his headphones and is gone. And most of the flight I had the Mama Mia soundtrack stuck in my head, so I am bouncing around (from turbulence, not dancing) and those silly songs are going through my head and I am thinking how stupid I was saying just a few days earlier how a 14 hour plane ride sounded heavenly. But we made it and at least the plane did stay IN the air! And landed 1/2 hour early so that was good.

We were in a row of 4 and sat next to this sweet older chinese couple. They asked why we were going and we told them and they wanted to see pictures of the kids. Their english was not so great, and obviously I know nothing in Chinese so we had lots of fun talking in hand gestures, smiles and hugs! They had a grand old time making fun of Mark eating with chopsticks and us trying to say the cities of where we were going. ;0)

We were met at the airport by our guide for Shanghai named BoBo. She is young and so sweet and I think we are going to have lots of fun with her this weekend. She was trying to teach us chinese, and gave us directions on the 4 steps to take when we eat at the dumpling house tomorrow. All I remember is you have to kiss your dumpling. I told her we would try really hard not to embarrass her, but no promises.

We were surprised on our drive to the hotel how much calmer the traffic seemed here in Shanghai compared to last time. But we either just had a calm driver or a good day, more on that in my next post.

Our hotel is beautiful. It is a 95 year old hotel that has been updated and we are impressed. We have no idea what we are paying and I think it is better that way after we did ask our Guangzhou bill. I have not laid on the bed for I knew if I sat down, I would surely sleep, but I am guessing it is not to good from how hard my bag hit when I set it down! At this point, I think I could sleep anywhere as long as it is vertical and not sitting in a chair on a bouncy plane!