It is 3:00 am in Nanchang and I am wide awake! Is it jet lag or the anticipation of todays events that is keeping me awake? My guess would be the latter!
We met our attorney and the other couple that we will be traveling with for the next two weeks. After going over the details of Gotcha Day we went for dinner. We asked Mr. Lee (our attorney) to order for us since our Mandarin is enough to be dangerous. When dinner arrived it all looked and smelled wonderful...that is until I looked more closely. Our travel mate Olen had a great suggestion. He said "close your eyes when you eat" but it was to late. The image of the big fish in all its glory was seared into my mind. Mr. Lee had ordered a local delicacy of spicey donkey and insisted that we try it. He seemed quiet offended when I refused so I decided to try a tiny bite. It was quiet good...very tender and tasty but I couldn't get over the image of Eyeore in my mind as it passed in front of me. Had I not known what it was I just might have chosen it as my favorite dish of the evening. Instead I stuck to fried rice, noodles and vegtables. There were quite a few things in the fried rice that I didn't recognize (and really didn't want to know what it was) so I carefully scraped the pieces to the edge of the plate and carried on.
After dinner we ventured out to the Wal-Mart down the street. It was a supercenter but not like anything we have in the USA. There were several floors with each containing several departments. Food occupied one floor while toys, sporting goods clothes and housewares were spread out on several other floors. The place was packed and even though it was well after 9:00 pm there were several small children. The main attraction seemed to be us. I guess blondes and 6'4" men are not a common sight here. We found lots and lots of people staring and talking but it doesn't bother us. At least they smile and wave when we make eye contact. The most fun was trying to describe to the clerks what we were looking for and then checking out the selection when we found the right area. We shopped for well over an hour and left with a buggy full of Coke Light (Diet Coke), bottled water, pineapple beer, lots and lots of candy, sketch pads, crayons, markers, colored pencils and stickers for the children at the orphanage and a few snacks for the room...all for less than $30 American dollars. That just might be a record for me...leaving Wal-Mart without spending $100!
The taxi drive to and from Wal-Mart could easily be described as more of a thrill ride than a taxi ride. We often found our driver on the wrong side of the road with oncoming traffic speeding towards us! No matter how much time I spend in China I will never grow accustomed to the driving! It can be pretty darn scary! Poor Danny had a front seat view (mostly because he has to fold himself in half to get in the backseat of these cabs) and there were a few times that I was really glad that the driver didn't speak English!
The night ended with a call to our kids...by far the best part of any day. It seems that Brooke and Baker are busy with their friends and Brea is busy being Aunt Tina and Uncle Scott's little helper. We miss them terribly but we know they are in good hands and our time apart is just temporary.
The sun will be up in a few hours and not long afterwards we will be on our way to meet Bailey. It has been a 13 month jounrey to get to this pont but that journey will come to an end and a new one will begin...all in just a few more hours.
