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After a very bumpy 3 hour bus ride and a stop at a rest stop that featured all squatty potties, we made it into Nanning. we went to dinner and then over to the hotel. The very same hotel we stayed in for a week last time we were here getting our girls. The babies had been brought to us in Nanning last time because there was not a government office in Bei Hai. We recreated our first family photo in the hallway of the hotel in the same configuration as we had it done the first time we were all in Nanning together. We really only had this one night in Nanning then we headed to the airport to go to Shanghai. At the airport G and I went to the restroom and a mother tried to push her child into the stall before G could get in (it was G's turn). K boxed her out and then the little girl kept peeking under the door at G, so K said, "Bu Kan" (don't look in Chinese), the girls stopped but then the mom let the little girl go pee into the drain in the middle of the floor. Oh
well, cultural differences! The flight to Shanghai was uneventful and when we arrived at the hotel, G went down with the other children to take part in a wrap up "candle light party" that the group leaders put on for all the girls. A way for them to reflect on their experiences in China. The parents were invited down for the last 1/2 hour of the party. The entire tour group was together again and well all went out for a dinner that evening. It was fun to reconnect with the other groups of people and to hear about their children's orphanage visits. After dinner we went on a cruise to see the nightlights of Shanghai. There were many sites to see- they really light up the buildings at night. This night we said goodbye to the group tour leaders and to the other families ( they were leaving in the morning). We have one more day in Shanghai- mostly a shopping trip to the old section of Shanghai, again, think big bazzar / market- lots of things to buy and plenty of bargaining. We also visited the Shanghai Museum ( kind of like the Field Museum). We spent most
of our time in the area of the museum that showed items from the area G was born in, we learned more about the Miao people (who we think is what G's ethnicity is), these people are the same as the group of Hmomg who live in the USA, same group, two names. We then went to the Yu Gardens, these were planted by a son for his parents to honor them- G said, "don't get any ideas" to B and I 😊 Outside of the Yu Gardens, I met up with my student who is teaching this summer in Nanjing. It was so good to see her. I had lunch with her and the Director of the school Yazeng (who I met in Chicago about 6 years ago). It was fun to have lunch and chat with them. My student told me about what she has experienced so far and yazeng and I discussed more collaboration between her school and students and my collge and my students- exciting! After lunch I shopped in the area and then met up with B and G. We bought 2 Chinese silk shirts for G and some other cute gifts for folks back
home. We finished up shopping, met up with the rest of our group and then went to the French Quartter of Shanghai- very high end shops and old European buildings, an interesting area. Back at the hotel, the girls went swimming and the rest of us rested a bit. Off to dinner that night and then to the Shanghai Circus show- acrobats, clowns and other fun acts- the kids loved it, especially when they had 5 guys on motorcycles in a metal ball cage all driving around- it was interesting and terrifying to watch. They didn't allow us to take photos at the show. Back to the hotel and we took one final group photo. The group had been through so much together. The humor, shared parenting, and friendship was so valuable on this trip. The girls got along extremely well and the parents followed suit. It was hard to say goodnight knowing that the next morning we would be boarding planes for home and the trip would come to an end. We were ready to go home but the thought of leaving each other wasn't as attractive. In the morning we all headed to the airport and after checking
in our luggage and etc. we waited for our flights. As expected, it was hard to say goodbye to our friends. The flight home was good, smooth. K didn't have to take her meds, we all watched movies, napped and tried to eat (ugh to airline food) and before we knew it we were landing in Detroit. Detroit to Madison was less than an hour flight and soone we were in the car and driving home. At home it is piles of laundry and trying to stay awake until a decent time to go to bed. G went down at 8:00pm b at 8:30 and K at 9:15. We all slept (more or less) until 7:00-8:00. It's noon now and we are very tired. We have had some good food for breakfast and lunch ( thanks to my mom and my colleagues from the college who stocked our fridge!) We plan to take naps today but trying to stay up until bedtime and sleep through the night. Hopefully by tomorrow the jet lag will wane. This is our last blog entry for this trip. I know that over the next few days/weeks we will look at all our photos and
really process the whole trip and all that we have experienced. We still have most of the summer ahead of us and we are looking forward to doing some fun short trips to see family but mostly just hanging around town. G will attend some camps and K has some work to do and B will also pick back up on work.
In the end, we are so very happy with our trip- the experience we were hoping for!
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