The Great WAL of China

Also known as The Sam Dynasty

Strange, but true. We took a taxi to Wal-Mart this morning to buy a few baby items: Linda wanted a blanket, a pacifier (just in case Ming needs it, not Linda), and a few personal items. I picked up a pair of very stylish Feng Zhu flip-flops for a whopping 10 yuan ($1.21USD), and Levi bought a couple of soccer shirts for 15 yuan each. Wally World was heaving with people on Saturday morning in Nanchang. In fact, all of Nanchang was out and about this morning. Crazy drivers, jay-walking pedestrians, and amazingly brave old ladies on bikes riding with, across, and against the traffic.

We are very glad that we came a day early. Many, if not most, adoptive parents come on the day before they receive their baby. We think it was a terrific idea to come a day early just to get our feet under us. We slept fast and hard last night, but we were wide awake by 3am. Our bodies are still adjusting. By 7am we were all hungry and ready for breakfast. Like in Europe, breakfast is included with the price of the hotel. They put on quite a spread here. Some of it is a little on the weird side, but we enjoyed the options. While at breakfast we bumped into our guide Sally, who was getting rooms squared away for the two couples who are arriving today who will be part of our adopting group: another couple from Spokane, and a couple from ??

Sally is really cute. She giggles a lot (a humble, self-effacing sort of mannerism) when she talks and is easy to be around. She seems to have her way at the Gloria Plaza hotel. She brought her nephew with her this morning and they enjoyed breakfast. This afternoon she also had her neice who was enjoying the children's play center at the hotel. I suppose the fact that she cares for "reech Americans" (as she calls them) every week, entitles her to have a little pull with the hotel staff. After we pick up Ming tomorrow--we're going to the orphanage rather than having the baby delivered--we'll spend the rest of the week seeing sights with Sally.