Today we received Makena's US Visa, which means that once we land in a US airport, she will become a citizen! Yay! And she screamed through much of the oath that we had to take...it was a good day. We spent the morning walking through a traditional Chinese herbal market that is only about a five minute walk from our hotel. It was quite repulsive at times. I won't get into it, but if you are interested, Charlie has some photographs to prove that we aren't lying. I'll just say that they had snake wine, and that was at the upscale place!
It was so hot and humid today that we headed to the pool after our walk. What fun! Makena's friend, Sophia, went too and everyone had a great time. I took Mak back to the hotel room early so that I could get her a bath and get her fed before she fell asleep (we had our consulate appointment at 2:40), and when I got to our room we were locked out. So I got to head down to the front desk in a bathing suit complete with a wet and shivering child, all the while trying to explain that my key doesn't work to someone who doesn't speak English.
We went through all of the steps at the consulate, and then it was time for our group to say good-bye. We split into two buses...one going back to the hotel (us) and one going straight to the airport. Even though we didn't know any of these folks two weeks ago, we've formed a tight bond. We became parents together. Our daughters all had similar first year experiences. We adventured through China together. We've got 11 families to add to our Christmas list and 11 families that we need to send notes to on a regular basis. It was sad to say good-bye, but it also meant that we were that much closer to going home ourselves. This whole experience has been quite surreal. We leave for Hong Kong tomorrow on the 9:50 train and I am on my own with Mak for the next two days. Charlie is working and has business dinners (although I think that Mak and I might get to at least eat with them) Thursday and Friday, then we head out on a direct flight from Hong Kong to Newark on Saturday at 10:25am. The flight is 15 hours and 35 minutes. I'm not concerned about the flight from Newark to Greensboro - I've done that a bunch of times. It's that long one that really frightens me! Then we will be back home. Wow...hard to believe it's already been two weeks! We're coming home Scout and Boo! We sure do miss you!
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