Nanchang Day 2

Well, here we are. So far our trip has been fantastic. I'll try to catch up on this entry. We get Rebecca later today, and who knows when we'll get to post again after that!
Dave and Deb picked us up at 5:15 AM Friday. Deb served as official family photographer and stayed with us at the airport until we headed for the gate. It was a good thing too. The new suitcase I bought was the one that was a tad over the weight limit. No problem. We just quickly shifted some items to Ray's carry on. Then oops. The zipper on the suitcase broke! Oh no. Deb quickly fixed the zipper and we were able to check it. I'm so glad she was there as the calming presence we needed. From there, I made the decision to not obsess about that suitcase for the entire 18 hours of travel. What would be would be. We spent 4 hours at JFK airport, got lunch, chatted with a fellow passenger and made some last minute calls to friends and family and then we were on our way.
The flight was great! We had our own personal video monitor with DVD, a few select tv shows and music on demand. The meals were tasty and overall it was a pleasant flight. Ray actually slept a good bit and I did some. We arrived in Hong Kong 30 minutes early. And the compromised suitcase made it, albiet barely! The zipper had popped open, but no contents were lost. It stayed together long enough for us to get to the hotel. We taped it up for the next day's trip and it made it to Nanchang ok.
The Hong Kong Marriot Skycity hotel has only been open one month and it was absolutely gorgeous. Ray took a swim and I walked around some. I ran into two American women on the elevator and we chatted some but didn't introduce ourselves. Then, we met up the next day at the airport and low and behold, it was Julia and her mom Sandy who were traveling with us to get Julia's baby.
The efficient shuttle service took us to the airport on Sunday where we met up with all the other families. It was great to meet everyone in person finally. We'd been emailing, talking on the phone and facebook friends for weeks. What a terrific group!
We had an uneventful 1.5 hour flight to Nanchang where our capable guide Chris met us with a van and shuttle bus. The van was for the load of luggage, the bus for the human cargo! Nanchang is cold and rainy but noone seems to care. Nothing can dampen our spirits as we recover from jet lag and anticipate getting our daughters! Most of us are on the 11th floor where there is a giant courtyard type family lounge area furnished with baby walkers and rocking horses for the kids. The hotel is very accustomed to hosting adopting families and had our rooms all well prepared too. We had a crib, baby bath and potty in our room when we arrived. They deliver steaming hot thermoses of water every day to drink, make formula, brush teeth etc.
The dining room has about 16 high chairs lined up ready to go.
The food is served buffet style and although we don't know what most of it is, we can find tasty things to eat and have ventured out some. I had 'black rice bread', fried lettuce which is delicious among other things. Ray is less adventuresome than I but I thought he was very brave last night when he ate the 'hamburger.'
We saw many babies at breakfast this morning. There is another group of families here who arrived and got their girls yesterday. The babies all seemed healthy, beautiful and quite content with their new families. We met a couple and their soon to be 3 year old son from Durham, NC and who live about 5 min. from us! We exchanged info and will be in touch once we get home. We figured we'd see them a lot here too and probably meet up with them again in Guangzhou.
Ray is at the bank exchanging money right now. We will then go to the civil affairs office and complete a portion of the adoption and also meet our babies! So, at 3 pm today, Monday March 2nd, Ray and I will officially become parents of our precious 9 month old baby girl, Rebecca. Signing off for now.