Our First Day in China

We had a fun first day here! Woke up early (were only able to sleep about 4 hrs and then we were wide awake since we were so off-schedule), then headed down to the hotel breakfast buffet which was huge (and thank goodness had a fair amount of Western choices)! After breakfast we took a walk around the city for several hours, exploring the area and going to the mall and supermarket/Walmart-type store that Amy suggested to us yesterday. We still have yet to see any other Americans and almost no one speaks any English which makes things interesting. The sights, sounds and smells remind us a lot of what Seoul was like when we adopted Olivia. Tons of crazy traffic, motorcycles everywhere (even down the sidewalks), the constant sound of honking, street vendors everywhere, and that distinct city smell (mostly exhaust fumes). The weather is not too bad, maybe in the 50's. Pretty much feels like how it was when we left home. Here are some pictures of the city.... The grocery store with lots of interesting stuff, some familiar, some not so familiar: frogs and turtles(yes, these are at the grocery store): Our hotel, with lots of pretty Christmas decorations: And the view from our hotel room:
We got things situated in our room and ready for tomorrow. It is now 7 pm and we are fighting to stay awake. I think we will go to bed early and try to get a good night's sleep. Our guide and driver will pick us up at 9. We will go to the Civil Affairs building to meet Audrey at 10:30 (at home this will be Sunday during the night). From what we understand, there will be 2 ladies from the orphanage that will bring her by train (just over an hour ride on the bullet train). We are praying she's not scared of us and that all goes smoothly!  I'll post pictures as soon as I can!