China: Day 4 Now In Henan

 CCAI, our adoption agency, handles all of our inter-country travel.... unless we deviate from their plan.  And for some reason we keep deviating, which adds stress, but we decided that even though it might be a little bit crazy, we wanted to ride the bullet train to Henan, rather than fly with the group.  First of all, it's cheaper.  Second, we thought it would be a good way to break up all of the flights we have to take.  Third, we'd get to see more of the countryside.  And Fourth, we had heard it was much roomier and more comfortable than a plane.  

 Beijing's train station is HUGE and it was a bit of an adventure getting to the right train, but Chinese people are usually patient with our lack of language very willing to help if they can.  We made it with time to spare.  

The train was very comfortable... I could hold my legs straight out in front of me without touching the seat in front of me.  Also, one of our worries was that we had heard that we would have to store our luggage away from where we sat and watch it carefully at every stop, but since we were in first class, there was enough room to keep our bags with us, which was a relief.  We were able to get a nap in and not worry about our luggage.

It was fun watching China wiz by. 

Our Rep, George, had asked us if we knew what China's national bird is.  Ryan, the smarty pants, answered, "the Crane".  And George said, "NO, it's the construction crane".  So when Ryan snapped a quick picture out the window of the train and caught 12 cranes in one frame, we had to laugh. Building cranes are EVERYWHERE!

301 kilometers per hour.... is that fast? I think that is fast!

After a little bit of wandering after we got off of the train, we found our shuttle to take us to the hotel.  The first thing I saw when we walked in was the crib.  It made it feel really real.  Jordan will be sleeping with us tomorrow night!  

 A bowl of noodles for lunch.

 This picture is significant because it is the first time we saw blue skies since getting to China.  Zhengzhou is not as grey as Beijing, for which I am grateful!!

 We ventured out on the city bus to go pick up supplies with our group.

 Maddie has already attached herself to our new Rep, Vivian.  So much for George!

 We went to pick up formula, and Chinese snacks that should be familiar to our kids, among other things.  I kept cracking up, because all of us have at least 3 children already, but none of us had any clue what we were doing and what to buy.  There was a nervous tension and excitement knowing that we were soon going to be using our purchases.  

 Scooters seem to be all the rage in ZZ and they ride them anywhere and everywhere.  It was hard to walk down the sidewalk without having to jump out of the way of a scooter.  

We have snacks ready, toys, books and bubbles ready too.  We'll leave the hotel in less than 12 hours to go meet Jordan.  Our next post will be about meeting our new son!!!