Well, today is it. Our group will gather at 2, do some shopping and then be off to the Civil Affairs Office to meet MeiMei. This is sure to be an emotional scene, as it is such an important event in our lives, and is also the same place where JieJie joined our family two years ago. We can't wait.
We had aninteresting day yesterday. Having visited Chongqing before,we felt a bit more adventuresome this time and made our way to the Joe Stilwell Museum and the Red Cliffs Village Museum about 1 1/2miles away. The Stilwell Museum is primarily for US visitors and designed to highlight the good will and relations between China and the US. The Red Cliffs Village attracts a local clientele. It is a spectacular monument to the Chinese Communists of the region with special attention to Zhou Enlai, who spent considerable time living in Red Cliffs during the Second World War.
Every bit as interesting was our cab ride. Because of traffic, our cabbie had to take the long way home (he wasn't soaking us for a fare, it really was impossible to get to the main bridge across the Yangtze due to traffic and construction.) It took us past the new retractable dome Olympic stadium and arena which are due to open any day. All is hustle and bustle here--literally hundreds of high rise cranes working round the clock (the high rise construction site outside of our hotel was using dynamite at 4 this morning!).
Despite having been here 2 years ago, much of the skyline has changed. As one of our group observed last night "Boy, this is a lot bigger than LA." We had a group dinner last evening. This is a wonderful group and we are looking forward to spending the next couple of weeks with them. The highlight of our day was our evening conversation with JieJie. She was very excited to talk with us, wanting us to know if we'd gotten MeiMei yet, when we were coming home, and that 'Kip had given her candy at the football game. (Thanks 'Kip.) We are off to do some shopping this morning to pick up a few odds and ends. And then this afternoon the big event. Stay tuned.
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