While the city sleeps

I suppose that what I have is jetlag -- its nearly 4 a.m. and I am wide awake though honestly I would be surprised if in total I slept more than 4 hrs. last night.  Its funny, when I was near the end of each of my pregnancies with the boys, I always had trouble sleeping and I would tell myslef that once the babies were born, I surely wouldn't sleep enough, so I should try to get good nights of sleep before they came.  As much as the rational part of my brain understood that, I would find myself tossing and turning for weeks and making multiple bathroom visits during the night.  Maybe this "pregnancy" isn't so different after all!

 

I am still in Beijing but I am headed to the airport in about 2 hrs.  I thought that if I didn't write a little more about yesterday while things were fresh in my mind, I might forget and not write about them at all.  This journal of our trip I am keeping as a family record and as a journal for Silin so that one day she can understand more about our journey to her.  It is hard to believe that I will soon be holding her....we were told that we would meet her on Monday but it is possible that when I get to Kunming today, I could get word that she could be brought to the hotel tonight (I found another family who has a daughter coming from the same small orphanage as Silin who is also going to Kunming today and they were told that their daughter would be brought to their hotel.....we'll just have to see.)

 

Yesterday, I got to experience some things in China that I had been hearing about for a long time.  I got to use a squat toilet which for those of you who haven't seen one, looks like a very low sink basin that sits on the floor....there was a Western toilet that I could use but I just needed to get the real China experience and after spending plenty of time camping over the years, the squat toilet is no big deal.  Another thing that I heard a lot about was how people spit in the street....I did get to see it but only once.  I know that might sound gross but I've been hearing about it for so long, I didn't want to come and not get to see it.  Finally, I have also heard that babies wear split pants and when they need to pee, they just go right in the street.  So far, I have seen neither a baby in split pants or one going in the street....maybe in Kunming.

 

I realize that my prior paragraph makes China sound less civilized than the west but I do not feel that way here at all -- Beijing almost makes Manhatten look like the developing world.  There is so much new construction in Beijing, large impressive office buildings, distinct architecture...and then there are still remanents of the old China here and it is obviously a rich, distinct, and impressive culture. In a way, I feel very connected to China already.  There are lots of things about the culture that reminds me of the Jewish culture that I was raised on -- that education is the most important thing, that I should work hard and study hard, that food and family are essential....

 

I am excited to try to learn much about China and to keep Silin connected to her roots.  I know that this is my first time here but I will do everything I can to be sure that it is not my last.

 

OK, signing off for now.  I look forward the what the next few days hold.  I look forward to experiencing more of this country and culture.  But, beyond anything else, I look forward to our daughter.  This journey has been long and not always easy.  The next few days may be hard but I think I am prepared.  I want my daughter and hopefully one day soon, she will also want me and Yami--

 

Lots of love, D--