Our passports are in the hands of the travel agent in Vancouver, she is sending them back by courier right now. So close to having everything in hand.
I booked a hotel by the airport with long term parking. So, we'll be leaving Thursday after work instead of Friday morning. We've never done this before. Usually just get up really early and catch the first ferry. I wasn't too happy about the idea of waking Jia at 3am. The parking at the airport is $280 and to our delight, the hotel is only $149 and that includes parking for the whole time we're gone. Wish I'd known about this option before.
I ordered brand new US money and it came in as all brand new bills!! For everyone who has adopted in China, you know how challenging this normally is. As Canadians, we weren't allowed to have new bills in the past. So, we had to order and go through them making sure none of the bills had marks, or tears or folds. Then sending them back and starting over again and again until we had the nicest pile we could muster. When the Chinese would go through them, they would hold each one up to the light and look it over closely while wearing gloves. And then go through them again and then have another person go through them and it would all get counted several times. When we adopted Jia it was possible to wire the money ahead of time but when we got there the wire was missing and we spend some time trying to figure out how much we all had on hand. So, I'm a bit relieved that we can carry it ourselves this time and I'm THRILLED that it's all so pristine. Funny moment, I opened the envelope and there is a new blue band on each bill. Supposed to be there but at first I thought it was all 'marked' and I'd have to return it all. Nothing like leaving it all to the last minute.
I broke a tooth last week and got it fixed today.
The travel clinic called me this morning and she agreed with me that Jia needed more than one day before flying to make sure there is no reaction. I just got a call back and they managed to squeeze her in on Tues. Yay.
I made up our yuan conversion shopping cheat sheets today. I get laughed at a lot in China when I whip out my little chart but it's the only way I can shop effectively. It's too hard to deal with kids, pick out what you want in a barter system and do the math in my head all at the same time.
I've got a cold that set in scary fast. I'm coughing today and I'm all plugged up. Ug. Hoping there is some down/rest time this weekend too. I really need to be well before we get on a plane.
Was looking at time frames, after LOA it was 5 weeks for Lili, 9 weeks for Fei, 8 weeks for Jia and 7 weeks for Luk. It's felt longer but really, all is in line.
So, all in all, it's looking pretty good. I have a four day weekend ahead of me and will have no problem getting our clothing packed. We're off to Nanaimo tonight for the last few things we think we might need.
