We have made it home! It is now Monday morning after arriving home in Dallas around 11:00 p.m. Saturday night after a 30 hour journey home. We are all still exhausted and sleep deprived as we all attempt to adjust our internal clocks but it seems at varying speeds.
The journey home did not begin ideally. Ann woke up a few hours ahead of our target hour to get up and going in order to be downstairs by 7:00 a.m., and ready to head to the airport. She was sick to her stomach and not feeling well at all. When it came time to get Bei Bei up and ready to go, Bei Bei was understandably not sympathetic of Ann’s difficulty in being the Ma Ma she was used to. Having to leave much of the morning ritual and cajoling to Ba Ba did not sit at all well with our darling daughter who is not a morning person to begin with. Bei Bei did not stop crying, or at least whimpering, the whole time from getting up, through breakfast, and to pick up time by Sampson to head to the airport.
Not sure how to thank Sampson for his incredible empathy for our daughter. In what was to be a rushed and hectic morning to get to the airport on time, Sampson assessed the situation with us and our disgruntled daughter, and called for a break in the proceedings. He leaned down to speak to our daughter, took her gently by the hand and just headed towards the breakfast area of the hotel leaning down to her level of eye contact the whole way. He spent about ten minutes talking with her over some orange juice until she had time to comprehend all the information that was being given to her about Ma Ma not really being herself today and the long trip that lay ahead. During this trip home she was the best, mostly cooperative 5-1/2 year old you could ever want to travel with. Our daughter is an angel.
Poor Ann got sick again in the van on the way to the airport. Fortunately we were in a minibus and not a van so there was room to maneuver swiftly to get Ann a plastic grocery bag. So there we were, cruising down the toll way to the airport, David standing in front of Ann holding the plastic grocery bag, Steve passing Ann a bottle of water, Sampson strategizing with the driver. Our new Ma Ma was clearly suffering but keeping a brave face on the whole way.
We got to the Airport with plenty of time to spare and caught our plane to Shanghai. Once in Shanghai for the six hour layover, and 3 hour wait before we could check our bags through, Ann stretched out over several seats to lay down. Bei Bei was again a great trooper and let her Ba Ba and Loo Ye entertain her while Ann rested as best she could.
Once we checked our bags and headed to the gate, Bei Bei started to run a little wild. Nothing like a Caucasian male carrying off a little Chinese girl in a Shanghai airport while the little girl shouts Ma Ma! Ma Ma! Once Ann caught up and we were able to remind her to stay close in one of the few Mandarin phrases we were beginning to master, all was well.
Bei Bei was remarkable on the plane trip to Chicago, which fortunately coincided with night time China time. So she slept for approximately 9 hours of the 13 hour plane ride and was an angel the rest of the time keeping occupied with the cartoon channel and headset on the airplane. Ah, the wonders of the modern jet age. Ann got sick again early in the plane ride to Chicago which strategically encouraged the one other person on her 5 seat center row to find some where else to sit so Ann got to stetch out the rest of the way to Chicago. The ticket agent had been able to give us two seats each on two adjacent rows and blocked two more on each row, leaving only an aisle seat open for someone else, and four seats for us. Steve and Ann sat in one row, well actually Steve sat in one seat and Ann occupied the other 4. David and Bei Bei sat in the row in front so Bei Bei could stretch out across 2 seats while David sat on the aisle. Bei Bei was so well behaved that their row mate was not disturbed in the least.
The rest of the flight to Chicago was uneventful except Steve also got sick about three hours out from Chicago which made David get a little nervous about what might be coming next. We are not sure whether it was our “safe” buffet the night before at the hotel, one of the more adventurous meals, or something else. Ann had a salad with fresh greens at the buffet (eating raw veggies that do not need to be peeled is a no-no), and Steve had decided to try some raw oysters. David avoided both these…..
We cleared customs without incident and our wonderful daughter became a U.S. citizen without even noticing. The kindly folks at American Airlines were good enough to move us up a flight as we rechecked our bags after customs which meant we would get back to Dallas an hour earlier. The only incident we had in Chicago was clearing security as we could not convince the kindly TSA folks to wand our daughter as opposed to taking off her coat and shoes. As we mentioned earlier the only time she takes off her shoes is when she is taking a bath. There are times you miss having your guide with you and this was surely one of them. We can convey the part about taking her shoes and coat off but not the all important why. Even the TSA folks seemed surprised by the ordeal we put our dear daughter through trying to get her coat and shoes off. They looked a little dumbfounded. They decided it best to let Ann carry her through the metal detector. Bei Bei recovered in her usual quick fashion and the trip back to Dallas was as smooth as the trip to Chicago…and nobody got sick on the plane!
Ann’s mom and a friend of the family picked us up at the airport and we were home by 11:00 p.m. Bei Bei was wide awake and ready to explore as this was 1:00 p.m. for her. She had a blast going through her dresser and holding up clothes in front of her full length mirror. She took a nap around 1:30 a.m. and was up again at 2:30 a.m. and made sure we were up with her….
The journey home did not begin ideally. Ann woke up a few hours ahead of our target hour to get up and going in order to be downstairs by 7:00 a.m., and ready to head to the airport. She was sick to her stomach and not feeling well at all. When it came time to get Bei Bei up and ready to go, Bei Bei was understandably not sympathetic of Ann’s difficulty in being the Ma Ma she was used to. Having to leave much of the morning ritual and cajoling to Ba Ba did not sit at all well with our darling daughter who is not a morning person to begin with. Bei Bei did not stop crying, or at least whimpering, the whole time from getting up, through breakfast, and to pick up time by Sampson to head to the airport.
Not sure how to thank Sampson for his incredible empathy for our daughter. In what was to be a rushed and hectic morning to get to the airport on time, Sampson assessed the situation with us and our disgruntled daughter, and called for a break in the proceedings. He leaned down to speak to our daughter, took her gently by the hand and just headed towards the breakfast area of the hotel leaning down to her level of eye contact the whole way. He spent about ten minutes talking with her over some orange juice until she had time to comprehend all the information that was being given to her about Ma Ma not really being herself today and the long trip that lay ahead. During this trip home she was the best, mostly cooperative 5-1/2 year old you could ever want to travel with. Our daughter is an angel.
Poor Ann got sick again in the van on the way to the airport. Fortunately we were in a minibus and not a van so there was room to maneuver swiftly to get Ann a plastic grocery bag. So there we were, cruising down the toll way to the airport, David standing in front of Ann holding the plastic grocery bag, Steve passing Ann a bottle of water, Sampson strategizing with the driver. Our new Ma Ma was clearly suffering but keeping a brave face on the whole way.
We got to the Airport with plenty of time to spare and caught our plane to Shanghai. Once in Shanghai for the six hour layover, and 3 hour wait before we could check our bags through, Ann stretched out over several seats to lay down. Bei Bei was again a great trooper and let her Ba Ba and Loo Ye entertain her while Ann rested as best she could.
Once we checked our bags and headed to the gate, Bei Bei started to run a little wild. Nothing like a Caucasian male carrying off a little Chinese girl in a Shanghai airport while the little girl shouts Ma Ma! Ma Ma! Once Ann caught up and we were able to remind her to stay close in one of the few Mandarin phrases we were beginning to master, all was well.Bei Bei was remarkable on the plane trip to Chicago, which fortunately coincided with night time China time. So she slept for approximately 9 hours of the 13 hour plane ride and was an angel the rest of the time keeping occupied with the cartoon channel and headset on the airplane. Ah, the wonders of the modern jet age. Ann got sick again early in the plane ride to Chicago which strategically encouraged the one other person on her 5 seat center row to find some where else to sit so Ann got to stetch out the rest of the way to Chicago. The ticket agent had been able to give us two seats each on two adjacent rows and blocked two more on each row, leaving only an aisle seat open for someone else, and four seats for us. Steve and Ann sat in one row, well actually Steve sat in one seat and Ann occupied the other 4. David and Bei Bei sat in the row in front so Bei Bei could stretch out across 2 seats while David sat on the aisle. Bei Bei was so well behaved that their row mate was not disturbed in the least.The rest of the flight to Chicago was uneventful except Steve also got sick about three hours out from Chicago which made David get a little nervous about what might be coming next. We are not sure whether it was our “safe” buffet the night before at the hotel, one of the more adventurous meals, or something else. Ann had a salad with fresh greens at the buffet (eating raw veggies that do not need to be peeled is a no-no), and Steve had decided to try some raw oysters. David avoided both these…..
We cleared customs without incident and our wonderful daughter became a U.S. citizen without even noticing. The kindly folks at American Airlines were good enough to move us up a flight as we rechecked our bags after customs which meant we would get back to Dallas an hour earlier. The only incident we had in Chicago was clearing security as we could not convince the kindly TSA folks to wand our daughter as opposed to taking off her coat and shoes. As we mentioned earlier the only time she takes off her shoes is when she is taking a bath. There are times you miss having your guide with you and this was surely one of them. We can convey the part about taking her shoes and coat off but not the all important why. Even the TSA folks seemed surprised by the ordeal we put our dear daughter through trying to get her coat and shoes off. They looked a little dumbfounded. They decided it best to let Ann carry her through the metal detector. Bei Bei recovered in her usual quick fashion and the trip back to Dallas was as smooth as the trip to Chicago…and nobody got sick on the plane!
Ann’s mom and a friend of the family picked us up at the airport and we were home by 11:00 p.m. Bei Bei was wide awake and ready to explore as this was 1:00 p.m. for her. She had a blast going through her dresser and holding up clothes in front of her full length mirror. She took a nap around 1:30 a.m. and was up again at 2:30 a.m. and made sure we were up with her….
1 comment:
Love your blog. Met Ann, Pat, & Bei Bei at the gym on Friday. Hope to see them again soon. I'm grandma to Josh & Jesse.
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