Gotcha Day!

Well...I must say, the moments leading up to "gotcha" were not the highlights of yesterday.  We were scheduled to take a plane from the main airport at 10:50 AM yesterday morning.  We left the hotel at 8 AM to be sure to arrive in time.  Our regular guide wasn't able to come with us so a new guide named Amelia came instead.

 

We had such a great car ride talking to Amelia.  I definitely made a new friend! 

 

When we arrived at the airport she quickly shuffled us to the check in desk where she talked to the ticket agent.  She handed our passports over and then they were quickly handed back with a concerning look from the ticket agent.  We knew there was a problem.  Amelia quickly got on the phone and starting making calls.  One thing lead to another and we learned that the travel agency made a mistake and we were not booked on our flight.  Amelia told us that they were trying to get us on a flight, by the next day.  That was not okay!!! 

 

After lots of scurrying around we learned that we had two options.  One was to take a 10PM flight or the other to take a 7PM flight from another airport.  Either way, we wouldn't need to sit around the airport all day.  Amelia loaded us up and off we went.

 

We went back to our hotel, dropped off our luggage, and then went to eat lunch.  This time at lunch we were the only foreigners in the place.  It was obvious we were going to get AUTHENTIC Chinese food.  Amelia asked if we liked sheep...uh...chicken please?  Our table was soon filled with goodies.  As I began to eat some veggies from the huge skillet on our table I noticed Jason fishing out an octopus tentacle from the same pot.  WOW!  I wish he hadn't shown me that...but those veggies were delicious.

 

After lunch we did some sightseeing and then heading back for our luggage.  We were able to take the 7PM flight so off to the new airport we went.  When we arrived we couldn't check in for another hour!  Then when we finally checked in at 5:30 and went through the somewhat suspicious security area, after saying good-bye to our new friend, we heard an announcement.  It was in Chinese of course since we were now in an all Chinese airport.  However, I was able to make Hohhot...yep, that's where we were heading.  An announcement an hour and a half before the flight couldn't be that it was boarding time...so it couldn't be good.  You guessed it...DELAYED!  Grrrr!!!  Now we were sitting in an airport with no guide, no English, and no plane!  We knew we'd be missing gotcha day because our arrival would be so late.  After lots of crying throughout the day I think we'd succumb to the fact it wasn't going to happen.

 

As we finally boarded our plane at 8PM we discussed how now we'd have plenty of time to get to the room, unpack, prepare, and relax.  Well...as you probably guessed, that's NOT how it happened.

 

We finally arrived in Hohhot about 9PM and met our guide Sarah.  She didn't carry a sign to find us.  No, she didn't need a sign because we stuck out like a sore thumb.  I joked with her about how she knew we were Stacy and Jason.  She immediately told us that we were going to head to the hotel, a thirty minute car ride, and that she had already spoke to the orphanage director and they would be meeting us there.  Shocked, I asked "tonight?"  She said "unless you want to wait until tomorrow" followed by a mischievous laugh.  "Of course not.  Let's go!"

 

No sooner than we arrived to the hotel and walked to the front desk to check-in it occurred.  Two well dressed ladies were coming through the door with a baby.  I looked at Jason and asked "is that her?"  They knew us right away and walked straight towards us.  Sophie wasted no time...tears.  I wish I could say we ended with tears but it only went down hill from there.  Sophie screamed and cried and called mama.  Only she wasn't referring to me.  She was talking about her nanny.  Heartbreak.  Tears.  I hate to say it...and I'm sure I'll catch flack from Jason...but even he was crying.  To see the hurt on this baby's face was gut wrenching.  I wished right at that moment that I could take away any pain that she was going through.  I couldn't.  Instead, she was forced to take pictures, sit with us, and only wanted one thing...her nanny!

 

As soon as we were done filling out our temporary custody paperwork we were advised to take the crying child upstairs.  Sarah followed and gave us instructions on the day ahead.  Talk about overwhelming!  We hadn't even settled our baby down and now we had to think about the next day.  WOW!  I offered Sophie snacks and she ate one and then hoarded the rest.  It didn't settle her.  I quickly fixed a bottle and the Jason took over.  It was already obvious from that time that there would not be room for me for a little while.  She wanted her baba. 

 

She took her bottle in Jason's arms while clinging on to the photo album we'd sent.  I think she attributed to album to her nanny, not us.  She wouldn't let Jason remove it from her hand, and then she finally fell asleep.

 

We placed her in the center of our bed and after several more task complete we joined her.

 

Lots of twisting and turning throughout the night.  One faint short cry.  And now we sit here waiting for our little baby to wake up.

 

I'm sorry to say there are no worthy pictures to post.  I only heart breaking sad pictures as of right now.  I'll hope to post some today...if we've overcome out technical difficulties.

 

To be continued...

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Stacy Shine
O2b Kids - Preschool Director
(352)371-4202
stacy@o2bkids.com