We survived our brutal days of travel and are in Nanchang. I am tired but want to get down my thoughts on travel so I don't forget. We left GSP at 7:55 Sunday morning and landed in Chicago. We had a short layover there but it was not too long and just enough time to allow us to get to where we needed to go. We then flew from Chicago to Shanghai. The flight was long but no major turbulence or discomfort. I didn't sleep much but Allen slept some. I spent my time watching movies and it was not that bad of a flight. The last 4 hours seemed the longest as it appeared our plane sat on the same place of the map and didn't move. We arrived in Shanghai and had a LONG 7 hour layover. This by far was the hardest part of the trip here. We were both exhausted and had no idea where to go and it was a bit crowded. We finally found our right ticket booth and sat on a bench near it and people watched. We got 2 bottle waters and ate some snacks we packed. Neither of us were hungry and decided we wouldn't risk eating something before another flight. We decided to try and check in early for our flight and discovered that lines don't really exist in Shanghai airport. You can stand in one but someone may decide to bypass the line and walk right up to the counter in front of everyone. Interesting! : ) After being told to come back at 8:30 we went and found a bench and sat. We dozed a little and then started to hear announcements that we couldn't understand so decided just to check on our flight. Well....they were announcing that all flights were on delay or cancelled because of a typhoon!! Let's just say I was about ready for a full meltdown at this point but decided not too panic. We knew we still had a while for our flight so we sat and waited. Well.. while we waited I prayed like crazy for the Lord to get us on that plane and to Nanchang! I knew He can move mountains and we would be able to move that Typhoon!!! Well, bless the Lord, it worked! We went back and our flight was fine and not delayed! We proceeded to wait until take off at 9:55 and boarded our last flight. This was 9:55 pm Monday night, We had been travelling since Sunday. I slept the whole hour and 10 min. flight and then prayed that when we landed our guide would be there. Because I don't know how much more I could take! Thankfully, our guide was waiting and we jumped in a van and made it to our hotel! We then slept from around 1:30am to 7:30. We got to Skype with the kids which was good and bad. Hearing Madison say could my mom drive her to us was a little heartbreaking! We went with our guide to buy some bottled water and drinks this morning. We also went to the breakfast buffet. We both had a croissant with jelly and dry cornflakes. *Brad Kinard-Allen said you would have had a field day at the buffet with the interesting items to try! Fried sponge, anyone?
We did find out we get Lucy today! It is 10:45 in the morning on Tuesday now and we should meet Lucy at 3 this afternoon! WOW! Allen is sleeping and I couldn't so thought I would get all this down. I am mainly journaling so I will remember all these things so it may be long and boring to you but I don't want to forget a single thing! Here are a few observations from what I have seen so far:
- A family of four and their groceries can fit on a moped and fly down the street in the dark with no headlights!
- Mo-peds do not need to pay attention to red lights-they are merely a suggestion. Just blow your horn and drive on through.
- We observed a side street park today and I notice how loving and peacefully the people seemed to one another. They were dancing and doing different activities on the side street. A real picture of the culture of China. However, when you return to the street there is lots of horn blowing! : )
No pics now. Nothing to see but to tired and weary travellers and that isn't pretty! Next post will be pics of Lucy! Please pray for her as she is about to have her whole world changed!
