Thoughts on... The flight to Zhengzhou

So the flight to Zhengzhou was a little different. We had never been on a domestic flight in China before and had assumed it worked pretty similarly to domestic flights in the U.S.... and for the most part it did, that is, if we would have looked at our tickets! But I'm getting ahead of myself... let me tell you about our trip to the airport first!

We were late. We had spent too much time gabbing and we were late (for those of you that know us really well, that probably doesn't surprise you too much). We had said a very rushed but heartfelt good-bye to Robin and Joyce and had loaded ourselves into the van to be taken to the airport. The man that was driving must have either been a staff member and/or friend of the Hill's and he seemed very amiable and I'm sure we would have enjoyed conversing with him immensely had we been able to speak Mandarin (which I am determined to do next time we go to China, so I am currently looking for a tutor or class I can take).

We were about 10 minutes down the road when he received a phone call. He handed the phone to Mike and I could tell by the "ahhhhh!" and the wincing on his face that we had left something important behind... Sarah's medications. Now before you go off on us, "You forgot her medication?! What kinda parents are you guys anyways?!" let me tell you they have to be refrigerated and in our rushed state to leave Hope Foster, out of sight was truly out of mind. So the driver made a quick u-turn and sped back to Hope, where we were handed our meds at the gate (plus a charger we had left in the socket) and then, proceeded down the same road at least double the speed we had been going before.

Now, the day before, Robin had driven us to Hope, and we had our first taste of "driving" in China - people just kinda do whatever... and sometimes red lights are just suggestions. Although we laughed the whole entire way to Hope, we were amazed at how the Chinese drive! Mixed in with the cars are bicycles, scooters, buggies, etc. and they all just go where ever they want, when ever they want and if you want to pass them, you use the shoulder, the other side of the road, you beep and flash your lights and then beep some more - you get the picture. Robin was telling us when he first started driving in China, he learned very quickly not to stop for cyclists... and he said on two different occasions, he had stopped and the people were so surprised, they fell off their bikes! You see, in China, everything is timed... and you keep peddling (either slower or faster) as you turn so you barely make it past the cars bumper without losing any momentum, then you start peddling again. So it was pretty funny hearing that people fell off their bikes because he was trying to be considerate.

But back to our trip to the airport... so we were zig-zagging back and forth, beeping and honking, speeding up, slowing down, moving this way and that as the driver knew we were about to miss our flight. Sarah was having a great time - she laughed and giggled... every time he would honk his horn, she would say, "beeeeeep!" and it was hard not to laugh at her. We passed a mule pulling a produce cart, his driver whipping him to try to make him go faster (at that point, I stopped feeling sorry for all the horses in America - these animals had to work for their food and even at that - from the looks of him, it looked like there was precious little of that to go around) and then we saw something that really made us laugh... a huge construction truck stopped directly in the middle of an intersection, the passenger and the driver got out... switched sides and got back into the truck and drove away - aka - the Chinese fire drill!

Once we arrived at the airport, we all piled out of the van, rushing to haul out the bags, get them onto the carts, get the carry-on's, oh and get the baby... then run into the terminal, find our gate - wait for our guide...

"What?!? Our guide?" (in English)

"Yes - the guide you told us about when we left..." (in Chinese)

"Oh! We thought everyone was talking about our guide once we get to Zhengzhou - no, he'll be in Zhengzhou... not here! We don't have a guide here - the guide is at the other airport!" (gesturing in English)

"What?" (in Chinese)

"The o-t-h-e-r a-i-r-p-o-r-t..." (in English)

"Oh!!!! The other airport! Then let's find out where to check your bags! Hurry!" (in Chinese)

"Over here - I see a place! It says Air China!" (in English)

(Given, this was happening in seconds and we were all speaking so fast and crazy and in different languages that we must have been communicating through some sort of amazing mind-reading. I have no idea how we understood each other enough to all run in the same direction at the same time, little less actually accomplish getting us to the plane!)

So off we went, running down the terminal - to the 1st class check in of China Air. When we arrived, the looked at us like we were 2nd class passengers speaking English or something... so it was a good thing we had someone who spoke Chinese! After a very fluid exchange of words, they checked our bags... except for the over-sized ones... (that wonderful car seat we all grew so fond of on this trip) so again....

"Where do we go now? I have no idea what you're saying..." (in English)

"Over here! I have no idea of what you just said..." (in Chinese)

"Ok - let's run!!" (not spoken, but understood)

And off we went. At this point, I was hefting Sarah (and for those of you who have held Sarah, it is fare to say, "I hefted her") and as I was huffing and puffing and running along, she started to giggle. Oh, how she giggled! She giggled all the way to China - or at least to the over-size baggage check area. She thought it was very funny to see Mommy all red-faced and wheezing and when you add the motion of jogging up and down - man! that was better than a full hour of Elmo!

Once we had checked the car seat, we moved on through security where we said our final goodbye to our driver. Without him, we would have missed our flight and so, when we thanked him profusley and told him in Chinese, "thank you - thank you - thank you" and we shook his hand warmly, and waved goodbye once we cleared the metal detectors. We left each other with smiles - I think we were all amazed, good-heartedly amused and very relieved to have gotten so far so fast... and after talking about it, felt very blessed by that experience and this man. Who says almost missing a flight isn't fun?!

So, here we go again - running.... running... running... jogging... jogging... walking real fast... walking real... walk... wa... stopping... cramping...

We tried to run the rest of the way to our gate (ok, ok, I said tried... I guess it was more like a real fast limp), and Sarah was still giggling - the little stinker... when she gets older, she'll have to carry me - then we'll see who's laughing! We ran only to find out we needed to take a bus to take us out to the plane, which was already being boarded on the taxiway.

Upon entering the plane, we single-filed all the way to the back, where our seats were, only to find out that they weren't our seats... but rather, our "seat" - one seat actually... the other two seats were at the front of the plane - directly in back of a bunch of cranky Chinese people crammed together like sardines that we'd been holding up! So me and Sarah got a good look at the back galley while they rearranged some things and several minutes later, we were all enjoying the flight side-by-side in our newly reassigned seats. Whew! We made it! (Gives me a rush just thinking about it!)

Now - I had been told by a very reliable source NOT to eat the food on the plane. "It may be dog, it may be cat... it just doesn't look like any kind of meat I've ever had... just don't eat it." This person had also endured the foul affects of food poisoning in China, so bad that it almost did him in, and by all means, I was intending to avoid that experience, so I didn't eat the snack (which was a flaky, chewy, dough-like roll with an odd meat in the middle). Mike kept telling me it was pork (and I did try a little bit of it - but wasn't convinced it was anything I'd ever had) and he was actually really enjoying it, but with my overactive imagination, all I could think about were furry, happy-go-not-so-lucky dogs and cats (thanks a lot Stuart!). Thanks, but I think I'll stick to my pretzels and 7-Up.

We touched down in Zhengzhou a little less than two hours later and were one package of peanut butter crackers, one juice, two soft drinks, and one bun-wrapped weird-meat-thingy heavier than when we took off. We maneuvered with ease through the checkpoints and out to the general terminal where there were hundreds of people awaiting their family, friends, and guests. Among them, Johnson, our guide, held up a small sign with the name "Michael Barrett" written on it.

We had arrived. And unbeknownst to us, the next several days were sure to become some of the most memorable we'd ever experience... as soon, Sarah would be officially ours... and millions of people would know it.