It's Plane to See

I'm sitting in a Starbucks in the bottom of the hotel in Guangzhou.  Put the other two down for the night, grabbed the room key and here I am.  It's quite international in this small space, and it feels good.  I can get out and about with my faced washed, teeth brushed and just shy of wearing my pajamas, since it's 10:30 at night, and no one is staring at me.  Sweet relief.  I loved the roadtrips our guide took us on when we were in Hefei, but we were ready to move on from the city.  The staff in the hotel restaurant were so nice to us because they saw so much of us that I hated to leave them behind.  Took pictures of them and with them on our camera, and one of them even brought her camera on our last night so she could take pictures with us.  I never shed a tear, but this is the closest I've ever come to doing so over a hotel employee.

We left Hefei this afternoon missing yesterday's typhoonish weather here in Guangzhou and getting here with no problem.  Da Qing took it all in stride, sort of.  Imagine this, she flew in a plane today.  What is a plane ride to someone who has probably never even seen a plane in the sky?   She was fine as we taxied to the runway, but when the plane started to lift off, her eyes were wide, and she looked at me to explain what was happening.  Baba was sitting in the middle seat, and she was frightened enough that she allowed him to put his hand on top of hers.  That was huge for the three minutes it lasted.  She's having a bit of a hard time having a man in her life, even having a new woman in her life.  We remind ourselves that she's really only five days old right now, trapped in a big body with an infant's comprehension of all the changes.  Sure, everyone wants a mom and dad, but some of us have to learn what that means.  She's like a toddler in her discoveries, but she's a lot taller, faster, smarter, etc., and it's hard to stay ahead of her.  We are building brain neurons like crazy.  Here in Guangzhou they speak Cantonese not Mandarin so we will have a bit more of a taste of our life without a common language.  It's good practice for when we get home.

Sorry I don't have a picture of the plane ride, but I left the camera up in the room and forgot to load the pictures onto the computer before heading down here.  I'll give you a few pictures from a different day to keep you interested and coming back for more.  Tomorrow she has her medical exam and then we'll shop around Shamian Island.  We are expecting a visitor from the (north)east as well, so you'll want to check back for news on that.  Da Qing has a jie jie.