Today was a travel day...
We started the morning off with Esther pulling a loose tooth!! Before she even got out of bed. We had Jacky explain the Tooth Fairy idea, so tonight we will have to remember to put it under her pillow when we arrive at the Victory Hotel.
We had breakfast and then we walked down to a corner shop to buy some tea. We went back to the hotel for a morning swim before our flight. Esther does better and better each time she is in the water. She floats in a ring and does not want us to hold her. She put her face in the water without holding her nose today and blew bubbles. After swimming we heard from Jacky that he had the passport and everything was prepared for us to leave Changsha.
We packed all our bags and went down to the lobby for the van... Jacky was getting the passport and catching a taxi to the hotel to join us. When he arrived we left for the airport. On the way he told us that there had been a worry but he didn't share it with us because it may have ruined our day yesterday... the police cheif in Yueyang had not been available to sign some papers needed to process her passport. So Jacky had been this morning all the way back to Yueyang to get his signature and then back to Civil Affairs with it... all's well that ends well, and we knew nothing of the trouble.
When we arrived at the airport Jacky got us checked in and then told us there was a flight delay... I think it was cancelled because not enough passengers. A flight leaves about evry two hours. We caught the next flight out. Interesting thing in the airport... instead of "meal vouchers" as is in the U.S. they bring food to the waiting area and hand it out to the passengers. It was one container of steamed rice and one of something... something that looked like octopus legs... and cabbage (which I did recognize). Esther was so cute... she began eating first. We were trying to figure out a way to eat on our laps... there were no tables available... juggling these two containers etc. was precarious... she says, "Mama", points and begins to turn around in her seat, get up on her knees and place her food containers and water on the wide window sill behind our seats! She used it as a table! We were impressed! Chinese way! Very ingenuitive! She began eating first and she motioned to me by waving her hand over her tongue that it was spicy and handed me her water to open...not because she needed it... it was for me... she was preparing me with the open water bottle because she knew we don't handle spicy very well and we would need a drink right away. This is the type of consideration for others that she displays all the time.
Esther was very excited about this flight, she has never been on a plane before. Finally it was time to go... although in China it is a bit different... you usually take a bus out to the plane and board from the tarmack. So we get on the bus and Esther is very confused... through sign language she says to her Baba.. this is a bus... I've been on a bus before... I thought we were taking a plane? Baba holds her up and shows her the planes out on the tarmack and then she understands. We took lots of pictures of her getting on the plane...she holds her arms out like flying for airplane. The flight went well, I just wish it had been the earlier flight so she could have looked out the window to see things get smaller and smaller.
We arrived at Guangzhou and met up with the H's and G again, the Z's and the R family. We had quite a reunion... we all got on the "party bus" ("stacked like cord wood" as Mrs. H said). There were two buses but no one wanted to leave...our guide Connie said, "I'll be on the other bus" we all laughed so hard! I think Esther was a little bit overwhelmed.
We checked into the Victory and got in bed at 11:30
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