May 4

Today was the most stressful day by far! I’m glad it is behind us and I’m praying that the rest of the trip is not nearly as stressful.
We got up at 6 am just like the last 2 days, but instead of eating breakfast at the hotel for $20 a piece we went to McDonald’s and we all ate for less than $10! We could just kick ourselves for spending so much those other days, oh well! Last trip we never ate at an American restaurant and we had really wanted to avoid it this time, but it just didn’t make sense to us to not go.
Across the street from McDonald’s was a bank and we got quite a shock when we saw the armored car “brigade” that was lined up out front. It was almost scary! Now that is some bank security!
After breakfast we headed back to the hotel to do our final packing and were ready early when Helen arrived at the hotel to get us. We had a LOT more luggage than Helen had planned on and we had trouble getting it all packed into the van. We headed to the train station and of course got caught in a traffic jam. Helen jumped out of the van to find some guys to help us haul all our luggage because as we found out later the train stations in China are not traveler friendly.
We got out everything out of the van and as we started heading toward the train station I asked Cackie to give me her hand so that I wouldn’t lose her. She has had more than her share of stubborn moments and decided to have one right there on the street. When she refused to give me her hand I grabbed it out of pure fear that she would get too close to the street and she started to throw an absolute fit! She was screaming and the whole moment became 100 times more stressful that it already was. While trying to contain Cackie in her fit, we were trying to keep up with Helen and the two dudes who had taken off with our luggage. Then as we entered the train station we had to put all our luggage through a luggage scanner, but everything was moving at 5 times the pace of what we went through at the airport. After hoping that we had gathered everything up we had to go up an escalator with everything, all the while Cackie is drawing attention to herself because she is screaming and Michael & I were starting to get very nervous that someone was going to accuse us of kidnapping her. At that point I was about to lose it and we put her in the stroller to help contain her. She was not happy about that, but we were now in a HUGE crowd of people and we were doing everything we could to keep it together.
As we headed toward the gate I can now understand why there were cases of people being trampled in the train stations earlier this year around Chinese New Year. I can now truly say that I know what cattle feel like when they are being herded! It is hard enough keeping up with 4 other people in a crowded place, but when you add in all the luggage it is crazy! Once we got into the gate for our train, then we had to rush down a huge flight of steps and race to the opposite end of the train to get to our car. We jumped on the train just as they were ringing the bell to let us know that the train was about to leave! We had to cram the stroller in a tight space and pray that the rest of the luggage had made it on the train.
The trip to Tianjin was just a little over an hour and the train was very smooth. We totally needed that after what it took to get on there! But, the fun wasn’t over yet… we still had to arrive and get off the train. Knowing that it was going to be difficult to get everything off we planned to split up and Michael & I would get part of our stuff and Caryn & Helen would get the rest. We were able to get everything off and Helen found two more guys who could help us to haul everything. This time we first had to go up about 3 flights of steps, turn a corner and then down 3 flights of stairs, not easy with all the stuff we had. Then, as we were trying to exit the train station amongst mass chaos a woman at the gate tried to stop me as we were going through. I pretty much looked at her like a crazed woman pointed toward Helen and pushed through the gate. I know she thought I was a lunatic pushing a double stroller with only one child and loaded down with 3 or 4 bags. Maybe tomorrow I can laugh at that thought!
Trying to get to the car wasn’t much easier. We were mobbed by people running toward us waving their keys trying to get us to hire them and other people who wanted to help us carry our bags, etc. We finally made it to the Buick minivan and we literally almost didn’t get everything into it. After about 20 minutes we arrived at the good ole Holiday Inn (how ironic is that for a family from Memphis?) and got checked into the hotel. We pretty much dropped off our stuff in the room and then met Helen back in the lobby to go out for lunch. The lunch was at a local restaurant and we really enjoyed the lamb, shrimp and eggplant that Helen ordered. Cackie had to go to the bathroom while at the restaurant and Caryn took her to the rest room to find a squatty potty waiting, yay!
After lunch we headed back to the hotel to unpack and relax. We met Helen again at 7pm, intending to go to dinner. We also needed to take some laundry to be done. So, we headed off to the cleaners and halfway there Helen tells us that the laundry in China does not do socks or underwear. We never had that problem on our last trip, so it was a bit of a surprise to me. Then she tells us that we have soo many clothes that we probably won’t get them back for 2 days. I only had one day of clothes left, so that started to get me a bit irritated. We had really good experiences with the laundry on our last trip, and I hadn’t really prepared for this. So, after that we decided that none of us were really very hungry and we just went to the store to pick up a few things and then head back to the room.
We sorted out the dirty laundry and washed it all in the tub. Cackie had a good time, but it was a little annoying to have to go through the process. So, now we’re munching on snacks and we’ll be heading to bed soon. We leave the hotel at 11am to go to the orphanage and we get Owen! I’m glad today is behind us and I’m saying my prayers that tomorrow is a much much better day.