Making Friends Along the Way

Today was a long and tiring day with a few challenges along the way. It was a good day, though, and we are again so very thankful for all of the prayers.  Throughout the day, we were blessed by kind and friendly people.  Since our Beijing guide had to leave for Guangzhou on Friday, she arranged for another guide, Lily, to take us to the airport today.  She was incredibly sweet and completely enamored with Mark within about 30 seconds of meeting him. She kept hugging him and touching his face and wanted a picture taken with him before we had left the hotel.  We learned lots about her on our way to the airport, exchanged pictures of our children and her son and exchanged email addresses.  Her son is going to college in California.  Maybe she will come visit some time!  She was a huge help to us at the airport. As we were checking in at the counter, Mark somehow managed to get his middle finger caught in the luggage conveyor at the counter! So now, picture a screaming redhead with blood gushing everywhere in the Beijing airport.  All this happening as we need to find our way through this huge airport, past another set of temperature scanners, hoping his already unsettled tummy stays under control in the midst of his throbbing finger...  Lily helped us get ice and a kind woman handed us a bandage.  We ended up having to go to the medical clinic to get more bandages. Pete insisted we were NOT taking Mark into the clinic and they wouldn't give him any antiseptic without seeing the wounded finger. We bandaged him up and calmed him down so he could bravely walk through security and temperature screening. The security guards kindly allowed him to carry ice through security when we explained (hand signed) what had happened.   The last time we had made the same flight, it was a very difficult flight.  However, we were blessed this time to be sitting next to a woman and her son who spoke English and were very friendly.  There was also another American on the flight who took notice of us and made sure we had pillows and blankets and checked on us at the airport to make sure we knew how to get around. The young man next to us was a rubix cube experts of sorts and had a new type of rubix cube too. Mark did great on the flight -- no complaints about his finger or tummy. Like our flight three years ago, lunch came with a "muslim" sticker on it.  However, this time it was recognizable food and actually tasted pretty good.   Our guide, "Wendy" was waiting for us at the airport.  She is very friendly and full of interesting information about the city. Once at the hotel, she had us fill out a multitude of forms in multiple copies. Last time, we had done much of this in the office with Anna, so we were happy to do much of it in advance. Then we went to the bank to exchange currency before our appointments tomorrow.  Before she left us, she helped write out some things we might want to order for dinner -- that ended up being very helpful.   After she left, we went in search of water.  We are in a very different neighborhood than last time. Definitely a shopping district.  I can't even count how many stores are in a three block radius of us - it has to be hundreds.  In front of the shops and in the alleys between the main street, it is crammed with vender after vender selling all sorts of clothing and accessories. I've never seen so many shoes or socks for sale.  There are also people walking around selling all sorts of things from belts to kittens, bunnies and turtles.  There are carts of fruit and loud music of various sorts blaring from the stores.  There are cars honking and tons of people. It is truly difficult to adequately describe. The goods seem to be very, very inexpensive.  I bought some hairclips for Anna for about seven cents each, we got some "adidas" sport socks for about 30 cents each.  There was a cute little girl selling beaded necklaces for 1 yuan each (about 15 cents) so I couldn't resist buying a couple of them from her. It was facinating just to wander the streets, although Mark quickly tired of the noise and stimulation. One young man asked me where I was from and when I told him I was from the US, he told me he was from Kazakstan (just across the border from here -- there are many Kazaks), but he didn't look Kazak to me.   On the way to getting water, we stopped for a bite to eat at a fast food place because Mark hadn't eaten much on the flight.  We thought it was similar to a McDonalds, but it was quite different.  Most of what they sold was chicken in various forms. We ordered a couple kabobs, a drumstick for Mark and some fries.  It was so, so spicy!  Now, I really like spicy food, but this left my esophagus tingling until we were at the supermarket!  The cashiers spoke little English, but were determined to try to sell us more food -- three of them were trying to convince us to try their special "ice flakes" which looked like chunks of fruit floating in something. We passed on that...we also passed on the "fresh corn water", but I'm posting a picture.    We had dinner at the hotel. I don't have any strange dishes to report to you because there was not one word of English on the menu.  The friendly staff - about five of them - helped us order.  It was good and inexpensive and the most interesting thing was lamb, so it was pretty safe.   The time zone here is intersesting. The whole country stays on Beijing time, so it is 10:30 and just now getting dark.   We are all in a bit of shock that we are really in Urumqi!  Our guide is picking us up at 9:30 and taking us to the notary office where we will meet Li Meng!  His orphanage is about a 3 hour drive from here, so we don' t know if he is staying somewhere in the city tonight or getting up very early tomorrow. We are nervous and excited and cannot even imagine what tomorrow will be like. We spent the evening getting our gifts for the officials in order, filling a backpack for Li Meng and getting settled in our room so it will be somewhat orderly for him.  Wow!  Thank you for praying for us and for this little boy whose world will change forever tomorrow. It is amazing how life can completely change in an instant.