Friday, November 27, 2009

Last Day in Nanjing

Today we had to say goodbye to Nanjing. We have really grown to love this city and it was very hard to say goodbye. It was a cold, rainy, foggy day but we could not stay inside (little Missy cannot take being inside for long... she will grab your hand and pull you towards the door with a heartbreaking, pitiful look that you just cannot say no to!) so we ventured out anyway. We were on our way to the old gate of the city when we were distracted by an old neighborhood that was just so cool. It reminded me of the Nanjing equivalent to a Beijing Hutong (if you have been to Beijing you will know what I am talking about) and as this was off the beaten path and definitely away from tourists we were looked at like we had grown second heads! The wind was blowing rain into our faces and Catherine was making all of these strange sounds. We thought at first that she was upset about it so we were trying to cover her up. Suddenly a huge burst of wind blew into her face and she laughed and laughed :) She LOVED it! It was hilarious!





We headed back to the hotel, packed up all of our many pounds of STUFF, and our guide picked us up at 2:00. Our flight was not until 7:00 so we did a little touring at the Nanjing Brocade Institute. If you are going to Nanjing I HIGHLY recommend going to see this. It is like the university of weaving in the ancient way and it is absolutely incredible. The training that you have to go through to do this is unreal and the way they do it is like a dance... synchronized and choreographed. It takes 2 people to work each loom (they are HUGE) with one person holding the big long lines at the top and one person doing the individual knots at the bottom. They do not talk to eachother at all... they both know exactly what they need to do and they work in perfect harmony. If they are really good the can do 5cm in a day... yes FIVE! It can take 10-13 years to make one garment... CRAZY! We really enjoyed watching this, especially since it is the only place in the world where you can see this kind of intricate weaving (it is a World Heritage Site).

The weaver making his knots from memory (he actually does this on the back of the fabric)


The underside as he is weaving(which is actually the top of the fabric)


A whole room of working looms (you can kind of make out the 2nd weaver on top of the loom)


The ride to the airport was long (why so far out of the city???) but the airport is "nice" by Chinese standards and our flight was uneventful (none of this like last time thank goodness!). Catherine got really excited on takeoff and she watched out the window saying, "Oh!". I was afraid her ears might bother her but she did okay. She held it together pretty well for most of the flight (2 year old on cramped plane is HARD!) and just like ALL of our children have she fell asleep about 5 minutes before landing :(

Catherine's first flight


This is what traveling can do to a 2 year old...


We are all settled in at the White Swan now and we are looking forward to a good night's sleep.

(you can see more pictures from today at www.bringingcatherinehome.shutterfly.com)

1 comment:

  1. I am so glad to see miss Catherine sleeping soundly in the White Swan crib...I wonder how many of us have had the same crib (we should figure out some way to write our names in some obscure place :-)

    I love, love, love the picture from your Nanjing walk (made me cold reading about it!) of Catherine on daddy's back blowing a raspberry on his neck. She looks so settled and comfortable.

    Have some fun in the warm sun in GZ and keep us posted, it is so fun to follow your story.

    sue

    ReplyDelete

 

Current Time in China

Current Weather In...





Timeline

04/09/09 Started Paperchasing
04/25/09 Changed Agencies
04/26/09 We Got Our Referral!
04/26/09 LOI (Letter of Intent)
05/05/09 Homestudy Approved
05/13/09 Filed I800A with USCIS
05/13/09 PA (Pre-Approval)
06/05/09 USCIS Fingerprinting
06/10/09 I800A Approval
06/16/09 Dossier is Complete
06/19/09 DTC (Dossier to China)
06/30/09 LID (Log In Date)
08/28/09 LOA (Acceptance)
09/11/09 I-800 Approval
10/22/09 Article 5
11/04/09 TA (Travel Approval)
11/19/09 Leave for China
11/23/09 Gotcha Day
12/02/09 CA (Consulate Appointment)
12/05/09 Home!

Blog Archive

Blog Design By


Followers