(Sunday November 22nd)
Ni Hao from Nanchang, Jiangxi!

What a day it has been!

I am so tired as I write, but want to try to capture a little of our day.

After arriving very late last night, Kevin and I were overly tired. We fell asleep around 1:30 AM and we awoke naturally at 6:30AM. This is basically our regular Canadian time routine, so we think this is a good sign that we are on China time!

Despite having terrible reviews on tripadvisor, we are quite happy at the Gloria Grand Hotel Nanchang. Although smoking is allowed throughout the hotel, and the smoke is quite thick, our room which is on the non smoking floor is fine! We walked into our room last night and noted right away the little crib set up!!!!! Also, they have a baby bathtub and stroller in the room for our use. Well, Hannah's use!

After getting ready, we went downstairs for breakfast at the buffet. It was very nice and only missing our spring rolls we enjoyed so much last time!

I unpacked our things (mostly.... still doing some unpacking for Miss Hannah Faith!) and then we went downstairs to meet the group in the lobby at 11AM. We had plans to go to an ancient village around 1 hour away. The village is over 1000 years old. What an excursion!

We set out in our bus and immediately noticed how much busier it was this morning as opposed to when we arrived past midnight! I should add that as we woke up this morning, we could hear a much busier scene down below. The sound of cars, the rush of people and constant horn blowing! We were so excited! It was certain, we are in China!!!!! Anyway, back to my story! We drove through Nanchang and into the countryside. What different sights! We saw many what seemed like near collisions that don't seem to rouse anyone aside from us visitors! We saw many tiny children riding along the highway on the back, or standing in front of their parent on scooters. We also noted many trucks that had their load balancing into the air. Rice husks, or pork, branches etc... Piled way into the air, without any safety sides to the truck. We remarked the different houses we saw. What looks like extreme poverty in many areas. Clothes and meat hanging outside to dry, little children playing and some doing chores. So many people were working so hard. Working in their fields by hand etc...

I am not sure what I expected when we were told that it is a busy place for people to visit in the summer, but not at this time of year. We were told that this ancient village is made up of 3 actual villages. Perhaps I imagined a village that is no longer lived in. This was not the case at all.

When we arrived we walked in to witness a whole different scene than anything we have seen before. People were curious about us and that was obvious by the looks we received etc... We had a guide who walked our group through this village and explained different things along the way. While there were rooms similar to our museums with things of interest behind glass, there were also people living and working so very hard in other parts. We saw skinned chickens and meat hanging, chickens roaming freely, a rat which scurried quickly past us and under the rock walkway we were walking on, children whom captured a place in my heart and mind within an instant, women who lead a very different way of life than we, elderly women who were carrying their eggs and nuts to show us and hopefully sell to us. The eggs were steaming in a hot basket. Kevin paid each lady that followed us for some eggs, although we didn't take them from them. Although there were many things that were of interest and remarkable to us, there were two very upsetting episodes to witness. Both left me heartbroken, angry and numb. It was not our place to interfere and we didn't. However, our village guide tried. As we came through one of the areas, there was a little boy around two years old who was just given his lunch of rice/meat/vegetables in a porcelain bowl. He was pulling his bowl closer to him to begin to eat when he saw us and turned his head to look at us, at the same time, the table shifted (as it was on uneven cobblestone) and his bowl fell to the ground and shattered. His father sat by, quietly and his mother came to him and was very loudly angry. She proceeded to kick the little guy. Our village guide tried to stop her and the mother left with the little boy. But continued to discipline (what would be considered abuse in Canada) him. I instantly felt ill to my stomach and my reaction was one of great powerlessness and sadness. Honestly, I began to cry instantly, but tried to pull myself together quickly as I didn't want to embarrass our village guide as she already looked upset about this happening in front of us. We also witnessed a small baby (around 1 years) sitting on the ground. His mother was yelling at him and she took a large stick and began hitting the ground where the baby sat. Then the father helped the baby stand up, and when he didn't turn around to eat when yelled at by his mother, she beat his bottom with the branch. It was very different. I am not judging the way of life here, and at the same time could never ever even imagine reacting to a child in this way... ever.... It upset me greatly and it was not at all our place to interfere in any way. I suppose all I can say is that other places have different beliefs and ways of life than ours.... I hesitated to include these two episodes in this blog, but this was the reality of the day.

To continue, on a more positive note, we also saw a tree that was planted over 1000 years ago. It continues to bloom and thrive. It is glorious and at the top of a hill within the village. It was planted because someone (I cannot think of his name at this moment) came to Nanchang to build his home. One night he dreamnt of a golden lion who went into the ground. The next day he found gold there. And then he planted the tree in honor of this...

I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to visit this village. Although yes it had it's sad points, it was a very real look at what life is for so many people. This isn't a major tourist area, and it was so wonderful to have the chance to be there. I was so happy that we brought our candies for the children. We saw so many little ones whom I mentioned, and we gave them lollipops with a Canadian maple leaf on them. They were so excited! My heart felt so full watching them. One little girl I bent down to speak with and I spoke in my very limited Chinese:) I said hello and told her that we are Canadians. She smiled so brightly.

After going to the village we returned and had a very late afternoon lunch at the hotel. We then had about 30 minutes and went back to our room. We returned to the lobby and walked with the group to a store for water. I found the "Bin Bin" cookies Mara-Grace still loves that we discovered in China and we bought some water and two jars of baby food.

The air is very polluted here. The sounds and smells, sights and air is incredible. It is so unique and special to us....It brings back so many memories of our trip to bring home Mara-Grace almost 3 years ago. Kevin and I were walking along and both said how happy we were to be walking in China once again...

We then came back to our hotel and had a Chinese food dinner with our group. My stomach is now misbehaving, but I am hoping and praying all is well by tomorrow.

There has been a change of plans for tomorrow. We were supposed to meet our little ones at 3pm, but now it is 11 AM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, you read correctly! I saved this exciting news for last!!!!!! So, at 10PM (your time) Sunday evening, we will be receiving our Hannah!!!!!!

Much love from Nanchang!!!!!

xoxo
Btw, to see our pictures from our journey please go to,

http://hannah.kjvb.com/

and click on the drop down at the top left.