Beijing, Day 3

Why no Day 2 posting? Because of a misunderstanding with the hotel which caused the Day 1 post to cost us $30. Apparently, we missed the tiny sign in the corner of the "Office Suite" saying that Internet costs a kooky amount per minute. And of course we were both goofing around, searching the web and such, all the while running up a crazy tab (by Beijing standards anyway). Tonight, I'm at an Internet cafe, and expect to pay much less.

It snowed in Beijing all day today, giving the city the brief appearance of being pristine. Soon, the white had turned to gook everywhere except in the Forbidden City, which is luckily where we spent our morning. Around noon, Sallie, Lisa and I broke off from the group and went in search of a hot pot restaurant. Every time we hail a cab, it's a new adventure. We break out the dictionaries and try our best to explain where we went to be. Most of the time it works, but occassionally we get abandoned on the roadside. Today we convinced three different cab drivers to take us first to a great hot pot restaurant, then to a yarn shop (don't ask) and finally to one of those markets where everything is for sale and nothing is the price it seems.

Again, no pictures because of the connection, but imagine Lisa slipping and giving one of her little cries of surprise. Then picture us at the Starbucks in Forbidden City. Finally, picture Sallie worn out from shopping for too many bargains.

We're turning in early tonight because tomorrow is it, the big day we've been waiting for. We get up at 5 a.m., and by 3 p.m. we'll be in a hotel in Wuhan holding Sophie. It's almost too much to think about. We got the smallest nuggets of information about her this afternoon -- she weighs 16.5 lbs., has three teeth, and is on a 1 p.m. nap schedule -- but they were like gold.

I think I forgot to mention that getting off the plane on Friday and seeing Lisa was one of the great moments of my life, and now it's almost time for another one.