Saturday March 24 - Goodbye, and Home Again

Ni hao!

Yes, I know I said I would post our final message on Sunday, but the long, convoluted trip home added a level of exhaustion to the expected jetlag and we were in no condition to even think coherently, let alone post a message that made any sense! Hopefully, this final posting will now sound somewhat logical.

On Friday night, both Bryanna and Ben Presley's "under the weather" feelings worsened and by Saturday morning, both were in no condition for our final half day of touring Shanghai. So Papa Thompson remained behind at the hotel with Bryanna, and Michael stayed with Ben. The rest of the Thompsons, Presleys and Christensons set out with Ma Rui and Allan, our local guide.

On this, our final day in China, the unexpectedly wonderful two weeks of great weather finally gave in a little. It was still warm, but we had rain early in the morning. It stopped, though, in time for our walk but it was very wet and humid (as is apparent by my lovely hair-do). We set out with determination for the Bund, however. The Bund means "muddy bank" and although the river bank is no longer "muddy", the name remains. This is a beautiful raised walkway all along Shanghai's riverfront, facing the modern skyline on the opposite shore. Unfortunately, our view was not the best due to the clouds and mist, but we still enjoyed it.



After that, we returned to the YuYuan market we had walked through the day before on our way to the gardens. We each had some remaining Chinese yuan that we wanted to spend and all of us had certain shopping goals in mind for the market...chopsticks, purses, table runners, fans, etc. etc. I even grabbed a coffee at the Starbucks in the market as we waited for everyone to congregate again.

I should mention that between the place where the bus dropped us off and the entrance to the market, there are many beggars waiting to approach the constant stream of tourists walking past. It is a sad but true fact of life that there is such dire poverty amidst wealth. It provided an opportunity to discuss this with our children - we had faced the poverty and begging to a much lesser extent on our travels through other cities in China, and our children would often give small denominations of yuan to the poor and elderly. This area approaching the YuYuan market, though, was particularly distressing as some people had severe physical handicaps that were frightening to some of the children. Our guide, Allan, was a calm leader throughout and was very protective of the children.

After our final Shanghai expedition, we headed back to the hotel to pick up our remaining family members and then departed for our final lunch in China. Our last dishes of sweet and sour pork, dumplings, noodles, sticky rice...our last glasses of pop with no ice! Afterward, as we waited for the bus to pick us up, the kids began yet another round of the seemingly never-ending clapping game they had played incessantly for 2 weeks. The adults can pretty much recite this in our sleep now:

"This is the game ...of concentration...

No repeats...and no hesitation...

I'll start...and you follow...

Category is...sentences!" (or animals, or colours, or or or...!)

Finally we began the 45 minute drive to Shanghai's modern and enormous international airport. This was a time to reflect on our two weeks to China and start our goodbyes to our guides. I felt emotionally mixed - certainly looking forward to the comforts of home and seeing our friends and family, but I knew that we would truly miss this amazing time in our childrens' homeland.

The long trip to Canada began with an hour or so wait in line at Shanghai airport to check in, followed by an emotional goodbye with Ma Rui who stayed with us right until we went through security. We will all miss this amazing woman in our daily lives - her absolute care of and delight in our children was a true blessing to us. And to all of you who have travelled with her in the past - she remembers you all. We talked about the Ramundos, the Ottmans and Morgans, the Madores and so many others. She has received all your messages through the years, knows the children by name (yes, Gareth, she certainly remembers you!) and wants to come and visit us in Canada - hopefully, soon!

The first leg of the plane ride was fine, many of the children slept. Then came Vancouver - not only did we have to leave the plane (as we knew we would), but we had to go through customs, wait for our luggage, re-check it, go through security, race to the other end of the terminal and load all up again for the trip to Toronto. Many of us had gone through this on our adoption trips but when we booked this flight, we had understood that it was direct to Toronto (as was our China-bound flight to Beijing two weeks earlier). Nope. And delay after delay caused us to miss our connection in Vancouver, and all the others who had to catch flights to the Sault and Ottawa also missed making those connections in Toronto. The Thompsons felt very grateful to be able to catch a taxi to our house in Mississauga and stumble sleepily through the door just before midnight.

And so, finally, after an amazing two week adventure, filled with fun, excitement, exploration and a journey to connect with their past, Bryanna and Cassidy were back home in Canada. They had a ball in China, and so did we. We're also happy that so many of you came along with us in spirit. And the Thompsons are already planning our next trip back - maybe in 2012!

Farewell, China - for now...