Greetings From Changsha

We are now one giant step closer to Bella. Our group left the Novotel Peace Hotel in Bejng this morning and flew to Changsha, Hunan. Bella is from Chenzhou, Hunan, but we'll meet her in Changsha. Changsha is the Hunan province's capital. We're staying at the Dolton Hotel and are very happy we decided to upgrade to a suite. This will be home sweet home for the next five days. It was surreal to walk into our hotel room and see a baby bed and bathtub. Our tour guide informed all seven families that we are to be in the hotel lobby tomorrow morning at 10:30 because we have to be at the Civil Affairs office at 11:00 to meet our babies!!! I don't know how any of us are going to sleep tonight. On the van ride from the airport, our tour guide told us this was the "real China". Bejing is very commercial and now we'll get to really see what China is like. She warned us the only Americans that are here are the ones who are adopting. We need to be prepared for stares. We flew out of a small airport in Bejing and we could feel the stares on us. In China, it's not considered rude to stare, so it's very obvious when you're being stared at. I had quite an experience in the Shanghai Airport as I tried to knit in public. About a dozen women were standing over me and staring wihle I worked on a sock. Will share more later, but we have to unpack because we're meeting our group in the hotel lobby at 6:00pm for a local dinner We're not in Louisiana anymore! Will post pics later tonight.