Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Hohhot Day 1 and 2

We arrived at Hohhot without incident. Well, we don't do much without incident, but we arrived all in one piece.

I had been taking Ambien to help with the jet lag and sleeping issues and am certain that I was dealing with some pretty intense side effects. I was having really intense feelings of desperation and worry. It really was completely illogical. Anyway, that resulted in me not being able to sleep for more than about 15 mins of our first night here. Thank God, my Mom was feeling better and was able to carry the load for my sleep deprived self.

We met our guide at 9 am to do paperwork and make Silas officially ours. I had to do a short interview where I promised that Dan and I were going to care for him and not neglect or abandon him. Done!!

My mom and I decided to venture out with a map to try to find the "mall" where we could get some snacks. Those of you who know me and my directionally challenged tendencies should rest assured that is not a genetic trait! In spite of my mom's good map skills. We didn't take into account that there are no street signs and NO ONE speaks English. We did end up at the mall, which was 7 stories high and we had no idea where the groceries were located. We did find McDonald's! As a good American mom, I introduced Silas to his first happy meal. I ordered chicken nuggets with milk. The lady who spoke a little English said "you don't want milk, it's cold. I will give you a hot chocolate for him." I replied, "Milk is fine." She repeated. I repeated. She gave me chicken nuggets and a hot chocolate. My mom when up and exchanged the hot chocolate for milk. It was room temperature. Our guide told us that kids don't drink anything that is not hot. Silas liked the milk : ).

We had a restless night sleep. Silas slept like a champ. My mom and I would sleep a couple hours at most. We'd wake up watch a movie, read a book or listen to music and fall back asleep. Pretty sure our bodies just think it's a nap.

We went to the passport office today. Got some cute pics of Silas for his passport and stopped at the grocery store. Found some chocolate bars that might be our saving grace!


2 comments:

trenda610 said...

Praying:)

And, I'm somewhat of an expert on Ambien-yes side effects, and if you're not taking the CR version, they may only "work" 1-3 hours but you'd still get the potential blessing of the side effects without being asleep:( Looking forward to seeing sweet Silas in person!

Rosalyn said...

lol! even in India...they don't give cold milk to the kids!