Wednesday started with an early wake-up at 4:30 to get ourselves ready for a 6:00 departure from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. Our guide, Kathy, helped us out by arranging a van for the 3-hour ride and even put together a bag of some breakfast food for us. That all went smoothly, including crossing the border between Mainland China and Hong Kong.
Both times when we crossed that border the van driver opened the sliding door so the border patrol officer could compare our passport photos to our actual faces. It seems like they have been trained (the US agents did this in Chicago too) to hold up the passport and look at the person next to it. Anyway, we handed over our two U.S. passports and the girls' Chinese passports. Stacey had one girl on her lap and I had the other on mine and the agent's booth was on my side of the van. First he looked at my passport, and confirmed the image matched my face, did the same with Stacey and then as he held up one of the girl's passports he gestured to me to see whose passport he was holding. Of course I had no idea and would not have even really been able to see the passport from that distance. A moment later he realized that he was dealing with twins who look very much alike and his whole face changed with amusement. He did not insist on matching the right passport with the right girl.
As we got out of the van at the Hong Kong airport and started to walk in we suddenly realized that it was the first time since we had arrived in Hong Kong that we did not have someone to call on if we ran into a problem. We had grown accustomed to having a personal support person, so we had to adjust!
Through our bank, we have a membership that gives us access to a limited number of airport clubs, and thankfully one of theme in Hong Kong was available to us. It was great to have a nice place to relax and have some breakfast before we got on the long flight. We found a way to push together two chairs that made somewhat of a playpen for the girls, which actually looks like a tub from the top. It was a perfect space for us to feed them and so they could relax a little without being on the floor.
We were very fortunate with the flight in that we got a bulkhead row (in the front of the cabin) and once we were in the air they put a basinet on the wall. One of the airline employees was especially helpful and she managed to relocate a few different passengers so that we had three seats to ourselves. It is actually prohibited for more than one infant to be seated in a row since for each three seats there are four oxygen masks, but with two infants on laps that makes a total of five passengers. Then you have to make tough decisions about who gets oxygen! So, we were able to sit together since there was an empty seat. Here is a photo of Clara Fen in her basinet:
Lucia Mei had a hard time sleeping, so she ended up in our arms for most of the flight. We did a lot of walking and hoping that she would relax for a little while. For the most part things were pretty good with her, but it is a rough experience to endure in any case.
Based on a suggestion from some other people returning with an adopted daughter, we got a box of chocolates to give to the flight crew when we got on to thank them in advance for their tolerance. It was amazing how thankful they were and throughout the flight they checked-in on us and frequently asked if we needed anything. They even brought us an extra basinet for the floor that turned out to be a fun place for the girls to play when they were not asleep.
The girls officially became U.S. citizens when we arrived in Chicago, so obviously we expected a big ceremony with flags and the national anthem. For the special occasion we decided it would be important to change them out of their dirty diapers before they had their magical moment. When we went to the first guard Stacey asked if we could take a picture of him - the answer was no and he let us know that we actually needed to go to another area for an interview.
We went to a desk and handed over two sealed envelopes of documents (we had been forbidden by the Consulate to look at the documents) to the border guard. He told us to go sit down. About fifteen minutes he came over to us and showed us that he had stamped the girls' passports and he said that they now were eligible for green cards, which would come in the next two weeks. We were a little dumbfounded since they are now U.S. citizens and do not need green cards. Anyway, he said he had just misspoken and everything was alright and they actually are citizens now. It made us a bit uneasy, but after so many hours of travel we decided to just move along and hope that he hadn't messed up the paperwork. We will know in a couple of weeks. But the good news is that if they do get green cards it means they will be eligible to get jobs and start to support the household.
So, in the end, the citizenship moment lacked fanfare, but it was nice to be back in the U.S. and to know that such a major portion of our trip was complete.
We had a couple of hours in the airport. I spent some of that time waiting in line for Garrett's Popcorn (they ran out of cheese popcorn, so it never worked out) and then we were ready to board the flight to DC. That 2-hour flight seemed like a blink of the eye, in comparison. Thankfully, all four of us managed to sleep most of that flight. The woman sitting next to me was very sweet and did not mind that Lucia Mei was hitting her arm early in the flight. When we were about to land I saw that Lucia's head was actually partially resting on the woman's arm and she very gently moved her arm so that she would not wake up Lucia. It was so nice.
My brother Gregory, who lives in Massachusetts, came all the way down to Maryland to help us out with getting home. He made sure the house was OK, he picked up Maggie from the kennel, bought food for us and then came to the airport with our neighbor Scott to bring us home. We needed two cars since our car is full with just the four of us now, not to mention our luggage.
The girls were in a ridiculously good mood for the ordeal they had been through. They were smiling and laughing when they met Gregory and Scott. I think we were in too much of a daze to think of taking pictures at Dulles Airport, so those moments are captured only in our memories.
Welcome Home! So glad that you are back in the comfort of home, hope it not too difficult for Maggie to adjust. Once she figures out that the girls are a terrific source of dropped food she will be happy!
ReplyDelete