Travel Group
Josh, Leslie, Scott, Debbie, Cindy, Dave, Donna, Carrie, Leah, Rob, Scott, Phyllis, Gerry, Pam, Mark, Lou, Me, Karen, Janet, Jeff.
We met others of our group downstairs in the Mall Cafe.
Let me, by way of explanation, say that we had ten families in our travel group. Several of us had already met on the APC and PAC China adoption lists on the internet. For the sake of their privacy and if they would like anonymity, I will refer to them by their first names only, and I will mention them personally as little as possible, for we each have different stories to tell and I want them to be able to tell theirs. Lou and I liked each and every one of these people, and hope - especially for the sake of our daughters - that we can remain in touch for a lifetime.
Lou and I went to the space museum at the cultural center across the street from the YMCA. We were fortunate to have a warm and sunny, though humid, day. The cultural center is quite an attractive, modern facility, and a hot spot for ceromonies, apparently, as we saw weddings in progress every time we were over there.
Lou enjoyed the virtual reality hang gliding machine and a couple of other attractions, but the museum, not surprisingly, didn't have much in the way of exhibits. We then strolled over to the art museum and enjoyed viewing some lovely works by Chinese artists.
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Friday 3-5-99 ** 6:00 p.m. Most of the travel group gathered at the YMCA's 4th floor dining room for complimentary drinks. What a great bunch of people! We had already met Rob-and-Carrie and Leah-and-Rick and Cindy-and-Dave, all of whom I'd chatted with on the net. That evening we met Pam-and-Mark, who had just arrived, although their bags hadn't. (They got them the next day, thank goodness.) And there was Leslie-and-Josh, Jeff-and-Donna, and Debbie-and-Scott. Rounding out the group were Phyllis, who was there with her brother Gerry, and Janet, there with her friend Karen. This was Janet's second China adoption, so we were all ecstatic to have her share her expertise with the group. We made an early night of it, exhausted from jet lag and the excitement of it all. |
