Day 4, Stressful Flight

Our only agenda today was to fly to Shanghai, where we will wait out the remainder of the 7 days in country stay to monitor us for swine flu before we are allowed to see Matthew. So, I was not feeling too crazy about the fact that the passenger seated directly in front of my seat coughed non-stop for the entire 2 hour flight. Normally this would not wig me out so much, but it is China’s rule that we remain healthy for those 7 days prior to getting Matthew. This left me scratching my head at the logic of monitoring passengers on incoming flights only…..seems to me that the passenger should also be monitored getting on flights as well. UGH!

Then, there was the turbulence that started about ½ hr after taking off. The overhead announcement came on several times during flight, but was in Chinese. So I was saying…What? What was that? Excuse me, nervous American on board!

And the last highlight of the flight was the lunch/snack they served. I thought I would share a picture. It was unidentifiable. No thank you.

So far, Shanghai is best described as a city like Philadelphia. We ventured out to find dinner and came across a little place serving many familiar American foods. We did also have the pleasure of seeing some odd sights as well, like the guy standing on the corner in his red underwear. Oh my….

Tomorrow we are scheduled for more sightseeing with our guide, Bo Bo, she speaks English very well. She told me she called the orphanage today to arrange for our arrival to see Matthew on Monday. She said that it is currently set up for us to go to the orphanage to meet him. I am still unclear as to whether or not they will allow us to tour it, we were told prior to leaving that we would not be able to visit for fears of swine flu germs. We will have to wait and see, keeping my fingers crossed that we will be allowed to see where he spent the past 3 ½ years of his life.