Urumqi to Xian

Here is our official adoption picture. Confession - when the photographer pulled down the red backdrop I complained that it would clash with my magenta-ish shirt. Since I don't speak much Chinese (understatement) I am pretty sure they didn't have a clue what I was saying, so it was pretty nice to see that somehow they had managed to turn my shirt red in the picture.
Since today was officially a travel day we didn't have time do do much except a very little shopping. We were looking for the N+rth Face jackets we had seen, but the street vendors weren't out with them so we just bought Jed a hat and sweater. I only brought the boys three outfits with me because I didn't believe their measurements (I thought they would be bigger than Andy) but Jed's were exactly right.
This morning Jerry and Jed played a little ping pong. We were puzzled when we checked in and the lady at the desk handed us two mesh bags each. Jed tried them on as a glove and Jerry put them on the handle of his pinpong paddle. The lady came over to explain that they were to cover our shoes! The carpet in the whole entire hotel is so noticeably filthy (our room didn't get vacuumed all week) that that we burst out laughing!
Our flight to Xian was uneventful (yay!). I had my comfort music and book on my Kindle (Annie Moses band and Agatha Christie), together with my X and I did fine. In retrospect (in other words now that I know I survived it) I agree with everyone (Cheryl) who said Urumqi would be a special and unique place to visit. first of all , it was nice not being 'the big Americans'. We were average sized there, with many being much larger than us (unlike in Guangzhou where we will finish up the trip). The ethnic diversity was also facinating. Yesterday we spent a long time at the police station and a group of Kazaks or Russians were there at the same time. In fact, when we were shopping today, a man asked if we were 'Rusky?'.
Now that we are settled in Xian, Jed has finally taking the toys out of the backpack I gave him and is playing with them. Yesterday, he seemed to be in a waiting mode, just watching to see what was coming next. I forgot to mention that when he put his new pjs on last night I saw that all day he had been wearing pajamas with a sweatsuit over that and bluejeans lined with flannel and a sweater over it all. Today I just laid out his blue jeans and a tshirt and a sweater to wear but when we got on the plane I noticed that he had his spiderman pjs on underneath. smile.
Tomorrow, we meet Simon about 4:00. If the pictures are an indication, he will be much more reserved than Jed. Tune in tomorrow. And thanks for your prayers!