Home - and about town

Well, I must admit, I was pretty proud of Susanna on her first two plane trips. While she was not particularly impressed (or even remotely observant) of take offs and landings she did a fine job of entertaining herself in flight.This may not be a big deal for a 40 minute trip from Gangzhou to Hong Kong, but 15 hours from HK to Newark is something else again! She slept for the first two hours, and the last three, and for the middle ten, she ate, "read, " watched Curious George and Fantasia, and did hours upon hours of "Lets see how many ways we can roll around in one chair." My personal favorite was lying down on the seat, turning round in a full circle (with her back on the seat_ and then raising her legs up against the back of the chair and doing a chair version of "snow angels." I decided it was basically chair aerobics. No crying, or demanding to get out; and I did take her for an occasional bathroom trip and cabin walk. She did have a problem with her ears on the descent, and looked truly unhappy, and as soon as the wheels landed- she got sick,(Yes, boy; you know exactly what I mean!) So Susanna entered the US in dirty clothes and a little worse for wear (mom too, based on Susanna's landing!) but all is well. She and I had to wait in the non U.S. citizen's line for immigration, but it was painless, and after I handed in her papers, she became a US citizen (For the 24 hours from Consulate to Airport, she was a legal immigrant.) I should receive her papers in 45 days.
She seems very happy with her new digs, but was fairly horrified with her two feline siblings. (OK, to be specific, she saw them and started shrieking in mortal terror...) but she has recovered She now looks both ways before entering a room, and runs past the gingerly if she sees them. If she and I are reading and one comes too close for some petting, she glares at them and begins to yell at them in Cantonese. Fun times.

She and I basically basically slept through the night, except the cats kept waking us both up. (Yes, she went to bed in her own bedroom without any problems, but the cats kept pushing her door open, she would cry, I would get up to comfort her, shoo them away, close the door (but not shut it) and the whole thing would start again two hours later.) The cats usually sleep with me, but for the next few nights, they will have to hang out in the rest of the apartment and be banned from sleeping quarters until they get the concept.
This morning we were out and about doing errands and getting a visit from her grandparents. She enjoyed the cold weather (for her winter is usually 75 degrees!) and was quite sociable in all neighborhood stores. We even bumped into a Lower School student! Some neighbors visited last night,and we are visiting a friend across the street later today.

So all is well, and this will most likely be our last post. A final thanks that will never be big enough to Nan who truly saw me at my worst a few times on this trip. ( becoming a mom was easy; becoming a mom while dealing with a different land and culture occasionally proved- um-- stressful to t this goal oriented individual!) Mom and daughter are both well and happy and ready to begin (resume) a normal life here in the states- and we are well on our way.

Oh,and one final thing: for the LS boys w ho tried to guess-- the first US state we passed over was Alaska. We flew north to Tokyo, up by the Aleutian Islands, over Alaska, across Montana,and the Dakotas, down toward Michigan and and and then down to NYC flying south from Buffalo. The trip was about 9300 miles.
And for those who wondered, as we passed over Alaska, I definitely made a point of checking- but no, I could not see Russia from my window.......)