Terra-Cotta Warriors

Yesterday we went to see the the first Emperor of Qin's terra-cotta army. As with the sightseeing in Beijing, the scale of this project blows my mind. In vault 1 alone, there are over 6,000 warriors. Each and every one unique, representing a specific member of the emperor's army. There are 3 vaults total, each containing soldiers with different military strategy. All were created in an attempt by the emperor to move his earthly empire to heaven.

The warriors were discovered totally by chance. In 1974, a local farmer found pottery fragments while digging a well. Today, the site where the well was dug is marked in vault 1. The well was dug in the extreme south-eastern corner of the vault. A few feet in a different direction and the warriors might still be unknown today. We had an opportunity to meet the farmer who dug the well. He seems to be a hero to the area. His job is to show up every day and pose for pictures and sign autographs. We did both :)

Today is our last day in Xi'an. It is Samuel's capital city so we are thankful for the time we've had, but we are ready to go to Guangzhou. Xi'an is very dirty. The smog limits visibility to just a few blocks. We are ready. We will get Samuel's passport this afternoon and board a plane Guangzhou. Samuel is ours in the eyes of the Chinese government. Now we head to the American consulate to prepare him to become an American citizen.

Samuel is having some good times and some rough times. He slept all the way through terra-cotta warriors. He came back to the hotel and had a major meltdown. Meltdowns can only be expected. Poor guy has had the only life he's ever known turned upside down. The hard part on mama and daddy is that they usually last 2 or 3 hours. He wants to be held, but not touched too much. He wants comfort, just not sure if it should come from us. After the meltdowns, he is usually a pretty happy camper for several hours. He plays with toys, stacks things, hides things, and explores the hotel room. He has slept a TON. This certainly helps mom and dad recover from the screaming fits. He slept 12 hours last night, woke up for about 30 minutes this morning to eat and went right back to sleep. We are not sure if it is the first chance he's had at real deep sleep and he is catching up . . . or if it is a way to deal with the grief. We are certainly anxious about the plane ride this afternoon so thoughts and prayers are welcome :)

One week from the second I am writing this sentence we will be in the air between New York and KC. It has been an exciting journey. We are excited about the stories we will have from Guangzhou. We wouldn't trade the experience for the world. But there's no place like home . . .