Have Dog, Will Travel

I left home Sunday morning to travel by bus to Shanghai. I have to stay in Shanghai for a week before I fly to America due to dog/doggone bureaucrazy. I loooove Shanghai, although with a dog in tow I doubt I’ll see quite as much of it as I would like this trip.

The 9-hour bus trip: The first three hours were an adventure of nightmarish proportions. Mimi was hyperactive. In her carrier she whined as to disturb the other passengers, some of whom didn’t much care to be sharing a bus with a dog. So I snuck her out of her carrier and put her in my lap, which turned out to be to the liking of everyone on board. She squirmed and fought me for the longest time…right up until the time that the Benadryl took effect. Trust me, it was the tiniest dose possible. Then she became the sweetest thing you ever saw, sleeping peacefully the rest of the way to Shanghai.

The Lunch Stop: At the bus’ 20-minute lunch stop, Mimi found a grassy spot to do her business. Unfortunately for us all, her business included diarrhea, which got ALL OVER her long hair covering her backside—I often call this long hair her “skirt.” There was no way she could get back on the bus like that. So I got 4 bottles of bottled water and gave Mimi a bath. Water pressure from the bottle wasn’t enough to wash away the mess, so I had to use my hand. I was able to wash my hands in running water in the ladies room, but there was no soap. I know…yuck. Anyway, I got the dog clean, and she cleanly sat either in my lap or in the empty seat next to me (an empty seat next to me was another evidence of God’s intervention) the remaining 5-6 hours of the bus trip.

I thought the hotel in Shanghai would go back on its promise to let me keep a dog at the hotel, but they were very kind and agreeable to our presence. There are probably thousands of hotels in Shanghai, and I could only find one that would allow pets. If they had gone back on their word, I would have been sleeping on the streets for a week.

Monday, Mimi and I went to the dog health place to get her physical exam and official paperwork for her trip to America. This turned out to be a nightmare too. If Mimi gets on the plane next Monday, and I firmly believe she will, it will be through God’s grace and direct intervention. It has been crazy!

At first, Mimi was really in culture shock in Shanghai. I couldn’t leave the hotel room by myself because her whining could be heard down the hallway even up to ten minutes after I had left the room. But now she has adjusted to life in the big city, has found a favorite sleeping spot in the hotel room, and lets me leave. I took her for a walk in the downtown park at 6 a.m. today, so she knows I haven’t forgotten her needs. The hotel carpet is completely covered in newspaper, because she has yet to be able to distinguish between carpet, newspaper and grass. She better learn quickly though, because “Granny and Grandpa” in Texas have carpet! Fortunately though, they have quick access to backyard grass—it doesn’t involve descending five flights of stairs. Mimi ought to like that and catch on quickly.

Mimi has been wearing her denim dress with pleated skirt. She looks like a fashionista and impresses everyone she meets. I can’t have her looking like an ordinary dog. Not in fashionable Shanghai!

Thanks for your prayers for our journey. It is a REAL ADVENTURE! Please pray that God will be with us the rest of the week and help us to get all the paperwork we need. We still face some uphill challenges. But there are no challenges too great for Him!